It's a planting day for March 8, followed by community meeting

Our next community workday for the Panhandle Park is coming up in ten days. March is still planting season, and a bunch of plants are being provided by Rec and Park and intended for our rain garden. It'll be the biggest new addition of plants since our initial planting there last March! 

Gloves and Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own gloves if you prefer. The forecast shows rain this week and next, followed by a clearing for the weekend...so it'll probably be muddy in the park. 

current radar of the bay area precipitation.  

Panhandle Community Workday 

Saturday, March 8 

9 am - 11:30 am

Meet near the Playground (Oak @ Ashbury) 

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IMPORTANT COMMUNITY MEETING at 11 AM 

Near the end of our Workday, back at the Bulletin Board at 11 am, everyone is invited to participate in a community meeting regarding a proposal that is being assembled to improve the Panhandle Park. The outline currently includes:

- better signage, 

- a re-paved south pedestrian walkway, 

- better lighting, 

- more, better fixtures like benches and trashcans, and bike racks

A flyer about the meeting and two other subsequent outreach meetings can be downloaded directly from the NOPNA post about these meetings. The proposal is being developed to submit to Rec and Park's Community Opportunity Fund. 

Saturday Workday called off. Enjoy the rain!

With a forecast for 100% chance of rain covering most of Saturday, our monthly community workday is called off. The prediction for San Francisco is 1-2 inches tomorrow.

We worked through one rainy morning last September, so it's not like we've got anything more to prove...

Workday coming up Saturday Feb 8

Our regular monthly workday happens on the Second Saturday of each month, so the next workday is sneaking up quickly. All are welcome for hands-on park care:

Panhandle Community Workday
Saturday, February 8, 2014
9 am - 11:30 am
Gather near the Panhandle playground (near Ashbury @ Oak Street)

Meanwhile, the special event that had been scheduled for Sunday, 2/9 has been been postponed. As part of our 2013-14 Panhandle Park Action Project, we had scheduled a special community event to bring together people interested safer travel to and through the park. I'll announce the new date as soon as we are able to.

January workday pictures

Rain was in the forecast yesterday, and so many of us showed up for the community workday in our rubber boots. The rain held off until the afternoon, but the boots were perfect for working in the damp and muddy Panhandle park. A big group of volunteers set to work with the park's gardener, Guillermo. 

Our main task yesterday involved raking up leaves in the area Lyon and Central next to the south path. Many of these were big elm trees, and we also worked through the grove of pittosporum.

Leaving a pile of leaves around the base of the tree creates a nice blanket to protect roots and also suppresses weeds. The leaves of most trees (eucalyptus excepted) will decompose pretty quickly. Each year we've been able to assist the other park workers in bringing this improvement to more parts of the park.   

Another group of volunteers trimmed back burl growth from the redwoods at Baker Street. 

Meanwhile, graffiti was removed from the McKinley Memorial by city workers on Friday.