Olinder Community Mural

Olinder Community Mural Completed

After a damp start in December, the Olinder Community Mural is completed. This colorful and beautiful mural was created through the Clean Creeks, Healthy Communities program through the City of San Jose. Muralist Paul J Gonzalez worked with neighborhood community members to gather input on the design elements for the mural, which include fish, people with litter sticks, a red fox.

In the beginning...the first day of painting on
12/6/14. Muralist Paul J Gonzalez 2nd from right.

Completed Mural

On Tuesday, May 12 at 3 PM, this beautiful mural will be officially unveiled. Please join in this community event.

Earth Day Cleanup Adds Up

Earth Day Cleanup Adds Up

Giant stuffed bear leaves Coyote
Creek in the dump truck
and into the landfill. Photo by
Spiros Kolomvotos.

Our ninth cleanup occurred in honor of Earth Day at the Capitol Expressway area. We added to our already collected 29 tons of trash with another nearly 3 tons removed from Coyote Creek. Our nearly 80 volunteers who pulled out: 

• 2.9 tons of trash
• 9 shopping carts
• 4 tires
• a 6-foot stuffed bear
• loads of batteries
• 3 propane tanks. 

Thank you everyone!

A big shout out to Duncan and Wes (who came in from his vacation to work with us) for their diligence as Watershed Protection Rangers to keep our volunteers safe. Kudos to Ed and Spiros at the City of San Jose's Environmental Services Department for loading and taking the trash from our cleanup (despite the compactor being down), and from the city-wide Great American Litter Cleanup.

Dan shows off his efforts.
Photo by Richard McMurtry.

With everyone's help, Coyote Creek is getting cleaner by the month, but still has many issues, including homeless people who continue to trash the creek. Let's continue to work together help our creeks recover.

One of the teams with some of the 130 bags
of trash collected. Photo by Deb Kramer.

City of San Jose Earth Day 2015 Commendation

Restore Coyote Creek Project Receives Commendation

The City of San Jose bestowed an Earth Day Commendation for the Restore Coyote Creek Project's outstanding work to clean Coyote Creek on Tuesday, April 21, at the City Council Meeting. We are all so proud of the work our over 1000 volunteers have done in concert with the City of San Jose to remove over 29 tons of trash in 8 months alone. Great work team!

Key volunteers include Perry Henry, Katja Irvin, and Miguel Roman. 

Perry Henry, Deb Kramer, Michael Fallon, and
Richard McMurtry at San Jose's City Hall.

Deb Kramer and Steve Holmes

We received the commendation along with Steve Holmes from the Friends of Los Gatos Creek, who has been working on creek restoration along Los Gatos and Guadalupe River for the past two years.

Coyote Creek Howl a Success

Coyote Creek Howl a Success

Thanks to San Jose State University for hosting the first Coyote Creek Howl, a conference to discuss issues related to Coyote Creek. Over 130 people attended the event, including 50 students from SJSU and De Anza College. The conference featured:

• A thought-provoking talk by Barbara Rose Johnston about water and its relationship to people

• Lively discussions on homelessness, fisheries, and neighborhood issues

• A presentation by Herman Garcia about hope for the health of our creeks

•  Panelist discussing wildlife threats, advocacy for our creeks, and ways to get engaged and enjoy the creek

The day ended with an inspirational message of healing by Shanon Brown from Downtown Streets Team and a moving ensemble performance by SJSU students about homelessness (see below).


If you weren't able to attend, be sure to keep your eyes pealed for upcoming events to further your involvement in restoring our creeks. You can also read a few writeups from SJSU students: Spartan Daily, Academic Affairs Newsletter (halfway down).

March Watershed Tour

Coyote Creek Watershed Tour

by Deb Kramer

The Committee for Green Foothills hosted a Coyote Creek Watershed Tour on a cool Saturday in March. The tour had many participants from agencies, students, and other concerned residents. 

At each of the four stops, experts discussed the issues surrounding the continued viability of the creek, including the fish and wildlife, cultural and neighborhood issues, waterways and dams, pollution, and homelessness.

SJSU student Sonya Herrera wrote up a nice article and photos about the tour. Please see the Spartan Daily to read it.

Below are some photos from the various stops.

View from Anderson Dam of Anderson Lake,
photo by Deb Kramer

Ranger Jake Waltemeyer shares
activities available along the creek
and in Hellyer Park, photo by Deb
Kramer 

Liz Neves discusses watershed
protection and pollution issues,
photo by Deb Kramer

Beautiful day out at Ogier Ponds, one of the
fish barriers due to the joining of the creek
with the warm water ponds, photo by Deb Kramer

Maureen Damrel and Nimo from
Downtown Streets Team share
their stories, photo by Deb Kramer

Investigative Essay: "The Jungle" of San Jose

UCSC College Student Writes about Coyote Creek
by Deb Kramer

In early November, I was contacted by University of California Santa Cruz student Adrian Apostol about an essay he was writing for a class on environmental issues in his hometown. Being from San Jose, Coyote Creek jumped to mind for him. He especially was interested in the pollution that affected the ecosystem.

After an interview with me and another source, he conducted additional research to write his essay titled "The Jungle" of San Jose. I invite you to read it and comment on his perspective here.

Investigative Essay: "The Jungle" of San Jose by Adrian Apostol, UCSC Student.

Stories about the Story Road Encampment

Closure of "The Jungle" Captured by the Media
By Deb Kramer

On Thursday, December 4th, the City of San Jose began the cleanup of the Story Road Encampment aka "The Jungle", which had housed up to 300 homeless individuals. Below are select stories from various media sources. 

• On 12/3/14, KQED Forum hosted a show with the story and interviews related to The Jungle's closure. http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201412030900
• Take a look at this video from KQED Forum. It let's you see what The Jungle looked like before the rain and exodus last week.http://bcove.me/2z4gmd18
• The San Jose Mercury News ran a story on 12/4, with photos and video.
  http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_27066589/jungle-san-jose-shuts-down-notorious-homeless-encampment
• On 12/5/14, the San Jose Mercury News ran a followup story about the continued cleanup.
  http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_27077914/cleanup-jungle-encampment-continues-after-eviction-homeless
• NBC Bay Area had a news story on 12/1 about the posting to evict homeless residents of the encampment.
  http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Jose-Taking-Final-Steps-in-Shutting-Down-The-Jungle-Homeless-Encampment-284274701.html
• The National Journal contributed a video and article about the people who live in the encampment.
  http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/population-2043/how-silicon-valley-created-america-s-largest-homeless-camp-20141125