RIVERSIDE CITY COUNCIL

Simply Trekky: Riverside beams up Kirk birthplace location

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 4/28/23

RIVERSIDE

Nearly two years after the Riverside City Council voted to move the monument marking the future birthplace of Star Trek legend James Kirk from another part of downtown to the south …

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RIVERSIDE CITY COUNCIL

Simply Trekky: Riverside beams up Kirk birthplace location

Posted

RIVERSIDE

Nearly two years after the Riverside City Council voted to move the monument marking the future birthplace of Star Trek legend James Kirk from another part of downtown to the south side of City Hall, discussion during recent meetings slowed down progress on the installation of an ADA ramp to the birthplace.

City Council members have discussed moving the birthplace again, creating perhaps a moving target for the Klingons and any other Kirk enemy that may want to change Trek history.

Options include moving the birthplace monument to a more visible place downtown along Highway 22 or even to Railroad Park where a statue of Kirk is located across the street from the Trekky Voyage Home Museum.

“Is Captain Kirk to be born in an alley?” said Council Person Edgar McGuire.

The tight location south of City Hall is in a small grassy area between buildings and out of view from the main highway.

“I find it to be an awkward place and I think we can do better,” McGuire said.

The four other Council members seemed to be in favor of leaving where it is and having an ADA ramp designed for the display by Axiom Consultants of Iowa City.

The City Council approved the move to City Hall in May 2021 and approved the ADA ramp in November 2022.

Riverside has been designated as Kirk’s birthplace since 1985, when former Council Person Steve Miller led a 4-0 vote to establish Riverside as the Iowa city in which Kirk was born before any other Iowa city claimed it. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wrote in a book that Kirk was born in a small town in Iowa.

Or was he?

In the Star Trek movie reboot in 2009, Kirk, played in that version by Chris Pine and not by Kirk original William Shatner, was born in outer space aboard the USS Kelvin’s medical shuttle No. 37 during one of those intense space emergencies when the Kelvin was in self-destruct mode and Kirk’s father ordered his pregnant wife into the shuttle in order to avoid certain death.

The movie did show Kirk spending his growing-up years in Riverside and being a bit of a bar-room brawler at the Riverside Shipyard in the 23rd century before hooking up with the Starfleet.

Startrek.com recognizes Riverside as the March 22, 2233, birthplace of Kirk and Shatner has previously visited Riverside to celebrate Star Trek.

The birthplace can be viewed on the south side of City Hall. Final plans and costs for the ramp have yet to be formally approved.

Next board meeting: The City Council’s next regularly scheduled meeting is at 6 p.m. May 1.

James T. Kirk birthplace, Star Trek, Riverside City Council