SMP Mulch Brigade

SMP Greening volunteers spent the morning feeding the trees.

With a generous donation of mulch by Wendy Brummer, we loaded up her truck and drove around the neighborhood adding mulch to all the trees at Lower Benton and along College Avenue.

St. Mary's Park just got a little greener.

It was a very sunny Saturday, November 13th and the weather was perfect for planting trees. Thanks to the hard work of neighborhood volunteers, Friends of the Urban Forest and the City of San Francisco there were 35 trees planted along the College Ave medians and a few private yards throughout the neighborhood. The much anticipated day was filled with excitement, enthusiasm, and a lot of hard work from everyone in attendance, including neighbors that simply showed up to offer their support and appreciation. Following the tree planting, we were rewarded with lunch, refreshments and tree-topped cupcakes. Many of the volunteers enjoyed their lunch underneath the newly planted trees. Although there was no shade from the trees just yet, we will soon have a shared space to find refuge from the sun and heat while we catch up with neighbors.

A few notes about the median trees:

• They are all California Native Oak and Buckeye trees planted in a meandering or natural layout.

• The trees were planted with gopher protection, compost and stakes. They should be good to withstand the upcoming rainy season.

• Over the next few months they may shed some leaves and look yellow and droopy. Then the trees may look like they aren't growing a bit. This is really normal for newly planted trees. But by the late spring or summer we will start to see new growth.

• The trees are city property and we know that everyone here will be great stewards of them, whether you wanted them planted or not. If you do notice any damage, please reach out to SMP Greening and we can work with FUF to correct the damage.

• The large green bags near the base of each tree are water bags that are periodically filled by the city. The water bags are necessary until the trees are fully established, about 3 years. Once the trees are established, these California natives can survive on their own and will no longer require manual watering.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged the city to invest in our neighborhood, came to the design meetings and shared your creativity and volunteered to lift a shovel and plant.

Finally, an update and it is great news!

It’s been a while since we posted an update because just like everyone, we’ve been hunkered down at home during the pandemic. As a result, there hasn’t been any updates to share. However, we are thrilled that as things are opening up again and the College Ave median tree planting has been rescheduled for November 13, 2021.

We need volunteers to help with the planting on 11/13! Volunteer hours will be from 9:00 am to approximately 1:00pm. Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) will coordinate the planting and they will provide gloves and hard hats for all volunteers. To ensure safety from Covid19, all volunteers must be vaccinated (and will be required to show proof of vaccination).

Spending time improving the medians, doing something great for the environment and getting a little dirty is a great way to meet neighbors and welcome our fall weather!

To volunteer, please email the SMP Greening group using the Contact page in this website. You can also text ST Mayer (member of SMP Greening and volunteer coordinator for this planting) at xxx-xxx-9867. ST will follow-up with the required volunteer forms. Please express your interest as soon as possible.

Here is what we know regarding details of the planting: You can also read the article that FUF posted to the Park Bell.

• Friends of the Urban Forest will conduct the planting on November 13. Prior to that date you will see median markers and spray paint on College Ave. These mark where utilities are and other underground features that need to be considered when digging.

• The timing of mid-November is right during San Francisco’s prime planting season. Trees planted during this time have a high likelihood of surviving and thriving so we are very fortunate to be planting this fall.

• We anticipate about 30 native and drought tolerant trees will be planted. The Department of Public Works has the final authority on which tree species are planted. We believe they will take into consideration the species we provided them as neighborhood preferences last spring. The reason we believe this is because we want native drought tolerant trees with high carbon capture, and that is what the city wants too!

• We do not know exactly where the trees will be placed. We hope FUF and DPW will place them in a natural design as was a neighborhood preference. But, any which way they will be a great start to improved medians.

• Friends of the Urban Forest or DPW will water the trees for 3 years. In fact, DPW already comes through St. Mary’s Park every 7-10 days to water the trees recently planted on Lower Benton Ave.

You may have also heard about yard trees. Some residents will be adding free trees to their front yards also on November 13. Unfortunately, the deadline for requesting a yard tree has passed. But if you want a free yard tree in the future, you can fill out a form here. It may be a while before there is another planting in the area, however.

If you still have questions, please reach out: Contact us

New trees on Lower Benton!

Once upon a time, our Lower Benton Ave neighbors had a beautiful barrier of giant, full-grown trees to protect them from the constant barrage of noise and dirt from 280. One day in 2008, without any warning, a ‘crew’ from PG&E cut down the trees, which were on the 280 side of the fence. Neighbors tried to intervene as they were only supposed to trim the trees, which had been done in the past with no problems. Sadly, the trees were cut down anyhow, turning a quiet cul de sac upside down. 12 years later, thanks to the efforts of SMP Greening and a couple of hands-on neighbors, Lower Benton finally has a Brand New Baby Barrier in the ground and growing!

Earlier this month, Friends of the Urban Forest emerged from State-mandated solitude and swung into tree-planting action. Under the new Normal, FUF was operating with a limited staff and without the benefit of any neighborhood volunteers they were responsible for all the labor. Coordination took place through email and socially-distant window conversations. On July 14th, Matt Evans and Pam Rex coordinated with FUF to see 5 trees planted on Lower Benton Ave:

• Two gorgeous California Lilac Trees; also known as Ceanothus. These trees grow really well in the area and they ring the baseball field at St. Mary’s Park with blue flowers all spring.

• A Brisbane Box Tree. A large evergreen that grows relatively quickly.

• Two Peppermint Willow Trees. A weeping evergreen canopy and the leaves smell like peppermint if you split them open.

While the Department of Public Works and Friends of the Urban Forest will mainly water the trees; Matt has agreed to keep an eye out and water if the bags run empty. Pam has offered the use of her spigot and long hose.

Take a walk on over and check out the new trees and if you get a moment, send Mike Yarak at Friends of the Urban Forest a thank you note. He has been our excellent tree guide and advocate. If you see Matt and Pam, our new tree stewards, give them a wave or a thumbs up (from 6ft away!).

We will continue to update you as yard trees become available and the College Ave planting resumes. We’ve all spent a lot of time walking around the neighborhood these past few months, so if you’ve identified new places you’d like to make a greening project, please reach out!

Want a free tree in your front yard?

Our list of neighbors that would like to add trees to their front yard continues to grow. If you’re interested in adding a tree to your front yard or if you have any additional questions, Contact us.

Hello SMP neighbors!

I apologize for the delay in updates. A lot has happened since our last post and we have delayed our posts in hopes of receiving more definitive information on what’s happening with the trees. Here’s a summary of what we know for sure and what we hope to find out soon:

Our February 4th meeting was an information gathering meeting to choose trees and a preferred layout for the trees. Once again, we had Fletcher Studio and our tree expert from Friends of the Urban Forest with us to present the options. Neighbors were given an opportunity to ask questions and choose which option they liked best. Following the meeting, we immediately prepared the information into an online survey and presented it to the rest of the community. We made our best attempts to contact as many neighbors as possible and even sent the survey through the neighborhood alerts email account.

The details of the survey can be found on the Feb 4, 2020 post.

Overwhelmingly, people voted for a natural planting design in the College Ave medians. As a reminder, this means the trees will be planted in smaller groupings, rather than straight down the center of the medians. This design is the most flexible and will give us many options for future projects of adding other landscaping.

For tree choice, the votes were in favor of the Island Oak and California Lilac with the California Buckeye and Cork Oak coming in very close. We still have plans of working with Fletcher Studio to place each species and work with FUF on which trees are available. This will determine the final count and # of species used.

Here’s why we’re delayed and what’s been going on:

• There was a sinkhole found in the center of the top median of College Avenue (the median nearest Crescent/Mission St). The sinkhole is about 2 feet wide and quite deep. The DPW (Dept of Public Works) is working with SFPUC (SF Public Utilities Commission) on investigating the sinkhole and getting it repaired. They have not yet provided us with a timeline but we have been told that it is most definitely on their radar and they intend to have it fully repaired in preparation for tree planting.

• There remain several steps that need to be completed before a tree planting can occur, beginning with the repairs required by the DPW/PUC. Each step requires the previous to be complete before scheduling. With this in mind, we ESTIMATE the delay to last at least a couple of months. Once we receive more information on the sinkhole repair, we will share this will the neighborhood.

We want to acknowledge that there is a group of vocal neighbors that are opposed to adding trees to College Avenue medians. They have contacted many city officials, as well as all city agencies involved with tree planting in San Francisco. Their perspective is detailed in the recent issue of the Park Bell. We have been answering neighbors questions when contacted. We have also spoken with many of the same city officials and they have been complimentary about the amount and type of community engagement that went into the median designs. They have also helped us to feel confident that the tree planting is well aligned with city priorities and reminded us that the medians are public land and it is a city priority to plant trees on all available land given the benefits to our city.

We truly appreciate your support and please don’t lose interest. You’ll need your shovels soon!

We genuinely want this to be a project that the majority of the community supports. Please, if you have concerns about these trees and/or the design, contact the SMP Greening group right away. If you don’t have the SMP email address, you have several other options to reach us:

• You can reach out to Penny Mitchell directly. Her personal cell phone number is in every issue of the SMP Park Bell and also on every SMP Greening flyer that has been handed out.

• You can sign up for our email announcements and we’ll be in touch to get you set up on the email so you can email your concerns.

• You can leave a written or typed message in Penny’s mailbox at 512 College Avenue. Please include your information so we know who we are replying to and where to send the reply.

• You can reach out to your neighbor Matt Evans.

As I mentioned earlier, we will do our absolute best to get this information out to the neighbors of lower Benton as quickly as possible.

We also sent an email announcement earlier today about the delay in planting that was scheduled for March 3, 2020. We are working with Friends of the Urban Forest to get an update on how this might (or might not) impact the lower Benton project. As a reminder, The lower Benton project is tied to the College Avenue planting through the availability of the water truck for the larger College Avenue project. We are encouraging Friends of the Urban Forest to move forward with the lower Benton planting if this is a viable option. We will provide an update as soon as we know more.

On Tuesday, February 4th about 30+ residents met at the Rec Center to review, discuss and vote on three tree planting designs and tree species for the College Ave medians.

The tree planting is scheduled for March 3, 2020. We will have more details about this soon.

The meeting opened with a description of community engagement efforts, results of the tree attribute survey and acknowledgement that with 88% of residents who voiced an opinion in strong support of trees, we are moving forward.

• ST and Penny knocked on all 294 doors in the neighborhood. We also engaged the help of a local youth who placed flyers in all mailboxes.

• 38% of residents told us what they thought of trees. Of those who voiced an opinion, 88% support trees, 4% oppose trees and 8% are uncertain.

• The tree attribute survey was shared at a community meeting and via email to everyone who signed up for the SMP Greening email list. The top four attributes are: Good for the climate/environment/carbon sequestration; Native; Low water needs; Have leaves all year long (green all year). The second tier are: Tall, Bloom (flowers), Airy branches; Wide canopy.

Fletcher Studios presented the three median design options, and 3-4 tree species per option. These are shown in the attached images. The options were developed based on the weather and conditions of the neighborhood, the recommendations of FUF, the size of the medians, the tree attribute survey results and design ideas generated at our last community meeting. Fletcher communicated that all three designs are good for the medians, but designs #2 and #3 are the most flexible.

Attendees looked at the designs in detail and then engaged in Q&A. This included a general conversation about compromises that one makes with any choice, whether it’s a specific type of tree, ground cover, etc.

Some of the Q&A learnings included:

• Questions about why the Coastal Live Oak was not included. The response was that these are slow growing, so Fletcher recommended a variety that was slightly faster growing.

• Questions about whether the tree planting was already a “set thing.” The response was that with such clear community support, it is moving forward on March 3, 2020.

• An observation that the medians serve as the clapper in the bell design of the neighborhood and concern that the trees would change the historical design of the medians. Some other attendees voiced that the trees might enhance the clapper design by giving it depth.

• Discussion of the traffic calming measures that the various designs provide.

• Question about leaves and clean-up. The response was that the medians will absorb most of the leaves and those that end-up in the street will be picked up by street cleaning.

Attendees then voted for their favorite design and tree species that they liked! Those same options are being presented online to those who were not able to attend the meeting in person. The results will be shared once we combine all of the input.

The meeting concluded by thanking everyone for attending, encouraging people to spread the word about our current voting survey and the upcoming March 3rd planting and sharing that we are waiting on one final DPW check before we are 100% confirmed for the planting date.

Voting is open now through Feb 12, 2020.

Access to voting is sent directly to neighbors through our SMP Greening email group. If you haven’t already signed up for the SMP Greening email group, just sign up for our email list and we’ll be in touch about adding you to our email group.

SMP GREENING DESIGN MEETING! are earnestly working to secure the tree planting opportunity on TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020.

Because our project is so large, we will need a large group of planting volunteers – on a weekday. This is no easy task. Fortunately, Friends of the Urban Forest have a corporate group of volunteers available for planting on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. If we miss this opportunity, it’s difficult to say when the next one will come along. Furthermore, the sooner we get the trees in the ground, the more likely it is that we can secure the water truck for our neighborhood project.

With this deadline in mind, our meeting was packed with information from both presenters. with Friends of the Urban Forest opened up the meeting with a slideshow presentation.

Here’s the majority of what was covered and a few interesting facts that came out of the presentation:

We were given a terrific resource for tree research, The California Polytechnic State University Tree Selection Guide

• Friends of the Urban Forest have organized over 1,300 community events and planted more than 60,000 street trees.

• FUF discussed how the tree planting process works – from choosing trees to getting them in the ground.

• We learned who is responsible for trees – from the time of planting and throughout the life of the tree.

• Who is responsible for the infrastructure surrounding the trees.

• How it’s decided what trees can go where: Considerations are made for utilities, environment, traffic, area usage, etc.

• What types of trees would be best for our area.

• FUF is responsible for 3 post planting surveys. These occur at 2 months, 18 months and 3 years. The post planting surveys are important for structural adjustments (pruning) to promote the long term aesthetics of each tree. This is also a time to replace cross braces which support the trees during their early growth period.

• Each planted tree will be surrounded by a 4-5′ diameter of mulch to help protect the tree.

• SMP residents are responsible for keeping a watchful eye over the trees, particularly in their early years, and reporting anything that seems amiss right away to FUF.

Check out the corresponding blog post to see the slideshow presentation from the Friends of the Urban Forest.

Lauren began with projected before/after images which offered examples of what other communities have accomplished with landscape planning. The goal was to show us what is possible and to open our minds to our complete vision. Therefore, when we’re deciding where we want trees and what types of trees we want, we consider our overall vision.

Following her presentation, Lauren and her colleague, Andrew Prindle distributed very large color images of each of the 4 medians that run along College Avenue. We then divided into 4 groups, choosing the particular median that interested us most, and we began our design process.

Initially, we were reluctant to mark up and draw on the large pages but Lauren and Andrew were there to encourage us and guide us through the process. Once we got going, we could hardly stop. We suddenly began to see what the medians might look like with various options of trees. IT WAS SUPER FUN!

We had our first neighborhood meeting with a modest turnout of 13 neighbors. This included meeting organizers and presenters Penny Mitchell and ST Mayer. Considering the short notice we had to book the recreation center following the holidays (less than one week), I think we can be proud of this initial turnout.

A huge thank you to EVERYONE that attended. We had a broad and thoughtful discussion about what it would mean to bring trees to our neighborhood.

Meeting Goals:

1. Meeting neighbors who are interested in SMP Greening

2. Provide factual information gathered to date about the tree planting opportunity

3. Gather questions people have about the tree planting opportunity

4. Gather data on people’s priorities for SMP Greening and tree planting

The meeting opened up with a review of agenda items followed by a brief introduction of attendees. Each person offered at least one question that they would like to have answered during the meeting.

Following the questions, Penny spoke on the topic of “Why the College Avenue medians and lower Benton area and Why trees?

Penny gave a brief history of the medians and area of lower Benton. It was agreed by all that lower Benton would benefit by the addition of trees but there were still many questions regarding College Ave medians. This opened up a discussion which answered many of the questions presented earlier. These included:

• What is the process for deciding if / how we go forward? This is decided by the neighbors of SMP. We can choose to keep things as they are but if there is a large enough group of neighbors that are in line with planting trees, the project will move forward. This brings up the questions of “how many neighbors are enough?”. Well, there is no magic number. Since many neighbors will choose not to participate in the conversation, we look at the number of the neighbors that are interested in moving forward vs. those that are not. Based on the feedback we’ve received, there is a clear majority of neighbors that would like to see trees along the medians and many that are open to the idea but would like to know more before moving forward.

• How can neighbors help? There are many ways: Get more neighbors involved in the conversation, help us find a volunteer landscape architect, help with booking meeting space at SMP rec center, participate in tree research, tell us about the trees you like.

• What is the timeline? There is no specific timeline but there is an opportunity to plant trees on March 4, 2020. FUF (Friends of the Urban Forest) has a group of 30 volunteers willing to take on our planting project. If we don’t feel ready by March 4th, we can get on the waiting list with FUF until we are ready to move forward.

• Who is responsible for the trees? FUF will take full responsibility for the trees until they are established. This typically takes about 3 years. Once the trees are established and no longer require manual watering, the city will take over responsibility. It will be the responsibility of the neighborhood to monitor the trees and report anything that requires extra attention.

• What happens when utility services need to did up / through the land? It seems likely that the utility companies will need to work with FUF and the city of SF but this question will be submitted to FUF in a future meeting for further discussion.

• What is the overall vision and how can we ensure that it’s cohesive and beautiful? It is our hope to secure a landscape architect that can work with us (SMP Greening group) to develop and overall vision. By using a central source to develop our vision, we hope to achieve something that represents the broadest possible group of neighbors.

• Who is responsible if root damage occurs (to pipelines, streets, etc.)? FUF and the city of SF are responsible but this question will be submitted to FUF in a future meeting for further discussion.

• Who owns the land? The city of SF owns the land.

Another important point that was shared:

During the December 7, 2019 SF Parks & Alliance workshop, we learned that the city of SF is no longer incorporating water lines that run directly to medians in median projects. This is because of the huge costs incurred when these aging water lines fail. It is much more cost effective to incorporate plants that only require manual watering during the initial establishment stages of life. We reminded neighbors that FUF has agreed to water the trees until they are established (see FAQs). This is terrific news since it is unclear how much longer the city of SF will allow us to use the water lines that run to the medians.

Following the question / answer discussion, an interactive project took place. Neighbors were asked to walk around the room and view the many signs that were posted along the walls. These signs included many attributes of trees and also a large sheet for posting project concerns. Neighbors were asked to place a checkmark on any sign that represented an important tree attribute and to post a note about any concerns. Neighbors were also given ONE heart sticker and were asked to place the heart sticker on the tree attribute that meant the most to them personally.

This activity was followed by a discussion of the results.

The meeting was wrapped up with a summary of “Next steps and How to stay involved”.

• Get more neighbors involved in the conversation and signing up for the email group

• Attend meetings and encourage your neighbors to attend

• Help us find a volunteer landscape architect

• Help with booking meeting space at SMP rec center

• Participate in tree research, tell us about the trees you like

If you attended our meeting, we really appreciate your participation!

If you were unable to attend, we hope that you will consider attending our future meeting. It will be an important one!! FUF will be there to help with choosing trees.

SMP Greening organizers ST Mayer and Penny Mitchell continued community outreach efforts and knocked on doors along College Avenue and a handful of houses at the bottom of Justin with views of College Avenue.

Here’s a summary of our outreach efforts:

52 houses were visited

27 houses did not answer our knock so we left a flyer in their mailbox

25 households answered and shared their thoughts, concerns, opinions, etc.

Of the 25 households that answered:

17 said ‘Yes’ for trees!

5 said ‘Maybe’ for trees – the primary concern seemed to be tree size or type of tree

3 said ‘No’ to trees and prefer to keep and maintain grass

Notes were made along the way and these concerns and questions will be discussed at our January 7, 2020 meeting. The more challenging concerns will also be presented to DPW (Dept. of Public Works) and FUF (Friends of the Urban Forrest).

SMP Greening establishes the SMP Greening website to support community outreach efforts.

SMP Greening offers more community outreach to SMP neighbors at the annual SMP holiday party.

SMP Greening organizers ST Mayer and Penny Mitchell attend SF Street Shops Workshop hosted by SF Parks Alliance, SF Street Parks and SF Dept of Public Works. This extensive workshop covered the What, Why, When and How of what neighborhoods throughout San Francisco have accomplished by working with the various programs available through the city of SF. Because SMP Greening has already established the support of FUF for the planting and ongoing maintenance of trees, our primary goal in attending this workshop is gaining insight into best practices and grant funding for incorporating additional drought tolerant landscaping to compliment the addition of trees in our neighborhood.

Friends of the Urban Forrest (FUF) begins first survey of SMP College Ave medians. FUF places white flags along the College Ave median and also along the fence line at lower Benton Ave to indicate the areas that will be studied by the various utility providers to determine any below ground wires, pipes etc. Within two weeks, there will be additional flags of different colors. This is an exciting step in the St Mary’s Park Greening efforts and is a part of our research to determine that green improvements are possible. While many SMP residents have said that there are no active utilities in the median or lower Benton Ave, this study has to be done and documented. It is free of charge and won’t disrupt the current areas with any digging.

DPW site visit.

ST organized a site visit by the DPW and they think the medians are a perfect planting opportunity and they strongly recommend we start with trees with smaller plants at the entrance up near the bell. They are sending out a site supervisor to estimate the number of trees and create a list of trees they think will do well in our climate. But, if we go with trees the city or FUF takes care of them!

SMP Greening sets up an email account with Google to establish a central place for community outreach and community communications.

A group of St. Mary’s Park neighbors come together to work on Saint Mary’s Park Greening, beginning with the goal of determining what is possible to increase drought tolerant landscaping and tree canopy in the neighborhood; with a primary focus on the College Ave medians. ST Mayer (a resident of Benton Avenue) and Penny Mitchell (a resident of College Avenue) begin conducting this research. Here is a summary of what is learned to date:

History and Current State of the Medians:

• The medians are owned by the city but their upkeep is managed and paid for by the St. Mary’s Park Improvement Club (SMPIC).

• The SMPIC pays $500 a month to mow the medians, approx. $6,000 a year.

• There is water in the medians; but it has not been used for about 3-years because of drought compliance and broken pipes.

• The city pays for the water.

Opportunities for Greening the Medians:

• Street trees and greening are a priority of the city of San Francisco. There is money set aside for planting trees to help the city reach its goal of 50,000 trees by 2025. The District 9 Supervisor (which covers St. Mary’s Park) is very supportive of more tree canopy and greener neighborhoods. ST spoke with one of her staff who said that once we have a plan she would be happy to meet with us.

• Certain kinds of trees are good drought tolerant landscaping option because they only need water for the first couple of years.

• There are three organizations that work together on neighborhood greening: Friends of the Urban Forest, The Department of Public Works Street Parks Program and the SF Parks Alliance. ST Mayer as spoken with all three organizations and they believe the College Ave medians are a perfect greening opportunity.

• The next steps include: Several neighbors will attend a workshop hosted by the SF Parks Alliance on neighborhood greening in early December; FUF site visit; DPW will send a landscaping supervisor out to assess what kinds of trees and other plants are possible.

Following the survey, an announcement was made to form a new ‘Take Action’ committee. Sadly, it was a struggle to get interested neighbors to participate so the momentum to change the grass landscape faded and no changes were introduced.

July 2015 – A request to form a committee was made by Penny Mitchell to survey the neighborhood to see if this sentiment was felt throughout the neighborhood.

Who made up the committee? Jim Aylward, Katy Sullivan, Randy Gilstrap and Penny Mitchell

What did they do? They organized a vote to see whether the community wanted to discuss a change to the landscape of the medians and islands. The voting was completed in August and resulted in a ‘Yes’. This ‘Yes’ meant we needed to open a platform to discuss a change for these areas. In September, to open up this discussion, the committee organized a questionnaire for the neighborhood. The questionnaires were delivered in the Sept, Oct and Nov 2015 Park Bell newsletters.

What else did the committee do? In November and December 2015, the four committee members canvassed the entire neighborhood for several hours over the course of two weekends in an attempt to reach as many neighbors as possible. They made a checklist of all the received questionnaires; any homes not returning the original questionnaire received a knock on the door and/or another questionnaire in their mailbox. This turned out to be a big success and, as a result of this work, many more residents completed questionnaires.

How many questionnaires were received? 112 households submitted a completed questionnaire, over 1/3 of Park households!

What were the results of the questionnaires?

50 Votes for Drought-resistant mixed plant landscape

24 Votes for Drought-resistant ground cover

21 Votes for Alternative landscaping to grass

34 Votes for Grass

15 Votes for Other

Many neighbors also expressed an interest in participating in these changes.

44 Households offered financial assistance

33 Households offered assistance with physical labor

20 Households offered to participate with landscape planning

19 Households offered to participate with ongoing maintenance

33 Households would participate if the outcome was any choice in a landscape change

16 Households would participate if the outcome was their choice only

When reviewing the results, please keep in mind that some households chose more than one option in each section of the questionnaire.

What were the areas of most concern?

69 Households for College medians

8 Households for Justin island

14 Households for Benton island

21 Households did not indicate or indicated 2 or more areas of concern

This is where it all began…..

Governor Jerry Brown ordered mandatory water use reductions for the first time in California’s history, saying the state’s four year drought had reached near-crisis proportions after a winter of record low snowfalls. To comply, water restrictions were enforced on our medians and islands. Many neighbors began questioning our long term commitment to grass on the islands and medians and wanted to re-open the discussion on transitioning to drought tolerant landscape.