What was Lake Merritt like in the 1990's? Is history repeating itself? Between September 3, 1991 and December 19, 1997, the Montclarion newspaper (now part of the Bay Area News Group) published a series of 77 essays written bimonthly by Dr. Richard Bailey, founder of the Lake Merritt Institute. These stories, editorials, fantasies, and news briefs, were mostly written in an Irish pub, and provided support for establishment of the Lake Merritt Institute in 1992, Measure DD (The Oakland Trust for Clean Water and Safe Parks) in 2002, and many of the improvements that citizens and wildlife now enjoy around the lake.

Early essays dealt with singular topics such as fountains, birds, and algae. Later essays delved into philosophical issues such as religion, the devil, and ethics. Some concerned economics, history, and the future.

These essays have been reprinted here in the hope that they will continue to inspire governments, nonprofits, and citizens to increase efforts to create sustainable, permanent improvements to both infrastructure and maintenance of a unique, urban estuary. Hopefully you will be inspired by what has been done, and will act. The opportunities, some are described in the epilogue and in essay 78, are many.