Late last year, a $13.5 million settlement was reached between the Presidio Trust and CALTRANS for cleanup of contaminated sediments that have run into Mountain Lake off of the Park Presidio roadway above it. The runoff has been occurring since the roadway opened 70 years ago.

In December 2011, The Examiner reported, “The settlement was reached earlier this month after nearly a decade of research, documentation and pleas for help by the Presidio Trust to Caltrans, the entity responsible for the contamination of Mountain Lake. The trust had discovered the contamination in 2000.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Caltrans will pay $5.5 million to the United States for remediation of Mountain Lake, $4 million for re-configuring the Mountain Lake overflow pipeline, $500,000 for the Presidio’s legal costs, and will fund and construct a run-off diversion project, at an estimated cost of $3.5 million, so that contaminants from Highway 1 will no longer enter Mountain Lake.

According to project organizers, sediment at the bottom of the lake “contains contaminants of concern at concentrations that pose a potential risk to the environment.” The contaminated portions will be removed by dredging and Caltrans will make changes to treat future storm water runoff from Park Presidio before it enters the lake.

On Wednesday, January 25th, the Presidio Trust and California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will host a community information session about plans for the upcoming remediation project, slated to start in 2012 and continue through 2013. The Examiner reports that the actual dredging will begin in 2013 and last one year. The lake is roughly 4 acres, with a maximum depth of 12 feet.

The Presidio Trust is preparing a Draft Feasibility Study/Remedial Action Plan (Draft FS/RAP) which presents the proposed remedial alternative: removal of contaminated sediment from the lake by dredging. DTSC is also preparing a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study and related documents to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the proposed alternative. DTSC expects to release the Draft FS/RAP and CEQA documents for public review and comment in early 2012. We are offering this community information session to provide you with information on the Draft FS/RAP, the CEQA documents, and the upcoming public comment period.

The meeting will take place at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio from 6:30pm until 8:30pm.

Work began late last year in anticipation of the project. Vegetation has been cleared around the lake to gain access to areas to complete a topographic map, conduct geotechnical studies of Park Presidio Boulevard, and evaluate access routes for future environmental cleanup of the lake.

Most brush vegetation will be cleared within a 15-foot wide corridor east of Park Presidio Boulevard. Vegetation and trees will be cleared in the area north of Mountain Lake trail and east of Park Presidio Boulevard where the trail crosses underneath the highway. Some clearing is also required in the northern arm of the lake.

During this work, the Mountain Lake trail may be closed for short periods.

Sarah B.

Time to gather up all those old electronics…

This Saturday, December 17, from 9am until 2pm, sfcleancity.com will host a free electronic recycling drop-off at Ocean Beach (event flyer). Drop off free of charge any of the following items:

- TVs and monitors
- Computers and laptops
- Scanners and printers
- Cell phones
- Fax machines
- Ethernet cables
- Telephones and telephone systems
- VCRs, DVD players
- All networking equipment (e.g. routers)

Note that no stereo speakers, appliances or microwaves will be accepted.

Drop off your e-waste between 9am and 2pm at the Ocean Beach parking lot across from the Beach Chalet restaurant near Fulton. You must have a valid California driver’s license or ID card.

Questions? Contact Clean City at info@sfcleancity.com or call 552-9201 x21.

Sarah B.

On Saturday, Friends of the Urban Forest will be teaming up with residents to plant new trees in several locations in the inner Richmond District.

FUF Planting Manager Sally Bentz tells us they will be planting 30 trees in total, including four at Sutro Elementary School, and another 5 at Star of the Sea School.

Species being planted include Strawberry Tree, Washington Thorn, Bronze Loquat, Flowering Cherry, and Small Leaf Tristania’s.

Friends of the Urban Forest helps residents across the city get new trees planted in their neighborhood. If you’d like to request a planting or volunteer to help with a planting effort, visit the FUF website for more information.

Thanks to RichmondSFBlog reader Tom for the tip!

Sarah B.

Last week, the students at Argonne Elementary School at 18th & Cabrillo got a lesson in how to beautify their campus. Step 1: remove some of the concrete and replace it with a garden.

For the past 10 years, Argonne students have been visiting the Children’s Garden at the San Francisco Botanical Garden as part of their Youth Education Program. From that came a desire for Argonne to start its own garden on campus.

Then in February 2011, the Botanical Garden announced a new program called “Grey 2 Green”, designed to teach residents how to transform their sidewalks into attractive, landscaped areas. “Less concrete. More jungle.” is the program’s theme, which is a joint venture with the Department of Public Works.

Argonne School was selected to pilot the program and after 3 months of work, 240 square feet of sidewalk along Cabrillo near 18th Avenue was converted into a garden with 15 varieties of California Native plants, as well as bee and butterfly habitats.

The garden celebrated its grand opening last Friday which included a ceremonial planting of a Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Marina) by the students.

“Our school community has been transformed by this partnership with Grey2Green,” said Tina Eshaghpour, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Green Argonne Chair.

“We have seen concrete sidewalk, where people dump trash, transformed into a learning and community meeting place, where students delight in the butterflies that visit and neighbors pause to give us a smile and express appreciation for making our street more beautiful.”

Interested in transforming some of the grey outside your home into green? The Grey 2 Green program is still underway. Around 250 residents have attended the workshops so far this year, and the final one for 2011 will be held on Saturday, November 12 at the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park from 9am until 10am.

Sarah B.

The Richmond District Neighborhood Center, located on 30th Avenue near Balboa.

Beginning this week, merchants and small businesses in the Richmond District will be visited by representatives from San Francisco Energy Watch. The program, a joint venture between the city and PG&E that began in 2007, offers incentives to local businesses to encourage them to make energy efficient upgrades.

They’ll be in the Richmond District this week, stopping in to offer free energy assessments to local businesses. If a business finds that they could make upgrades to become more energy efficient, SF Energy Watch can also help with financial assistance.

Earlier this year, the Richmond District Neighborhood Center participated in the program, starting with a free on-site assessment of their office buildings.

Dorian Luey, Operations Director for the RDNC, said the program was attractive because of the financial incentives it offered for upgrades.

“We found out we were doing as much as we could to be energy efficient, but they recommended that we add more efficient lighting,” Luey said about the initial assessment.

SF Energy Watch helped the RDNC replace all of their interior and exterior light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs, which use less power and have a much longer life than standard, incandescent bulbs.

The total cost to replace the lighting was $2,877, but only $270 was passed onto the RDNC thanks to the financial assistance that the program provided.

“Other businesses should give it a try, especially if you have an older facility like ours,” Luey said. “And you don’t have to go through with the changes they recommend – it’s up to you.”

The upgrades to their lighting also means future energy bills for the non-profit neighborhood center will be lower. SF Energy Watch estimates that the $270 RDNC spent on upgrades will pay for itself in savings in just a couple of months.

Representatives from the SF Energy Watch program will begin visiting Richmond District businesses this Wednesday, June 22. If you have a small business here in the neighborhood and would like more information, or would like to schedule a free on-site assessment, call 355-3769 or visit sfenergywatch.org.

Sarah B.

In 2009, roughly 2,000 young trees were planted in the Richmond District along Anza, Balboa and Cabrillo Streets and on some intersecting Avenues. It was part of a San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFDPW) initiative to green more sidewalks in the city.

Last week, The Chronicle wrote about the Mayor Ed Lee’s plans to trim $600,000 from the budget, which is what the city projects they will pay for street tree care next year:

The mayor’s solution: dump responsibility for 23,715 of the 38,559 street trees under the city’s jurisdiction. That means more property owners will be on the hook for pruning trees, caring for them when they’re sick or damaged, and paying for sidewalk repair caused by root damage – costs that could be substantial.

This could prove fatal for many of the new trees that were planted back in ’09, many of which had to be replaced after they proved defective. At the time, the SFDPW was able to lean on the contractor that supplied the trees to replace them.

Mayor Ed Lee’s move to cut maintenance budget for the city’s trees is surprising, given his recent zeal for tree-ing the city. Back in March, Lee helped honor Charlie Starbuck, a community member who has planted over 7,000 trees nearly every weekend over the past 30 years.

At the time, Lee was quoted as being in support of further greening the city, including the maintenance involved. “A healthy and vibrant urban forest is a gift we can give to the future generations of our City. I am proud to support San Francisco’s Arbor Day, which focuses on not just planting trees, but maintaining them,” Lee said.

Guess he’s changed his tune now that the city is facing a projected $306 million budget deficit.

The Friends of the Urban Forest are calling Mayor Lee’s proposed cuts “a tragedy”, citing concern for the health of existing trees and the unanticipated costs of tree maintenance being pushed off to property owners.

They’re asking supporters to send emails to Supervisor John Avalos, urging him “to reject this ill-conceived plan.” Avalos is sponsoring a hearing on this issue that will take place today at City Hall. Friends of the Urban Forest will stage a rally at 10am to voice their concerns at the meeting.

What do you think? Is it fair for the city to shirk these costs and pass them into property owners? Leave a comment to let us know.

Sarah B.

Charlie Starbuck with Mayor Ed Lee. Photo courtesy of DPW.

Yesterday, a Board of Supervisors committee voted to send legislation to the full board that would restrict the distribution of Yellow Pages phone books in the city.

The original proposal was brought by Board President David Chiu in an effort to reduce waste and neighborhood blight. According to the SFAppeal, “The San Francisco Department of the Environment estimates that the phone books, which collectively weigh 7 million pounds, are disposed of each year at an annual cost of $1 million to the city.”

1.8 million phone books are distributed in the city each year, nearly enough for 2 per resident. But with the advent of the internet and sites like yelp.com, craigslist, etc, it’s easy to find many of the same yellow page listings online along with recommendations and reviews from customers.

Opponents to the legislation argue that it could be devastating to small business owners who depend on the yellow pages for driving business. Others argue that it discriminates against residents who can’t afford internet or don’t utilize online sites for that kind of information.

Consumers can already opt-out of receiving the yellow pages at the website yellowpagesoptout.com, but only about 1,700 residents in San Francisco have done so since the option became available in February.

What do you think? Take the poll above to let us know whether or not you still want the big yellow book landing on your doorstep.

Sarah B.

Got some old stuff that’s taking up precious space in your home or garage? Need some documents shredded or have some tricky items to dispose of like motor oil or batteries? Bring them to Ocean Beach this Saturday for free recycling.

The drop-off will be open from 8am to 12noon at Ocean Beach at the corner of Fulton and the Great Highway (directly across from the Beach Chalet restaurant).

This is the mother of all recycling events! Bring your old appliances and electronics, yard waste, documents to shred, scrap metal, mattresses even used motor oil and batteries.

Read the event flyer for a complete list of acceptable items

This recycling event is open to residents only, no businesses. Proof of residency will be required so bring a driver’s license or utility bill.

Goodwill Industries will also be onsite to accept donations such as clothes or furniture in resale condition.

Sarah B.