|
- Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Paul
& Jenel
Vincze, Mario Blaum, Holly Davis, Julie Lee
- Mario reported there are still cars coming around Santa
Teresa Spring at midnight and people going up into the hills. The
neighbors have been complaining about calling County Communications,
and the dispatchers don't know where the spring is, even though they
are given the map coordinates.
- Julie Lee, head ranger handling Hellyer, Santa Teresa, and
Coyote Creek north of Metcalf:
- The dispatchers will call the appropriate agency
depending on jurisdiction. The rangers and the sheriff handle the
county parks. The sheriff only has jurisdiction on unincorporated
lands. If incidents occur on San Jose city streets, the SJPD is called.
- Reporting suspicious license plates will help. They can
be run through the DMV to find the owner.
- They've haven't been seeing much activity at the spring
since school has started.
- Next summer, Julie wants to setup later patrols.
- The parks contracts with the sheriff's department to have
coverage of the parks after the rangers go off-duty.
- The residents in the houses in the park are maintenance
people, not rangers. They don't have enforcement training.
- Julie talked to the rangers about going up to the spring
to investigate trouble calls or if they see or hear something.
- She asked the rangers to report any contacts they make at
the spring to her. You can contact her for follow-up information.
- She has a a contact list for people in the neighborhood
about park issues. If you want to be on the list, give her you name,
address, and phone number.
- The Brockenhurst Drive gate is open as a park entrance.
The current gate will be replaced by an electric gate and a
self-closing pedestrian gate with hogwire.
- The buildings and mounted ranger unit are off-limits. The
picnic tables are for work crews, not for picnickers.
- Julie talked with Joe Schultz, Robin Schaut, and John
Dorrance about the issue of dogs at the BGJ Ranch. While dogs are
allowed on the trails, they can't be allowed around the historic areas
because of school groups touring those areas. John talked to other
farms, like Ardenwood. They do not allow dogs.
- They talked about putting up pooper scooper bags. The
problem is that people use them, but instead of throwing them away,
they drop them on the trails.
- They also talked about opening the parking lot at the BGJ
ranch. The lot will be open on Friday and Saturday during hours when
the ranch house is open. John Dorrance will be in charge of opening and
closing the gate. The caretakers can't be in charge of locking the
gates. If cars are left after hours, the rangers will try to find and
contact the owner.
- Opening the parking lot could open the trails to
vehicles. They will put up split rail fences to prevent this.
- The plan for the BGJ Ranch said that the parking lot
would be for park personnel use only. Mike said that the neighbors
wanted the parking lot to prevent parking problems along the street.
- The Coyote-Alamitos Canal in the park is Water District
property. People using it are technically trespassing. However, it's
not the park dept's. repsonsibility to cite people for it. That would
be the Water District's or sheriff's job.
- We talked about opening the Ohlone Trail to bikes. Julie
thought it should be open to bikes. The problem is that it's not on the
master plan as a bike trail. The master plan for the park is up for
revision, so this could be an issue to bring up.
- Upcoming events:
- Coastal Cleanup Day, Saturday Sept. 16, 9am-12pm, Stevens
Creek, Coyote Lake, Calero, Los Gatos Creek @Vasona, Coyote Creek
@Hellyer, Uvas Reservoir.
- Saturday September 16, Santa Teresa Community Fest (see
below)
- Saturday September 16, Bugged-Out Movie Night
(Grasshoppers) at Santa Teresa County Park’s Historic Bernal
Ranch 7:30-10:30pm – Explore the fascinating life of the
grasshopper in our world. Hang on to your seats while watching
the 1950s thriller “Beginning of the End”, followed by some safe close
encounters with the real-life creatures! Call (408) 226-5453 for
information and reservations.
- Saturday October 21, Bugged-Out Movie Night (Spiders) at
Santa Teresa County Park’s Historic Bernal Ranch 7:30-10:30pm – Explore
the fascinating life of the spider in our world. Hang on to your
seats while watching the 1950s thriller “Tarantula”, followed by some
safe close encounters with the real-life creatures! Call (408)
226-5453 for information and reservations.
- Saturday November 18, from 11 to 3 is Founders Day
Fandango at the BGJ Ranch. (See here
for the flyer.) There will be professional performers coming
in authentic costumes. There will be dancing, demonstrations, and
hands-on activities. The public, staff, and volunteers are asked not to
come in costume. Volunteers are needed to help run games, cook food,
and help with parking.
- Saturday December 16, Santa at the Ranch! at Santa Teresa
County Park’s Historic Bernal Ranch 1-4pm – Join Santa in the parlor of
the historic Bernal Ranch house. Bring a camera and step back
with your family into Santa Clara County’s historic past. The
ranch is located at the corner of Camino Verde & Manila Dr. in San
Jose, near Santa Teresa Hospital. Call (408) 226-5453 for
information.
- Santa Teresa
Community Fest: September 16, 11 am to 5 pm. Ron is organizing it.
We have booth 5B (see the event map). We
have to be setup by 10 am. We're diagonal from Coyote Crest 4H at 6C.
Jenel and Holly will be in the 4H booth. They may be able to come help
at the FOSTP booth. We're going to hand out maps. We can get maps at
the Hellyer ranger station. Ron will make posters. Mike will make a
flyer. Art Boudreault will be sharing our booth to talk about his and
Mike's New Almaden book. Mike's kids will be bringing the tables,
umbrellas, and signs. They may be able to help in the afternoon. Ron
needs more people to help.
- Jenel said 4H will be planting heritage flowers at the BGJ
Ranch on 10/13-14. They are supposed to be deer-resistant plants.
- 4H is looking for adult volunteers who have certain talents
they would like to share to teach classes to 4H kids. The kids range in
age from 5-19, but the classes can be restricted to certain ages. The
classes can be monthly or one time only. (Contact Holly or Jenel if
you're interested.)
- Coyote
Crest 4H is having an enrollment night next Thursday at the Coyote
Grange Hall, 8140 Monterey Highway, Coyote at 7 pm.
- The rabbit cages in the BGJ barn will be used for guinea
fowl.
- Ron talked about attending a meeting hosted by Forrest
Williams on the pig problem by Santa Teresa. See here for the notes from the meeting
and the city's brochure on pigs.
- Ron showed pictures: clearing of blackberry vines at Santa
Teresa Spring, missing blocks on the retaining wall at the spring, the
little spring next to the walkway at the spring. a borer insect trap at
the spring, Terri Williams and assistant working on the garden at the
BGJ Ranch, the fire in the Santa Teresa Hills west of the park, missing
trail signs at the Joice-Bernal Hill Loop junction and the start of the
Joice trail at the BGJ Ranch, the missing "Heaton Moor" exit sign on
the Hidden Springs-Mine Trail junction sign, the "area closed" signs
and lack of signs at the Mounted Ranger Unit, the Brockenhurst Drive
entrance, the map of the new trail.
- There will be no meeting in October.
- Volunteer Hours for July
- Ronald Horii: 27
- Mike Boulland: 15
- Kitty Monahan: 3
- Holly Davis: 6
- Paul Vincze: 10
- Jenel Vincze: 10
- Mario Blaum: 12
Return to the Friends of Santa Teresa Park
Home Page |
|
