The Orinda Theatre and its blazing shark’s fin tower have been a welcoming beacon in the night since 1941. Slated for demolition in 1984 in favor of a five-story, 116,000-square-foot commercial complex, the art deco building was saved by preservationists who took their battle all the way to the State Supreme Court. Ex-mayor Bobbie Landers quashed any rumors that incorporation was a direct result of attempts to raze the theater, saying “The incorporation people had nothing to do with the theater and the theater people had nothing to do with incorporation.”
The idea of incorporation first saw the light of day when Orinda’s population stood at just 767 – but that was nearly 90 years ago, way back in 1938.
The Bay Bridge and Caldecott Tunnel had both opened the previous year, and suddenly the suburbs were easily accessible to city dwellers looking for somewhere warm, sunny and affordable to raise their families. Orinda was no longer a well-kept secret.
But it was to be another 15 years, with Orinda’s post-war population heading towards 5,000, before “home rule” as one supporter called it, began to be taken more seriously. A 1953 study, conducted by the Orinda Association on “the possibilities of incorporation,” reached no definitive conclusions and so the arguments, for and against, languished on the back burner, rumbling on into the next decade.
The bid for incorporation finally made it to the ballot box in 1967. But the motion was soundly defeated, 4,413 to 1,913, with 70% of the Orinda electorate voting. For the time being, Orinda’s “Unincorporation Movement,” headed by Clarence Betz, had succeeded. But for how much longer?
By the beginning of the ‘80s, Orinda’s population was approaching 17,000 and with a new decade came a new perspective. Despite having succeeded in establishing commissions for Parks & Recs, Planning and Police – on an advisory basis only – Orindans still felt they had no control over their town and were tired of having to kowtow to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, in distant Martinez, who were proving to be far too indiscriminately pro-development where bucolic Orinda was concerned.
Thus was born the Citizens to Preserve Orinda (CPO), a group of like-minded people, led by Marianne Aude, Joyce Hawkins and Jack Knebel, focusing on “the four P’s” – police, planning, parks & rec and public works.
Needless to say, when it came to a question of incorporation, there were plenty of detractors.
One such detractor was Dean Lesher, founder of the Contra Costa Times. In response to a February 1983 letter from Bobbie Landers requesting financial assistance for the CPO, the millionaire replied, “frankly, I’m inclined to vote against incorporation.”
He was, he said, “convinced Orinda cannot operate as a separate city without rather heavy local taxes” and pointed out that amongst all the literature he’d received from various city council candidates, none had mentioned the probability of higher taxes.
“Many of them have assumed there would be no higher taxes and yet the local government would provide increased services.”
As an Orinda resident, he added, he knew only too well that “Orinda doesn’t have a good retail district sufficiently large to produce the amount of sales tax that will have to be produced.”
Lesher ended his rebuff by saying he would be satisfied with “however the vote turns out,” but didn’t want the public to be duped into voting “upon some fanciful idea.”
Meanwhile, the CPO’s campaign ramped up into high gear with a December 1983 press release announcing “the largest citizen action effort in Orinda’s history” when 200 citizen volunteers would hit the streets, visiting 5,600 households over a four-week period to gather 4,500 signatures on a petition that would hopefully appear on the agenda of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) that coming February.
The petition drive was launched in early January 1984 with lyricist Chuck White conducting the long-forgotten Preservation Players from beneath the big green Orinda sign (the CPO’s logo) in a rousing chorus of his specially composed Orinda Fight Song.
A promotional videotape was also produced – possibly for the first time in political PR – and made available to anyone with one of those newfangled VCR machines at home. Lasting 17 minutes and hailed as a unique concept in 1984, it now seems quaintly amateurish from a distance of 40 years.
But it did the trick, despite protestations from residents like Edward Coyne, a committed member of the “Save Orinda from Incorporation” camp – whose battle cry was Cityhood is Bankruptcy. Commenting on the CPO video, Coyne maintained that “pleasantries and emotional appeal won’t really tell their story because they’re overlooking all of the facts.”
Another vocal opponent of incorporation was local attorney Aldo Guidotti, although he actually benefitted from the “yes” result, not only being voted onto Orinda’s inaugural city council, but subsequently serving as mayor in 1989 and 1994.
Ultimately, 58% of Orinda’s 12,000 registered voters went to the polls on March 5, 1985, bringing in a final tally of 4,687 votes in favor of self-government, and 3,293 against. Orinda officially became Contra Costa’s 18th city on July 1, 1985.
It has been 40 years since the momentous events of 1985, but the haunting lyrics of Chuck White’s Orinda Fight Song still linger on …
From the halls of Miramonte
To the shores of Lake Cascade
We will fight for preservation
Of this town we won’t let fade.