YEAR END REFLECTIONS

In the six or so years I've lived in this spot I have always been amazed by the wealth of wildlife in this little corner of Alameda.

This morning while walking el doggo I saw a single Monarch fluttering by. And last night while again walking el doggo I could hear the slow sonorous tones of a frog calling from the vernal pond at Linear Park. He seemed to be broadcasting that all was right in his corner of the world and that was worth comment on his part.

We are regularly overflown by Canadian Geese coming and going in all directions. Sometimes so close you can hear their wing beats. Humming birds every time you turn around. Powerful little life forces and seemingly unafraid of anything. We got mocking birds chasing the cats and while super high on testosterone singing their fool heads off at three am. There are Great Blue Herons who come hunt in the fields next door. They stalk mice and gophers the same way they hunt fish. There are house finches fussing in the back yard. Crows, Red Tail Hawks, Redwing Blackbirds, Blue Jays, Turkey Vultures, and many l.b.b.s (little brown birds) that I can't identify. There are raccoons, possums, rabbits, and the occasional skunk. There are all sorts of butterflys in the summer. It is really cool to watch them come feed on flowers that I planted. There are shorebirds (can't recall the name at the moment) that circle at night and make a plaintive cry in the dark. Lots of life affirmation all around all the time if one is simply aware.

And finally to close the year a little life affirmation from our friend Louis Armstrong. This is a concert clip from BBC-TV dated July 2nd 1968. My best wishes to all for the New Year.

WARRIORS DO IT BACKWARDS AGAIN.

Conventional basketball wisdom holds that the Warriors should have won at home against Denver and lost to Denver on the road. Home court advantage and all of that. The Warriors of course did it their own way. Friday they struggled mightily to stay in the game with Denver and always looked like they might pull off another comeback win. However, they never managed to put together a string of defensive stops and scoring long enough to get a decent lead on Denver. Allen Iverson had an outstanding game with 39 points. It was a painful game to watch.

Tonight however they were a different team playing in Denver. More hustle, better rebounding, much better defense, and they held Allen Iverson to 13 points. Neither team shot all that well but the Warriors were the masters of their own destiny and it showed. They outscored Denver in the first and fourth quarters and showed how good of a team they can be when they're fired up.

They did much the same thing earlier in the season losing in New Jersey and then winning the following night at Cleveland. Conventional wisdom would have reversed that scenario. At this point they are always interesting to watch (if somewhat painful at times) but very streaky. I'm thinking it is a pretty safe bet that they'll get to the Western Conference playoffs barring injury, acts of god, and so on. However, unless they get a lot more consistent from game to game I think they are going to be in trouble against a steadier team in a best of 7 series. I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that prognostication.

Anyway, there is a lot basketball to be played yet in this season. The Warriors have a serious road trip in front of them. They play at Houston tomorrow night and at Dallas on Wed. Then at home on Fri. against New Orleans and host San Antonio on the following Mon. Should be fun to watch.

FOUNDATION STORIES: Or how it all got started.

Tonight I was going to write about Rhythmix, our own McArthur winner, and Kiva but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Instead I'll introduce you to our theme music and lay out our foundational myth.

OK, children of love, gather round the glow of your monitors, shut out the cold winter night and let uncle Rog tell you a little tale. Ahh, a little sip from my glass of Rosenblum's "Vin du Ordinaire" and I'll get started. I'm a firm believer that every good creative enterprise should have theme music and a creation myth. In the case of my little blog the two go hand in hand.

Way back in 79 when I escaped from the midwest and moved to OZ (S.F.) I shared an apartment with Richard. Richard had a pretty good album collection and among those albums was the Greatful Dead's "American Beauty". We played that album all the time. I particularly came to like "Box of Rain". It was good winter time music for one thing. It seemed to touch hauntingly on the themes of love and loss, of hope and regret. It ends with the line, "Such a long time to be gone, such a short time to be there." I have always interpreted that line as an admonition to get on with your life and do the things that you really want to do.

It has been a lot of years since I've listened to much Greatful Dead. But a few days ago as I was driving back home on Atlantic, in the rain, "Box of Rain" was playing on the radio. As I listened to the lyrics I thought, "Yes, I'm just going to sit down and start doing that blog." I came home and did just that. That is the power of music for you. So that's my little creation story. Hope you liked it. But wait there's more... I was looking around YouTube for a nice concert clip of "Box of Rain" and I ran across a short two and half minute interview clip with Phil Lesh and Robert Hunter about the writing of the song. Turns out this was written when Phil Lesh's dad was dying of cancer. Check it out, it is well worth two and half minutes of your time. The second clip is of the boys in concert playing the song.

A GOOD PARK... PART TWO

So, I finally got time to get on the phone to Alameda Parks and Rec. dept today regarding the dead and dying redwood trees (see first post below). I left a message on their repair line and also a voice mail for Dale Lillard who is the director of Parks and Rec. I was expecting not hear back from anybody until the new year. However, about 20 minutes after I left the voice mail Dale called me back. You gotta love this aspect of living in a small town. Good luck getting that kind of response in S.F. or Oakland. Mr. Lillard was very nice and said that they were aware of the problem and were trying to figure out what to do about it. Part of the problem in figuring out what is going on is that there are perfectly healthy trees right next to dying ones. Now some of the dead trees have have just been plain vandalized. For others it is less obvious what is going on. Might be soil contamination that existed when the trees were planted, might be lack of water, might be run off from BayPort construction, might be chemicals being dumped by construction workers, and could be all of the above.

Here is what I do know. There are (or were) 117 redwood trees planted the full length of Linear Park. Of that total 27 are missing, dead, or so far gone that they'll need replaced. " I'm sorry Mr. Redwood your prognosis is not too good, the fact is you're toast Mr. Redwood, dead tree standing and all that jazz." In addition there are about 20 or so other trees that are showing signs of stress. That is they are showing brown tips at their growth points, and lots of yellowing or brown needles. These trees probably will join the dead tree standing club if prompt action is not taken to save them.

Here is where things stand right now. Mr. Lillard indicated that I should get in touch with John McDonald who is their head of maintenance and that Mr. McDonald could arrange to do a walk through of the park with me and fill me in on what they have done and are going to do regarding the redwoods. I left a voice mail for Mr. McDonald who is out of the office until Jan. 2nd. I'm hoping to meet with him by the end of next week or shortly thereafter. I will keep you posted as this moves along.

My feeling is that Parks and Rec. are a little baffled as to what their next steps should be. I also get the feeling that they have not completely investigated the situation to see what is going on. (I could be wrong on that, but I don't think I am.) This is where a little polite citizen action comes into play. Parks and Rec. is pretty responsive to citizen input (the joy of small towns again). If they hear from a few more of us park using, dog walking, bike riding Alamedeans on the subject of taking care of the redwoods in Linear Park... well it should help to focus their attention on solving the problem sooner rather than later.

So, get out to Linear Park and look at the trees for yourself and then let your fingers do the walking. Parks and Rec. Maintenance Line is 510-747-7541. Parks and Rec. head of maintenance is John McDonald at 747-7530. Director of Parks and Rec. is Mr. Dale Lillard at 747-7529. I find that just leaving a voice mail works very well. It gets your point across and keeps it short and sweet. Also it means that you can call when it is convenient for you rather than trying to make time during office hours to call.

Ca. Primary voter guide arrives.

Oy Vey!! I could have waited a few more days before having this show up in my mailbox. I really don't want to start thinking politics the frigging day after Xmas. Maybe I'll just slide it under the mail pile for a few days before I start reading it.

Besides all the presidential stuff there are several big money constitutional changing measures for California. My prediction is that no matter what the outcome of the vote these measures will move immediately to the court system.

I'll be voting from the comfort of my couch again this year. Ahh... I can see it now. A little fresh popped popcorn, a Warriors game on the tube, and big pile of election literature as I try to figure out what these constitutional amendments really mean. But seriously, registering for an absentee ballot was the smartest thing I've ever done as a voter. It really takes a lot of the stress out of voting. I highly recommend it to everyone. And here is the real beauty of it. Even if you don't get your ballot into the mail on time you can still vote from the comfort of your own home and drop your absentee ballot off at your polling place. No waiting in line, no filling out the ballot in somebody's cold garage.

A GOOD PARK SLOWLY GOES DOWNHILL.

I live in a very interesting part of Alameda. Parts of my neighborhood include lots of open space, abandoned housing, an organic nursery, an award winning winery, Coast Guard housing, and Linear Park. Linear Park is the subject of today's post. I've lived near Linear Park for over six years now and in that time seen it slowly take on the shabbiness of long term neglect.

For those of you who are not familiar with the park it runs for approximately a half mile next to Main St. beginning at Atlantic Ave. and ending at Singleton Ave. It is about 115 feet wide give or take a little. The park has "good bone structure", whoever originally designed the park had a good vision and it was well realized in the construction of the park. The park invites you to stretch your legs, jog, walk your dog, ride your bike and get a little fresh air in your lungs. It is a well used park. I walk my dog there almost every day. I see joggers, bikers, kids coming from or going to school, moms with strollers, and kids on skateboards. What I also see is a park that is being very poorly maintained.

One of the features of the park is a half mile row of redwood trees at the back edge of the park that defines the border of park with adjacent Coast Guard housing and Bay Port housing. At least it used to be a feature. Now it appears to be an exercise in how to slowly kill a redwood tree. It is not a pretty sight. About two dozen of the trees are either dead or flat out missing. Most of the rest of the trees between Atlantic and Willie Stargell Ave. are showing signs of stress. This time of year healthy redwoods should be showing new green growth both at the leading tip and the points of the branches. In Linear Park I see lots of brown on the leading tips and branch points. It seems likely that the watering system got damaged at some point and the trees are no longer getting watered. Nobody in Parks and Rec. seems to have noticed. It takes an extended period without water for a redwood to show as much stress as these trees are showing.

Now generally I really like Alameda Parks and Rec., they are one of the organizations that makes Alameda a great city to live in. However, in this instance they are really asleep at the switch. So, fellow citizens of Alameda help me to wake them up. Pick up your phone and make the call. 510-747-7542 is the number for Parks and Rec. maintenance requests. Also it wouldn't hurt to call and leave a voice mail for the Director of Parks and Rec., Mr. Dale Lillard. The main office number is 510-747-7529 and the receptionist can put you through to his voice mail. Be polite, but let them know you like your parks to be fully maintained and taken care of not just sorta maintained.

Now in closing let me encourage you to get out and see Linear Park for yourself. The stressed out redwoods are unfortunately just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are many things wrong with this park that can only be fixed if you, me and other Alameda folks demand that they be fixed. I'll be revisiting this topic in future posts to cover the other things gone wrong in Linear Park. I'll also be posting a few pix. to illustrate what I'm talking about