Helaine Kaplan-Prentice, long time Secretary to Oakland City Landmarks Board, and author of several books including Rehab Right, retired to pursue her writing and teaching at U.C. Berkeley. Below is her retirement speech delivered on May 14, 2002, at the City Hall Rotunda.

This is terrific! Everyone I like to work with in one place—but no hard decisions to make. And finally, tonight, a chance to answer the great unspoken question: 28 years. Why in the world did you stay here so long?

Because that’s how long it took.

Actually, I can give you three reasons. First I have always believed that the quality of our surroundings DOES affect the quality of our lives. Directly. Profoundly. Unequivocally. So safeguarding and improving Oakland’s landscape and urban fabric is a job that warranted strong commitment. Second, I believe that good design should not be reserved for a privileged few. Oakland is entitled to the best that designers and developers can offer. This has required persistence (and persuasion). You might be thinking that design takes money, but money doesn’t guarantee good design. Good decisions make good design possible. Third, Oakland has the best material to work with in the Bay Area, bar none. Natural landscapes, architectural history, a genuine downtown. And a resourceful community of residents and business people. How did I come to work for 28 years? To work with people like you on the buildings and places that you care so much about.

There were many indelible moments, of course. I remember returning to City Hall from Washington, D.C. after receiving the Gordon Gray Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for “Rehab Right.”  Up to my windowless desk walked a uniformed park ranger bearing an enormous oblong box with a gilded bow. It was May. Inside was a spectacular array of roses, every possible color and variety, harvested from the Oakland Rose Garden to honor the achievement of a fellow City staffer. Your being here tonight feels like a dozen such bouquets.

Of course there were also many humorous moments. Like when Chevron insisted that Oakland would be better off building a drive-through MacDonald’s than preserving a one-of-a-kind coffee shop. Or when Rite Aid insisted they NEVER changed their red plastic sign for ANYONE, and Naomi Schiff held up a photograph of a RITE AID sign in Denver, custom-made in bronze. Or  when residents of Piedmont pretended to live in Oakland so they could get a free copy of “Rehab Right.”

My connection to Oakland is strong and is not easily severed: I’ve lived on 75^th Avenue in East Oakland, down the block from Delia’s China Cup Café. I’ve worked in a candle factory off Cypress Street in West Oakland, and at Lockwood Flower Shop, the family store on East 14^th Street. I’ve rented flats on Keith, Locksley and Chetwood Streets, and helped rehab a house in Temescal. And there is ample family history, as well.

Mayor Andrus – mayor of Oakland in 1878. Mayor Andrus was Grandpa Hap’s Grandma Tot’s (probably second) husband. You can read about him on a memory strip in Lafayette Square Park. Captain Prentice. My father-in-law Waller J. Prentice served on the Oakland Police Force for thirty years beginning in 1949, retiring as a captain much beloved by his men.

And on April 29, 1974 I met my husband Blair when we were assigned adjoining drafting tables in the Planning Department on the 6^th floor of this building. (He wisely took me out to lunch the first day). Actually, it was not too surprising since I was the only woman planner in the department for quite some time.

We were married in the lofty reaches of Oakland’s Knowland Park, within sight of the tree fort that Blair played in as a child, and overlooking the whole Bay Area. Our sons, Asa and Graham, were born in Merritt Hospital (Graham is that big guy over there).

I forged another kind of bond with Oakland through the projects represented here tonight. I feel a permanent attachment to Seventh Ave Missionary Baptist Church; Old Oakland; Skyline Boulevard; Frank Ogawa Plaza; Chabot Science Center; Estuary Training Wall; Naval Supply Depot; Rotunda Building; Broadway Building; Cox Cadillac; Street Tree Plan; Waterfront Warehouse District, Preservation Park, Fox Theater, Pardee House, Bellevue Staten, Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Adams Point, Peralta Hacienda…..It would probably take 28 years to list them all.

The projects ranged in size from the very small to the monumental…from matching the historic tile at the Oakland Museum (1” square pewter gray), to replacing the almost two-mile long East span of the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge.  Writing the Tree Preservation Ordinance to protect wanton tree removal, then writing the View Preservation Ordinance to protect views from wanton trees. Saving 175 lots on Skyline Boulevard as permanent open space, creating the bike path in Shepherd Canyon, converting numerous historic buildings to bright new use, demanding decent curtain walls for office buildings downtown.

We published groundbreaking books, launched videos, moved buildings, recovered from the earthquake, reimagined City Hall as an urban campus, designated 14 landmarks with owner support, and made a place for the Landmarks Board as never before.

It would be impossible, of course, to list all the projects undertaken by the Landmarks Board in twelve years and over 130 public meetings. Suffice it to say that the members of the Landmarks Board are unique for their expertise and intelligence, their commitment to Oakland and their thoughtful deliberation of an issue’s every side. Without exception, they have been absolutely wonderful to work with. Why did I stay here so long? Add the Landmarks Board to the top of the list.

I’d like to make one final recommendation to the people who are responsible for Oakland’s built form, it is this: Identity is more powerful than conformity. Identity is an economic force. And in any great city, identity is the product of heritage – a heritage worth protecting. Oakland’s identity is found in its downtown and neighborhoods, creeks and hillsides, its oak trees and bay woodlands, its waterfront, its churches and vernacular houses, theaters, libraries, markets and parks, its new high-rises, creative new housing and old commercial buildings. In your vision for Oakland, make the most of these assets.

I have learned so much working in Oakland, and now I’m ready to apply that understanding to something new. Put the word “retire” in quotation marks. I will be doing even more writing and consulting to design firms. And I will continue my great new adventure of teaching graduate students at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. For every one of you, there will be ten more activists. Feels like moving out of the big family house into a condominium – a giant yard sale of experience. I have so much to share.

Special thanks to Annalee Allen and the crew who put this evening together (Marina Carlson, Pat McGowan, Anu Raud, Naomi Schiff, Brooke Levin).  To Una Gilmartin, Bill Claggett, Leslie Gould, George Lythcott, Mary MacDonald, Jean Spees, Dick Spees and Jayne Becker for sponsoring the resolution tonight at City Council –I hope some of you can stay. Sponsors: Oakland Heritage Alliance, Phil Tagami, Pattillo and Garrett. Finally, thank you all very much for working with me so graciously on many difficult and rewarding projects, and of course for being here tonight. I Wish you all the very best. Keep Oakland great.