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Guide to the Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection
Ms98
Ms98
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Title: Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection
Identifier/Call Number: Ms98
Contributing Institution:
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
4.0 Linear feet
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1988-2003
Date (inclusive): 1964-2012
Abstract: The collection consists of materials collected or created by Sylvia and Karl Kothe and the organizations in which they were
active, primarily concerning the creation of Oak Grove Regional Park in San Joaquin County, California, circa 1979-1999, and
citizens’ resistance to the attempted privatization by city officials of Stockton’s water services in 2002-2008. The collection
spans 1964-2012 and provides insight into grassroots activism in Stockton, California. It consists of documents, correspondence,
newsletters, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, CDs, videotape, book, scrapbooks, posters, and ephemera.
Collection is open for research by appointment.
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary
property.
[Item number], Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection, Ms98, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum, Lodi, California
Karl and Sylvia Kothe were long-time members of the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club. Sylvia as well was active in the
Stockton League of Women Voters. Twice she was elected its president, the first time in 1969. Karl and Sylvia’s involvement
in these groups led them to activism in the issues that were important to them. They were part of a group of volunteers who
lobbied successfully for a natural preserve during the creation of Oak Grove Regional Park in San Joaquin County, California,
and Karl served as executive secretary for the Valley Oak Alliance. The Kothes also took part in a citizens’ resistance to
the attempted privatization by city officials of Stockton’s water services. Sylvia Kothe chaired the Concerned Citizens Coalition
(CCC), a group made up of individuals and organizations in the community who opposed privatization, and she became one of
its public voices. Following petition and referendum drives and lawsuits, the CCC and their partner groups were ultimately
successful in returning control of Stockton’s water services to public control.
Karl Kothe (June 1, 1935 –September 27, 2017) was raised in San Francisco. He graduated from San Francisco State University
with a degree in English and came to Stockton to teach at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School. His interests in environmental issues
led to the involvement of Karl and his wife Sylvia in the formation of Oak Grove Regional Park.
Sylvia Roberts Kothe (February 4, 1935-July 6, 2012) was born in Brazil where her parents had grown up. At the time of her
birth, they were visiting her missionary grandparents there. The family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1939. Sylvia later
came to San Francisco, California, where she met her future husband. They married there in February 1961. Sylvia attended
San Joaquin Delta College and California State University-Stanislaus and graduated with a Business degree. She later headed
Sylco Complete Decorating Service in Stockton.
San Joaquin County acquired the 167-acre B. and L. Oak Grove in 1968 with federal and state funds. A consulting committee
submitted a series of plans for its use, with several public hearings held for review and comment. In July 1975, the County
Board of Supervisors accepted the recommendations of Verna Johnston, Norman Smith, and Steve Stocking, teachers at San Joaquin
Delta College in Stockton, who argued for minimum intervention except for safety’s sake in the natural processes of the trees
and the ecosystem they supported. Native plant and animal species would be re-introduced, with the caveat that they would
not be allowed to escape the park boundaries and disturb the farmlands surrounding the park. Oak Grove Regional Park was formally
dedicated in September 1979. Of its 167 acres, the southerly eighty-five remain a natural preserve.
Karl and Sylvia Kothe were part of the early group of volunteers who worked to achieve the park’s goals, which included a
nature center, the Yokuts Trail, and plantings of native species. Karl served as executive secretary of the Valley Oak Alliance,
a group that planted and watered the oak saplings. He also edited and published their newsletter from 1983 to about 1993.
Karl was instrumental in organizing and supporting an oak protection ordinance in the San Joaquin County General Plan and
successfully urged a resolution for the County to declare 1990 the “Year of the Oak.”
In 1997, Gary Podesto was elected mayor of Stockton. Early in his term, he investigated the possibility of privatizing Stockton’s
water, which included the city water, storm water, and sewage systems. In June 2001, after his reelection the year before,
he led the City Council to qualify three companies for bidding. This led to the formation of the Concerned Citizens Coalition
(CCC), made up of individuals and groups in the community who opposed privatization. Sylvia Kothe chaired the CCC and became
one of its public voices.
Podesto proposed that privatization would save $175 million over a 20-year contract and improve efficiency. The CCC questioned
his figures and mounted a petition drive in June 2002 to place an initiative on the ballot requiring a public vote on the
issue. With 18,000 signatures, it qualified for the March 2003 election.
At the October 2002 council meeting, Podesto favored the bid from multinational conglomerate OMI-Thames (Operation Management
International). On February 19, Podesto called for a vote on the 900-page, $600 million contract during a volatile public
meeting with an overflow crowd of citizens opposing the deal. The City Council passed Resolution No. 03-0081 by a vote of
4-3 in favor of the bid, which included a declaration exempting the contract from California environmental laws.
On March 4, 2003, the CCC’s initiative, Measure F, passed by 60%. Subsequently, the CCC joined with the Sierra Club and the
League of Women Voters to file a lawsuit against Resolution No. 03-0081. The water contract went into effect on August 1,
with the first hearing in court on the case on August 11. In October the CCC mounted a new petition drive for a referendum
to overturn the resolution, but failed to obtain enough signatures within an allotted thirty days to qualify for the ballot.
On December 6, 2003, San Joaquin County Judge Robert McNatt ruled that the City of Stockton violated state environmental laws
in its contract with OMI-Thames because it was awarded without a full environmental impact review. He required the City of
Stockton to resume control of the water system. The city filed an appeal, but lost again in a November 2006 ruling. By then,
Gary Podesto had been termed out of office. In 2007, the California Supreme Court ruled that the contract for water privatization
by the City of Stockton was illegal, and control of water services must be returned to the public. The City Council voted
to abide by this decision. In March 2008, public operation and management of Stockton’s water systems was renewed.
The Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection consists of one banker’s box of documents and one flat box of oversize items, as well
as one oversize folder containing a political signboard. The collection is divided into four series: 1. Oak Grove Regional
Park, 2. Stockton Water Privatization, 3. Ephemera, and 4. Oversize.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Kothe, Karl, 1935-2017
Kothe, Sylvia, 1935-2012
League of Women Voters--Stockton (California)
Podesto, Gary, 1941-
Concerned Citizens Coalition
Oak Grove Regional Park
Privatization
Stockton (Calif.)--history
Stockton (Calif.)--politics
Valley Oak Alliance