Friends of Santa Teresa Park Zoom Meeting, 5/5/22

 


    • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Greg Koopman (remote from Delaware), Joan Murphy, Steve Crockett, Ron Horii. 
    • This was an online Zoom videoconference meeting. Mike sent out a meeting link for this Zoom meeting.  Here's the agenda for today's meeting.
    • If we talk about our work days in our FOSTP meetings, that part of the meeting counts towards our volunteer hours.
    • Mike proposes we have an informal picnic and hike at the Bernal Ranch on Saturday June 25th to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ranch's opening, which was dedicated on June 29, 2002. This would not be a public hike, so we wouldn't need a permit or insurance.
    • Steve agreed to take Kitty's place as Vice President. Kitty has been having health issues.
    • The Parks Dept. is planning a La Fuente celebration on 7/30. We're invited to participate. We'll do that instead of National Night Out, which would have been only 3 days later on 8/2. That will be the next opportunity to distribute our latest newsletter. We need to have a newsletter ready by 7/23 so we can print up enough copies to distribute on 7/30.
    • On 5/4/22, Mike, Greg, and Ron had a Zoom meeting with Julie Lee about the FOSTP work plan. Our work days are usually right after our FOSTP meeting and sometimes the week before. Maintenance needs more time to be informed about our plans. We should consider moving our work day later in the month. Julie said that in order for us to use power tools like weed whackers, we need to be trained by Maintenance, and we need to measure the temperature and humidity before cutting weeds to prevent fires. We are not allowed to use chainsaws. She also said that short-term volunteers need to show proof of vaccination to park staff (not volunteers), so there needs to be a staff member there to verify it. Long-term volunteers submit proof of vaccination online.
    • Ron showed pictures: Rob's nature journalling event at the Bernal Ranch to Santa Teresa Spring, Katrina's twilight hike to the Bear Tree Lot, Jason Bombardier's Earth Day cleanup event at the Bernal Ranch, flowers on Bernal Hill, the new memorial bench at the junction of the Joice and Vista Loop trails, and the Volunteer Recognition picnic at Hellyer. At that event, Woody received a Presidential Lifetime Service Award for his work on trail. Ron received a service award for 14,000 lifetime hours. Kitty talked about the history of the volunteer program.
    • Michele Dexter invited FOSTP to have an information table at a future event at Almaden Lake.
    • Mike has the new time capsule and knows a spot to bury it. He wants to solicit inputs from schools. We could do that at La Fuente. However, that's in summer, when schools are closed.
    • NAQCPA is working on holding Pioneer Day at the Casa Grande on 10/8/22. 
    • On 5/21/22 at 5 pm, the Santa Clara County Preservation Alliance will host a Preservation Awards Night at History San Jose Park. Kitty Monahan and Bruce Bartlett will be honored. FOSTP has been invited to have a table. We can pass out last year's newsletters. It would be better to pass out a trifold or a 1-page flyer, if we had one.
    • The County recently bought the property along Fortini Road between the Stile Ranch entrance of Santa Teresa Park and the Rancho San Vicente entrance to Calero. There will probably be meetings in the future to discuss building a trail through the property to join the two parks. We should get involved with that process.
    • November 2 is Day of the Dead. There could be an opportunity to do an event then.
    • Treasurer's report: We have $2049.60 in the bank. Outstanding expenses: $24.24 to Ron Horii, $200 to UNSCC, $99.80 to Zoom, $325.04 total, net $1724.56. We'll have to spend $40 for state tax fees. 
    • Traditionally, we have a pre-Mother's Day hike in May. It's been cancelled the last 2 years because of COVID. We proposed a May hike on May 14 on the Stile Ranch/Mine/Fortini Trail loop. Ron submitted the application on April 12. It has to be approved by the Interpretive Dept., but it still hasn't been approved. They usually need more than a month to plan for events like this. There's not enough time to plan and publicize it, so we won't have it. People can come and hike it on their own.
    • Greg said the city is investigating the entrance to the new trail across from Bernal School. The city will be surveying it in the morning from 7-9 am when school is in session. They will see how the kids are using the trail and how they are crossing the street. There's no crosswalk at the trail entrance, and the ramp is at 90 degrees from it, requiring a sharp turn for bikes.
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       Created 5/11/22 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park
    Funding provided by a Beautify San Jose Grant