Letters to the Editor 4-18-13

Mario who?
Editor: Who is Mario Savio? A TV chef food star, a race car driver, a classic computer game, an actor or a writer? Very few under the age of 40 know.
Was he born in Sebastopol? No. Go to school here? No. Work here? No. Own a business here? No. Make the town a better place? No. Made Sebastopol famous? No.
Was he a longtime city councilman, mayor, city manager, or someone who gifted land to our town? No, No, No, No. A police chief, fire chief, patrolman, volunteer fireman or anyone else who protected, built or nurtured our community? No
Mario Savio became famous in the mid-1960s at the University of California, Berkeley as a protester, a leader in the free speech movement, in which he quit less than a year later. Savio moved to rural Sonoma County in 1990 and taught at Sonoma State University. He passed away at Palm Drive hospital, Sebastopol on November 2, 1996. His only connection to our town is that he died here. He did nothing to make Sebastopol a better place to live, visit, work or shop. By naming the downtown plaza after Mario Savio, the city council chose to honor and immortalize protest, activism and our first amendment right of free speech.
Dr. Lou Gottlieb of the 1960s recording folk trio called the Limeliters bought land in West Sonoma County which became a counter-culture hippie commune called Morning Star Ranch. He also died at Palm Drive hospital in 1996. The city council could have honored him. Flower Children Plaza?
In choosing to rename the Downtown Plaza, the city council passed over famous residents and many local citizens who have contributed to the foundation and modernization of Sebastopol.
Much better choices could have been, Luther Burbank (experimental farm); Willard Libby (Analy High); Karen Valentine (born here) or Ernest V. Joiner (owner/editor of the Sebastopol Times).
Melvin Davis (longtime city manager) obtained grants in the 1970s to purchase the plaza property for a fire station and then the downtown parking lot and in the ’90s purchased the land from NWPRR for our current parking area, which allowed the building of the downtown plaza of today.
Bill Edmund and Russ Shura (fire chiefs); Bill Roventini, Tom Klinker, Gwen Anderson, Bob Anderson, and other longtime mayors and councilmembers civic leaders, downtown merchants, health professionals and others who made our small town a desirable place to live.
I’m sure there are many more Sebastopolians who have contributed to our community — much more than Mario Savio.
Pete Hill
Sebastopol
Beautiful work
Editor: I have walked and biked along the Joe Rodota Trail for many years and I have never enjoyed the area around the railroad park area more than I do now.
After reading your April 11 story about the erosion (“Railroad Forest erosion gets attention from Water Board”) it seems like there are some self-serving critics of the recent improvements of the trail who “criticize” the work that has been done by all the volunteers.
It seems petty compared to the vision that some of the volunteers have and the energy they put into their work.
It is sad to see that this vision and this energy is being choked by bureaucrats.
We need to encourage volunteers to do this kind of work that makes our lives more enjoyable.
Bim Lipp
Sebastopol
Proactive?
Editor: The April 11, 2013 article on the Railroad Forest work (“Railroad Forest erosion gets attention from Water Board”), which was apparently done without proper permits and environmental protections seems to reflect not only that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but also, to paraphrase Animal Farm, that “all citizens are equal but some are more equal than others.”
It was not that long ago that there was similar unauthorized cutting done without permits along the Atascadero at Mill Station Road, which resulted in public uproar, followed by extensive fines, remediation and maybe even jail time. Now members of the current Sebastopol power structure have acted with similar disregard for environmental laws and regulations but, rather than cries to hold them responsible, we see a circling of the wagons as reflected in Councilmember Gurney’s after-the-fact illogical statement that “the City has been very proactive in this.”
If the City had been proactive this would have never happened when and how it did. Sure, it may have looked pretty initially (the Himalayan blackberries are back in force) unless you were a bird or animal nesting there.
Plus, what is the extra cost of the post-work remediation for a city with an already strapped budget? But more importantly, if those elected or appointed to adopt and follow the rules in turn violate those rules, maybe it is time for a change and not for excuse making coupled with what looks a lot like covering up.
Richard and Trish Power
Sebastopol
Thanks volunteers
Editor: I would like to thank the group of volunteers who worked last month cleaning up the Railroad Forest adjacent to the Joe Rodota Trail. This work included the removal of Himalayan blackberry, six trailer loads of garbage and the removal of approximately five homeless encampments.
We owe these volunteers for fulfilling the City’s responsibilities of keeping these areas safe, free of garbage and free of invasive Himalayan blackberries. These homeless encampments are unsafe and are contributors of garbage and fecal coli to nearby waterways, as well creating a potentially unsafe conditions for trail users and the exotic invasive plants choke out the native vegetation.
We have been led to believe by both the Regional Water Board and the Open Space District that the volunteers did something wrong. This is far from the truth and the City has a right to maintain its property to keep the area safe and clean for its citizens, and should assert its right to do so.
As a Civil Engineer, I have over 15 years of experience in drainage and sediment and erosion control. I walked the Railroad Forest on April 14 and found no evidence of erosion or debris reaching Calder Creek or the surrounding waterway. However, there was evidence that blackberry stems had moved in the area east of the Morris Street connection and were dammed by a nearby willow thicket, never reaching the adjacent waterway. Water in the area of the blackberry removal does not generally drain, but rather ponds and serves as an area for sediment deposit when the Laguna and Calder Creek overflow. I also observed that no vegetation was removed on the Calder Creek stream banks and the existing stream bank is naturally void of vegetation.
Trees were pruned and fallen branches cut but no trees were cut down.
Himalayan blackberries offer very little in the way of erosion control due to a very small root mass and are detrimental to native plant propagation. Blackberries stems were removed from the upper banks, which will encourage native vegetation, which is preferable for habitat and stream bank vegetation. Volunteers removed no roots or stream debris dams as suggested Fish and Game.
The management of exotic invasive is permitted under the City’s agreement with the Open Space District.
The Laguna Keepers perform similar Himalayan blackberry removal near Laguna Park, in which I took part in several years ago.
Let’s take a stand for these volunteers and continue to be proactive in the management of public property for the safety of local citizens and not fall prey to jumping on the bandwagon of environmental elitism that discourages responsible human stewardship of our lands.
Jim Fain
Sebastopol
Libraries, not landscape
Editor: The Sebastopol Library is trying to raise tens of thousands of dollars for exterior, cosmetic (as in unnecessary) landscaping. Better those dollars go to redo what last year’s remodeling failed to do. Enclose and make a dedicated space for the children’s section. Coddingtown, Central, and Rohnert Park branches, for example, have thriving, separate children’s section. The remodel removed the excellent children’s librarian from the children’s section. Give the children their own special, enclosed place. If they don’t learn to enjoy books now, enhanced by an in-place children’s librarian, they will all-to-soon just move on and become part of the Wi-Fi/online mob that has turned the library into a bookless arcade.
Neil Davis
Sebastopol
Pooled efforts
Editor: As a volunteer assisting to release the grip of invasive plant species in the Railroad Forest area, I would rather see pooled efforts rather than debate by the city, town, organizations and community when it comes to being stewards of the land near us. What we have in the case of the Railroad Forest area is an “out-of-site, out-of-mind” situation similar to the bridge entering Sebastopol on Highway 12, where concrete guard rails obstruct the Laguna from view and hence reduces community awareness of it’s presence. If we don’t know it’s out there, then we don’t care. As technology takes us on a ride we need to unplug and get out into the natural world even more if we are to be conscious of the effect we have on it as a whole.
Eric and Tina Spillman
Sebastopol
Where’s the process?
Editor: I read with interest David Abbott’s recent article about the clearing of the City owned Railroad Forest along the Joe Rodota Trail (“Railroad Forest erosion gets attention from Water Board,” April 11). I applaud the volunteers who have done battle with a couple of acres of Himalayan blackberries. Some day, that land could surely be a beautiful City park.
But I question the oversight the City Council has exercised on this project. Various interagency snafus were reported in the above named article, giving the impression that the leaders of this project were not given appropriate parameters under which to operate. Is it still unclear who will maintain this property once the initial work is done?
I find this situation ironic in comparison to the usual way things are handled in Sebastopol. Other recently proposed projects have needed the approval of the Planning Commission and Design Review Board; multiple EIR’s and traffic studies have been ordered, etc. It seems that no stone is left unturned to insure that the right thing is done (and rightly so). This Railroad Forest Park proposal seems to have not commanded the same degree of scrutiny — the appropriate permits should have been secured before the project got off the ground. Please explain why this was allowed to happen. Riparian habit and erosion control are major issues in the Laguna de Santa Rosa. If thoroughness and consistency are admirable attributes, let’s exercise them all the time.
Jim Dempsey
Sebastopol