Bridge to know-how

Deirdre Newman

City Council watchers know Bob Graham as a man who passionately pines

for a 19th Street bridge and who railed against rewarding encroachers

of Fairview Park.

What many might not know about Graham is that he volunteers to

give tours of the park four times a year. For his involvement with

the park and with other environmental efforts like ReLeaf Costa Mesa,

he will receive the Mayor’s Award in May.

“I just like the park and it’s outdoors and I became familiar with

it,” Graham said. “All I do is share some of my general information

about the park.”

Graham said he had been involved with the park for three years

before he started giving tours. He had been concerned about erosion

on the bluffs and he got the county to open a maintenance bridge. He

has also worked as a surveyor, which comes in handy, he said.

The tours, hosted by the Fairview Park Friends Committee, last

about two hours and encompass a wide swath of the park.

Graham first leads the group to the bluffs to check out the

gorgeous views, then to the vernal ponds, then down to Talbert Park,

which Graham considers a hidden gem. Then the tour comes back up and

crosses Placentia Avenue, goes up to the Canary Drive access, then

across the county bridge to the trains and up to the parking lot.

He said he enjoys the opportunity of showing people parts of the

park, which they might not be familiar with or might not know how to

access.

“People think it’s a huge park, but there’s relatively limited

access to it, which makes it unique,” he said.

And he is still awed by the park’s natural beauty.

“It’s just beautiful, when you look out over the golf course in

the morning, it’s kind of misty out there,” Graham said. “In the

evening, when the moon comes up over the golf course ... I took a

nighttime train ride once, it was just fantastic.”

Mayor Gary Monahan said Graham is extremely deserving of the

award.

“Bob holds Fairview Park very dear to his heart and has

volunteered hundreds of hours and advocated for the park and provided

tours and other things,” Monahan said.