Friends of Santa Teresa Park Zoom Meeting, 7/1/21

 


    • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Greg Koopman, Joan Murphy, Marilyn August, Steve Crockett, Woody Collins, Sam Drake, Ron Horii, Ed Von Runnen. 
    • 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.
    • There's a new park staff member at the Bernal Ranch, Katrina, hired as extra help. She lives nearby, so she knows the area. She will be at the ranch house on Sundays from 12 to 4. 
    • Park Interpreter Rob McDonnell has returned from disaster work assignment. He will be at the Bernal Ranch on Fridays.
    • Mike wants to have a picnic to celebrate when the new trail opens. It will just be an informal picnic for our group. The construction sign says the work will be done in September of this year. That may be the earliest it will be done. Joan suggested that Mike do a ghost tour then. We probably can't hold our own public celebration event because of the cost of insurance, but if the parks department has one, we can help out.
    • The San Jose Fire Department had a training session and controlled burn at the Pueblo Area today (7/1). They will continue tomorrow. Ed watched. Ron took pictures.
    • Permanent volunteers need training, including a sexual harassment class, Livescan fingerprinting, filling out a disclosure statement, and signing waivers. Occasional volunteers just need to sign a release at or before an event. Volunteers need to self-certify for vaccination status.
    • We had a cleanup at Santa Teresa Spring on 6/4. We cut vines, invasive broom, and poison oak and cleared dirt away from the spring and shrine. Helping out were Mike, Woody, Ron, Marilyn, Kim, and Youngmee. Somebody graffiti'd the spring font. We did not try to clean off the graffiti.
    • Park Maintenance cleaned off the graffiti from the spring font by grinding it off. It exposed the dark rocks underlying the font. It may need to be covered up again with cement to restore its historic look and to prevent water from seeping in between the rocks and the cement.
    • Greg talked to Dave Zitlow, who is the lead volunteer at Martial Cottle. He can talk to us about maintaining the Bernal Ranch gardens.
    • We will postpone our trip to see the grinding rock with the Bernal inscription. It's between Bernal Road and the canal near the golf course, but are there tall weeds growing there. It will be better to wait until winter, when the weeds are down.
    • For our next work day on Friday 7/2, we'll meet at the Bernal Ranch. We can work on Santa Teresa Spring or weeding the garden boxes. 
    • We can talk to Jason Gormon about the removal of the power poles along the Rocky Ridge Trail that used to provide power to the microwave station. They are unnecessary and unsightly now.
    • Ranger Bryan Lue is on vacation. Ranger Christopher Shear is acting senior ranger for Hellyer/Santa Teresa/Martial Cottle.
    • Treasurer's report (Greg): we have $1922.70 in the bank. We got a $20 refund for a fee we paid. 
    • We got Our Beautify San Jose Grant in 2019. It was supposed to pay for our operating expenses and events for 2019-2020. Since all events were cancelled in 2020, the grant period was extended to the end of 2021, but no new money was allocated. That means we have to make our grant pay for our operating expenses for 2 years. We may not have enough to pay for events, like National Night Out, even when we're allowed to have them again. Mike wants to gather up receipts for expenses, figure out how much we already spent and for what categories, see how much we have left in our grant, what we still need to pay for, and request reallocating grant money to different categories to cover those expenses.
    • Mike wants to thank Jeremy Farr for his work in planning the new trail and Jeremy Celaya for maintaining the Bernal Ranch.
    • We want to visit Little Uvas Preserve. It is not open to the public. Tours can be held there, led by Open Space Authority docents, like Ron. Ron will ask for permission to take a tour there on 7/10.
    • Marilyn said that we need more publicity for our group. Can we put up a flyer on the mapboard at the Bernal Ranch? We could ask for help for our work days.
    • Ron showed pictures: our work day at Santa Teresa Spring, graffiti on the spring font and its removal, the opening of the ranch house and barn, the wheelchair ramp at the barn that has to be moved in and out, the volunteer's Zoom meeting featuring Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful, Katrina: the new help at the Bernal Ranch, nature pictures from a hike to Coyote Peak, construction of the new trail, the Norred Trail conditions, garden boxes and weeds at the ranch, firefighter training/controlled burn in the Pueblo Area.
    • Sam said that repairs and sealing of the Mt. Umunhum radar tower are in progress.
    • Our next meeting in August will still be on Zoom. Kitty would prefer to meet in person. Mike will see if and when we can meet in our usual meeting place at the golf course banquet facility or some alternative.
    • According to Kitty, New Almaden Days will be held on 9/25. The Jump-In Parade will start at 11:00 am. There will be games and a BBQ lunch at the New Almaden Community Center. There will be no 4th of July party there this year.
    • Kitty said the Casa Grande is still not open. The County Executive has not yet decided when it will be open. 
    • Kitty said that NAQCPA has been a park friends group for 42 years. It won't be any more. Most of the board members have died or become incapacitated. There will still be a small group that will work on projects. There will still be one last Pioneer Day in October at the Casa Grande, celebrating past members.
    • Possible future field trip: Black Diamond Mines near Pittsburgh. There's a new tunnel there. It's underground and cool, so it can be done in the summer.
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       Created 7/14/21 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park
    Funding provided by a Beautify San Jose Grant