Holm Oak #25

The 2012 discussions between Martin-Fontana Parks Association and PG&E have successfully concluded.  On February 21st at 7:30 am, PG&E will be in the Jeffrey Fontana Park, west of the dog park, with Davey Tree Company. They will be removing tree #25, a Holm Oak directly under the high voltage center power lines.  This is a non-native species that has been crowding out more desirable native oak species in the park, and is a rapid growing variety which will pose a safety hazard in the near future. They will also be removing some of the random volunteer oaks at the southern boundary of the park across from Tree #13. They will be replaced with shrubs to maintain the screening provided by the oaks. MFPA believes that this was a very good outcome of the negotiations. It’s tough to lose a tree, but sometimes it’s the right thing to do.

This year PG&E will also donate several replacement trees to plant in Fontana Park to mitigate the loss of tree #25. This April, MFPA will join with Our City Forest, Adopt-a-Park, PG&E, and the Parks Dept. in a major planting and enhancement of the parks to celebrate Arbor Day. Over 20 new 15 gallon sized trees will be planted as a part of this event.

Click on collage for a bigger view

On Saturday the 28th of January,  MFPA, Adopt-a-Park, Cub Scout Pack 282, Boy Scout Troop 262, AAP high school students from Presentation, Lynbrook, and other schools along with other community volunteers worked with the City of San Jose Parks Dept. (PRNS) to spread large mounds of mulch throughout Jeffrey Fontana Park East of McAbee Road.  About 50 to 60 volunteers met at the Adopt-a-Park trailer Saturday morning and contributed one to  three hours getting the mulch spread and doing some planting too.

Dave Poeschel demonstrates the proper planting method

All the necessary tools such as rakes, wheel barrows, shovels and gloves were provided by Adopt-a-Park.  In addition, the Parks Dept. provided a skid steer loader with driver to help move around some of bigger piles of mulch.

The wheel barrel brigade

In a controlled experiment the Parks Dept. volunteers were provided  cardboard for the skin area southeast of the pedestrian bridge. This will be a testing site to see if cardboard under the mulch will be an effective weed control method for weed abatement.  If this works out they will be able to cut down the use of chemical weed control.

Lots of thanks to our many hard-working volunteers for getting the mulch spread! Many hands made light work.

Mom's little helper

Little man big man

Click on any photo for a larger version.

All present & accounted for, the Board. From left to right: Dick Stevens, Mike Kalashian, Bob Heldt, Pat Wagstaff, Larry Sasscer, Linda Wilson, Vince Piazzisi, and Pier Maggiani

The following subjects are covered:

• 2011 Year End Financial Report
• 2012 Negotiations Update with PG&E
• 2011 Accomplishments
• 2012 Project plans
• Future park enhancement ideas from public input
• 2012-13 Board Elections

• Location: Villas’ Clubhouse on Meridian Ave. at north boundary of Jeffrey Fontana Park – A Board member will be at the kiosk to open the gate and give simple directions to the clubhouse. Parking is available, but carpooling or walking is helpful.
• Time: Call to order at 10:00 am. Adjournment between 11:00 am and 11:30 am.
• Agenda: Intro of current Board.
• Financial report for 2011.
• Brief update of 2012 negotiations with PG&E on tree removal.
• MFPA Activity overview in the parks for 2011.
• Planned projects for 2012, including Tree #13 project.
• Election of 4 Board members for 2012-13 terms.

We welcome your comments and questions and look forward to meeting you at this event. Refreshments will be available – hope to see you there!

MFPA President Linda Wilson

Working in 2012 to improve our parks!  This Saturday, January 7, join our Board of Directors and Restoration Team as we walk through TJ Martin and Jeffrey Fontana Parks.  We want to hear your ideas about what you think needs to be done to “spruce up” and improved our park environments.

We will begin our tour at 9:00 am at the far west side of TJ Martin Park, near Fleet Street and Weimar Ave.  Our first walk will take us east through the park, crossing Burchell and ending at Meridian Ave.  If TJ Martin Park is your main area of concern, join us and give us your ideas for possible projects for this area.

At 10:00 we will cross Meridian to Jeffrey Fontana Park and repeat the process .  If the Fontana Park area where the most tree loss from PG&E has occurred is your area of concern, join us as we walk through to McAbee, across McAbee and through the Golf Creek area to Almaden Expressway.  This is a larger area and will probably take more than an hour.

We want to know what is important to you, share some projects already in our Master Plan, and get ideas to help us set priorities for the 2012 project year based on our budget projections.

Hope you can join us!  We are looking forward to hearing your ideas and concerns.

Sincerely,
Linda Wilson, the MFPA Board of Directors, and the Community Restoration Team

Thank you for supporting Martin-Fontana Parks Association as a member and with your sponsorships and donations.   We also thank all of you who had the time to come out and actively volunteer in our planting and clean-up projects this year.  We now have over 50 community members who have become Adopt-a-Park volunteers to work in our neighborhood park.

January 2011:  MFPA began negotiations with PG&E on their list of 26 trees slated for removal by the end of February.   We successfully narrowed the removal list to four mature trees and three saplings along the Villas fence line, for a total of 7 trees.  Others were trimmed or placed on a “watch” list for 2012 evaluation.

• January 2011:  MFPA held its first General Membership meeting and elected its first Board of Directors for 2011-2012.
• May 2011:  Using $1500 from PG&E funds for tree replacement, we planted 18 new 15 gallon trees in agreed upon areas of TJ Martin Park between Coleman and Meridian.  Our agreement with PG&E has stated that for every tree they remove, they will reimburse MFPA $75 for tree replacement or restoration of the area.
• June 2011:  As part of the Lucky Shares Program, we distributed Share Cards in the community to Lucky shoppers.  To date, we have received nearly $500 from the use of these cards by our supporters.
• July 2011:  The Restoration Committee completed a three to five-year Master Plan for restoration and enhancement projects in the parks.
• August 2011:  “Heart of the Park II” raised $1700 from new memberships, member renewals and the raffle donations. Your membership does count as we work with the City and PG&E to preserve our trees and enhance our parks.
• September 2011:  In June 2011 MFPA met with the City Arborist, asking that a grove of multi-trunked oaks in Jeffrey Fontana Park be proclaimed a “Heritage Grove” and placed on the City list of protected Heritage Trees.  The City Council voted to do so in September and MFPA will raise funds to place a permanent marker near the Grove.
• October 2011:  Two restoration projects were completed in Jeffrey Fontana Parks.  The first was Island A, a native CA plant area designed to enhance the bare dirt area west of the dog park – an area under the power lines where we are restricted and cannot replace trees.  The second was planting CA native plants from the tot lot east to Golf Creek on the east side of McAbee.  Nearly $2500 of your donations was used to fund this effort.
• November 2011:  Martin-Fontana Parks Association received a formal commendation from the San Jose City Council for our efforts to save our mature trees and enhance and restore areas most affected by PG&E tree removal.

2012:  A New Year of Challenges

 PG&E has already sent a crew out in the parks in early December to evaluate the trees for removal and/or trimming by the end of February.   Our negotiations team is preparing to meet with PG&E in the next two weeks to begin 2012 discussions with PG&E.  We will be actively working to promote trimming of all trees with no more removals.  We have already lost 16 trees in the parks over the year from disease and storm damage.

• Join us on January 7:  The Board of Directors and Restoration Committee are hosting a “Community Walk Through” of TJ Martin and Jeffrey Fontana Parks.  We are looking at areas that need improvement and locations where trees may be planted to replace those removed by PG&E or lost to disease or storms.  We have heard from some park neighbors about projects they would like us to consider.  We want to hear from you, too!  Join us at 9:00 in TJ Martin Park between Weimar Ave. and Fleet Street.  We will walk eastward toward Meridian and note down your ideas of areas which need attention.  At 10:00 we will cross Meridian and walk Fontana Parks from Meridian to Almaden Expressway.  From this assessment and your comments, we will build a project list for 2012 to be prioritized and budgeted.
• January 2012:  The second General Membership meeting will be held Saturday, January 21^st at the Villas from 10:00 to 11:30.  All members are invited to attend to hear an update from the Negotiations Team, discuss projects to be considered in the parks for 2012, and elect four members to the Board of Directors.

            Current Board Members:

Larry Sasscer, Mike Kalashian, Pat Wagstaff, Linda Wilson, Dick Stevens, & Bob Heldt. (Not shown, Vince Piazzisi)

•              Linda Wilson, President through 2012
•             *Mike Kalashian, Vice President running for election for a 2 year term
•              Bob Heldt, Treasurer through 2012
•             *Pat Wagstaff, Secretary running for election for a 2 year term
•             *Vince Piazzisi, Representative at large running for a 2 year term
•              Larry Sasscer,  TJ Martin Representative through 2012
•             *Dick Stevens, Fontana/Villas Representative running for a 2 year term

Nominations for the * terms are still open.  Any member who would like to become a member of the Board of Directors is invited to call Pier Maggianni at (408) 410-5166 to have your name added to the ballot.  Please do this before January 14, 2012.

Property Damage:  MFPA has heard from several park neighbors who are having an ongoing problem with property damage caused by ground squirrels and gophers.  These pests are migrating from the park into adjoining neighborhoods.  Three people in the TJ Martin Neighborhood area have suffered over $500 of landscape damage in their yards.  If you have also experienced problems, please contact Linda Wilson at ronald_m@comcast.net.  If we have a significant number of complaints, MFPA will arrange a community meeting with our City Council Member Nancy Pyle and the Parks Department to try to reach a resolution to the problem.

]]> http://saveourparktrees.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/2011-a-year-of-accomplishments/feed/ 0 sanduneboy MFPA meeting 1-22-11 086 cropped image http://saveourparktrees.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/the-2011-annual-report-for-this-blog/ http://saveourparktrees.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/the-2011-annual-report-for-this-blog/#comments Thu, 29 Dec 2011 00:41:12 +0000 Martin-Fontana Park Association http://saveourparktrees.wordpress.com/?p=3153 ]]> The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Please be very cautious about leaving anything of value in your vehicle while out in the park.  Put your valuables in the trunk or cover or hide them from view.  This poor lady is now at home canceling all her credit cards and trying to figure out just what was in her purse and is now gone.

Tips on how to avoid car break-ins:

•  Do not leave valuables in plain view:
  (GPS devices, lap tops, PDA’s, cell phones, MP3’s, wallets, purses)
•  Do not leave windows or sunroof open.
•  Do not leave doors unlocked.
•  Do not leave keys in the vehicle.
•  Do not leave the garage door opener in plain view.
•  Do not leave out items with personal information.
•  Do not move valuable items to the trunk while in public view.
•  Slow Down and use common sense before you leave your car.

Enjoy the Holidays but be safe,

Martin-Fontana Parks Association

The Mulch Gang

Spending 2-3 hours with help from over 20 volunteers, we had the bugs on the run last Saturday the 3rd when we spread the mulch over the landscape.  Fueled with free pastries and a pot of coffee donated by the local Princeton Plaza Starbucks, we made what seemed like a hundred trips with the wheelbarrows.

Click to view slideshow.

We are working on having another mulch spreading day on Saturday, January 28th.   We hope to see all you experienced volunteers back to spread the mulch from McAbee to Golf Creek.  Don’t worry, you will all have forgotten  how hard the work was by then.  Just remember all the great exercise you got and how you’ll need to get rid of all those extra pounds gained over the holidays.

Thanks so much for coming out and supported your community parks.

Also, thanks to Margie Heldt & Sunny Wagstaff for provided the photos.