Thursday, November 24, 2011

Fwd: Citizens' Call to Action : EVERGREEN SIDEWALK : Is THIS the FUTURE of HOMESTEAD VALLEY??

FYI


-----Original Message-----
From: Mari Tamburo <drive@avehicleforchange.org>
To: skinsey <skinsey@co.marin.ca.us>
Cc: Scott Schneider <SSchneider@co.marin.ca.us>; hearus <hearus@googlegroups.com>; saveevergreenave <saveevergreenave@gmail.com>; Charlessands <charlessands@aol.com>; opinion <opinion@marinij.com>; Jim Welte <jimw@Patch.com>
Sent: Thu, Nov 24, 2011 7:09 am
Subject: Citizens' Call to Action : EVERGREEN SIDEWALK : Is THIS the FUTURE of HOMESTEAD VALLEY??

cc: Homestead / Evergreen Avenue Residents United for Safety, Sanity and Serenity
charles sands, save evergreen - please forward to interested parties.

Dear Mr. Kinsey  :  

This is a follow up to my previous emails about the proposed sidewalk for Evergreen. I strongly suggest that we have another community meeting about this proposed Evergreen sidewalk - BEFORE the county wastes another penny of taxpayer dollars modifying the current sidewalk design. 

Since you seem to think that HVCA is the voice of Homestead Valley - maybe that meeting should be at the next HVCA Board meeting on December 6th.

Reason being - I feel this sidewalk issue - is NOT a minor thing - it is very important issue regarding the future of Homestead Valley - and for that matter  - this country and our democratic process. This is NOT just about a sidewalk.
BEFORE you and the DPW started forcing this sidewalk issue, I never gave much thought about Marin Horizon School or the HVCA. My eyes have been opened to the truth and I have to be honest - I don't like what I see. From what I can tell, some other neighbors are just as unhappy about this proposed sidewalk as I am - regardless of the width or color. Those of us who oppose the sidewalk ALL ALONG EVERGREEN AVENUE - are NOT BEING HEARD - and are being told to "trust the process"  - WHY? 
The process is what got us into this mess in the first place.
WHY SHOULD WE TRUST YOU, when you wrote that letter to Roz Hamar of Marin Horizon School, telling her to ask parents to write letters in support of a sidewalk for Evergreen Avenue? WHY should we trust YOU or SAFE ROUTES to SCHOOL  - when we pointed out MISREPRESENTATIONS in the Safe Routes to Schools proposal - and NOBODY seemed to care??  Just because that is "business as usual" doesn't make it right ! 
"Business as usual" doesn't work any more -  I don't care how many people in the HVCA you speak to  -- the HVCA DOES NOT ACCURATELY REPRESENT THIS COMMUNITY on THIS ISSUE. Well meaning "servants of the community" or not, they are TOO CLOSELY LINKED to MARIN HORIZON SCHOOL : it is a CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Time and time again - the HVCA newsletter - the Homestead Headlines, REFUSES to mention the progress on this impending change to the gateway to Homestead Valley.
 
IS THIS the FUTURE of HOMESTEAD VALLEY?? 
Where Homestead residents have NO PROPER GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION - and NO SAY in what happens here - before it is TOO LATE??
Do you think we are stupid? Do you think we don't know how this screwed up system works?
EVERY MINUTE YOU AUTHORIZE THE DPW to work on that final design - BEFORE they present it to CalTrans -- is MORE taxpayer money spent on a BAD IDEA.
EVERY DOLLAR SPENT WORKING ON THAT AWFUL SIDEWALK is one more reason for you and the DPW to FORCE IT ONTO THIS STREET - and FOREVER change the landscape of this community - NOT FOR THE BETTER. 

You said it yourself - "Evergreen is a quiet street." In my estimation, MOST of Evergreen Avenue slated for demolition and unnecessary reconstruction IS already walkable and Homestead Valley IS livable - that is, it WAS until you forced that MHS expansion on us. Now, you are using the same tactics to force this sidewalk upon a street that does not need a sidewalk. 

Is THIS the future of HOMESTEAD?? 

CONCRETE where there is NOW a beautiful green path and gardens? Many areas of the street, with a few simple adjustments - can be made to serve a larger portion of our population - The change in width and color is not enough - DPW has too many regulations from special interest groups - they care too much about preventing lawsuits to be able to build a sidewalk that fits Homestead's unique environment. Maybe a pathway, maybe some minor adjustments, such as replacing the drainage pipes at Ethel - and building a little bridge over the pipe - but NOTHING that comes close to what is being proposed by the DPW will fit the Homestead Valley that we all have come to know and love. 
You are disrupting our sense of place - and WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. 
WHAT SENSE does it make  - to spend millions of dollars putting in a sidewalk with wheelchair ramps on Evergreen unless you do the same for EVERY STREET in Mill Valley?? Why not just get a better wheelchair? I would GLADLY chip in to help my neighbor buy this $10,000 wheelchair before I would advocate for this STUPID, UNWANTED SIDEWALK for the ENTIRE length of Evergreen Avenue. http://www.actiontrackchair.com/ 

Marin Horizon School serves LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT of the local population. If this sidewalk continues as planned - this feeling of discontent against Marin Horizon School will only get WORSE - NOT BETTER. 
Please believe me when I tell you - that I understand the concept of "change" and the movement to create "walkable" and "livable" communities.
If Safe Routes to Schools wants to help save the environment - maybe they should concentrate on helping schools that serve a higher percentage of LOCAL kids. Public or private school is not the issue here. I have offered my help to Safe Routes to Schools, I have asked for information about how we can work together to implement increased safety -  I have asked my neighbors to park their cars to leave more room for kids to walk - as a result - but I am only one person - I have asked for help in reaching out to the community - but, from the neighbors I talk to - the true majority of Homestead residents seem to be so angry at how the MHS expansion was forced upon this community - and the continued lack of communication from the school to the community - that they are not exactly jumping at the opportunity to assist in this matter. 

Speaking of communication - I SIGNED UP for the Safe Routes to Schools Task Force  - I was out there on the street last year - and never even received notice of THIS year's Walk to Schools Day. What am I supposed to do -  BEG them to let me me volunteer for something THEY are supposed to care about? Is Safer Routes to Schools interested in a safer route - or are they just interested in building a sidewalk on every street in America?? Sure - it will create jobs for a couple of guys in the DPW - but how about more crossing guards? They seem to be more important than new sidewalks in some cases :

PLEASE DO NOT ADD INSULT TO INJURY - and cause MORE problems for this community where FEW, if any, exist. Anyone who thinks they are doing MHS a favor by forcing this inappropriate sidewalk onto our street is mistaken. I have met the new head of MHS, Luis Ottley - he seems like a really nice guy - it is not fair to thrust this HUGE PR problem on someone who just got here and did not cause this problem. And regardless of what you think, Mr. Kinsey - If you continue to FORCE this sidewalk on my street - IT WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS  - not only on the street - but for the parents and staff of Marin Horizon School, when they have to park to drop their kids off. 
It will also cause problems for SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOLS - I'm not JUST talking about a lawsuit - I'm talking about MEDIA and TRUE TRANSPARENCY - and radical Republican tea baggers who just LOVE to point out how the government WASTES taxpayer dollars. 
Please - Are you all willing to let this clusterf**k boondoggle of this Evergreen sidewalk project threaten the very existence of entire SRTS program? How is THAT going to help poor kids in urban neighborhoods who actually NEED a safer route to schools?
I'm a liberal Democrat, for goodness' sake - and even I CAN'T JUSTIFY THIS EXPENDITURE. To any of my neighbors who are looking to grab onto this funding - to help their property value - SHAME on you. You knew that Homestead had no sidewalks when you moved here - if you want to live in a place with sidewalks - go move to Sycamore.

One of my neighbors, who works for another Mill Valley School and has raised several children while living on Evergreen Avenue, suggested that perhaps Marin Horizon School shouldn't HAVE a Safe Routes to Schools program. From what I have seen so far - they don't appear to have an active SRTS program - it is just in name only - like the "Traffic Committee" that only existed for purposes of the proposal. The excuse ? No sidewalk. Well, then how do the kids from Homestead, who go to other schools in Mill Valley participate in Safe Routes to School??  If Evergreen is SO dangerous, why did the proposal have to use FALSE INFORMATION to get the grant? 

I LIVE ONE BLOCK FROM THE SCHOOL - I have seen the driver behavior - I have seen the parking behavior - cars from parents and staff repeatedly block a naturally occurring path and block entrance to Volunteer Park. What does this tell you? That they don't CARE about SAFETY for the kids? NO -If the staff didn't care about kids' safety - why would they be in EDUCATION? You mean to tell me that Why would parents spend more than $20,000 per year sending their kids to the school???? 
- - What it tells me is  -- there has been NO EDUCATION about driving and parking behavior. 
But please tell me, Mr, Kinsey - What is the motivation for anyone engaging in such a driver education program, when this marred PROCESS, rife with LIES  - allows them to skip straight to the sidewalk?? Personally, I would rather have a school at the end of my street than an empty building - but why can't we have increased communication - why does everything have to be so negative and hush hush? Because you don't want to get nasty emails from Mr. Sands? Is it more convenient to deal with the "nice" people at the HVCA - who will just blindly follow instructions from the DPW - because it's for the KIDS?? Well, if more people would have a little more respect and understanding for other people's communities - maybe some of us wouldn't get so angry and feel the need to write angry emails.

Please answer THIS QUESTION :  Currently - parents and staff at Marin Horizon School park on the corner of Evergreen and Melrose in such a way as to block entrance to Volunteer Park - and force children to walk in the middle of the street -- INTO A BLIND CORNER - WHY are WE being asked to accept a HUGE change to this neighborhood - BEFORE the BASIC preliminary stages of the Safe Routes to Schools program - DRIVER and PEDESTRIAN EDUCATION -  have been implemented???
If you and parents of kids coming in and out of Homestead Valley want to do something to increase SAFETY around the school - 
STOP WASTING MONEY trying to FORCE THIS SIDEWALK onto our street  -- 
and GO BACK TO THE CHALKBOARD - 
start with the first, most OBVIOUS and MOST EFFECTIVE strategy:  COMMUNICATION & EDUCATION. 

Please, Mr.Kinsey -  I strongly suggest that before you instruct DPW to spend another cent modifying an inappropriate design that does NOT fit  Homestead Valley, we all meet together with these common goals -  safety for kids, preservation of the semi rural character of Homestead Valley and the preservation of EVERGREEN AVENUE'S PERFECT SAFETY RECORD.
 I have had enough of this monkey business - 
NO SIDEWALK OF ANY WIDTH OR COLOR ALL ALONG EVERGREEN AVENUE - 
NO CURBS OR GUTTERS
WE ARE STANDING UP FOR HOMESTEAD -- FOR THE KIDS!! 
CHILDREN DESERVE BEAUTIFUL GREEN PLACES TO WALK - a person's environment is in direct CORRELATION to their health and well being - 
If we don't - what will the FUTURE OF HOMESTEAD LOOK LIKE?

Citizens of Homestead Valley - I implore you to PLEASE speak up against this bureaucratic boondoggle - by email or in person, we need your help. 
PLEASE WRITE TO THE COUNTY AND COPY THIS EMAIL : hv94941@gmail.com - so that you know your voice will be heard. 
Parents - residents of kids - who are concerned for their safety - I implore you - LET'S WORK TOGETHER. 

Homestead Valley is at a crossroads. WE  - the residents - have the power to shape this community - both literally and figuratively -
 if we don't do it - someone else OUTSIDE OUR COMMUNITY WILL. 
I hope to see you -  at the next HVCA Board meeting - on December 6th, 2012. Please encourage ALL our neighbors to attend.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerest Regards,
Mari Tamburo

Related Posts : 
JOINT MEETING , HVCA BOARD MEETING NOTES : http://hv94941.blogspot.com/2011_05_22_archive.html
Mari Tamburo
Navigator
drive@avehicleforchange.org

http://www.avehicleforchange.com


P Please consider the environment before printing this email.



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