A Community on the Run October 2006

by Jacqueline Irwin
Images by R. Byrne

Seaside is in the throes of a major transformation from military town to tourist destination. Jackie Lambert is at the center of that growth process and shares some of her experiences and insights.

Jacqueline Lambert is the president of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce. She has lived in the community since 1991 and says she is excited about Seaside. The thing she likes best is the diversity of the community. For nearly a century Seaside nestled up against the Fort Ord army base. The connection had the effect of creating an ethnically mixed community. Residents had been born in places as diverse as Korea, Germany, Sweden, and Japan. People of varying cultures live right next to each other throughout the Seaside neighborhoods. It’s an amazing collection of people!

The ethnic diversity makes Seaside a great place to raise kids. Jackie, who is African-American, says that her daughter is part of a whole community. She is loved, known, respected, and is generally treated like a human being without respect to issues of race or ethnicity. She thinks it is cool to be going to school with friends who are Chinese, Mexican, Salvadorian, and German. Jackie thinks that the ethnic diversity is helping her daughter to become a whole person, growing up in a community of people who respect each other’s culture.

Jackie says that when she got here 15 years ago she found a community in transition. The base was closing and people were scrambling to figure out the next step. The community was forced to plan for a different sort of future than they had expected. Jackie says that as it turned out the 1994 base closing was the best thing that ever happened to Seaside. The departure of the military gave the area an opportunity to create a better community and to attract a greater diversity of businesses.

Seaside is now in a transition from being an army town to becoming a tourist destination and a college town. Wonderful festivals are beginning to put Seaside on the map. A program of free community concerts has grown to become a regional draw entitled “Blues and Art in the Park.” The upscale concerts attract about 3,000 people every Sunday all summer long.

The departure of the military left Seaside with Bayonet and Black Horse – two championship golf courses. Next year should see groundbreaking for a 4-star resort that will be located adjacent to the courses.

Another festival, called Concourse Italiana, is held every August. This is one of the West Coast’s largest Ferrari Car shows.

CSUMB (Cal State University at Monterey Bay) opened its doors in 1994, taking over part of the base facilities. In another decade the University will be well established and Seaside will be a booming college town.

A thriving business community has grown up in the area supporting Seaside’s destiny of becoming a premier tourist destination.

Jackie says that community leaders are rising to the challenge of maintaining Seaside’s diverse and unique character, while resisting any move to becoming some kind of Pebble Beach North.

Seaside’s ethnic mix has given rise to a culture of people who respect each other. Jackie says, “You have to be respectful to people no matter what they look like or smell like.” Jackie had been working at the chamber for a few months when a young homeless man came into her office in tears because the police had taken his shopping cart together with all his possessions. People had advised him to “Go see the lady at the Chamber of Commerce.”

Jackie listened to his story and then called Chuck Richardson, who was the Police Chief at the time. “We’ve been talking to Philly for a while about this,” Chuck said. “He can’t leave his stuff in the ally.” And then he added, “Send him over. We’ll give it back.”

Chuck had everything he owned in the world in that shopping cart. “What if I came home and my house and contents were gone?” Jackie asked.

Showing that kind of respect to a homeless person captures the Seaside spirit. “It’s like that here,” Jackie said. “Everyone gets their personhood here. It’s in the air.”