The Rotary Club of Richmond celebrated its 100th year in April 2020. To honor its Centennial, the club adopted the “Making a Living / Building Community” theme of the Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt Interpretive Signage Project now scheduled for a spring 2025 installation.

The Big Picture Context

Miraflores is a 14-acre City of Richmond planned development in the Park Plaza neighborhood on the site of the historic Sakai and Oishi nurseries, founded by Japanese immigrants circa 1906. Its early planning and design phases were considered a model of environmentally sustainable practices. The City worked closely with residents to respect their needs, clean up a toxic brownfield, and honor the region’s past by preserving valued historic structures for future community activities. The plan for market rate housing has been delayed, but the affordable, solar-powered Miraflores Senior Apartments project was successfully completed and has been occupied since 2018. A greenbelt and daylighted creek provide a conservation buffer between Interstate 80 and a pedestrian/bike path that connects residents to the Richmond Greenway, BART and nearby commercial areas. Soon this pathway will be home to the interpretive exhibits of immigrant stories, scheduled for installation in late spring of 2025.

These stories will tell the powerful history of Japanese Americans in Richmond through educational exhibits of varied themes of immigrant experiences of home & community building, obstacles, and perseverance. This project will be a part of the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park and its overall public interpretation.

A Rotary Connection

The Miraflores Centennial Project exemplifies a theme that will feel familiar to Rotarians: Making a Living / Building a Community. In our own way, each of us balances the need to do both. Most of us come to realize that our livelihoods and our commitments to service are mutually reinforcing and fulfilling. The story of the Ninomiya Nursery in North Richmond illustrates this.

David Ninomiya was 4-years-old when the Ninomiya family was forced to vacate their family home and livelihood because of Executive Order 9066 and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. David later became a respected leader in the horticulture industry and is fondly remembered for his dedication to the ‘rose’ that would become the national flower of the United States. He served as President of Richmond Rotary in 1978–79. Richmond Rotary’s Miraflores Centennial Project is dedicated to his memory.

Miraflores Centennial Project Objectives

• Preserving History for future generations to understand the perspective of other cultures through the Japanese American story on the site where the nurseries they founded once flourished;
• Building Connection where the Miraflores Sustainable Greenbelt connects pedestrians, bikers and visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area via the Richmond Greenway, BART and the Ohlone Greenway in El Cerrito, Albany, and Berkeley;
• Teaching Environmental Stewardship through the transformation of a brownfield to healthy public use and, in the future, by providing vocational youth training opportunities to maintain the site.

Thank You!

The Rotary Club of Richmond gratefully acknowledges the supporters of our Miraflores Centennial Project 2020!

Ninomiya-Koda Family Rotary International Foundation Richmond Rotary Club 100 (see below) Rotary Club of Berkeley Rotary Club of El Cerrito Rotary Club of San Ramon Valley Chevron USA Mechanics Bank Hide Oshima and James Oshima

E M Downer Foundation C. Overaa & Company Republic Services PowerPlant Park Groundwork Richmond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Richmond Rotary Club 100

Ric Ambrose Carey Ash Alan Baer Santa Baer Alan Blavins Rich Brandes Byron and Jan Brown Cheryl and David Brown Erle Brown Tom Butt Sid Chauvin Herb Cole Bob Connolly Hank and Doreen Covell Bob Dabney and Cheryl Maier Nick Despota

Darlene Drapkin Simon Ellis Brian Fay Gerald Fay Jerry Feagley Jim Findley Oscar Garcia Josh and Elaina Genser Ethan Heinrich Mark Howe Shana Bagley Howe Pam Jones Bill Koziol Liliane Koziol Don and Shelly Lau Jon Lawlis James Lee

Mac Lingo Norm Lundberg Henry Moe Gonzalo Ochoa Cecilia Orozco Darlene Quenville Nakele Obleton Rechenauer Carol Robinson Mey Saechao Tamara Shiloh Fran Smith Stacey Street Josh Surowitz Pierre Thompson Connie Tritt Mike Winter