Friends of Del Monte Park Advocate for Increased Park Maintenance Monies

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Derek Maxwell
5 years ago
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1 Friends of Del Monte Park Advocate for Increased Park Maintenance Monies By George Szymkiewicz I represent Friends of Del Monte Park which was dedicated in January 2015 and is part of the high density redevelopment area of Midtown near Diridon Station Area. We ve tried to enhance the park community with a newsletter to increase the sense of community (example attached). What we have seen is that postponed and deferred maintenance puts the park at risk of deterioration Here are just a few of the things we ve observed (illustrations attached): Drinking fountain has been clogged for over 14 months (Figure 1) A street light was stripped of wiring and left inoperative in June last year. It s still not repaired. Trash pickup was initially once a week. But twice a week schedule ignores Monday Holidays leading to overflowing cans that are a safety hazard for park visitors and workers (Figure 2) Over last Summer there was a sprinkler leak leading to a shutdown of several weeks. Severely stressing the new lawn. Scheduled re-seeding didn t occur. (Figure 3) Bathroom have been repeatedly vandalized and yes that s a hypodermic needle in the toilet. (Figure 4) The vendor cleaning the bathrooms is paid to clean but not to dispose of the trash. So, it s placed next to the nearest trash can leading to a mess.( Figure 5) The dog park is power washed but some fecal skid-marks remain and dog hair is not removed so it blows into the doggie drinking fountain and clogs it (Figure 6) We believe staffing is inadequate and that vendor budgets are too restrictive to do the work needed We ask the City Council to consider increasing the maintenance budget to preserve and protect the hard-fought capital invested in building parks such as Del Monte Park.

2 Illustrations Figure 1 Clogged Drinking Fountain Figure 2 - Overflowing Poo Trash Cans Figure 3 Dry Lawn Areas on April 3rd Figure 4 Women s Toilet Figure 5 Bathroom Trash Figure 6 Dog Hair Left from Power Washing

5 From: Kathryn Mathewson > Sent: Monday, April 11, :59 AM To: City Clerk; The Office of Mayor Sam Liccardo; District3; District2; District4; District5; District7; District9; District 10; Herrera, Rose; Oliverio, Pierluigi Cc: 'Dave Cortese' Subject: Ideas to improve SJ's parks and trails for April 11 council meeting Dear Mayor Liccardo and San Jose City Council Members: As a K-12 San Jose graduate, a resident of San Jose for most of my life, a biologist and landscape architect, and a person with much national and international open space experience, I am attaching some ideas to improve San Jose's parks. I hope this will provide you with helpful ideas for your meeting on April 11 which will focus on our parks and creek trails. I hope to be at this meeting to present some of these ideas and answer any questions you may have. Kathryn Mathewson Secret Gardens San Jose, CA

6 IDEAS FOR SAN JOSE PARKS AND CREEK TRAILS SAN JOSE PARKS AND TRAILS MEETING CITY COUNCIL ON APRIL 11, 2016 FROM KATHRYN MATHEWSON, BIOLOGIST AND SJ RESIDENT Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, has said: "The true revolution will come when technology and biology come into balance". With this balance in mind, this has been written to help guide the future of San Jose's parks and creek trails. We are the capitol of Silicon Valley and the Valley of Hearts Delight with some of the best soil in the world! Therefore, it is fitting that we begin this process. Following are some ideas how we can do this. 1. CREATE MORE NATURAL NATIVE PLANT AREAS: Design them so visitors can walk through and adjacent to them. Technology's hectic pace of life needs such places close to where people live. Hearing and seeing the peaceful sounds of nature will calm our busy minds and give us renewed energy. Technology should not be allowed in most of our parks. 2. CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITS IN PUBLIC PARKS, ALONG CREEKS, AND IN SCHOOL YARDS: San Jose has a decreasing number of birds, butterflies, beneficial insects, and bees. If we build a thoughtful place for them, they will come and multiply. What is needed is plants with year-round food, dense shrub areas for protection and nesting, and fresh water for drinking and bathing. Such habitats are certified by the National Wildlife Federation as well as in some states and cities. Place benches at a distance so everyone can sit and enjoy the wildlife activity. I have such a certified garden and several such benches in my garden. 3. SAN JOSE'S CREEK TRAILS ARE TOO LINEAR AND URBAN: They are currently designed for bikes and not walkers. These two usages have very different reasons for being in a natural area. The bikers make these trails unsafe for families, children, and seniors who are walking. To correct this problem there needs to be two very differently styled trails. The walkers should have a trail with decomposed granite or small wood chips and walk in a curved path along the creek's edge near and around the native plants. They should have benches along this trail. The bikers trail should be straighter, at the furthest edge of the space away from the trees and remain in asphalt. 4. SAVE AND CREATE URBAN OPEN SPACE: a. Sports fields over parking lots; b. Roof gardens; c. Never build developments on public land; d. In new developments place all hardscapes under the buildings and create as much green open space on the building's sunny side even if it means a taller building. Soften all tall buildings with tall narrow trees. e. Create wider green spaces along creeks for the wildlife who need larger spaces and not just linear ones. f. Place restaurants along the creeks and in our parks.

7 g. Create sports fields surrounded by natural plantings similar to what they have done in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. 5. A SAN JOSE BOTANICAL GARDEN because San Jose is the only city in the 30 largest U.S. cities which does not have one. There is no such space for our South Bay ecosystem. The only ones in the Bay area are one in San Francisco's former Fairgrounds in Golden Gate Park, two in Berkeley (one on the UC campus), and one in Santa Cruz (on the UC campus featuring Australian natives). Such a place will increase San Jose tourist days and will help residents experience and be educated about plants, our unique ecosystem, the cultural diversity of our community, and growing plants for health. If it is top notch, it will attract high quality international and national speakers and visitors. 6. TECHNIQUES TO SAVE OUR TREES: This would include building curbs to increase water at the tree's base for deep roots, deep watering techniques such as deep pipes and bubblers, water harvesting from roofs for our increasing drought years, and correct pruning so tree roots obtain water. 7. DEMONSTRATIONS TO SAVE AND USE LESS WATER IN OUR OPEN SPACES TO MAKE SAN JOSE A GREEN CITY AND NOT THE WATER DISTRICT'S "BROWN IS THE NEW GREEN" CITY. Examples would be: a. Creating healthy soil biology because plants can use 40% less water in such soil. Pesticides kill soil biology so we must stop using them. b. Planting designs which represent our native ecosystems like various styles of meadows rather than lawns; c. Examples of shade trees and windbreak perimeter shrubs which stop wind, heat, and weeds from entering into our open spaces. d. There are many water harvesting and rainwater storage techniques. We have NO EXPERTS to help us here. 8. EVERY LARGE PARK SHOULD HAVE HOUSING FOR ITS MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL. This will give needed housing to a population which is not usually well paid and give them pride of ownership over many years. This is done in England with remarkable results. 9. CREATE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR OUR PARK AND GARDEN MAINTENANCE PROFESSIONALS. It is mandatory that we have better trained people to work in San Jose's parks, gardens, schools, and open spaces. We have only Foothill College's Horticulture Department to do this. Almost none of their graduates come south to help San Jose.

8 To: Councilmember Ash Kalra & D-2 Staff From: Coyote Creek NA Board Members Re: SJ Parks Dept Study Session / Monday, April 11 th Can you address the following questions during the SJ Parks Dept Study Session: BUDGET: Regarding Park Maintenance needs What does the General Fund cover? What does the C & C cover? Regarding Park Funds Clarification as to the decision and when did this begin Older parks are funded at $10,000 per acre New parks are funded at $15,000 per acre Regarding General Fund: Can you address / explain: Parks maintained by City Personnel Parks maintained by outsourcing contracts Parks maintained by developers as part of turnkey agreement *How will the City handle the maintenance of the developer maintained parks as they return to park staff? *What will the impact be on the General Fund? BROKEN EQUIPMENT & PARK FURNITURE: Benches; Tables; BBQ Pits; Exercise Course; Basketball Backboards How is the repair of broken equipment and park furniture handled? General Funds C & C Funds How is broken equipment and park furniture prioritized for repair and how do the community concerns factor in? WEED ABATEMENT & FIRE SAFETY PREVENTION What is the plan for weed abatement within the parks? Is this plan available to the community? GRAFFITI & GANG TAGGING Is the park graffiti part of the City s San Jose Clean APP reporting system? Does PRNS intend to implement a system to report graffiti similar to the San Jose Clean APP? SJ Public Works has an online system where community members can view current projects & repairs, can this model be utilized by the Parks Department for park users and community to follow?

9 April 11,2016 Dear Mayor Liccardo and Councilmembers, We, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo Foundation, Emma Prusch Farm Park Foundation and the San Jose Parks Foundation are your non-profit partners who get-up everyday thinking about what we can do to help make all parks in San Jose - from the smallest % acre park to Alum Rock Park with 720 acres, amazing. As supporting organizations we have worked to bring the new exciting Anteater, Red Panda and Alligator exhibits to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo; the Harvest Fair at Emma Prusch Farm Park which celebrates the agricultural heritage of the Santa Clara Valley; and supported the growth of creek cleaning organizations which have collectively removed more than 200 tons of trash from Coyote and Los Gatos Creek and Guadalupe river through the San Jose Parks Foundation. Park staff changes. Park Managers move to other locations for more experience. Mayors and Councilmembers serve out their terms. Our organizations are the public "face" of the park. We are recognized as the guardians of our parks. We are the personal link into the community. We ask you to consider not only the individual impacts we have as organizations, but also the collective impact. Our volunteers and donors demonstrate the high value placed on our city parks and the great need. Funding from the City demonstrates to our donors and other agencies that our work has value. As we look to the future, we ask that you continue funding our organizations and work with us to find new, creative, ways to support the work we do. Sincerely, Heather Lemer Executive Director Happy Hollow Foundation ^ Sharon McCray Board President Emma Prusch Farm Park Foundation f r lim&pjh r San jose -'art \ Foundation 1

10 tflhhki o *44 Q^/-\/marp Initiatives/strategic issues Situation Unintended consequences Why call? Learned hopelessness Cutbacks maintenance staff Less frequent & slower response, garbage, broken stuff, graffiti. Too rushed to notice problems. j Turf Reduction Less mowing, less water More weedy areas Large piles of chips never spread Water cutback 47% Parks taking burden for city. Turf dies, weeds take over 1 Governor ordered 25% for all Expensive future rehabs city parks exempted. Why 47% Unsafe play areas; 100s dead trees. Cost to remove/replace. Integrated Pest Management Pilot Good for environment, health Lots of labor OR lots of weeds and j rodents 1 Changes in management of ground Good for raptors; rodent Unplayable turf \ squirrels, gophers population explodes Cancelled events Weed abatement- Limited chemicals, less often Find more volunteers OR live with the weeds and poor aesthetics I Volunteer Program Weekly fibar spreading under >Burnout risk. playgrounds at capacity. Consider demographics: teens and Volunteers doing former staff jobs. seniors. Next gen is small. 1 Organized groups asked to do Volunteers prefer aesthetics more weeding and regularly. flowers & plants not weeding Outsourcing of Maintenance Infrastructure backlog Afraid of homeless/skipped service. Don't report graffiti or broken equipment Garbage, homeless, graffiti, broken equipment rises. Broken & ancient sprinkler system Wastes water, can't water. Dead turf and trees j Drought Dead & stressed trees, dead turf Risks! Costs to remove/replace. 1 Placemaking Events by City Builds community Requires dollars to organize and cleanup affected parks. Only a few parks. What about the rest of the parks? j

11 Y o n \ ^ CvVfr 7 cam \ " ; n _ Hello. My name is Gavin Miller I want to address some of the problems in Hathaway Park in District 1. One thing is that some of the basketball hoops are broken because the screws are loose and the nets are falling out. Another thing is the benches have graffiti on them. Also the baseball field fence is not that great and might get some holes in it if we don't act in time. Lastly, the par course stations are in bad condition. The screws are loose and could fall out pretty soon if people keep using them. The reason I want to fix these things in the park and more is that f like to play there but if everything is broken., the park is useless. That is why I think we should fix Hathaway Park. Thank you for your time and attention.

Programming Ideas for Parks Professionals

Programming Ideas for Parks Professionals 6 How to Use this Information This is a list of ideas, suggestions and tips for promoting and incorporating the healthy in nature movement in your parks. Whether