Rainy Day Cleanup...Who Knew?

Coyote Creek Cleanup Continues Despite First Major Rains
by Deb Kramer

Woke up at 6 AM to a downpour of rain. "Great," I thought. "We'd be lucky to have 30 people show up for our scheduled October cleanup."

Just the day before, we had 91 people registered to participate in our creek cleanup. My soggy self hoped for some relief, especially since my poor Subaru was packed to the gills with supplies from the City of San Jose's Anti-Litter Program.

SJSU Alpha Phi Omega volunteers

In the pouring rain, we setup. SJSU Alpha Phi Omega provided support with signups and team leadership. Sierra Club Loma Prieta was out to help coordinate the site staging area. The San Jose Ranger was waiting in the wings. Would they come?

What a surprise when 94 people came to show their support to clean Coyote Creek. We were split into three major groups working from Tully Ball Fields and Capitol Expressway. Together, we pulled out just over four tons of trash, the equivalent of four Fiat 500s. That's a lot of trash!

Bellarmine College Prep boys
haul up a safe...
already cracked open.

As we worked through the drizzle which turned into sunshine, smiling faces showed me that the effort to host these cleanups is so rewarding for the participants. 


As one participant commented, "You never know what you might find." Toilets, carpet, sleeping bags, shopping carts, cinder blocks, bricks, mounds of plastic wire coverings, a Republic of Poland ID card, rolling pin, office chairs, bras, concrete...all examples of items we pulled out this time.

Some of the Girl Scouts 
hauled out a huge suitcase.

When asked, people commented that they learned:

"I was amazed at the disregard towards the ecosystem of the creek.""Just by taking a few hours out of your day, you can do a lot.""There is trash EVERYWHERE and in the most obscure places."

Most people found that the most rewarding part of the effort was to "see the difference that we make together" to clean the creek. Others commented that it was "neat to see people come together" towards a common cause. Yet others enjoyed "making new friends" and "working on a project with my fellow Bells."

Cleanup day trash unloaded 
from compactor truck

Of course, some of the most amazing things that people noticed was the sheer volume of trash they were able to pull out of the creek. 

Go team! I am so grateful to our volunteers who come out even in the pouring rain to clean up Coyote Creek. See more photos on our Facebook page. We look forward to seeing you at our next cleanup on November 15 at Yerba Buena Road.

About 50 volunteers and half the trash collected at this spot. Great job all!

Shady Oaks Park Master Plan Community Meeting

Shady Oaks Park Master Plan Community Meeting
by Deb Kramer

Ballfields? Lights? Walking trails? Cricket field? Heritage walnut trees? What are the best ideas for the use of a 60 acre park?

Shady Oaks Park from Google Maps

The neighbors of the Shady Oaks Park along Coyote Creek have been working on a Master Plan for this park with the guidance of the City of San Jose's Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services since June, 2014. Over the past three meetings, the ideas for the park have raised many concerns from neighbors about too much development, but there are residents in the city who believe additional developed uses, such as sports fields and courts.

Shady Oaks Master Plan drawing

As an observer and interested party to this master plan on behalf of Coyote Creek, I've seen the diverse interests of the San Jose community in action. Coming together as a neighborhood, the residents to the neighborhood park desperately wanted to keep the park as natural as possible. Currently, the park has a large grove of walnut trees that provide a place for many animals and birds to live. Since this park is adjacent to Coyote Creek, there is ready access to recreation, including the Coyote Creek Trail, used by many for walking, biking, and running. Across the creek is the Silver Creek Sportsplex, a private facility offering a huge range of activities, including field sports and indoor sports. 

The neighbors worked together with the Parks Department and Public Works to develop and refine a proposed Master Plan for this park through a deliberate process. At the second meeting, a map of the park was overlaid with tracing paper for about 8 groups, and nearly all the groups had a similar vision: keep the walnut grove; add a path along the creek; include interpretive signs; add some sort of courts (tennis, basketball, or sand volleyball); add and repair park benches.

Element Priorities by Participants

At the last meeting on October 22, the combined ideas were laid out, and 30 participants were invited to rank their choices from 1-4. Overwhelmingly, the trail next to the creek and cultural/restoration of the walnut grove area were most popular. The financials were also discussed to inform the residents about the budgetary constraints, including Neighborhood funds compared to Community funds.

Next step: Approval by the Parks and Recreation Commission and CEQA reviews. I look forward to seeing the natural parts of this park preserved and improved for the benefit of nature and people. This process has been wonderful to follow as I was able to see how it evolved in a civil manner.

The Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards

The Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards

By Richard McMurtry

When you look into the eyes of a homeless person on the creek and genuinely are interested in who they are, it is hard not to fall in love with them. "Love" in the sense of caring about them: wanting the best for them; seeing their humanity and their goodness – warts and all. And, wanting to empower them to be the stewards of the creek, rather than the trashers of the creek.

On September 25^th, the Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards held its first trash cleanup at two encampments along Coyote Creek just north of Capitol Expressway. Despite city warnings that the homeless are "dangerous," we worked with four individuals living in that area to pick up about 15 bags of trash. Then we went to Round Table and had pizza to celebrate our work together. More cleanups are planned for October.

The mottos of the Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards are:

• Collecting creekside trash as fast as it’s generated
• Protecting Coyote Creek
• Serving the community

With the help of the homeless, our community volunteer cleanups will make headway against the backlog of trash along the creek. No longer will we be picking up trash that was generated between cleanups.

Stream area prior to cleanup

Stream area following Stream Stewards cleanup

Richard McMurtry (second from right) with three of the team members

Stream Steward member looking regal

Living Along Coyote Creek

Every other week or so, I go out to Coyote Creek and monitor trash and take photos...lots of photos. Through these photos, I'd like to share some of the people, animals, plants, and other aspects of the creek that I find fascinating.

This week: "Lives Left Behind"

Recently, I went out with Richard McMurtry to evaluate the trash levels between Yerba Buena and Singleton Road. What a minefield of trash! We'll be hosting a cleanup along this section soon. The San Jose Park Rangers had recently cleared out the homeless people, and below are a few items I found left behind.

People need medications, and here are some prescription vials left behind. Hopefully, the user has their next supply of medication to stay healthy.

I'm always amazed by what "food-related" packaging I find. These are coffee creamer flavoring cups. I found one huge box (apparently holding about 150 cups) and its empty containers. Flavors, in case you are interested, are Hazelnut (tan), French Vanilla (blue), Irish Creme (green), Half & Half (white), Black Coffee Shot SToK (black). The SToK flavor contains the following ingredients: Water, Corn Syrup, Brewed Coffee (Cold Brewed Coffee [Filtered Water, Coffee],Caffeine, Natural Lactic Acid), Dipotassium Phosphate, Guar Gum. Not exactly high on the health index.

Children are out on the creek, and I mean living here, not just playing. Here is a Sesame Street stuffed animal, which I found adjacent to the baby-sized socks and toy truck (see below). I am saddened to see the evidence of children living out here. The weather is warm and dry now, but shortly, the rains will come, it will be cold at night, and these little ones may not have a safe place to be. 

Who was the little baby who lost his/her socks?
I hope he/she is safe.

Small toy fire engine