Good morning to all,
As of yesterday Friday May 22, I had not received a reply from Richard Hovden of the City. I decided to contact the Parks Department and enquire at the lowest possible level but ironically was transferred directly to his office and fortunately he answered the call.
I introduced myself and our cause, I asked if he had a chance to read the recent e-mail messages and if he had any answers to our questions. Unfortunately, he did not have any answers however, he did see the messages and informed me that he wanted to set up a meeting with "Us", to let us know what the status of the development currently is and to get as much input from the community as possible.
I see this as a great opportunity for as many of us to come forward as possible with questions, comments and concerns. I believe once We get this ball moving, it's in all our best interest to keep the momentum going by offering as much involvement as we can.
At the same time I see this as another stall tactic buying the City some time in days of tight budget "Fever", however, we as a community have been promised a park, funds have been paid for this park and We as a community are perfectly within our right to request completion.
Our neighborhood may not be the most affluent within our greater community, however, our children, our neighborhood pride in presentation, our future property values and our health all deserve the same respect as a neighborhood such as Fountaingrove.
There is an upcoming Block Party within out neighborhood, I will clarify the dates and times but would like to see as many in our community as possible join in the fun, festivities and opportunity to get to know one another plus rally support for the Petition.
I'm looking forward to soon having Block Parties in the setting of Our Park....
Take care and have a great weekend.
Ps. Thank you San. I tried to change the format from Follower to Supporter but it is out of my control. Rest assured this movement is not about Me, it is about We as a community and the completion of Our Park.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Nothing as yet to report this morning.
It's my thought that the city employees with less help and more work are struggling as it is to keep up with their normal tasks. Additional requests for information and action such as this may increase their work load and actually slow down the process but we will remain vigilant in getting this project moving forward.
If we don't hear anything by this afternoon I'll contact the records department to see if I can substantiate any of the remarks made by Marc Richardson.
Have a nice day!
Tom
It's my thought that the city employees with less help and more work are struggling as it is to keep up with their normal tasks. Additional requests for information and action such as this may increase their work load and actually slow down the process but we will remain vigilant in getting this project moving forward.
If we don't hear anything by this afternoon I'll contact the records department to see if I can substantiate any of the remarks made by Marc Richardson.
Have a nice day!
Tom
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Good morning to all,
This morning I sent a response to Marc Richardson the director of Parks and Rec for a message he directed to another City employee named Richard Hovden.
In his message to Mr. Hovden, Mr. Richardson asked Richard to respond to us and that he hoped we as a community would become active in developing the master plan.
The following is Mr. Richardsons message and my reply...
On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Richardson, Marc wrote:
Hi Rich-
Would you please respond to Mr. Easter’s question by outlining the resources available to develop Harvest Park in the proposed 2009-2010 Capital Improvement Program along with the timing for master plan development and construction drawings? I’m hoping the neighbors will become active participants in developing the park master plan this next fiscal year. Perhaps it would be helpful to let Mr. Easter and other neighbors to know that the City had to purchase the 4+ acres of future park property from Christopherson Homes and that the source of funding for the property purchase utilized most of the park development fees received from Harvest Subdivision.
Thank you,
Tuesday May 17
Good morning Mr. Richardson,
Thank you for the prompt response to Mr. Hovden and for the information we were able to receive from your message to him.
It should please you to know that your hope will definitely be realized as 'We' the Harvest community have always been more than eager to be a part of the Master Plan development and implementation we were promised many years ago.
FYI, there are many ongoing health concerns which include a rat population that breeds out of control when the weeds get too high as well as allergies that are aggravated with the massive amount of weeds on the parcel. Not to mention this Park has become a convenient dumping ground for many forms of waste including sofas, refrigerators, bar-b-que grills and common litter. All of which were kindly removed from the property by the Santa Rosa Fire Department because they were the only organization that seemed interested in helping.
Other on-going concerns are migration of the weed population onto neighboring properties and the dangerous use of this parcel as a 'Four wheel drive test track" which can clearly be seen from the GIS color photo on the City's Map Site.
Like myself, many in this community have children that could benefit from this park. My son was 1 year old when we moved in, he is 9 today and has never known that parcel to be anything other than a dirt lot filled with weeds, trash and tire tracks. All of these children should have had the availability of this park for recreation in order to develop and maintain an active lifestyle. Currently we as a community have to travel outside our area in order to do so. Obviously this is an extreme inconvenience to us but also a waste of energy creating more green house gasses from the unnecessary trips to other parks.
Marc and Richard, if this seems to be coming out of no-where let me assure you, it is not. We as a community have been very active in wanting resolution to this issue, very active in wanting to participate in that resolution and frankly, now we are at the point of becoming very active in making our concerns known. Simply, we believe in creating community through people, parks and programs. We the people of this Community want to see a program initiated to create our Park.
We as a community appreciate your help in this endeavor.
Sincerely,
The Harvest Community.
This morning I sent a response to Marc Richardson the director of Parks and Rec for a message he directed to another City employee named Richard Hovden.
In his message to Mr. Hovden, Mr. Richardson asked Richard to respond to us and that he hoped we as a community would become active in developing the master plan.
The following is Mr. Richardsons message and my reply...
On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Richardson, Marc
Hi Rich-
Would you please respond to Mr. Easter’s question by outlining the resources available to develop Harvest Park in the proposed 2009-2010 Capital Improvement Program along with the timing for master plan development and construction drawings? I’m hoping the neighbors will become active participants in developing the park master plan this next fiscal year. Perhaps it would be helpful to let Mr. Easter and other neighbors to know that the City had to purchase the 4+ acres of future park property from Christopherson Homes and that the source of funding for the property purchase utilized most of the park development fees received from Harvest Subdivision.
Thank you,
Tuesday May 17
Good morning Mr. Richardson,
Thank you for the prompt response to Mr. Hovden and for the information we were able to receive from your message to him.
It should please you to know that your hope will definitely be realized as 'We' the Harvest community have always been more than eager to be a part of the Master Plan development and implementation we were promised many years ago.
FYI, there are many ongoing health concerns which include a rat population that breeds out of control when the weeds get too high as well as allergies that are aggravated with the massive amount of weeds on the parcel. Not to mention this Park has become a convenient dumping ground for many forms of waste including sofas, refrigerators, bar-b-que grills and common litter. All of which were kindly removed from the property by the Santa Rosa Fire Department because they were the only organization that seemed interested in helping.
Other on-going concerns are migration of the weed population onto neighboring properties and the dangerous use of this parcel as a 'Four wheel drive test track" which can clearly be seen from the GIS color photo on the City's Map Site.
Like myself, many in this community have children that could benefit from this park. My son was 1 year old when we moved in, he is 9 today and has never known that parcel to be anything other than a dirt lot filled with weeds, trash and tire tracks. All of these children should have had the availability of this park for recreation in order to develop and maintain an active lifestyle. Currently we as a community have to travel outside our area in order to do so. Obviously this is an extreme inconvenience to us but also a waste of energy creating more green house gasses from the unnecessary trips to other parks.
Marc and Richard, if this seems to be coming out of no-where let me assure you, it is not. We as a community have been very active in wanting resolution to this issue, very active in wanting to participate in that resolution and frankly, now we are at the point of becoming very active in making our concerns known. Simply, we believe in creating community through people, parks and programs. We the people of this Community want to see a program initiated to create our Park.
We as a community appreciate your help in this endeavor.
Sincerely,
The Harvest Community.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Good morning to all..
This morning I will send another request for information e-mail to the Parks and Rec department director, I will pass through the neighborhood to drop off e-mail address info and Blog address info and I will contact the Community Advisory Board in order to obtain more information regarding their Grant Program for Community Improvements I've recently heard about.
I believe these funds are to replace time and material already provided by donations and are on a 'reimbursement basis' though.
That being said I will also be requesting neighborhood thoughts, ideas and volunteer time and material in order to have something to submit. Time is of the essence here as the final filing date is July 1st so any help will be a blessing to us all.
Have a great day...
Tom
This morning I will send another request for information e-mail to the Parks and Rec department director, I will pass through the neighborhood to drop off e-mail address info and Blog address info and I will contact the Community Advisory Board in order to obtain more information regarding their Grant Program for Community Improvements I've recently heard about.
I believe these funds are to replace time and material already provided by donations and are on a 'reimbursement basis' though.
That being said I will also be requesting neighborhood thoughts, ideas and volunteer time and material in order to have something to submit. Time is of the essence here as the final filing date is July 1st so any help will be a blessing to us all.
Have a great day...
Tom
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Hello to all, this blog is being posted for the sole purpose of petitioning signatures, requesting support, posting information and sharing in the goal of completing the park that was promised to be built in 2001 at the Harvest subdivision.
Waking up this morning Sunday 5/17/2009 and walking outside, I'm amazed and in disbelief that even after 8 years I'm still starring at a pile of weeds and blowing trash on an empty lot where I have to strain my imagination in order to visualize a walking path, a dog run, basketball hoops, swing sets, shade trees, grassy areas and an answer to my 9 year old son's question, "Dad can we go to the park"? without having to say, "No son, we don't have one yet"!
My question: "Where is our Park"???
The answer: "Within the rallied support of all who ask the same question"!!!
United we stand as a voice that will create the action needed, divided we will come and go silently as if the promise were never made... I say lets make some noise!!!!!!
Friday May 15 I spoke with Kieth Christopherson who is the owner of Christopherson homes, I asked him the same question, "Where is our park"? His comment was that he as the developer had every intention of building the park but the City of Santa Rosa Opted to divert the funds to other projects. I then sent an e-mail message to the director of the city's Park and Rec Dept., Marc Richardson asking him to comment on Mr. Christopherson's statement but have not heard back from him as yet.
In researching the matter, the only information I was able to come up with so far, was the meeting minutes of a SR City Community Services meeting which took place in October of 2004. In that meeting it was determined that the city council had approved a motion to hire a consultant to gather information, put together a master plan and to share that plan with the council. To my knowledge that plan has never been developed. However, as some of you may or may not be aware, there was a questionnaire which came out early in 2005 but there was no follow up statement made regarding the findings and or conclusions geared toward a master plan.
Your support will ensure there will be enough power behind our voice to wade through the red tape, dodge all of the finger pointing and turn a deaf ear to the long list of excuses in order to get to the bottom of this mater and to make a difference and moving this project forward to completion.
Thank you for being a part in giving your valued support.....
Tom Easter
Waking up this morning Sunday 5/17/2009 and walking outside, I'm amazed and in disbelief that even after 8 years I'm still starring at a pile of weeds and blowing trash on an empty lot where I have to strain my imagination in order to visualize a walking path, a dog run, basketball hoops, swing sets, shade trees, grassy areas and an answer to my 9 year old son's question, "Dad can we go to the park"? without having to say, "No son, we don't have one yet"!
My question: "Where is our Park"???
The answer: "Within the rallied support of all who ask the same question"!!!
United we stand as a voice that will create the action needed, divided we will come and go silently as if the promise were never made... I say lets make some noise!!!!!!
Friday May 15 I spoke with Kieth Christopherson who is the owner of Christopherson homes, I asked him the same question, "Where is our park"? His comment was that he as the developer had every intention of building the park but the City of Santa Rosa Opted to divert the funds to other projects. I then sent an e-mail message to the director of the city's Park and Rec Dept., Marc Richardson asking him to comment on Mr. Christopherson's statement but have not heard back from him as yet.
In researching the matter, the only information I was able to come up with so far, was the meeting minutes of a SR City Community Services meeting which took place in October of 2004. In that meeting it was determined that the city council had approved a motion to hire a consultant to gather information, put together a master plan and to share that plan with the council. To my knowledge that plan has never been developed. However, as some of you may or may not be aware, there was a questionnaire which came out early in 2005 but there was no follow up statement made regarding the findings and or conclusions geared toward a master plan.
Your support will ensure there will be enough power behind our voice to wade through the red tape, dodge all of the finger pointing and turn a deaf ear to the long list of excuses in order to get to the bottom of this mater and to make a difference and moving this project forward to completion.
Thank you for being a part in giving your valued support.....
Tom Easter
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