When Oakleyites give out their address over the phone, they tend to pronounce the name of their city OakLEY, with an emphasis on the second syllable, to distinguish it from Oakland. In addition to a similar name, for too long Oakley has also shared Gertrude Stein’s famous put-down of Oakland: “There is no ‘there’ there.”

But Christmas came early for Oakleyites with the on Dec. 8 unwrapping of the new Civic Center Plaza with its expanded City Hall. Councilman Brad Nix said at the Dec. 10 council meeting as he congratulated city staff for the success of the grand opening festivities, “There is a ‘there’ there in Oakley.”

Like the Tin Man, Oakley has lacked a heart. But now it has one in Civic Center Plaza, which will be the scene of community concerts, picnics and a farmers’ market. The new City Council Chambers, with its state-of-the art audio, video and computer technology, is one of the premiere spaces in East County, if not the Bay Area, for government meetings and also – we hope – community classes, concerts, films, dinners,

celebrations and other activities.

At the December meeting, council members were effusive in their praise of City Manager Brian Montgomery and his staff for their hard work in overseeing construction of such a fine facility and putting together the grand opening ceremonies.

“Everyone was beaming,” said Councilwoman Carol Rios. “The people who came through couldn’t believe the stated elegance, just that Oakley has arrived.”

Councilwoman Pat Anderson asked everyone to take a look around at the library in Delta Vista Middle School, where the council was holding its last meeting before moving into the new chambers in January. She noted that in her speech at the ceremony she had listed 14 places the council has met in the last eight years, adding, “It will be nice to have one place to call home.”

Montgomery thanked the council members for their comments, but noted that many people are responsible, including all of those “who fought to make the city what it is today. You can look back at all that’s been accomplished since 1999 and now and ask yourself how many of those things would have been accomplished if Oakley was still part of the county. There may have been a couple, but very, very few. The ‘there’ there is there.”