Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting, 3/6/08
	Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Mario Blaum, Ed Jackson, Woody Collins, Holly Davis, Sam Drake, Bui Thang The Rocky Ridge Trail has been reworked. The drainage has been improved. They used the Sweco bulldozer on the trail from the entrance up to the first switchback. Above that, it was hand-worked by trail crews. The VCC Recognition Dinner is on April 4, 6:00 pm at the Campbell Community Center. It's out-grown the Santa Teresa Golf Club Banquet Facility. The Santa Teresa Historic Area Site Master Plan reports are being reviewed. No news yet. The Strong Neighborhoods Commission selection is coming up. Mike joined as a selection delegate for District 2 and 10. The Healthy Trails kick-off event is on May 4 at Hellyer 12 pm. Mike submitted our calendar to the parks dept. He sent details to Robin. We have $125.11 in the bank. Mike sent in our annual non-profit registration form to the state. It costs $20 a year. Ed Jackson talked about Santa Teresa Spring. There's been a lot of after-hours activity there. His wife called dispatch to report it. They wanted to know how many people were there and what they were doing. She wasn't going to go look, so they hung up on her. Dispatch is not used to getting calls from the public. They have a lot of rotation. Use 400 Manila Drive for the address of the spring. Ed says he only calls if he has a concern about the activity there. He doesn't call if people are just walking in the park. The light at the spring works. He's found syringes at the spring. Mike says to come to the next Parks Commission meeting to talk about the spring. It's on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 in the County Building. The retaining wall below the Coyote-Alamitos Canal between Camino Verde and St. Julie's Church is covered with graffiti. The anti-graffiti people will paint out graffiti, even if it's on county land. We held our elections. We unanimously voted to re-elect the officers of the board of directors (President: Mike Boulland, Vice-President: Kitty Monahan, Secretary: Ron Horii, Treasurer: Holly Davis). Mike and Ron attended the Parks Commission meeting. Julie Mark talked about the capital improvement plan for the parks. The plan showed the Santa Teresa Park projects. They had planning dates, but not committed dates: 2010: east barn, 2010: grazing plan, Historic Site design: 2011, implementation: 2012. The Casa Grande in New Almaden will be undergoing renovation this year and will be closed. The park interpreters will move temporarily to the Bernal Ranch at Santa Teresa. On 3/29, the park commissioners will take a tour of the areas in the capital improvement plan. They will probably visit the Ignacio Bernal site, the Joice and Bonetti sites. Ron is giving an outdoor photography class and wildflower walk on April 12, 9:30 am at the Bernal Ranch and Bernal Hill. Earth day is April 19. There will be a trail day at Almaden Quicksilver on the New Almaden Trail. Mike attended the State Regional Water Quality Board meeting in Oakland. They talked about the status of mercury in the Bay. Mike spoke to the director. He said there will be 3 sites that will be required to be cleaned up: 1 in Almaden Quicksilver, and the Bernal Mine and Santa Teresa Mine sites in the Santa Teresa Hills. The site in Santa Teresa Park is behind the Norred Ranch. There is a brick furnace left on the hill from the mine. The other mine site is on private property above the end of Cottle Road. The mine only yielded 2 flasks of mercury. The parks dept. is planning a summer camp at the Bernal Ranch in July. We talked about putting a plaque on Coyote Peak. Robin Schaut said she would fund it. The plaque can have pictures of the valley. There can be more than 1 plaque eventually. Plaques can show and talk about the Coyote Valley, the Almaden Valley, and Santa Teresa. They can show people what a valley is. They can show what the areas looked like. IBM may have some old pictures. We will come up with the words and pictures. Robin will have a graphic artist put it together. Ron and Mike will be putting together our CAP Grant application. Ron attended the CAP Grant class. The grant has to be $500 minimum, up to $15K maximum. We will be asking for money to pay for our UNSCC membership fees and our website. We need event insurance to pay for an interpretive event next year. We can also ask for money for meeting refreshments, T-shirts, and a newsletter. Mike found an old map, which shows the adobe for the Berryessa family. The Berryessas owned Rancho San Vicente. The old barn on the Fortini Trail was part of Rancho San Vicente. It would be a good place for an interpretive sign. The Health Fair will be held again this year at Hellyer Park. It's on June 22. VCC will have a booth there, representing all volunteer groups. Because of the volunteer recognition dinner on April 4, we voted to cancel our meeting on April 3. Volunteer Hours: Ronald Horii: Martial Cottle Ranch meeting, FOSTP meeting minutes, website, park pictures: 45 hours. 3 hours, FOSTP meeting. Mike Boulland: 16 hours multimedia presentations, meetings. 5 hours, FOSTP meeting and preparation. Kitty Monahan: 3 hours FOSTP meeting Woody Collins: 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Mario Blaum: 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Holly Davis: 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Sam Drake: 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Ed Jackson: 6 hours Santa Teresa Spring watch, grafitti removal. 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Bui Thang: 3 hours FOSTP meeting. Return to the Friends of Santa Teresa Park Home Page

Created 4/1/08 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park