Guide to the Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection
Ms98
Finding aid prepared by Gail Erwin
San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum
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.
Access of Information
Collection is open for research by appointment.
Conditions of use
The library can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary
property.
Preferred Citation
[Item number], Sylvia and Karl Kothe Collection, Ms98, San Joaquin County Historical Society and Museum, Lodi, California
Historical Note
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.
Scope and Content
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
Series 1: Oak Grove Regional Park
circa 1979-1999
Scope and Content
Communication and reference materials related to the development and maintenance of Oak Grove Regional Park, circa 1979-1999.
Photographs separated for appropriate storage.
Folder 1: Assorted papers of Karl Kothe related to Oak Grove Regional Park, circa 1987
Folder 2: Mailing lists, Valley Oak Alliance and other groups, circa 1983-1993
Folder 3: Valley Oak Alliance Newsletters, Fall 1987-Summer 1992, not inclusive
Folder 4: California Nature Conservancy, Autumn Newsletter 1987
Folder 5: University of California Cooperative Extension. Oaks and Folks newsletters, May 1988, October 1988
Folder 6: Oak Grove Docent Handbook, circa 1979
Folder 7: Yokuts Trail Guide, Oak Grove Regional Park, n.d.
Folder 8: Oak Grove Park plant, animal, and bird lists
Folder 9: San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, Policy, Oak Grove Regional Park, October 1991; report on oak tree irrigation
Folder 10: Oak Grove Regional Park, photographs, circa 1980s
Folder 11: Stockton Audubon Society: stationery; request for funding to Stockton Sunrise Rotary
Folder 12: Brigham, Bruce B. “Some of the Herbaceous Plants of the Oak Grove Regional Park,” May 30, 1975
Folder 13: Fremontia, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society, “Year of the Oak,” July 1999
Folder 14: Assorted periodical information on oak trees
Series 2: Stockton Water Privatization
2002-2012
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, digital media, photographs, news and periodical articles, and contract compliance reviews related to water
privatization issues and protests in Stockton, California, 2002-2012. Media and photographs separated from the collection
for appropriate storage.
Folder 15: Correspondence related to water privatization issues, 2002-2003
Folder 16: CDs: Privatization protest photos, bitmap and jpg formats; COS-MUD, Managed Asset Inventory, October 5, 2003
Folder 17: Second Contract Compliance Review, circa August 2004
Folder 18: Annual Service Contract Compliance Review, February 19, 2003 through July 3, 2004; published December7, 2004
Folder 19: Third Annual Service Contract Compliance Review, August 1,2005 through July 31, 2006
Folder 20: Third Annual Service Contract Review, March 8, 2007
Folder 21: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, “Save the Water” campaign, 2005-2008
Folder 22: Initiative Measure, 2003
Folder 23: Referendum Against Ordinance Passed by the City Council Resolution No. 03-0081, February 19, 2003
Folder 24: Anti-water privatization rally photographs, February 19, 2003
Folder 25: Informational and promotional materials related to water privatization issue
Folder 26: Snitow-Kaufman Productions. “Thirst” [videotape]
Folder 27 : Snitow, Alan, et al. Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water, San Francisco, California: John Wiley
& Sons, 2007 [book]
Folder 28: The Peace and Justice Network, Connections, March 2001-August/September 2012, not inclusive
Folder 29: “Profit on Tap.” San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, February 9, 2003
Folder 30: “Mighty in Pink.” The Nation, March 3, 2003
Folder 31: “Who Owns Water.” The Nation, September 2-9, 2002
Folder 32: Concerned Citizens’ Coalition of Stockton, Citizens’ Voice, September 2004 [newsletter, 2 copies]
Folder 33: “Water Works,” Comstock’s, August 2008
Folder 34 : Newspaper articles, water privatization: Stockton Record, San Francisco Chronicle, 2002-2012
Series 3: Ephemera
circa 1960s-1980s
Scope and Content
Assorted materials related to Stockton and San Joaquin County, including a school directory, building codes, business cards,
1969 film festival program, promotional items, and political fliers and information. Circa 1960s-1980s.
Folder 35: Stockton Unified School District School Directory, 1968-1969
Folder 36: San Joaquin County Building, Plumbing, and Electrical Codes. August, 1964
Folder 37: Stockton Ephemera
Folder 38: Assorted political ephemera related to Stockton
Series 4: Oversize items
1978-2003
Scope and Content
Oversize materials including a poster, scrapbooks, and display poster board. 1978-2003.
League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County, hand-illustrated poster honoring Sylvia Kothe, 1978
Scrapbook, water privatization in Stockton, April 2001-February 12, 2003
Scrapbook, water privatization in Stockton, September 8, 2002
Oversize folder: Concerned Citizens’ Coalition of Stockton, fold-out display board on water privatization issues, circa 2003
