It’s been a while, in fact a year, since the last update to this blog, but much has been happening behind the scenes.
In April 2010, Mayor Sue Digre announced the formation of the Vallemar Tree Tree Working Group. This group consisted of concerned residents of Vallemar, representatives from Parks, Beaches & Recreation commission, representatives from PG&E, and of course, members of public works from the City of Pacifica. Although specific residents are appointed to the group, the meetings have been open to the general public. The members of the original Vallemar Tree Working Group were myself, Jeff Moroso, Ken Miles, Jody Webster, and Amy Mayo. Amy eventually stepped down and Patti Wylie joined.
While the public seemed generally to support saving the trees, there were some people objecting to the fact that the trees are non-native, as evidenced by the defacement on this hand written protest sign. Click on the images and you can see the vandalism and a response. Clearly there were different opinions out there. Even so, no members of the public attended the meetings.
The first meeting occurred in June 2010. Kathy Lavezzo, PG&E account executive responsible for Pacifica attended, as did Joel Smith, the PG&E forester. The session consisted mostly of Vallemar residents posing many questions to PG&E about what solutions were possible, how much they cost, and so on. There were many questions about undergrounding utility lines, since this would be the best long term solution.
A second meeting occurred in July. In addition to Kathy Lavezzo and Joel Smith, from PG&E we also had Papia Gambelin And Ashlie Simpson of Government relations as well as Sindy Mikkelson, PG&E’s Rule 20 expert and program manager. Kathy and Joel spent a lot of time researching solutions and what we all concluded is that the best long term option would be to get the electrical lines underground. It would be a permanent solution that would save trees and should provide significant boost to property values. Most of the other solutions were seen as stop-gap measures, costing at least in the tens of thousands, each with serious disadvantages.PG&E gave us contact with ARB Inc., an infrastructure construction company that, among other things, places utilities underground. Aren Clark and I were able to meet with Tim Bloodgood from ARB at the end of August. He came out to Vallemar to survey the area.
Sindy Mikkelson also joined us. We walked the streets, reviewed a few key intersections, and discussed constraints. One big one is the fact that Calera Creek splits Reina Del Mar beyond the “Y”. That would require running underground utilities on both sides of the creek. It wasn’t until early October that ARB was able to provide us with estimates for undergrounding, but under the circumstances (we weren’t paying for the estimate), it was great that they provided us with such helpful information.PG&E also provided us with a contact, Bob Branz, who could help us work with bond issuers and setting up of an assessment district. As the former engineer to the city of Belvedere, Branz had a lot of experience in setting up assessment districts and working with PG&E. Unfortunately for us, he wanted a substantial retainer, and so we felt it was best to talk with him after we had a chance to assess the interest level from the community. At that point, we were approaching the Thanksgiving/ Christmas holiday season, and so we made plans to target a public meeting in the early part of 2011.
So not exactly early 2011, but here we are. I’ve been trying to organize a meeting to share with our neighborhood the results of our work last year. Here's a rough video to show what we could have if the wires go underground-- contrasted with what we actually tolerate. Yes, there really are that many wires. Take a look up, the next time you're out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdc677IBNAk
Please join me with the Vallemar Conservators and Vallemar Tree Working Group on May 5, 7 pm at the Vallemar School, Multipurpose room. We will review our options and show what it is that we face, if we don’t act.
Today, PG&E will have to keep trimming the palms. While this doesn't immediately kill the trees, it's not great for the trees to be losing half or more of it's youngest, healthiest fronds. Eventually the trees will die prematurely.
So the trimming cannot last. Ultimately, we will be faced with two choices. We can lose the wires or we can lose the trees. Please, take a good look at this.
