And the Cleanups Continue

November Coyote Creek Cleanup Another Success
By Deb Kramer

On a clear, balmy Saturday morning, we set up our tables, laid out our tools, and waited for them to come. And come they did! 

Just some of the trash collected at Yerba Buena

We partnered with the Santa Clara County Parks to host a cleanup in Hellyer Park's Cottonwood Lake area and with the Sierra Club to host the Yerba Buena Road site. All together, we had 153 volunteers remove 5.3 tons of trash. What a great job everyone did. You can see a lot of our photos on our Facebook page.

Old typewriter from the Creek

One volunteer from the Evergreen High School Interact Club said she liked "finding new old objects with mysterious stories." Here are a few of the interesting items we collected:

• BBQ
• 13 tires
• 9 shopping carts
• Typewriter
• Oven door
• Lots of rugs
• Lots of clothing
• Braided rug
• Bike frame
• A baby doll
• ID card
• Pictures of an old lady

The San Jose Conservation Corp provided us with some tools to dig up and remove items while the City of San Jose provided us with vests, gloves, litter sticks, and loads of bags to contain our smaller items. 

Over 200 bags of trash were collected, and that doesn't even count the large items, like chairs, futons, and tents. As volunteers brought trash up, some couldn't believe the amount of trash in the creek. One commented that "the trash is nasty, and people shouldn't put trash in water because it makes the fish die."

As one SJSU student put it, the most rewarding part was "Seeing the Change! Before and After shots!" Many of our volunteers indicated they "enjoyed meeting new people" 

Some of the groups that came out include:

• San Jose State students
• Sierra Club members
• Silver Creek, Evergreen, Piedmont Hills, Yerba Buena, Andrew Hill, and University Prep Academy high schools
• Clubs included SCAMS club, DZAM, Interact, and Key

Many of the high school students who attended got a sense of "the amount of trash people litter" and "how important it is to pick up after yourself." We are so glad that people can relate the trash in the creek to their everyday practices.

Just some of the 150 volunteers at the November cleanup

Without all these volunteers, we wouldn't be able to make as big an impact on the creek as we do. Thanks again for a job well done.

Rain or shine, we'll be out again in December. Please join us!

Regional Water Board Poised to Act on Creekside Pollution of Creeks

Regional Water Board Poised to Act on Creekside Pollution of Creeks
By Richard McMurtry

On November 12, 2014, homeless activists from San Jose spoke out at a meeting of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in Oakland, the state agency responsible for protecting our streams from pollution. They stood up for basic human services (sanitation, wash, trash pickup) at existing homeless encampments to prevent pollution of the creeks. They advocated for the creation of managed homeless villages with proper sanitation, wash facilities, trash pickup and shelter from the elements and with opportunities for the homeless to be stewards of the creek by keeping it clean.   

They also called on the Regional Board to issue enforcement orders to the owners of creekside properties – Santa Clara Valley Water District, City of San Jose, County of Santa Clara, CALTRANS – to pick up the trash in the creek and along its banks and provide sanitary facilities to prevent discharge of human waste to the creek.

Mr. James McGrath, vice-chair of the Board, said, "I can’t imagine this would not be a high priority for this board. I have walked several miles of creek and seen mountains of trash in the creeks and along its banks on public agency and private land. This is not just a City of San Jose problem. There must be a better way to address human waste collection other than provision of dry bags."

The Board indicated their desire to have this issue put on an agenda for a future meeting of the Board and to create a subcommittee of the Board to focus on this issue. Perhaps the current impasse around addressing homeless-related creek pollution is about to make a major shift!