The $125 million Golden Gate Fields park deal cleared the Legislature

Yes, the money cleared. On Tuesday the state Senate and Assembly sent the budget trailer bill carrying $125 million for Golden Gate Fields to the governor. Newsom included the earmark in his own budget proposal this spring and is expected to sign. The racetrack that closed in 2024 is one signature, one purchase and one public process from becoming a park.

The shape of the deal: the Trust for Public Land agreed in March to buy the 161-acre site for $175 million, then hand it to the East Bay Regional Park District, which has set aside $20 million. The owner, the Stronach Group, will demolish the grandstands as part of the purchase. The trust has until the end of the year to exercise its option. Berkeleyside has tracked the deal from the March announcement.

The $125 million comes from Proposition 4, the $10 billion climate bond voters passed in 2024. Environmental groups argued the set-aside leaves less for other projects around the state, a fight CalMatters and Berkeleyside have both covered. The Legislature approved the allocation anyway, in the budget legislation that passed both houses Tuesday.

State Senator Jesse Arreguín, who championed the funding, called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reclaim 161 acres of East Bay waterfront for the public. The shoreline has sat behind fences since the track shut down two years ago.

The steps left are public and watchable. The governor signs. The trust closes the purchase by year end. Then the park district runs the public process that decides what the park is, and it has said that process will shape the plan. Grandstands come down first.

If you want a say in what 161 acres of bayfront become, that process is the door. Park district meetings are open, and the agency posts its board agenda and public engagement calendar at ebparks.org. The fences came down in stages. This is the stage where the public gets to talk.