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.

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