Local CBS affiliate KPIX ran a story on June 18 about Piedmont’s work with renowned landscape designer Walter Hood to build a memorial honoring Sidney and Irene Dearing in the city. The city shared the conceptual design for the project, “The Dearing Portal”, on June 17.
“We are committed to being a different community today, and being a different community means facing difficult topics,” said [City Administrator Rosanna] Bayon-Moore. “It means confronting difficult chapters in our history. It means having a difficult conversation to be able to move forward.
The city chose Hood to lead the conversation. His work can be viewed around the world, around the country and in the Bay Area, including the gardens at the De Young Museum, the Bow along the Embarcadero, and Panorama Park on Yerba Buena Island.
Hood said he wanted to work on the Dearing family project because it was personal.
“I’m a Black man, it is just that simple,” said Hood. “I think if we don’t tell our stories, someone else will.”
100 years after 1st Black family in Piedmont, California was driven out, memorial moves forward; by Ryan Yamamoto for CBS news, June 18, 2025