 The waterfront property, primarily owned by Catellus Development Corporation—a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe for short)—was already worth many millions of dollars, and would be worth far more if developed with shopping centers and high-rise hotels.Sylvia McLaughlin, a local housewife turned environmental activist, was alarmed enough by the situation to recruit friends and associates to form the non-profit Save San Francisco Bay Association, later renamed as Save the Bay.The newly-formed association leaped into action, forming a shoreline park committee that began discussing how to raise funds for a small park in Berkeley in 1963.