2. Help at the vandalized LEJ nursery Thursday 26 July
3. Paid naturalist work in Santa Cruz mountains week of Aug 5
4. Feedback: Nature imitates art
5. Central Subway's Impacts on North Beach and City - July 25
6. SFPUC Eastside Recycled Water Project - input
7. Work at Mission Blue Nursery July 25
8. Tuolumne River cleanups for September
9. Two new books probe the limits of capitalism
10. Whistle of wind, sound of water teach us
11. Words used to describe national leaders
Each new year is a surprise to us.
We find that we had virtually forgotten the note of each bird,
and when we hear it again, it is remembered like a dream,
reminding us of a previous state of existence…
The voice of nature is always encouraging.
-Henry David Thoreau
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1. TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK:
1. Board of Appeals hearing - August 1st, 5:00 p.m.
2. Possible next steps: Appeal to California Coastal Commission; file CEQA lawsuit.
3. Legal work takes time and money - donate today!
4. Read the current media and respond:
5. A great article in our favor in the nationally revered "Daily Kos".
6. Melissa Griffin opinion piece - much misinformation to respond to.
7. Other newspaper articles you can find through our website:
8. Addresses to write to.
1. Board of Appeals hearing. We will appeal the Coastal Zone Permit approved by the Planning Department to the city’s Board of Appeals (BOA) on Wednesday, August 1st, 5:00 PM, Room 416, City Hall. A permit for the Beach Chalet project that complies with our Local Coastal Plan is required by the State of California. We intend to prove this permit was issued in error. Although we have submitted a full appeal to the BOA (247 pages), it is a very difficult Board to win at. You are welcome to write to the BOA (see address below) or come to the hearing, but we are not planning on bringing a lot of people to this hearing. HOWEVER, if you do decide to come, please let us know .
2. Our next step is to appeal to the California Coastal Commission and to file a CEQA lawsuit. We will have more information on those actions after August 1st.
3. Legal work takes time and money. Let us know how you feel--do you want us to continue to pursue protecting the Park? Can you contribute? If you think you might be able to, let us know -- and give us an idea of how much you might be able to contribute.
4. Read the current media and respond - there is a lot of misinformation out there! See below for media contacts.
· Let the press know your experience at the Board of Supervisor's Appeal Hearing and the wonderful, intelligent testimony that you heard. If you weren't at the hearing, watch it on SFGTV (start at 4:00 p.m.)`-- our supporters are at the very beginning; the BOS discussion is at the very end.
· CEQA requires an alternative. SF Ocean Edge carefully researched and presented an alternative to the City that meets the project objectives. Ask why this viable Hybrid Alternative was attacked by Rec and Park, instead of trying to work with SF Ocean Edge.
· This Hybrid Alternative would give the soccer community more hours of play than they have now AND protect Golden Gate Park. Rec and Park refused to broker a compromise. Ask why Rec and Park continuously pits groups against each other, instead of trying to bring them together!
· If Rec and Park had left the real grass in Golden Gate Park, there would have been no need for an EIR! (Wow - grass in a park - what a novel concept!) Question why Rec and Park has spent over $1 million on the EIR, when that money could have been used for other park projects.
· The 2008 NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS BOND will fund a lot of the Beach Chalet project. When San Franciscans voted for this Bond, most of us did not know that our tax dollars would be paying for artificial turf and 150,000 watts of night lighting in Golden Gate Park. Question why Rec and Park expects San Franciscans to support the 2012 Parks Bond, when San Franciscans can't trust what Rec and Park will do with another $160 million?
· Question how the City is going to pay for replacing over 32 acres of artificial turf in San Francisco when all of the current fields wear out in 8 to 10 years -- at a cost of $6 million to $8 million. Kids can't play on worn out artificial turf fields. In 10 years, will your park project lose out to this need to fix the artificial turf fields? Learn more about what happened in New York City: NYC's Fake Grass Gamble: A $300M Mistake.
· Most of all - let everyone know that you have not given up -- you will protect Golden Gate Park!
5. FYI - Here is a great article that was just published in the nationally revered "Daily Kos". Sign up and comment - the more comments you make, the more likely our concerns will go national:
Paving over Golden Gate Park for fun and profit http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/09/1107887/-Paving-over-Golden-Gate-Park-for-Fun-and-Profit
6. Melissa Griffin (SF Examiner) has written a particularly uninformed article.
Sadly, she parroted all of the RPD misleading PR without even calling us to verify the facts. "Turf Foes Sling Mud at Board Meeting" (scroll down a few paragraphs) and read our rebuttal here. Write and let the SF Examiner know what you think.
7. Here are other newspaper articles you can find through our website:
Click here to read other articles - the good, the bad, the ugly. . . .
8. Here are addresses to write to. Short (under 200 words), calm, well-reasoned letters are best -- and you all do them very well!
editor@westsideobserver.com Westside Observer
letters@sfexaminer.com SF Examiner
letters@sfchronicle.com SF Chronicle
letters@ebar.com bay area reporter
tredmond@sfbg.com sf bay guardian
http://www.sfweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters SF Weekly
mailto:editor@sfrichmondreview.com Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon
Board of Appeals, Rm 304, 1650 Mission Street, SF, CA 94103 RE: Case 12-074
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2. Literacy for Environmental Justice
An interest was expressed in helping out at the vandalized Candlestick Pt. (LEJ) nursery. There will be an informal volunteer opportunity this Thursday afternoon, July 26, 12 to 3pm, at the nursery, 1150 Carroll Ave.
The next opportunity will be the regularly scheduled first Saturday of the month work party 10 am - 2 pm.
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3. I was hoping you might be able to link me up with a naturalist who can teach a nature appreciation class for our Family Camp - held at Camp Loma, in the Santa Cruz mountains. Perhaps you can post this info or forward it.
We are looking for a naturalist who can teach a nature appreciation class for our Family Camp - held at Camp Loma (CampLoma.org), in the Santa Cruz mountains. The class would be for 4 hours or so, for a mixed age group of about 10 - 30 people, the week of August 5th. We are hoping to have some kind of introduction to the plants and animals of the area, and a wilderness wander that would include observations about local bird calls.
If you prefer to have a second teacher's help, we can hire two people for this, at $25/hour each plus travel time.
Please call me, Catherine Cooley, at 805 252-6406 for more questions.
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4. Feedback
Mark Palmer:
Hi Jake,
The photo you posted recently (July 10 newsletter, top picture here) instantly reminded me of a painting (see below) by my friend Barbara Ward barbaraarts@yahoo.com
She confirmed that it is near Bakersfield.
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5. North Beach Neighbors Presents:
"Central Subway's Impacts on North Beach and City"
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012, 6:30 PM at Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, 660 Lombard Street.
SPEAKERS: SaveMuni.com, SPUR and other invitees.
CENTRAL SUBWAY IN THE NEWS:
The Central Subway is disconnected from the Market Street corridor, Muni Metro, BART, Ferries, Transbay Terminal, High-speed Rail, regional and statewide transit networks. Muni riders must walk 1,000 feet between the Union Square Station and the existing Powell Metro/ BART Station. Hundreds of thousands of regional riders lose transit connectivity. Per the FEIR and FTA applications, the Subway will decrease surface buses to the northeastern and southeastern sections of the city, including most of Chinatown. Today's Muni riders will have longer travel times.
CHRONICLE: “Central Subway work starts amid problems”
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Central-Subway-work-starts-amid-problems-3714932.php
STREETSBLOG: “Will the SFMTA Gut Muni Improvements to Prop Up the Central Subway?”
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2012/07/06/will-the-sfmta-gut-muni-improvements-to-prop-up-the-central-subway/
CHRONICLE/ BAY CITIZEN: “Muni fudges on time performance, records show”
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Muni-fudges-on-time-performance-records-show-3684760.php
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6. SFPUC Proposed Eastside Recycled Water Project,
As mentioned in a prior message, this summer we have been reaching out to specific neighborhoods in areas of the city where possible facility sites may be evaluated and considered for the recycled water project. We have had representatives in these areas asking for input and providing project information. These comments will help us to determine a suitable location for new facilities and inform us as to important principles and priorities expressed by neighborhood residents and members of the community regarding this project.
Now we would like to get your input on the Eastside Recycled Water Project. We have posted a survey and linked it to our website. By opening the link here http://sfwater.org/bids/projectDetail.aspx?prj_id=311 you can take part in the survey; your responses and comments will help inform us as we continue the planning process.
Please contact me at sgautier@sfwater.org if you have any questions or would like more information about the Proposed Eastside Recycled Water Project.
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7. Mission Blue Nursery
Nursery program this Wednesday July 25th 10 am to 12.30 pm
Come out and help us grow native plants for San Bruno Mountain
From San Francisco:
Take US-101 S toward San Jose
Take exit 426 for Sierra Point Pkwy
Take the 1st right onto Lagoon Rd continue until it "T"s at Tunnel Ave
Turn left at Tunnel Ave
Take the 1st right onto Bayshore Blvd at traffic light
Take first right ( unmarked) which goes under the overpass and veers to the left (north) Continue ~ 1000 ft. past the backside of the fire station. Nursery structure is on your left, park off the road to the right
From the peninsula:
Take US-101 N towards San Francisco
Take exit 426A to merge onto Bayshore Blvd toward Cow Palace
Continue through intersection of Old County Road and Tunnel Ave
Take the first right ( unmarked) after the intersection (~500 feet) which goes under the overpass (if you pass the fire house on Bayshore then you've gone too far.
Continue ~ 1000 ft. past the backside of the fire station
Nursery structure is on your left, park off the road to the right
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8. Tuolumne River Trust
There are still spaces available for the Meadow Monitoring Training on Saturday, July 28th at the Mi Wuk Ranger Station. This is an on-going volunteer opportunity, perfect for those who want to help protect our watershed, learn new skills, and visit the Tuolumne's upper reaches! To sign-up contact karyn@tuolumne.org
Announcing Our First Annual Tuolumne River Cleanup September 2012
Join us this September in cleaning up the Tuolumne River across its entire watershed. Throughout the month of September we will have four events in the Upper Watershed, Modesto, and the Bay Area. This is a great way to have fun with friends and family and make a difference for the river. Find the cleanup that works best for you and sign-up today!
The Clavey Cleanup and Campout
Help cleanup this pristine tributary to the Upper Tuolumne River and have fun camping with your friends and family! Cleanups will occur in the morning with opportunities to explore and learn more about the beautiful Clavey River in the afternoon. The Clavey Cleanup and Campout will take place on September 15th & 16th. Save the date! To sign-up contact paige@tuolumne.org.
Modesto Cleanups
There will be two cleanups on the Lower Tuolumne on September 29th in the Modesto area as well as a river restoration event at Riverdale Park (contact analisa@tuolumne.org). For more information visit the Modesto cleanup website.
Legion Park - A river and park cleanup on foot and canoe! From 9-12. All ages welcome. To sign-up contact karlha@tuolumne.org.
West Modesto - A second cleanup will take place in the West Modesto region from 9-12. All ages welcome. To sign-up contact analisa@tuolumne.org.
Bay Area Cleanup
Volunteer to for our coastal portion of our watershed wide cleanup on September 15th as part of Coastal Cleanup Day. Location and times TBA. For more information or to sign-up contact karen@tuolumne.org.
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9.
Money and the markets
Insatiable longing
Two new books probe the limits of capitalism
Jul 21st 2012 | from The Economist
How Much Is Enough? Money and the Good Life. By Robert Skidelsky and Edward Skidelsky.
What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets. By Michael Sandel.
MOST policymakers, and the economists who advise them, believe that the rich Western economies have suffered a mechanical malfunction. With the right monetary, fiscal and regulatory tools, the growth machine will eventually whirr into life. Others think the West’s true malaise is not mechanical but moral: a love of money, markets and material things.
“How Much Is Enough?” and “What Money Can’t Buy” are well-argued versions of this second view. In the former, Robert and Edward Skidelsky, a father-and-son pair of British academics, take as their text an essay written in 1930 by John Maynard Keynes. Keynes (of whom the elder Skidelsky has written a three-volume biography) mused that within a century “the economic problem” would be solved: in rich countries people would be at least four times wealthier, on average, and have to work perhaps 15 hours a week. He looks right about living standards, but horribly wrong about working hours.
In the rich world the modern economic problem, the Skidelskys say, is how to live well amid plenty, not how to survive amid scarcity. Yet the West still chases slavishly after ever-higher gross domestic product, a purely material measure that takes no account of the blessings of nature or leisure. Humanity has become insatiable, in short. It is time to stop and rediscover the “good life”. This they identify with a list of “basic goods”: health, security, respect, “personality” (autonomy, if you prefer), harmony with nature, and leisure.
You might expect the Skidelskys to make common cause with those economists who believe that maximising “happiness” should be the goal of public policy. Not a bit of it. What makes people happy, they argue, is not necessarily good. They have little time for statistical measures of happiness—or the pursuit of any single metric. That would imply that the elements of the good life could be traded off against each other, which they deny. Nor do the Skidelskys ally themselves with environmentalists. Greens reject growth because they believe it cannot be sustained without wrecking the planet. But what if it can? Better, say the Skidelskys, to pursue the good life for its own sake.
Capitalism, they note, has “made possible vast improvements in material conditions”, but it also fuels human insatiability. One way it does this is by “increasingly ‘monetising’ the economy”. Monetisation is what vexes Michael Sandel, a Harvard political philosopher, in “What Money Can’t Buy”. Mr Sandel poses a single question: has the role of markets spread too far?
He argues that it has, and packs his book with examples. Some, such as the sale of a poor man’s kidney for transplanting into a rich man’s body, will make many people squirm. Others, such as the sale of naming rights for sports stadiums, may yield only a resigned shrug. But almost all give pause for thought. Mr Sandel poses two objections consistently. One is inequality: the more things money can buy, the more the lack of it hurts. The other Mr Sandel calls “corruption”: buying and selling can change the way a good is perceived. Paying people to give blood does not work. Giving schoolchildren money as an incentive to read books may make reading a chore rather than a lifelong pleasure.
Mr Sandel does not say precisely where he thinks the limit should lie. That should be left, he hopes, to public debate. The Skidelskys are bolder, proposing policies that would encourage the pursuit of the good life rather than endless growth: a basic income; a tax on consumption rather than income; and an end to the tax-deductibility of company spending on advertising. This would reduce the incentive to work and the temptation to consume.
Does the rat race always detract from the good life? Only a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that whole libraries of books, music and information could be summoned to a phone in your palm; yet the pursuit of profit has helped to put them there. Nevertheless, “How Much Is Enough?” is a good question. Even if just now the West could do with more, not less, GDP, the pursuit of wealth for its own sake is folly. Anyone who sets store by capitalism and markets will find both books uncomfortable reading. They should be read all the same.
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10.
In our souls everything
moves guided by a mysterious hand.
We know nothing of our own souls
that are ununderstandable and say nothing.
The deepest words
of the wise man teach us
the same as the whistle of the wind when it blows
or the sound of the water when it is flowing.
~ Antonio Machado ~
(The Soul is Here for Its Own Joy, trans. by Robert Bly)
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11. LTE, The Economist
Trait marks
SIR – The adjectives you use to describe some national leaders make interesting reading. In just one recent leader, for example, Bashar Assad is “bloodstained”, Muammar Qaddafi was a “crazy tyrant”, Yemen’s former president is a “bully”, Hosni Mubarak a “despot”. In another piece Saudi Arabia’s late Prince Nayef was apparently “antediluvian”. Your all-time favourites, however, seem to be North Korea’s Kim Jong Il and his son, Kim Jong Un. The former you described, among other things, as a “small fat man” with a “pot belly”; a “bouffanted buffoon” and a “cartoon villain”. The son is “plump” and “over-pampered”; “plump but callow”; “podgy” and also “pudgy”; “well-upholstered but juvenile”; just “juvenile”; and “insecure”. And so on.
Compared with these descriptions, Mexico’s Vicente Fox gets off relatively lightly—he’s merely “a former Coca-Cola salesman”. Presumably his physical attributes did not attract your attention.
Achal Raghavan
Bangalore
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