In the past week Gov. Schwarzenegger has made many changes to the bay area economy. Most recent he has closed all beaches in the bay area and also some costal beaches. One of the beaches on that list, was one that I hold very dear to me. I've been going to Keller Beach throughout my childhood. It is a small beach in the vicinity of Brickyard Cove in Richmond. Keller beach is a great place to relax and bring children to play. With my parents, I would dig enormous holes, relax in the sand, and swim in the always warm waters of Keller Beach.

My recent visit to Keller Beach wasn't as glorious as the previous visits. While my mother and I were driving past Keller Beach, I spotted bright solid yellow tape surrounding the entrance to the beach. Immediately, but calmly I asked my mother to stop the car and let me check out the beach. While walking over to the beach I wondered," How much oil was in the beach? How long would it take to clean the beach? Or the whole bay?" When I arrived, I had a great a view of the beach but this time, I didn't really like what I saw.

As I looked to the beach I saw solid black oil, rushing against the rocks of the beach and speckles of black where the water receded. I was in total awe. It wasn't as bad that what I had imagined, black oil covering and coating every single nook of the rocks and standing globs of oil on the beach and then I saw a glob that stood out from all the others. When I concentrated more I realized that it was a bird that had died in the oil spill.

The worst thing about seeing the bird was that couldn't do anything to help it. I could only wonder how one person mistake could have cost the bay so much.