7:00 - 8:00 pm
EVERY THIRD SATURDAY IN THE MONTH
CLEAN-UP DAY AT THE PLAYGROUND
Sean McGraw, Dan Dickinson and Charity Bermudez (our gardener) from Rec & Park, Sheryl from Park Patrol and 5 members attended. Alicia Wang, who is runnng for District 1 Supervisor also came to hear our concerns.
Agenda: We discussed safety and the opening/clsing of the new gates. Fall programs started last week and Winter session begins the first week of January. We scheduled our next gardening/clean up day for October 18th.
THE GOOD NEWS
Rec/Park has FINALLY installed the new tall gates on 38th Ave and increased
the height of the gates on 39th Ave. Park Patrol officers are coming out
at night (usually around 10 or 11 PM) and locking the gates so there hasn't
been much nighttime activity. However, sometimes the gates aren't unlocked
in the morning.
THE BAD NEWS
Park Patrol has been out on weekday afternoons citing kids for skateboarding
in the playground.
The kids found a crack pipe in the playground a couple of weeks ago (see picture). This was before the gates were replaced, so hopefully whoever was coming into the playground for this purpose can't get in anymore (unless they want to climb the fence).
The retaining wall continues to be an ugly issue. Rec/Park pulled the funding for fixing it and tied the funding to the GO Bond for the General Hospital that will be voted on in November (yes, they can do that). Devi filed a claim with the city attorney's office to keep the issue active, with a Sunshine Ordinance request for all documents pertaining to the wall: they were completely demolishing and replacing the wall next to KC's house (through his yard and to the property line with Devi's yard), but only paving over the easement next to Devi's house. The entire wall is faulty and cracked and why they would ever decide to replace only half of the wall is a mystery. A copy of the claim narrative was sent to Cassandra Costello at McGoldrick's office
GENERAL STUFF
In general, the playground doesn't look too bad. The gopher in the 39th
Ave. lawn was trapped by Chuck, the head gardener, and most of the irrigation
has been fixed. The 39th Ave. lawn is still a weed and poop infested mess,
but Rec/Park doesn't want to put any energy or money into it because of
the renovation. Charity said that someone has been turning on the sprinklers
on the 38th Ave, side, everyday. If you see someone doing this, please
tell them not to. The roots of the plants are rotting from being over-watered
and it's a huge waste of a valuable resource that we can't take for granted
anymore. The few instances of graffiti over the past couple of months
have been taken care of by ParkScan reporting and I haven't seen any broken
glass on the playground surface. Of course, the crack pipe is a concern.
Karen Mauney-Brodek from the Rec/Park Planning Division and Lorraine Banford joined us to answer questions about improvements and renovations at Cabrillo Playground, now that the bond measure has passed.
The majority of the dialogue was concerned with our standing in the renovations list and the fact that the southern retaining wall was never addressed by the COMET rating system. For example: Fulton Playground (also in District 1 on 27th Ave.) was given a score on the Poor Physical Condition rating of 45.0. Cabrillo Playground received a Poor Physical Condition rating of 44.1. That's 0.9 points difference, We pointed out that if the southern retaining wall was added to our score, we would have had a higher Poor Physical Condition score than Fulton. Fulton is in Phase 1 of the renovation, while we are in the later Phase 2!
Many neighbors were frustrated that Dawn Kamalanathan of the Rec/Park Planning Division last Fall told us to wait until the bond measure passed and then they would address this oversight. Now we are being told that there is nothing they can do, because the schedule was given to the voters before the bond measure passed.
Others pointed out that while the retaining wall issue needs to be addressed sooner than the start date for the renovations (because of the imminent threat to the neighbors' houses), it makes no sense to rip up the far end of the playground now, and then patch up the concrete, when we are just going to do it again in 12 months' time!
There was a general sense of frustration at this meeting, but Devi said she would follow up with Jake McGoldrick's office and Dawn to see if anything could be done to coordinate the imminent repairs and move up the Bond measure renovation.
Friends of Cabrillo Playground named "Volunteers of the Month" by Neighborhood Parks Council
10:00 am
Meeting at Cabrillo Playground Clubhouse.
Sean McGrew from Rec/Park was there to give us an update on our list of
health and safety priority issues.
1. The container will be moved within the next two weeks. That should
be by Oct. 31, 2007, so if it's there on Halloween, we'll know they are
late.
2. The fencing is being evaluated now for replacement. That is ALL FOUR
SIDES OF THE PLAYGROUND FENCES. No timeline on this as yet.
3. The YMCA Skateboarding Program will meet here only twice a month rather
than every Saturday. The other two Saturdays they will be at Fulton Playground.
4. Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, we will have a playground director. The
schedule is: Tuesday through Friday 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM Saturday 9:00 AM
to 6:00 PM Karen McCoy who was the director during the Latchkey Program
this summer will be one of the directors, and David Vidrio will be the
second director. David is an ex pro soccer player.
A NOTE ON DIRECTORS AND PROGRAMS: Rec/Park is loathe to assign
directors to playgrounds unless there are programs scheduled for the playground.
They charge for these programs (not much, usually $1-3 per session). It's
not like the old days when we just had a director on-site who kept the
clubhouse open for the kids to check out equipment or play ping-pong and
board games inside. Now directors are assigned on the basis of the number
of people participating in programs. We can request programs for children
of all ages, adults, and seniors.
Sean handed out a survey for Cabrillo Playground requesting information
about when the facility is used, what types of programs we would like
to have and contact information. I will send an attachment of this form
as a word document that you can
fill out and send by e-mail to Sean McGrew: (sean.mcgrew@sfgov.org) Would
the kids like a Tiny Tots program? How about tennis, basketball or soccer
for the older kids? What about an evening book club or pottery classes
for adults? This is our chance to get more out of our playground that
an empty spot on the block. It's up to us to utilize it. Please fill out
the survey and return it to Sean by e-mail. You can view what types of
programs are currently available at www.sfreconline.com
LANDSCAPING: We only discussed the landscaping a little. It is
apparent that we need to get some examples before we can seriously discuss
landscape design. I will make some excursions and take photographs of
nice neighborhood and playground landscaping and then maybe that will
give us some ideas.
2:00 PM,
City Hall, Room 416
The meeting agenda is at http://www.parks.sfgov.org/site/recpark_page.asp?id=66787 The GO Bond measure is #17 on the agenda so it will take a while to get to it (probably after 3:00PM - but who knows).
CABRILLO IS RANKED # 9 IN LINE FOR RENOVATION!!!! To see why click here.
To view the Draft criteria click here. To comment on our ranking or on the criteria used to rank the playgrounds, visit our Blog.
IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT WE GET A GOOD SHOWING TO REPRESENT CABRILLO AND MAKE THE FOLLOWING POINTS:
1. Since children are the predominant users of playgrounds, priorities for playground reapirs need to be based on child density not population density
2. Cabrillo has not been given a proper assessment, since the retaning wall damage to adjacent neighbors properties was not included in the COMET report
3. Cabrillo is adjacent to an active fault line, and with the crumbling retaining wall needs to upgraded for seismic reasons (Thank you USGS, NCSN - Northern California Seismic Network and BK - Berkeley Seismographic Stationfor the data, and Dr. Devi for the analysis)
4. The Parks department is not taking into account the number of schools and preschools that use the playground. Population centers may cluster in other parts of the city, but if their kids are being brought into our neighborhood to attend Lafayette and St. Thomas the Apostle, they are using the playground as well
10:00 am - Noon
7:00 - 8:00 pm
Maria Morgan-Butchart who led the Freinds of Rochambeau Playground to a successful conclusion and Dawn Kamalanathan from the Planning Division at Rec/Park with updates on the next general obligation bond for neighborhood parks and where we stand. Maria told a great story. She saw the need and she organized her neighborhood, enlisting over 150 concerned neighbors and parents to urge the city to renovate Rochambeau. She explained that they got a graduate student in the UC Landscape Architecture Program to draft a design for their playground so they had a good plan to take to the city. She said that they worked with the Neighborhood Parks Council, who acted as their fiscal sponsor and were there with advice, ideas and support. She strongly urged us to keep onto Rec/Park to get a director for the playground. She said that the help of their director was invaluable. He set up many programs that showed the City and Rec/Park that the playground was used by all age groups, therfore a valuable resource for the neighborhood.
Dawn reported on the status of the project selection criteria for the next bond monies. She said that the election that will include this bond measure will be in February, 2008 rather than June, so be aware and VOTE!
She also said the playgrounds determined to be renovated will actually be included in the wording of the measure (full length version, not what you'll see when you go to vote). The selection criteria and their weights are as follows:
Earthquake Safety...................................20 points
Renovating the most run-down parks............50 points
Considering Parks in Dense Urban Areas.......10 points
Targeting Our Most Versatile Neighborhood Parks......20 points
For a total of 100 points.
We noted that the fifth point in the original draft was a Citywide balance, but both Dawn annd Ron Miguel mentioned that a balance would naturally occur through the political process. In any case, u
Using these criteria and weights, Cabrillo Playground is #9. Given that there are over 200 neighborhood parks in the city, this may sound good, but we have to try to get Cabrillo pushed up the list. Dawn said that there may not even be enough money for 15 playgrounds and the lower we are on the list, the longer we wait. There were some issues that were left out of the COMET report (report by an independent engineering firm, 3D International, that evaluated every playground), namely that the concrete retaining wall on the south side of the playground is cracked and leaning inward, damaging the houses there. Right now we stand at 88.15% (closer to 100% the better).
10:00am to 12 noon
at Jefferson Elementary School
1725 Irving Street (at 18th Avenue)
Question: Why don't we have a director?
Answer: We'll have one by October, since the Mayor's budget was approved and Parks is hiring new staff.
Our Response: We'll be watching...
Mayor Newsom: So will I!
6:30-8:30 pm
We scheduled all future meetings for the third Wednesday of every month and our monthly cleanup day will be the third Saturday of every month.
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO OUR VOLUNTEERS!!!
A big thanks and a standing ovation goes to the Mitsuoka family (Tim, Catherine, Phillip, and Colin) and to Luke Collier for their hard work on Saturday sifting sand for glass, raking leaves, and picking up trash around Cabrillo Playground. Also a big thanks goes to Marianne and Will from the Rec/Park Volunteer Services office for their help and the use of their tools. We started work at around 10 AM and were done by about 12. In that time we sifted and raked the sand in the toddler's sandbox and raked the lower sandbox for leaves. Luke circumnaviagted the playground picking up litter, bottles, etc. It looks A LOT better.
Above, a collection of glass from the toddler's sandbox
You can e-mail her at Lorraine.Banford@sfgov.org to thank her (be sure to cc her bosses yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org and dennis.kern@sfgov.org).
Way to go, Lorraine!!
June 18, 2007
6:30-8:30 pm
Presentation by Dawn Kamalanathan from the Parks Department on what we can do to help the Bond Criteria Project Selection and get Cabrillo Playground on the list for future capital improvements.
