Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting, 2/4/10




  • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Roland LeBrun, Ed Jackson, Woody Collins, Ranger Julie Lee, 3 county sheriffs deputies: Nate Davis, Rich Teamon, Sgt.Eric Bourassa.
  • Sr. Ranger Julie Lee is back from maternity leave.
  • Ron showed pictures of Santa at the Bernal Ranch, pictures Coyote Peak, flooding of the canal at the Bernal Ranch, the Laurel Canyon waterfalls, and the Nature Trail.
  • We talked about graffiti. There are graffiti databases run by the Transit Patrol and SJPD. The more data they have, the easier it is to catch the culprits. Crew tags have a common tag for the gang and a separate tag for who did it. The Coyote-Alamitos Canal is not on park property, so the rangers won't take a report on it. At Hellyer, they keep an internal database. Ryan Lugo is working on sharing it with other agencies. Try to get pictures of graffiti to the parks dept. Call the county dispatch to report it. Ed says he has been seeing more graffiti on the street and sidewalks.
  • We talked about sheriffs' coverage of the county parks. They have a year-round and seasonal staff. They cover 2 shifts and all the county parks. One group covers the northern parks. The other covers the southern parks. In the summertime, they have a second shift. After hours, they can call for other deputies to respond. They cover all 5 park campgrounds. $2.5 million from the parks dept. covers 85% of the cost. 15% comes from the general fund. The parks are billed on a monthly basis.
  • We talked about the park residences. They never go to the sheriffs. They are pre-designated as ranger or maintenance residences. It is a labor union issue. The rangers in the houses can respond to any call that comes in. However, there are no patrol vehicles at Santa Teresa. Roland said he would like to see sheriffs or rangers in the park residences to deter crime.
  • There have been smash-and-grab burglaries at the IBM turn-around lot on Bernal Road. They solve most of them. They come in spurts. They have had problems after-hours in the lot. They have made some drug arrests. They see more of them in the winter.
  • If you see a crime in progress, call the dispatchers. Say you are in Santa Teresa Park, which will direct the call to the park dispatchers. Tell your location, describe your appearance and what you're wearing so the responders can contact you. If you call and say you want to be contacted and how, they will contact you to tell you what happened.
  • 299-2311 is the non-emergency number. You can use it anywhere in the county.
  • The sheriffs patrolling the parks drive SUV. The regular patrol drives regular cars. They can call a helicopter if needed. 2 ATVs are available.
  • The sheriffs only do law enforcement. Violation of the park rules are handled by rangers first. The rangers can write citations, but they can't transport. Rangers don't respond to weapons calls. If the weapons are unknown, the rangers won't respond. If it's a BB gun or paintball gun, they can respond.
  • If you see suspicious people, the sheriffs will go to talk to them.
  • Ken Yeager is proposing banning smoking in the parks.
  • We talked about job rotation. If a deputy comes into the park patrol unit, they are there for 3 years. Every 3 years, they get new deputies. The rotations are staggered. They can come back after 1 year. They can choose to extend their duty. The seasonal deputies can come back.
  • For missing people, they can call search and rescue, who are volunteers. They can be ready in about an hour.
  • The busiest parks for the sheriffs are Anderson, the Hellyer-Santa Teresa unit, and Stevens Creek. They get more calls at Hellyer than Santa Teresa.
  • They are converting the horse stables at the Norred Ranch to storage, putting cement on the floor.
  • Roland suggests putting a webcam at Santa Teresa Spring, powered by solar cells. The dispatchers have access to the Internet and could view the cameras.
  • The James Ranch in Morgan Hill has deputy coverage for 12 hours a day. They don't have coverage the Muriel Wright Center. The inmates wear green and khaki outfits.
  • For the next meeting, Don Rocha or someone from the natural resources dept. will come to talk about cattle grazing.
  • The 3rd Tuesday of the month will be a work day. Mike, Roland and several other retirees will come to work from 9-12. If it gets rained out, it will be on the following Tuesday. It will be brush work. Frank Deto from maintenance will supervise.
  • August is Fandango. The budget has been cut. We should ask for $500 from the CAP Grant to pay for entertainment at Fandango.
  • The new CAP Grant application is due 2/15/10. Ron took the CAP Grant reporting class.
  • Roland will talk to the HHC about the barn. He will recommend moving the tree. He said that 400 year-old trees have been moved. The proposal was to make the barn 5 feet smaller, pushing it back. The plan is going to the HHC on 2/18 since they paid for it. An engineer said to tear down the barn and rebuild. Construction-wise, it cost the same, but costs more CEQA-wise.
  • Mike got forms from Robin for interpretive signs.
  • Our balance is $455.51.
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    Created 3/2/10 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park