March 9, 2 to 4 Pm from the Preside
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The Official Newsletter Of The Miraloma Park Improvement Club March 2013 Miraloma Life www.miralomapark.org MPIC All-Ages Neighborhood Networking Event: March 9, 2 to 4 pm Events in Join your neighbors and MPIC Board Members at the MPIC Clubhouse (350 March O’shaughnessy Blvd. at Del Vale) for an entertaining and informative networking opportu- nity. Board members and local experts will staff information tables and free beverages and snacks will be provided. 1, 2, 42nd Presentations will include: 7-9 Street (Musical) Senior Citizen Resources. Many people want to be able to stay in their homes as they grow Ruth Asawa SOTA older, but this can be difficult to manage unless you are well informed about the resources (visit sfsota.org) available to seniors living at home. If you are a senior or know seniors, please come and learn about services that can help you to maintain your independence. We will spotlight 7 MPIC information on health organizations that promote safety at home, applying for markedly re- Board duced-cost senior transportation, free home maintenance for low-income seniors, and more. Meeting* (continued on page 6) Thursday, 7 pm From the President’s Corner The MPIC’s Position on the Plans 9 MPIC for Mt. Davidson Forest All-Ages by Robert Gee, MPIC President Network- by Dan Liberthson ing, 2-4 pm MPIC I’m pleased to announce that I have ap- Clubhouse pointed Daniel Homsey as an interim MPIC On June 7, 2012, the MPIC submitted a Board member. Many of you have met Dan letter of comment to the Environmental Re- through the annual Bella Vista Way neigh- view Officer about the Significant Natural Events in borhood block parties that he has helped or- Resource Areas Management Plan (SN- April ganize over the years. He brings a wealth of RAMP) Draft Environmental Impact Report local government experience and knowledge (draft EIR or DEIR) proposal for Mt. David- to the Board. Through his work with the San son. The full text of this letter is available 4 MPIC Francisco General Services Agency, he is on-line at http://tinyurl.com/d2ecqpl and via Board principally involved with the SF Neighbor- a link to this site provided on our miraloma- Meeting* hood Empowerment Network (NEN). The park.org website under the heading “News Thursday, 7 pm NEN is a coalition of residents and com- and Notices.” In this letter, we detailed our munity organizations, nonprofits, academic concerns about the impact of the proposal institutions, and private and government to remove a large number of trees on wind, agencies, whose mission it is to empower forest resources, cultural landscape, erosion, residents to build strong resilient communi- aesthetics, recreation, noise pollution, and ties. The NEN does this by strategic partner- wildlife. We requested that these concerns ships to develop programs and resources that be addressed, and supported adoption of the * Members wishing neighborhood stakeholders can leverage as Maximum Recreation (Maintenance) Alter- to address the Board they create safe, clean, healthy, inclusive, native proposed in the DEIR, which would of Directors should and economically resilient communities. stress maintenance and preservation of more call 281-0892 to The NEN is organizationally sponsored by trees for recreational purposes than would arrange to be placed on the agenda. (continued on page 7) (continued on page 2) Preserving or Destroying the The MPIC’s Position on the Plans for Mt. Davidson Forest? Mt. Davidson Forest by Jane Risk* (Continued from page 1) In an article in last month’s Miraloma Life, Ruth Gra- other options offered by the plan. vanis attempted to reassure us that “The adoption of the We now await issuance of the Planning Commission’s proposed Significant Natural Resource Areas Manage- Response to Comments on the Draft EIR for SNRAMP ment Plan (SNRAMP) would facilitate implementation and of the final EIR. These documents are expected this of long-overdue management measures.” The fact is that Spring, and we will then need to study them to deter- SNRAMP is NOT a “yet-to-be-developed plan” for man- mine if our concerns have been answered and re-affirm aging the Mt. Davidson forest. Rather, it is a carefully or modify our position to accord with our findings. In documented, detailed plan to eliminate 1600 trees in the meantime, it has become clear that some in our com- the 10.2 acre heart of the forest so as to “slowly convert munity hold different views about SNRAMP than those those areas to native scrub and grassland habitats.” (SN- expressed by our letter and by the SF Forest Alliance, RAMP Appendix F-1) The SNRAMP makes no mention which has been prominent in criticizing the DEIR as of replanting trees to replace those cut. In the 3.5 acres of proposing to cut far too much of the forest. In keeping with the long-standing policy of the Miraloma Life and (continued on page 3) of the MPIC Board, we favor providing in the newslet- ter a venue for varied and dissenting views on issues of Sue Kirkham importance to our neighborhood when articles expressing Realtor such views are submitted. Accordingly, our February is- Ca. Lic. #00898385 sue featured an article by Jacquie Proctor and Rupa Bose representing the views of the SF Forest Alliance, many www.suekirkham.com of which the MPIC included in our 2012 letter, but we For Miraloma Park home Sellers seeking: also printed an article from a different viewpoint by a Highest Sales Prices supporter of SNRAMP, Ruth Gravanis. Seller only representation We feel it is important that both viewpoints be presented State of the art marketing plan and tools Expert preparation and negotiation skills and debated, and so in the following pages we offer Honesty, integrity and good judgment another article by Jane Risk of SF Forest Alliance and Attention to detail. a response by Ms. Gravanis. In Ms. Risk’s article is an Full time Realtor in San Francisco since 1985. internet address at which the DEIR for SNRAMP can be Neighborhood knowledge, and much more. found, which readers may wish to consult, as both au- Putting YOUR interests first thors base their arguments on and refer to this document. As Miraloma Life editor, I expect to devote more space Phone: 415-229-1297 Home office: 415-333-9840 to this complex and controversial issue in future editions. www.suekirkham.com At present, in my own opinion, it appears that both par- [email protected] ties in this debate want to preserve Mt. Davidson forest but have differing ideas of how to achieve that goal, and of how the DEIR proposes to achieve it, as well as differ- ent concepts of the likely scope of effective public input and review of the specific projects to be undertaken on the mountain. Yet, as Ms. Gravanis mentions, there are areas of agreement, and perhaps a greater consensus will emerge. March 2013 Miraloma Life Page 2 voice their concerns and raise objections. But it’s all a Preserving or Destroying the farce. Not once has the Department altered their plans Mt. Davidson Forest? based on public input. Furthermore, they have hired HORT Science to determine which trees to keep and (Continued from page 2) which to eliminate. The public has no voice in this deci- sion. Management Area 1C, above Juanita Way, the SNRAMP Developments in Glen Park Canyon have been a wake- plans to remove 1,000 “invasive” trees. That’s 82.5 % up call for us. More than 3,000 people signed an SF For- of the trees in that designated area, even though the plan est Alliance petition to save the 42 trees at the entrance itself warns that “substantial tree removal in these areas to the Canyon, trees that though not hazardous and not should not occur” because it could increase the rate of in the way of the playground construction project were windthrow (falling trees). (SNRAMP Appendix F-11) tagged by HORT Science as having “poor suitability.” On Jan. 7, Recreation and Parks held a meeting to inform Ms. Gravanis asserts that the Mt. Davidson forest is the public of its tree-cutting plans. Almost everyone in poor condition and is in dire need of management. who spoke up at that meeting objected to the proposed However, SNRAMP Recommendation GR-15 states that tree-cutting. On Jan. 10, the bulldozers moved in. All the all MA-3 zones, such as the 19-acre forest preservation stately eucalyptus trees along the entry way have now zone on Mt. Davidson, will be given the “lowest prior- been removed. The hillside on Elk Street was clear-cut. ity” in terms of management. The stated purpose of the RPD promises to plant 163 new saplings, but most of SNRAMP is NOT to manage the forest. It is to gradually the species are shrubs, and the trees will not grow as convert one-third of the forest to native scrub and grass- tall as the ones destroyed. Moreover, RPD admits that it land habitats similar to the “coastal scrub habitats of San only has funding to monitor those saplings for the next 2 Bruno Mountain or the grassland-scrub mosaics of the years. Marin Headlands.” (SNRAMP 6.2-7) In the words of the WTPCC: “NAP has done an ex- I am not the only one who is alarmed about the Natural tremely poor job of informing people, including park Areas Program (NAP) plans as they are presented in the neighbors, of its plans. Those plans were created without SNRAMP. On June 4, 2012, the twenty neighborhood seeking input from park neighbors and park users … organizations comprising the West of Twin Peaks Central Established neighborhood associations, including many Council (WTPCC) said in a letter to the SF Recreation and Parks Commission (RPD): “NAP has expanded far (continued on page 4) beyond its original mandate to protect and preserve rem- nants of San Francisco’s natural heritage, into large-scale conversion of existing habitat into something completely different, conversions that will change the character and uses of the park for decades to come.” Ruth Gravanis mentions none of the other major draw- backs of the SNRAMP, including repeated applications of herbicides so that non-native trees and grasses “will not be allowed to establish.” (SNRAMP 6.2–8); habitat destruction; increased erosion from the loss of trees; increased water runoff; increased wind and windthrow; restricted park access; and a negative impact on carbon sequestration and global warming.