Monthly Meeting Wednesday, November 12 @ 6:00 PM

Inviting all residents, business owners, recreational users and others who have an interest in Rose Creek.

~ We meet the Second Wednesday of every month ~

Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 12

Pacific Beach Recreation Center, 1405 Diamond Street (one block south of Ingraham @ Gresham/Diamond) Enter on Gresham St.

For more information, contact Karin 858-405-7503.

** Agenda **
* Watershed Assessment - next steps
* Update on getting trash cans along the lower portion of creek
* Mission Bay Leasehold Funds on November Ballot (continued from August & September)
* Wrap up for particaption in Natural History Museum's Exhibit on Water in November
* Porta Potties for Rose Creek
* More topics TBA

Native Plant Weeding & Water Saturday, November 8 @ 10 AM

The Nature School - Native Plant Garden Maintenance *

Join us for Native Plant Gardening on Saturday November 8 from 10 AM until noon.

Meet behind the Rose Creek Cottage 2525 Garnet Ave in Pacific Beach. Park on Fogg Street just South of Garnet.

Join the Friends of Rose Creek on the Second Saturday of every month from 10 AM until Noon while we work on The Nature School’s native plant interpretive garden behind Rose Creek Cottage. Enjoy weeding, watering and planting native species and get involved with your creek and your community.

Easy one to two hours project - great for children of all ages. However, due to liability concerns, all minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian during the event.

Perfect for community service credit hours. Please wear sunscreen, closed-toe shoes, and a hat. Volunteers should bring water and heavy-duty work or gardening gloves. More information Karin Zirk 858-405-7503 or kzirk@earthlink.net

* Part of the Rose Creek Wetlands & Salt Marsh Restoration and Nature Education Preserve project by The Nature Institute. New habitat restoration supported by The Nature Institute and the City of San Diego Environmental Services Dept.

Election Season and Rose Creek

This season, we all have our hands full with elections and who or what we are going to vote for or against.

The Friends of Rose Creek have not made any endorsements. That being said, there are two propositions that have direct impacts to Rose Creek.

Proposition C - City of San Diego
Amends The Charter To Designate The Use Of Lease Revenue From Mission Bay Park City of San Diego. This proposition directly impacts Rose Creek by considering the lower portion of Rose Creek as one of the designated funding recipients of the additional funds should this proposition pass.

However, despite numerous meetings where people in attendance discussed the issue, no consensus was reached to support it or oppose it. The opinions included but are not limited to:

• # something is better than nothing
• # in theory we like this
• # concerns about legal challenges
• # lack of clarity on the distinction between Mission Bay Park and the Mission Bay Trust
• # confusion in the measure over what leasehold revenue would be included and what wouldn't
• # a lack of community involvement in wording the proposition.

Proposition 1A - State of California
Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train This proposition was never discussed at our meetings; however, the project as currently designed would involve running the high speed train along the existing train tracks between downtown San Diego and University City. As currently designed, this would wipe out most of what's left of Rose Creek and plop down in the middle of Rose Canyon Open Space Park. To see the proposed corrider, click here. Who knows what other parks would take a hit. According to the ballot wording, environmental concerns would be addressed where feasable.

Don't forget to vote!

Rose Creek Watershed Opportunities Assessment Approved by City Council Today!

Thank you all for all your support of the Rose Creek Watershed. The City Council approved the Opportunities Assessment today for use by the City as a guidance document for city projects in the watershed. To read the document, click here.

This is huge milestone for the Friends of Rose Creek as one of the recommendations was for the City of San Diego to appoint one department to take on the management of the watershed and that includes the portion of the creek on which we are focused. So hopefully, instead of dealing with seven different city departments that point their fingers at each other when you ask "who is responsible," we will have one department and one or two people as a point of contact.

Keep in mind, this is only a guidance document, but thanks to the wonderful work of the consultant who shepherded this project through the minefield that is the City of San Diego, there is a lot of City support and I'm hoping that at least the parts of the project that are cost neutral can be implemented.

Furthermore, the action by the City Council opens the door to grants and other sources of funding to implement projects identified in the plan. A huge leap forward! Thanks Ann for all your hard work!

Watershed Opportunities Assessment Before City Council on Tuesday, October 21

The Opportunities Assessment is on the Consent Agenda as ITEM-105: Accepting the Rose Creek Watershed Opportunities Assessment. (Clairemont Mesa, University, and Pacific Beach Community Areas. Districts 2 and 6.) I have attached a PDF of the Docket at the bottom of this post.

I have attached a PDF version of the Memorandum of understand that was signed by Rose Creek Watershed Alliance member groups including the Friends of Rose Creek as well as information on actions from the 2007 NR&C meetings at the bottom of this post. There are no changes proposed other than those agreed to earlier with city staff input and attached to the letter of March 25.

We are hoping the item will stay on the consent agenda. The Council agenda that day is extremely long and if the item stays on consent, we'll be done in the a.m. Letters/notes of support would be very helpful. On Friday, a volunteer from the Friends of Rose Creek will be hand delivering all the postcards we have collected from community supporters.

The Friends of Rose Creek strongly encourage you to contact your City Council Representative and let him or her know you support watershed planning and the Rose Creek Watershed Opportunities Assessment. Let your representative know you appreciate their willingness to support interdisclipnary and comprehensive planning efforts and to improve the quality of life in our communities. All the council representatives' contact information is available at http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/.

Just say YES! to the Opportunities Assessment!

Of if you would like to make a an official comment for a docket item, visit this website and complete the form. http://www.sandiego.gov/city-clerk/officialdocs/docketcomment.shtml

You'll need to put in docket #105 - October 21 on the form.

Please contact us if you have any questions. Or visit the Rose Creek Watershed Alliance website for more information on this project.

Think good thoughts next week and thank you for your support of the Rose Creek Watershed!

Memo3-25.pdf
docket.pdf

Saturday, October 18 Fall is the perfect time to plant California natives.

If you're looking to plant some San Diego native plants, the must attend event of the season is the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society's Annual Plant Sale. They've got people who can help you find the perfect drought tolerant native plant for your yard. Visit http://cnpssd.org/plantsale.html for all the details.