The construction of Highway 580 in the early 1960’s cut the park asunder, but palms and other landscaping were planted around a concrete-lined pond into which water splashed giving the park the name it has since retained. Eventually, the fountain became inoperative and the landscaping sadly neglected and overgrown.

In the late 1990's, recognizing that this under-utilized space was a forbidding, pedestrian barrier, council member John Russo began lobbying that it be used in part for commercial purposes. This proved unpopular with a majority of the community as evidenced by the thousands of petition signatures turned in by Caroline Kim and the East Shore Park Preservation Association.

In November of 1999, Russo announced that he was willing to consider other options for park improvements. Shortly, thereafter, Ken Katz and a group of concerned neighbors formed the Splash Pad Neighborhood Forum to explore other such options. The questionnaires circulated by the Forum quickly confirmed an overwhelming desire to preserve the space as a park, but also began to focus on what kind of changes were required to improve pedestrian access and make it an attractive and useable asset. After offering his support to SPNF in their survey efforts, Russo successfully lobbied his fellow council members for initial park funding. An all volunteer Design Team consisting of Donald Wardlaw, Edith Robertson, Chiye Azuma, Liz Pulver, Leo Lozano, Daniel Galvez and Jeanette Sayre was organized as an SPNF subcommittee and they eventually came to a basic consensus on some fundamental improvements and goals. Meanwhile, the SPNF Traffic and Pedestrian Committee chaired by Jerry Cauthen was drafting its own recommendations. Members of that committee included Bruce de Benedictis, David Bolanos, Ken Pratt, Chris Pederson, Lou Grantham, Bob Moorhead, Jack McCoy and Jon Barrileaux. In July of 2000, SPNF presented its Final Report to the City which laid the groudwork for the hiring of Hood Design as the Landscape Design Architect.

Walter Hood is the former Chair of the School of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley with an office located here in Oakland. Asked to comment on the Splash Pad Project, he replied: "t has transformed the space into a park that people can actually occupy with flexible spaces that support a variety of uses".

Other members of the design team included Sarah Raube who provided day-to-day oversight of construction and served as liaison to the community for the Names in Lights fundraising campaign and Rich Seyfarth who played an integral role in the drafting and implementation of the park design.

Since the project required the removal of Lake Park Way, as well as other pedestrian and traffic improvements, the Public Works Department was designated as the lead agency. Jadia Wu supervised the design process and Randy Mach provided on-site, construction supervision.

The primary contractor was Ray's Electric owned by Oakland native, Greg Gruendl. The construction foreman was Luke Middleton.

The successful conclusion of the park project was due in large part to the ongoing support and encouragement of District 2 Council Member Danny Wan whose advocacy of Measure DD further underscored his commitment to park improvements. His Chief of Staff, Pat Kernighan, also played a quiet, but pivotal role working adeptly with city staff, the architects and the community.