Comments to the Council

heidi08 Uncategorized November 21, 2008

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=rQefxDQemaA]

Poor Defenseless Sharpshooters…

heidi08 New Species July 7, 2009

Rossmoor News bemoans the trampling presence of media onto their private woodpecker shooting party. They feel the permit obtained through Fish & Game was a last resort by very beleaguered property owners who had spent 170,000 dollars dealing with this problem in the past decade. They had painstakingly tried nonlethal methods including squirt guns and mechanical spiders. Why didn’t the media understand that shooting nearly three score of these birds is the only option?

The article also makes sure to point fingers at those pesky beaver lovers.

The News published three letters from residents upset about the woodpeckers being shot. The Martinez women, whose mother lives in Rossmoor, read the letters and contacted the outside press, according to the reporters. The reporters said that the woman is the president of Worth a Dam, an organization that spent a year saving the Martinez beavers.

For the record, the president of Worth A Dam’s mother does not live in Rossmoor, she lives in the Sierras where pileated woodpeckers sometimes grace her porch. The member of worth a dam whose mother lives in Rossmoor does not herself live in Martinez. Beyond this confusion it might behoove Rossmoor to do a head count of how many residents of Rossmoor are active members of the audobon society or volunteers at the Lindsay Museum. It is not the environment where these things happen without notice, regardless of some pesky beaver people.

The goodnews is that all the unwanted media scrutiny has slowed down the process and given some smart minds room to suggest real solutions. Mt Diablo Audobon Society reports that there will be a task force meeting between the permit holders and Audobon appointees.

MDAS has made a decision based on the meeting we had with the Maintenance and Mutuals that are involved to form a task group and assist with this wildlife issue. We have an opportunity to make a partnership and keep the integrity of the biodiversity that should not be lost. The meeting at Rossmoor went well and they seemed to accept the offer of help. As we enter Thanksgiving week we have tabled until the Dec 1.

Problem solving. Working Minds. Happy Endings. Good Press. When are the permit-pursuers of this world going to realize that public concern and outcry can actually help improve their decision-making and keep them from making very bad choices?

I’m sure Rossmoor managers will send Worth A Dam’s Thank You Note very soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

heidi08 Uncategorized November 20, 2008

To our own Linda Meza, Worth A Dam’s VP of public relations. With her quick wit and fast fingers she has smooth talked the media into being friends of the beavers and made Martinez a household name. Now she has helped save woodpeckers too. Happy Birthday Linda, we are honored to have you on board.

Impervious

heidi08 City Reports November 20, 2008

Tonight the council demonstrated their ability to withstand factual information of any kind. I delivered these comments along with large scale posters of the two historic photographs.

The Resolution tonight has my full support and should receive a unanimous vote. This project is certainly completed. You completed the heck out of it. I’m unclear why the council asked staff to weigh in on the historic photos discovered by Worth A Dam but you did so I wanted to make sure you had my comments as well.

This first photo, never printed in any newspaper but discussed in the LA Times, shows the de-watered creek in 2000. By itself it refutes the major argument. The Cal Engineering Sept 22 report said the emergency conditions were caused by the widening separation of the bank from the wall.

Obviously, based on this photo there was no bank along the retaining wall historically, so the fact that the soil was separating from the wall is no indication of any urgent situation.

In this photo you can also see that there is a tree planted at the location of the largest crack inside the Bertola’s property. Some of the crack is visible in the photo, as is all of the most likely culprit.

However, the most alarming evidence comes with this 2^nd photo, taken in fall of 2001 showing the replanting efforts. Looking along the base is clear that the ridge we were assuming was a footing is in fact sheet pile and concrete. Your recent staff report addresses saying this is an un-engineered wall installed by maintenance that covers a short section for which there are no historical plans. Does that mean maintenance had access to a pile driver? If there are no plans how do you know the wall was un-engineered? Most importantly, This “short section” covers some 70 feet of the Bertola’s wall, which is only 120 feet total. It appears to have concrete poured behind it, and our fluvial geomorphologist confirmed that she saw concrete in exposed patches so that makes sense. Knowing that there are also four pieces of sheet pile nearest the bridge, 2/3 of wall shows existing sheet pile, so it is reasonable to assume it is also along the places where we cannot see as well.

What does this mean? It means that Martinez spent half a million dollars to build a sheetpile wall with concrete in front of a sheetpile wall with concrete.

I didn’t say this at the meeting…but I will say it here with a special thank you to Mr. Colbert:

Knowing how destructive our beavers can be, do you really think two layers is enough?

Silver Lining Alert:

Last night staff reports spent nearly thirty minutes addressing issues raised on this website and put forward by Worth A Dam. Tim Tucker presented an update on the city photos we discovered and his best understanding of them, and Dave Scola was asked to discuss mother beaver’s eye injury and even consulted Skip Lisle and Mary Tappel about it. They certainly would never have been aware of either of these issues if it weren’t for this website and Worth A Dam’s hard work. This is what is known in political circles as “setting the frame”. The city had to respond to us, in instead of the way round. Maybe it’s a November 7th anniversary present, or maybe it’s the influence of the Beaver Moon. Either way, its worth pausing to inhale.

Once, Twice, Three times a Liar…

heidi08 City Reports November 18, 2008

Martinez Historical Photo September 2001

Lie One: The bank separating from the wall creates an emergency.

Lie Two: There Is no foundation or footing to the wall.

Lie Three: The cracks are evidence of new beaver damage.

I don’t know much about baseball. Remind me again, what is it that happens after three strikes? You know the more I look at the footing along the bottom, the more I recognize that pattern. Click on the picture to zoom in. Where have I seen it before? It’s kind of like crennulations. Kind of like…um…THIS

Don’t tell me that we spent half a million dollars to install sheet piling in front of sheet piling. Well I guess we did, this helps me understand the staff report much better.

Staff believes the photo shows an un-engineered sheet pile wall along a short section of the Bertola wall. This work was apparently done by City maintenance staff during the original channel construction. No records of the design of this section of the wall or supporting structural calculations have been found.

If no records exist how do we know it was “un-engineered”. What exactly does a “short section” mean? Looks like at least half to me. How far does it go down? No wonder they wanted the area filled up with concrete so that no one would ever find the secret wall built behind another wall.