Category: City Reports

Approved

heidi08 City Reports October 7, 2009

Our presentation to the PPMCC last night was well received and (if I say so myself) well delivered. Beaver friends Lory & Jean were there to while away the long hours and Jill Harcke, executive director of the John Muir Mountain Day Camp was there to look supportive. Jill was very happy with the beaver presentation we did at camp, and we were just thrilled with her gifted artists’ tile contributions. She brought a special “beaver trophy” as a thank you and a print out of all the quotes from John Muir with the word “beaver” in them.

(She does thank you, very well.)

The commission enjoyed the presentation and was appreciative of the sample tile I passed around. They had a brief discussion where they agreed that this was in their purview. Then mentioned a new plan from Main Street Martinez to do an artist tile bridge coming up for review. First I (or most of them) had heard of it. (And to be honest if it existed before I had lunch with some key players to talk about our plan I will eat a bug). But good ideas are always stolen, we’ve established that. I’m don’t mind sharing.

There was some discussion earlier about the connundrum of how could Martinez possibly make good choices on the cultural commission without a cultural plan? One Unfan of ours wanted to delay the project because the said plan didn’t exist, and talked forlornly about how art could not be appreciated without rules. He described an important mural in his office that he “had painted over” because he hadn’t known how significant the muralist was. “And I actually liked the painting! But I covered it up. I didn’t know better because there wasn’t a plan. I would never had done it i I’d known.”

The mind reals. The jaw drops.

(I would have liked that movie if I would have read the review. I would have enjoyed that wine if I had known how much it cost. I would have loved that music if I knew Rolling Stone was going to rate it 5 stars.I would have slept comfortably in that bed if I had known the mattresses were European. I would have appreciated that girlfriend if I knew at the time who she was going to eventually marry.)

Certainly a person couldn’t possibly just use their own SENSES to actually decide what they enjoyed and make such a decision without a plan, could they? Certainly an educated person couldn’t research a work of art and learn about the artist and decide whether to keep it or not? Honestly, I couldn’t imagine the kind of self-awareness you would have to lack to say this out loud in a public forum in defense of already questionable action.

Another Unfan wanted us to get a permit from fish and game because we were working near the creek, (!) and maybe go to the planning commission as well (!!). I greatly appreciated the other members disagreement and Karen Majors clever warning that “We don’t like to send projects into a “Mobius Strip”. (Which, given that the application for a public event in the city of Martinez is 19 pages, can’t be entirely true, but I was so happy to be supported that I tried not to appear doubtful.) (Just for comparision the application for an event in San Francisco is one page.)

A nice man asked if there were issues for our timeline and if going on to city council would delay us inconveniently. Having sat already in the meeting for nearly three hours I smiled and said “Yes, but we’ve waited before. We know how to do it.” A brave voice pointed out that this was children’s artwork and what was the planning commission going to change? There was a motion to approve and send us off to coordinate with staff, which was seconded. The commission voted nine to two (Unfans) to approve, and Karen will contact me to arrange a meeting with staff to work out the particulars. I think I’m supposed to come back in Novemeber for a final final final approval, but at least I don’t need to go to the council.

All in all it was a successful (but longggggggggggg) night. The issue of naming the beaver festival park was delayed for another day, but I was able to mention that I was fairly sure what it should be called. “Some people call it the-park-where-Steve-Weir-got-married, but that only happened once, and we’ve had two festivals now.”

Just saying.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters…

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports, Creative Solutions October 6, 2009

Beaver Visibility Project: Part I

Tonight’s presentation to the Parks, Recreation, Marina, and Cultural Commission will include a presentation on the proposal for children’s tile art on the Escobar bridge. Alhambra Creek’s “troubled waters” has been the subject of much consternation and joy for the past two years. Let’s build a monument to mark the journey! The tiles were created with the help of artist Frogard Butler at our beaver festival. Others were added under supervision of Jill Harcke at the John Muir Mountain Day Camp. They are waterproof, weatherproof, and weary-proof. They are delightful to look at every time I see them.

The idea is to use the blank wall of concrete along the Escobar bridge as a base and to install three 6 foot long panels framed in cobalt blue. Each panel will have three blocks of nine tiles each, which will allow the images to be broken into visually pleasing palates, like patches on a quilt. The surface will be treated with a graffiti protection, so that any unwanted marks can be easily removed. We have already consulted with a general contractor who outlined the necessary steps and is willing to help with the project for cost.

It is interesting to consider that other than the beavers themselves and some little images on the kiosk, there is no visual reminder of the beavers in the entire city of Martinez. Information come from the media, the website, and the brochures we hand out at the library and train station, but don’t represent the city itself. Martinez, who has picked up the tab for the necessary flow device, (and that unnecessary other thing), has not taken credit in a proud visual way for an accomplishment that is recognized as far away as Tampa and Memphis. The bridge project would acknowledge the hard work done by our city and our residents, and the truly remarkable achievement we have accomplished.

Think about it: Martinez took a very conflictual issue and wove it into a trademark. Not only a trademark–but one that is still continuing to renew our urban creek and generate new interest in our city. How often when you tell people where you are from do they ask, “Oh you mean where the beavers are?”. I can’t remember the last time someone responded by asking me about the refinery blowing up.

The tile project would be a monument to the work we have done to beat our swords into plowshares…(our fears into flow devices?). It would be paid for entirely by Worth A Dam, and could be supervised by the city. And it would be really cute.

Part two of the Beaver Visibility Project would be interpretive signs, but we’ll talk about that later. Come see more at tonight’s presentation, or join us for moral support. The meeting is at 7 pm at city hall. The beavers have may have made “troubled waters” for Martinez, but only a fool would fail to see that they’ve been the bridge as well.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=GYKJuDxYr3I]

New Friends

heidi08 Beaver News, City Reports October 4, 2009

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

This majestic golden eagle from Native Bird Connections was our neighbor yesterday at the Wild Birds Unlimited Open House. Two eagles can definitely out-draw some chatty women with beaver pictures, but it was lovely to be in the shadow of their greatness. The day started out with a stranger walking up in a worth a dam t-shirt, which is always great fun. Then a fantastic chat with MDAS about finding help for their web page which included many lovely compliments about ours. (Thanks Michael, wherever you are!) I then learned that the MDAS member had attended a meeting recently in Oakland where one of the others was wearing a t-shirt advertising an actual dam with the slogan “Worth A Dam” on the front. (!!!) A good idea is always stolen.

We met a charming young woman who had attended the November meeting at the High School. I’m always fascinated when I meet people who were there, who cared passionately, but who didn’t speak up because others seemed to have the issues covered. All day we were able to have a nice discussion with the herb society about beavers being a keystone species, and chat with a very interesting woman who works for the city of Berkeley and knew Janet Kennedy from way back in her “salad days”. She was very disappointed to learn that she was not pro-beaver, and gave us suggestions about winning her support.

Later in the day came an intriguing conversation with an serious-looking man who stopped to talk about beaver management, and then about “city management”. It turned out he was very instrumental in the fight to block the Tony La Russo project at Hidden Lakes Park, remember that? No one objected to ARF, just the location of carving out their very limited recreation space. He talked being notified about the issue at the last minute (No!) and and a city that made a poorly thought-out plan with no regard to its residents.(No!) and dealing with several sneaky Brown Act Violations (NO!).

The meeting was right before thanksgiving, and he had printed flyers from his office and called all his friends and neighbors to attend. Gary Bogue was involved, and here’s the part of the story I just love. Apparently Gary knew a young woman who had been birding Hidden Lakes for the past 6 years, and had taken meticulous notes on what she’d seen where. Turns out there were more variety of birds in Hidden Lakes than in all of Briones, including one very rare bird right at the location of the intended ARF building. Game. Set. Match.

They eventually won their case, and got the project stopped. He commented wisely that one of the best parts for him was letting the children see that civic response could be important and powerful, and that every voice could participate. It reminded me of a certain November 7th, nearly two years ago, when uptown, downtown and out of town got together for a dynamic civics lesson.

One of the things we talked about was the “Great Highway Four Divide”. I told him how much power and influence I thought south of 4 had, and he smiled with surprise, saying “Wow, we always feel ignored.” I thought that was funny, and important. I definitely think its the reason we were successful at that November meeting, because both sides of four were there with a powerful voice. It made me think that finding common ground between these places would be powerful and hugely healing for the city. The truth is both areas feel their needs are ignored in critical ways, and share an inherent mistrust of the other. It is probably no accident that our working against each other allows the council more freedom to push their own agenda forward.

Divide and conquer.

A Beaver in Every Creek

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Friends of Martinez Beavers September 26, 2009

I thought today would be a good day to update folks generally on what’s been happening and what to expect in the next month. Alex is preparing his final “beaver management” summary from the conference, and while he’s busy looking up words in English (can you believe what a good job he’s done?) I can let you know some news.

First of all, I had lunch yesterday with Friends of Alhambra Creek Igor Skaredoff to talk about a project for testing the water quality at the beaver dam. He discussed tests for temperature, salinity, flow, bacteria, detergent and BMI (Benthic Macro-Invertibrates), how they could all be accomplished, and who the key players were to beg favors from to do this on the cheap. Igor knows and is loved by absolutely everyone, so I wrote down everything said and nodded gratefully a lot. The idea would be to work with Rona Zollinger and the ESA students to get the project going. She’s already expressed interest, so the next step is to contact my beaver experts and learn what’s most important for beaver health, and then shorten the list. If you’d like to be involved, especially if you have any expertise to contribute (maybe you’re a whiz with spread sheets or research?) drop us a line and I promise you will never feel more loved or popular.

In other news, beaver friend Mike Callahan was invited to the State House in Massachusetts thursday with the MSPCA to present on beaver management. One of the interested parties in attendance was the chief of staff for Senator Antony Petruccelli who, as it turns out, is the chair of the committee for the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (in charge of beavers!) and vice chair of the committee on climate change. The chief of staff was very very interested in Mike’s presentation, stayed to ask questions, and invited him back for another presentation. Given the hit job the Department of Fish and Game got the New York Times to do on beavers earlier in the year, it would be excellent to have a key player on our side.

Scott of JournOwl has been very close to some good news about his burrowing owls, and posted about it here. Looks like the developer and the city are starting to take the owls seriously, so that’s a great achievement.

Our calendar for October is looking fairly insane but the beavers surely appreciate the advocacy work.

October 3: Wild Birds Unlimited, Pleasant Hill

October 6: Presentation to Parks, Marina and Cultural Commission, City Hall

October 10: Jugband Jamboree, Martinez Marina

October 11: Native Plant Fair, Tilden Park

October 17: Girlscouts Amazing day, Flyway Fiesta Sugar Loaf, Walnut Creek

October 22: Presentation to the Kiwis Club, Martinez

Get the picture? We’re gonna be busy.

By the way, I just got back from a trip North and saw these wonderful interpretive signs at MacKerricher state Park in Fort Bragg. They were conceived, made and designed by Sea Reach, an Oregon based Company, so I just had to call and ask how they felt about beavers. Great conversation and ideas, and definately got me rethinking the idea of our interpretive signs.

A related note about my conversation with Dave: In the commercial breaks we chatted about woodpeckers and badgers and I tried to get him interested in the stories. He knew about these stories from Carolyn Jones’ articles in the Chronicle, so step one is get her attention!

Finally, Cheryl did some great sleuthing and sent me this last night. It’s the blog from Jenny Holden of Scotland, Field Officer for the Scottish Beaver Trial. Check out her pictures from the conference. Sadly, I don’t see our t-shirt, but we’ll work on them for next year.

Once Upon A Time…

heidi08 Beavers or Social Ambasadors, City Reports, Creative Solutions September 22, 2009

Once upon a time, in a very far off land where olive trees made a familiar pattern on the hills, a family of travelling magicians moved into the creek. There were three to begin with, a mother, a father and a healthy teen and all were adept at weaving straw into gold and sticks into shelters. They picked a neglected spot along the stream to make their home, right at the edge of the tide, and nestled in amongst the willows and rushes of their people.

Children and their parents sometimes stopped near their camp to watch a party trick or two. The magicians could juggle brightly colored lights and carry trees on their fingertips and it was amusing for the townspeople to see. But back at the castle, the stern old mapmaker was not amused, and argued that the magicians would call the Great Waters to rise up and flood the small village, drowning their homes and cattle. He directed the magistrate to kill the magician family, and the decision was swiftly made to execute.

‘Such decree of death caused public outcry for those who had enjoyed the magicians waterside display, and the sentence was softened to banishment when the children began to cry at the great meeting where it was considered. A gathering was planned to consider the fate of the magicians, and all the people left their huts and hovels to join in council around the fireside where important decisions were always made. There were four on the dais and four hundred in the fields. The magistrate’s brought in high priests with yardsticks to speak of the Great Flood the magicians would bring if allowed to stay, and the people spoke of their talents and treasures and asked that the magistrate find a wizard who could prevent the flood and allow the magicians to remain.

Faced with such a united and determined voice, the magistrate appointed a council of seven and charged them with the weighty task of finding such a wizard and setting him to its dilemma. Perhaps he expected the task to be impossible, and hoped to divide the inevitable failure by seven and share the blame for banishment. However, these seven quickly scoured the nation for the best skills in the land and the sharpest minds of the nation. After 90 days of searching they brought forth a great wizard the Green Mountain State and, after much council and deliberation, employed him for the position.

Sir Gallop of Lisle was tall and stern as he surveyed the magicians’ lair and considered the risks of the great flood. The pulses of many a maiden fluttered as he strode shirtless into the shallow creek to see what damage might be called. Despite the prodigious difficulties he knew just what must be done, and he used an enchanted conduit to move some of the powers from the area so that the magicians could cause no harm. With the new bypass in place, even the yardsticks of the high priests could assess no risk of flood. There was great rejoicing and many sighs of relief, and the townsfolk bought Sir Gallop many tankards of finest ale before he returned to his home in the green mountains.

Now the magicians have lived in the town for three autumns, and the townsfolk still love to gather and watch their displays. The enchanted conduit works day and night to direct the power, and in the late summer the townsfolk gather for a festival to celebrate the magicians presence in their town. Come join them some evening to watch the juggling of brightly colored lights at the waterside, and remember that your town may get magicians soon.