As you may know, the interim-use agreement for Hayes Valley Farm will expire this summer.

The farm sits on two of the former Central Freeway parcels, Parcel O and Parcel P.

There are a number of Central Freeway parcels slated to be converted into Affordable Housing units, including Parcel O.

These projects were managed by Redevelopment Agency, which has recently been dissolved.

The Mayor’s Office of Housing is now responsible for managing these housing projects.

Come to the next Hayes Valley Community meeting to find out more about the future of the Farm and join the discussion!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

7:00pm at Hayes Valley Playground

ALSO: At this weeks meeting – we will have a number of discussions relating to our Hayes Valley environment.

Three short discussions to begin:
1. Isabel Wade presents the Just One Tree project
2. Hayes Valley Farm and the board’s recent vote of support of their continued interest in Parcel O
3. Gail Baugh Planting at Hayes Valley Playground

Our three main topics are:
1. The Better Market Street Plan - presented By Kris Opbroek, DPW
2. Street Tree Care and Responsibility, DPW Urban Forestry, Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) , District 5 Supervisor Olague (or her representative)
3. Street Trees on Hayes Street. What species to infill? - Hayes Valley Landscape Architect Marta Fry

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By Lauren Daley

I met long time Hayes Valley resident Elyze Stewart a couple of months ago while she was watering her sidewalk garden at Haight and Laguna. I have long admired the beautiful green space in front of her home and was able to speak with Elyze about her garden in more depth.

Elyze is a Somatic Therapist and moved to the neighborhood from Sante Fe in 1982. She is originally from Canada. The house she moved into was built in 1886 and was originally a commune connected to the SF Zen Center. But like the surrounding community, it underwent some changes over time and Elyze was able to buy into the building in the 90’s. She has always been a strong proponent of designated community open space. Once she purchased her home, she worked with Friends of the Urban Forrest (FUF) as a Community Liaison and organized a street tree planting along Laguna between Waller Street and Haight Street. All of the kumquat trees along the East 100 block of Laguna are thanks to Elyze’s, FUF’s, and the community’s efforts.

When the sidewalk in front of her home was cited for minor cracks in 2008, she and the other co-owners of the building decided to take the opportunity to replace parts of the sidewalk with gardens. The City of San Francisco encourages this because it diverts stormwater out of the city’s system by allowing more rainwater to be retained in the soil. Often sidewalk cracks are caused by growing tree roots. Thus, taking out concrete and replacing it with planted soft ground is the best long-term solution to fixing the problem. Elyze worked with the other owners of the building Guy and Trey (who also have a sidewalk garden), friend and garden designer Michelle Schaal, and a landscape architect, Jane Martin, at Shift Design, to get the gardens done.

Elyze did all the planting for her gardens and continues to learn as she goes. She mentioned that it is important to choose plants that are hearty, safe to the touch, and plants that are not too expensive, to avoid possible theft. If you plant in pots, use ones that are very durable and put something heavy like a large stone or concrete on the bottom under the soil. Elyze prefers drought tolerant, mostly native plants. She has found succulents to be a little tender and plants mainly perennials. She has also planted some irises, daffodils, narcissus, and sparaxis. An interesting feature of the gardens is the bricks. They are from an original 1886 chimney that was removed from the house and are now repurposed as pavers.

What Elyze values most about her sidewalk gardens is the creativity she gets to express through them, the birds and butterflies attracted to them, and that they change everyday with different things blooming. She has nurtured a bit of natural habitat on a bustling urban street that everyone gets to benefit from. The next time you are walking on Laguna, take note of Elyze’s gardens and allow yourself to get inspired. And don’t hesitate to ask her any questions if you happen to run into her watering her garden. She’s happy to offer advice and you’ll be glad you did.

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Last night we had presentations by:
Garden for the Environment’s Suzi Paladino
Friends of the Urban Forest’s Doug Wildman
SF Bee Coalition and SF Bee-Cause beekeeper Karen Peteros
North of the Panhandle’s Neighborhood Association’s President Jarie Bolander came to discuss Bay to Breakers.

Suzi Paladino of Garden for the Environment wanted to let everyone know all are welcome to take a number of classes at their demonstration garden at 7th Ave and Lawton. They have composting workshops, food growing workshops, ornamental xeriscape gardening workshops, and much more. Take a look at their class list here: Garden for the Environment Classes.

Doug Wildman stated that San Francisco is losing about 4,500 trees per year, and Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) is helping to plant 1,200 trees per year, but we are losing tree coverage. If you know of a spot that you would like to plant a street tree, please contact FUF at 415.561.6890 or go to this link : Tree Planting with FUF. If you plant a tree with FUF, you can do the planting for $75. This is a great deal.

Read more about FUF on our blog at Urban Foresters

SF Bee Coalition’s Karen Peteros noted that SF Bee-cause was just founded this year. Please check out their website at www.sfbeecause.org. Karen is leading a number of bee keeping classes at the Hayes Valley Farm this year. Read Karen’s Bee article here. The honeybee keeping and honeybee outreach classes have just begun. For more information about Honey Beekeeping Classes coming to Hayes Valley Farm, please contact bees@hayesvalleyfarm.com, or call (415) 763-SOIL. Please contact Karen with questions at bees@hayesvalleyfarm.com

Jarie Bolander explained how there is a Bay to Breakers Task force. Nine neighborhood groups came together to make Bay to Breakers better. Jarie came to let people know how to get involved with the monitoring of the neighborhoods this year during Bay to Breakers on May 15th. The group needs help. Volunteer to be a neighborhood ambassador at this link to become a Neighborhood ambassador. You can read more about “Making Bay to Breakers Fun for Everyone” here: on the HVNA blog.
You can also read about the police sobriety tents here: Police Tents.

Announcements:
Public Safety Meeting next Monday at 7PM at the Korean American Center.

When Hayes Valley Farm compresses onto its smaller parcel, it will launch a massive campaign to get 49 urban farms or pieces of urban farms throughout the city.
Jay Rosenberg states that there are already thirteen urban farms in some capacity throughout the city. Watch the blog for details.

What Patricia’s Green at the Linden and Octavia intersection. On May 21st there will be a Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association Ham and Eggs Fire Fundraiser. Watch the blog for details.

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by Lauren Daley

Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) is a non-profit organization that helps individuals and neighborhood groups to plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens in San Francisco. By greening the streets of San Francisco, they support the health and livability of the urban environment. Since 1981, FUF has planted almost 45,000 trees (more than all the trees in Golden Gate Park), and is responsible for the planting of over 40% of San Francisco’s street tree canopy.

According to FUF, San Francisco still has a meager urban forest; our “tree canopy coverage,” or the amount of land covered by trees, is only 12%. Compare that to San Jose at 15%, Oakland at 21%, and Portland at 42%. Though some neighborhoods, such as Hayes Valley, are pleasantly leafy, others have room for improvement. And it’s not just a matter of beautification; street trees reduce storm-water runoff, clean the air, increase property values and reduce stress.

Friends of the Urban Forest started with five men: George Williams, Brian Fewer, Keith Davey, Jack Spring, and Fred Smith. After the City and County of San Francisco cut funding to urban forestry in the late 1970’s, they decided to take matters into their own hands by organizing neighborhoods to plant and care for their own trees. FUF’s first tree planting took place on March 7, 1981 – California’s Arbor Day – on Sanchez Street in Noe Valley.

Shortly thereafter, neighborhoods across the city began to organize their own tree-planting events with FUF’s leadership and support. Thanks to the partnerships and programs developed by FUF, the capital to purchase trees comes primarily from government, corporations, and foundations rather than individuals. The labor to plant and care for trees comes primarily from volunteers. Besides subsidizing the costs of trees and organizing volunteers, FUF also coordinates the permitting process of street greening projects and tree replacement.

Beyond the planting and organization of placement of new street trees, FUF is our urban forest steward. They are currently taking inventory and recording the health of San Francisco’s tree canopy through their Urban Forest Mapping Project and could use your help. Go to http://www.urbanforestmap.org to enter trees near you.

FUF volunteers are trained in TREEage (pronounced triage) where volunteers perform emergency tree rescue, or will intervene if trees are fallen or being abused. One instance of tree abuse is when people illegally top a tree, a process where people drastically prune their trees placing the trees’ future growth and health at risk. If you see a tree at risk or one being severely pruned, please call FUF at 415.561.6890 to prevent this from happening.

Along with planting and tree replacement programs, FUF also has tree care programs and educational and outreach programs. If you would like to spend some time on a delightful tree tour through San Francisco, learn proper tree pruning techniques, train to be a citizen forester, volunteer to provide tree care, or act as an advocate for more trees in your neighborhood and beyond, FUF makes it possible. For more information visit their website at http://www.fuf.net.

If You Would Like A Tree or Sidewalk Garden:

Neighborhood greening projects like tree planting and sidewalk gardening require a certain number of interested property owners or tenants working with the permission of their landlords. Usually, a neighborhood organizer who works closely with FUF to spearhead a planting event is necessary. Anyone can be a neighborhood organizer. If you are interested, call FUF’s Doug Lybeck at (415) 268-0773 or email him at dougly@fuf.net.

If you are an individual who wants a new tree, an unhealthy tree replaced, or a sidewalk garden, FUF has done all initial research and has made the information readily accessible on their website and they will assist you towards your planting goal. Visit http://www.fuf.net/treePlanting/solo.html to get your own project started.

FUF in Hayes Valley:

HVNA interviewed Adam Byrnes, a Hayes Valley resident who serves on the Board at FUF. Adam describes the state of trees in Hayes Valley as generally good, but that there is always room for improvement. FUF would like to organize a neighborhood volunteer planting event in the near future when enough interest evolves.

FUF sees large property owners as key partners to get more trees. Currently, FUF is targeting the Federal Mint at Buchanan Street and Herman Street and the UC Extension at 55 Laguna.
FUF has already held two successful planting events in Hayes Valley. You can see those happy, healthy trees on Ivy Street adjacent to AgeSong and on Page Street adjacent to Samovar and the Zen Center. You can identify the trees by their white FUF tags on their cross braces.

Adam strongly encourages everyone to participate in a tree planting or sidewalk greening event. Often, it brings neighbors together for the first time who have lived in the neighborhood for many years: Community is built through the act of planting trees.

Adam mentioned that during May on Monday nights, Straw, a new Hayes Valley restaurant on Octavia and Page, will be donating 10% of its profits to FUF. Enjoy a dinner on a Monday in May at Straw and help FUF in the process!

FUF today:

Today, FUF is a thriving nonprofit organization committed to revitalizing San Francisco’s urban forest, building community, and taking a local leadership role in mitigating global environmental problems through the simple act of planting trees. FUF has planted almost 45,000 trees in more than 1,000 neighborhood tree-plantings, has a strong partnership with the City and County of San Francisco, is well loved among San Franciscans, and has an outstanding reputation among urban-forestry organizations nationwide.

HVNA would like to thank Adam Byrnes and Ben Carlson for providing information and taking the time to be interviewed.

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By Karen Mauney-Brodek

This April-May issue of The Hayes Valley Voice and our upcoming meeting on April 28th are centered around environmentally focused organizations in the neighborhood.

Today, more and more people are coming to realize what many of us have known all along: Hayes Valley and other urban, dense neighborhoods like ours are of the greenest places you can live. The more we can get our needs met here, our parks, our food, our shopping and other needs – the more sustainable we will be because we can walk, bike and ride transit to shop, work and get around.

We need to continue to do things to improve our neighborhood – getting a full service grocery store and other needed retail. While we do complain about Muni, we do have good transit compared to many areas (that is why many of us live here) and by using transit and walking we are making healthier choices for our planet and ourselves.

Some organizations that are active in our neighborhood include: Project Homeless Connect Community Garden, Hayes Valley Farm, CommunityGrows Koshland Educational Garden, Urban Sprouts (creating learning gardens at our public schools), Neighborhood Parks Council, and Garden for the Environment. Our neighborhood works with other San Francisco environmentally- focused groups including: Friends of the Urban Forest, Public Utility Commission (reducing water use), Trust for Public Lands and the Recreation and Parks Department (which together are renovating the Hayes Valley Playground), San Francisco Parks Trust, and the Department of Public Works (helping turn concrete into planting beds and other projects).

Come to the next meeting on April 28th at the Korean American Center at 745 Buchanan Street, where we will have presentations by Garden for the Environment and Friends of the Urban Forest.

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There are several opportunities this coming weekend to celebrate Arbor Day.

1. Join Community Clean Team on Saturday, March 12th to clean and green San Francisco. In honor of Arbor Day, volunteers will work on tree planting, landscaping and gardening projects, remove weeds and overgrown vegetation, paint over graffiti, and help clean up litter in District 1. Lunch provided.

This event will be held at George Washington High School: 30th Avenue (between Geary and Anza).

2. Friends of the Urban Forest

Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop w/ Lindsey Jones
Sat, March 12, 9am – 12pm
at Willie Brown Academy, 2055 Silver Ave. (Garden entrance is on Revere- look for the FUF truck.)

Join Friends of the Urban Forest and local fruit tree expert Lindsey Jones for our annual Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop. Learn the basics of pruning for fruit production, and get hands on experience on a variety of fruit trees. There is no cost for this worshop, but space is limited so be sure to RSVP to heather@fuf.net.

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