Michael Stewart
Vice Chair
Email: michael[at]sfsurfrider.org


San Francisco chapter member leading the charge to bring hope back to Haitian children - one surgery at a time.

David Atkin, M.D. (aka: Dr. Davo), San Francisco Surfrider chapter member, and orthopedic surgeon, is leading the charge to bring hope to Haitian children who suffered injuries from the massive earthquake that rocked Haiti earlier this year. Dr. Davo is the president of the San Francisco nonprofit organization, Operation Rainbow. Operation Rainbow consists of volunteer medical experts (physicians, nurses, specialists) who respond to emergency medical situations in developing countries located in Central and South America.

While most of us would have been very happy to have traveled to a Caribbean island for warm water waves in February, Dr. Davo, and 15 volunteers, covered their own expenses to Haiti / Dominican Republic to setup a field hospital and provide medical treatment and surgery to Haitians - primarily children - over the course of 10 days. Most of these patients had been waiting for medical treatment with severe injuries for weeks in makeshift tent villages.

Dr. Davo says that while the media attention may have shifted to other news, the medical situation in Haiti remains fragile. Operation Rainbow's efforts in Haiti are ongoing, but they need our support. The initial push to help Haiti left their warehouse almost bare of medical supplies. Financial donations and medical supplies, such as crutches, are needed now. If you would like to support their efforts, please visit their website to donate:

www.operationrainbow.org

Personally - I keep thinking that as islanders, these children are potential wave riders and ocean activists, but that they will need their crushed bones reset (instead of amputated, in many cases), and working again, in order to fully appreciate the gifts of the sea.

Photo: Les Martin

Bill McLaughlin and Carolynn Box
Sloat Erosion Committee Coordinators
Email: bill[at]sfsurfrider.org

Sadly, the new rock revetment at the intersection of Sloat and the Great Highway is virtually complete. Despite the objections of hundreds of people in our community, coastal armoring is expanding at South Ocean Beach.

As reported in the San Francisco Surfrider Sloat Erosion Committee's blog, we successfully negotiated to have the revetment size reduced from 900 feet to 400 feet in length. The San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW) is working with the National Park Service to secure a permit to plug the smaller erosion hot spots with existing concrete rubble. Additionally, last month, the DPW committed to removing 2000 tons of existing construction rubble. They now intend, however, to only remove 1000 tons sighting time constraints. This is a huge disappointment.

While the removal of 1000 tons of rubble is a step in the right direction, we feel that the amount of rubble for removal is woefully inadequate. When 12,000 tons of new boulders are being placed on the beach (the approximate amount within the emergency project) a ratio of 1:1 is more inline with mitigation protocol for projects similar to what is proposed for Sloat. (1:1 ratio: remove existing debris at an equal rate of new rock added.) The DPW has refused our request for 1:1 debris removal, citing concerns from unnamed stakeholders. In response, we, and Save the Waves, have drafted a letter to the California Coastal Commission that encourages more mitigation for the installation of the rock revetment. We are awaiting news of this petition.

In other news, the San Francisco chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and Save the Waves, has contracted Ocean Beach veteran Bob Battalio, an engineer at Phillip Williams & Associates, to consultant with us on Ocean Beach erosion. Mr. Battalio is in contact with the DPW, reviewing their plans, and providing consulting on, and oversight of, the construction project. Look for Mr. Battalio to continue to work with SF Surfrider and Save the Waves in developing a long term solution for the erosion problem at Ocean Beach

Call to action -

Please visit www.sfsurfrider.org to sign our Save Sloat petition, which is sent directly to the SF Board of Supervisors and other government officials currently responsible for Ocean Beach.

Thank you for your continued support. This is a battle that is only going to grow in size and difficulty. We need to continue to come together as a community in order to win.

March 2010.
Learning to lay stone at La Playa Park

Dan Robinson
Ocean Friendly Gardens Coordinator
Email: danno[at]sfsurfrider.org

San Francisco Surfrider has been busy this winter and spring with two Ocean Friendly Garden (OFG) projects in the Outer Sunset thanks to a grant from the City of San Francisco's Community Challenge Grant Program.

The first project is "Plant Don't Pave", and it is designed to facilitate the removal of concrete from property owner's front yards and sidewalk strips, and replace it with native shrubs and plants. The second OFG project is La Playa Park; a community street park filled with native shrubs and plants (as well as trails, flagstone patio, coffee/book sitting nooks and bocce ball courts) that are transforming a weed choked and trash filled median at the lower Great Highway N-Judah streetcar turn-a-round into a lovely garden.

Both projects have many environmental and community benefits including reducing the amount of contaminated runoff that enters the ocean, decreasing the impervious surface area, aesthetically greening heavily paved neighborhoods, helping to raise property values, and bringing stewardship, education and appreciation of more natural habitats to homeowners and neighbors.

Success to date:

1. Plant Don't Pave: selection of properties from a long list of interested homeowners; contracting a landscape architect for marking potential and eligible concrete; drawing up to scale site plans; securing the proper permits and completing other official requirements; hiring a concrete removal contractor, and searching out materials for the planting portion of the project. Finally, as winter comes to a close, the Plant Don't Pave project seems to be "shovel ready", and we are excited to get the pavement cut and the concrete removed! Planting is scheduled for late March and early April to take advantage of the winter/spring rains.


2. La Playa Park has made a great deal of progress in the last few months. We've held work parties almost every weekend since November. Thank you to all those who turned out to help. Much of the site has been planted with drought-tolerant Mediterranean and native California plants such as Coyote Bush, Sticky Monkey Flower, Dune Strawberry and Armeria. A swale is near completion, as is the flagstone patio. A dry stack stone seat wall is being installed around the patio; all of this providing space for neighbors to gather. Check out our blog for the latest news, and get ready to enjoy the park.

La Playa Park Blog page: www.laplayapark.info/blog.html

La Playa Park Website: www.laplayapark.info/about.html

Photo: Surfrider MOP volunteers Dan Robinson, Lotti Alvord, Brooke Tessman, and Nicole Parisi-Smith with Gary Jules at The Independent

Nicole Parisi-Smith
Music Outreach Program Coordinator
Email: nicole[at]sfsurfrider.org

Save My Oceans is a nation-wide tour that's stopping at college campuses to engage students in ocean protection issues. Surfrider Foundation is an official partner of the tour, and will be represented by chapters at each stop. The tour will include an art installation, a concert, and an advanced screening of Disney's new environmental film, Oceans. The tour is coming to UC Berkeley in mid-April.

· A concert featuring the Cold War Kids will be held on campus on Sat April 17. San Francisco Surfrider will have an outreach table on site, staffed by chapter volunteers.

· A screening of Oceans will be held on campus on Wed April 21. San Francisco Surfrider will have an outreach table there, as well, also staffed by chapter volunteers.

· An art exhibit will be set up on campus, along with educational booths, from April 20 - 22. Surfrider National will have a booth alongside the art exhibit, which will not be staffed by chapter volunteers.

· More information can be found here: www.savemyoceans.com/oceans_concerts_ucb.php


State Radio and Calling All Crows will be joining San Francisco Surfrider for the Sunday, May 23 beach cleanup at Stairway 17 at Ocean Beach across from the Beach Chalet restaurant.

I received this text directly from my contact with the band - "Members of the band State Radio, which will play the night before at The Independent, will roll up their sleeves and lend a hand. They've invited their Bay Area fans to come out and serve through Calling All Crows, the band's service organization."

San Francisco Surfrider will also have an outreach table at the State Radio concert the night before, on Sat May 22 at the Independent. Doors @ 8:30pm, show @ 9:00pm. Tix $20.
More information can be found here: www.theindependentsf.com/calendar/event-detail/ tfly_event_id=7141


Check out the Music Outreach Program (MOP) blog for reviews of recent shows and a film festival that have taken place since our last e-newsletter, including Globalistic, Oceanroyal, Kapakahi, and the SF Ocean Film Festival.

http://surfridermop.blogspot.com