Miraloma Park Improvement Club

Miraloma Life: June 2015

• Thriving in an Era of Drought: A Night of Empowerment in the Face of Change Plus the MPIC Annual Election
• From the President’s Desk
• Honoring the People of Nepal by Action and Support
• From the MPIC Safety Committee
• America’s Military Mission: 70 Years Out-of-Date
• About SF SAFE
• The New Lab at Miraloma Elementary
• Summary of the MPIC Board Meeting of May 7, 2015
• Leaf Season: Miraloma Park

Thriving in an Era of Drought: A Night of Empowerment in the Face of Change Plus the MPIC Annual Election

On June 18, following our annual election of officers and directors, the Miraloma Park Improvement Club (MPIC) will host a presentation about the ongoing drought crisis facing our state, city and neighborhoods. The evening will offer MPIC members in good standing (dues paid by May 18) the opportunity to vote for MPIC directors, and all attendees the chance to learn from experts about our water system, how it is being impacted by the drought, and what we can do to reduce water use and continue to thrive as a community. SF Public Utilities Commission representatives will have a table, presenting practical solutions to lowering water consumption and fielding questions. Native plant expert Geoff Coffey will advise on drought-tolerant plants. We encourage everyone in Miraloma Park to come, MPIC member or not, to learn how to weather our water crisis.

When: Thursday, June 18
Time: 7:00 pm, vote in election, mingle; 7:30 pm, presentation
Place: MPIC Clubhouse (Del Vale at O’Shaughnessey)

Questions? Please email miralomapark@gmail.com or leave a voice message at 415-281-0892. Note: The ballot will include a vote to approve Bylaws changes needed to apply for 501(c)3 status.

2015 MPIC Election Slate of Officers and Directors

Officers
Vice President — Bill Kan
Recording Secretary — Joanne Whitney
Corresponding Secretary — Dan Liberthson
Treasurer — Vivienne Antal

Directors
Vivienne Antal
Karen Breslin
Daniel Homsey
Bill Kan
Kathy Rawlins
Justin Ryckebusch
Ryan Sims
Prahtiba Tekky
Serdar Yeralan

Who are the Candidates?
Vivienne Antal, a long-term resident of Miraloma Park, was formerly an MPIC Director, she has worked as an investment banker.  She just finished NERT training and has attended Resilient Miraloma Park Working Group meetings. She has an international background and speaks French, Italian, Hungarian, and other languages.

Karen Breslin has been a resident of Miraloma Park since 1966 and a Director of the MPIC for 8 years. She is a former president of the Board, serves on the Zoning and Planning and Streets and Transportation committees, and is a delegate to the West of Twin Peaks Central Council and Coalition of SF Neighborhoods. She is committed to binging the community together to keep Miraloma Park a safe and healthy place to live.

Daniel Homsey, a fourth generation San Franciscan, moved into his grandmother’s Miraloma Park home in 2001. He is married, with two children. Since joining the Board 2 years ago, he has worked on public safety and traffic calming, though his primary focus has been, working with other Directors, the development and implementation of a Resilience Action Plan for the community and chairing the Disaster Resilience Work Group, the first significant output of which was training 30 Miraloma Park residents for Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT).

Bill Kan became active with the MPIC shortly after moving to Miraloma Park in 2013 because the MPIC enables him to contribute to the community. After years as an economist and investment strategist in NYC and Washington, DC, he has started an independent investment and financial planning practice. He and his wife find Miraloma Park to be a wonderful place to live atop San Francisco, and he enjoys offering his financial expertise to the MPIC Board and the community.

Dan Liberthson, Miraloma Park resident since 1989 and long-time Board member, has served variously as President, Corresponding Secretary, and chair of the Zoning and Planning Committee, with which he drafted the Miraloma Park Residential Design Guidelines and shepherded them through approval by the SF Planning Commission in 1999. He is retired from a career as a medical and technical writer and editor, has edited the Miraloma Life newsletter for many years, and has written books of poetry and a fantasy children’s novel.

Kathy Rawlins has been an MPIC Board member since 1990, and has served as Recording Secretary, Clubhouse Manager, Rental Agent, and Rental Agent Manager. A Clinical Nurse Specialist for 45 years, recently retired, she enjoys and seeks to preserve our quiet, single-family zoned neighborhood, with its open space on Mt. Davidson where she hikes with her dog and spouse. Hawks, owls, opossums, skunks, and coyotes add a country feel in the midst of a robust, metropolitan city, a far cry from her Phoenix origins.

Justin Ryckebusch has been a Miraloma Park homeowner for over 10 years. He and his wife have three young children, with two attending Miraloma Elementary School, where he serves on the PTA Board as VP of Membership. He’s a recently certified NERT volunteer, has two Philosophy degrees, and works for Blackbaud, the world’s largest software provider to the nonprofit sector. When not chasing after his little ones, he enjoys surfing and diving.

Ryan Sims recently bought a house on Evelyn Way after renting in the neighborhood for 5 years with his wife and young son, who will attend Miraloma Elementary in the Fall. Director of Product Design at Nextdoor and founder of the Miraloma Park Nextdoor chapter, Ryan hopes to join the MPIC Board to help bring the energy and passion the Nextdoor community to the neighborhood. He wants to improve our parks, foster community offline, and work on safety issues. His interests include design, architecture, illustration and reading.

Pratibha Tekkey and her husband moved to Marietta Drive about 9 months ago from Oakland. She works as a community organizer for Central City SRO Collaborative, part of Tenderloin Housing Clinic, an SF nonprofit. She would like to join the MIPC Board to work with other Board members on community improvement projects. She enjoys reading, listening to radio, cooking, hiking, and hanging out with friends.

Joanne Whitney has lived in Miraloma Park for over 40 years. She has long been on the MPIC Board, serving variously as newsletter editor, recording secretary, and very significantly and with great gusto as Sergeant-at-Arms. A pharmacist, chemist, and professor retired from UCSF, she is an American Orchid Society judge, a docent at the San Francisco Botanical gardens, and an avid Giants and 49ers fan.

Serdar Yeralan moved to Rio Court with his wife 8 years ago. A PhD engineering executive specializing in medical devices, he has run his own company, led large organizations, and served as board member in various non-profit and for-profit organizations. He finds the most rewarding part of life is being with people, supporting his community, and organizing group activities for the greater good. He cooks, does photography, sails RC boats, is learning piano, and as an MPIC Board member would like to make new friends and contribute positively to Miraloma Park.

From the President’s Desk

MPIC Can Help!

Perhaps you’ve tried to get SF Rec and Park to fix the Miraloma Playground basketball hoops or the tennis nets, but you got no response. Or maybe you’ve identified street lighting that hasn’t been working for months and you couldn’t get SFPUC to fix it. Or maybe it’s trying to get that big pot hole fixed, graffiti removed, a dangerously hanging tree, or difficult parking-related issues— but with no success. The first step is to call 311 or contact the specific city agency on their website to report the incident. Be sure always to keep a record of your calls including ticket/report number.

But if you don’t get a response from the city agency please let the MPIIC know so that we can strategize with you, propose an appropriate course of action, and if necessary, follow up with the agency on behalf of the community. The MPIC has always advocated a problem solving approach to issues—not mere complaint. Some problems impact not only Miraloma Park but the whole city, and don’t have immediate solutions. An example was (and still is) the declining number of police officers, well below the number authorized by the city charter.

Simply requesting more officers didn’t get us more officers for our neighborhood because this is a city-wide problem. We spoke with then Captain Daniel Mahoney at Ingleside Station in order to understand the challenges. We then met with Chief Greg Suhr and the Captain and asked what we could do to advocate for more funding for Police Academy classes. The Chief asked us to come before the Police Commission and the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee and give testimony in support of increased funding. Along with others, we wrote letters, testified before the Police Commission, testified before the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee, and urged our District 7 supervisor to advocate for more funding. Subsequently, the police budget was increased and more officers were hired, but the city continues to face a shortage of officers. We’ll keep working on it!

Help us to help you problem-solve after you’ve contacted city agencies but get no response, especially if you’ve been having an ongoing dialog with the city but the problem still isn’t getting fixed. Or, if you have identified a problem but are not sure how to best handle it, please contact us and we’ll try to point you in the right direction. Sometimes, residents ask why we haven’t mentioned a problem in the newsletter that is to everyone’s benefit to know. It’s possible that we just haven’t heard about the problem. So please share it with us.

Note: With the help of former District 7 Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, the MPIC Board was able to get the rusted basketball equipment at Miraloma Playground replaced. We  also successfully advocated with SFPUC General Manager Harlan Kelley for intensive diagnosis of a streetlight malfunction 2.5 years in duration on Marietta, which resulted in repair of the lights.

Miraloma Elementary Spring Festival

On April 26, the MPIC participated in the Miraloma Elementary Spring Festival by running the popular Cake Walk game. The game is like musical chairs, but with 12 numbers on the floor. When the music stops, kids stand on one of 12 numbers and one number’s occupant is randomly selected to win a prize ticket and cupcake. Many thanks to Board Members Bill Kan and Daniel Homsey for helping to run this non-stop game by starting and stopping the music every 15 seconds, and giving away prize tickets and almost 200 cupcakes! It was absolutely crazy from the moment the Festival started at noon until we ran out of cupcakes at 3 pm. We posted our MPIC banner and brought copies of our newsletter and latest info on the club. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello. We also held a free raffle drawing to promote Resilient Miraloma Park, our community-based planning initiative on how we can mitigate the impact of  future stresses like earthquakes, fires, or heatwaves. On that theme, we awarded two Eton FRX3 Hand Crank AM/ FM/Weather radios with solar power, a USB connection to charge a smartphone, LED flashlight and emergency beacon (a $70 value)—a great addition to a family’s disaster preparedness kit. Congratulations to the winners: the Bowman Family of Fowler Avenue and the Gartland Family on Rockdale. Thanks to the Miraloma Elementary PTA and Principal Sam Bass for inviting the MPIC to participate and be part of the school community.

Stay Tuned

I will convene a working group to plan a number of community-wide meetings to get input on the Miraloma Playground. Some initial feedback has already been received that includes basic maintenance, keeping the sand, suggesting soft changes to the playground area that would increase sociability, shade trees with picnic tables, landscaping improvements to create a more open area between the play structures, and the addition of a run-off water-capture exhibit (in lieu of a more expensive total playground rebuild). But we need community-wide input on these and other ideas, and it will take a working group to move the process forward and to ensure transparency.

MPIC Bids Farewell to Board Member Brian Stone

MPIC Board Member Brian Stone has resigned from the Board, as he is moving out of San Francisco. Brian joined the Board in November of 2011 and has done a great job handling advertising responsibilities for the monthly newsletter. He also participated in the Safety Committee. The MPIC Board very much appreciates all of Brian’s contributions and wishes him well in his new endeavors.

Honoring the People of Nepal by Action and Support

by Daniel Homsey, MPIC Director and Resilience Working Group Chair

A series of earthquakes has devastated Nepal. On April 25, a 7.9 quake shook the country so intensely that Kathmandu reportedly dropped 3 feet in elevation and thousands of villages across the Himalayas were instantly leveled, often with residents inside their homes. Over 8000 people have been officially declared dead and the number increases with every aftershock.

Nepal is on the other side of the world, but Miraloma Park has a connection through our neighbors, the Aadhikari Family. Pawan, who is from Nepal, and his wife Yasmijn moved to our neighborhood a few years back and have two children, one attending Miraloma Elementary School. Immediately after the initial earthquake, Pawan and Yasmijn reached out to their family and social networks to find out how their loved ones were and the scope of devastation. The news was bittersweet: some friends and family reported they were fine, while others were not so lucky. The primary cause of fatalities was collapsed buildings constructed of stone and mortar rather than rebar and concrete. The only silver lining to this tragedy was the time and the day of the week the earthquake struck: 12 noon on a Saturday, when much of the population was outdoors and schools, many of which collapsed, were empty.

On May 1, my wife Catherine and I attended a fundraiser at the Aadhikari’s home with other parents from Miraloma Elementary and members of the local Nepalese community. The event was sobering, with attendees sharing stories about their families and communities and how the earthquake has devastated their lives. One subject came up repeatedly: what can we do to avoid a similar tragedy when the earth moves here in SF.

The good news is that we have made a solid start here, but much work remains to be done. Billions of dollars have been spent retrofitting our schools, homes, office buildings, and hospitals to a standard that ensures residents’ safety during large events. Our roads, water and natural gas systems, and bridges have been strength- ened or replaced (see the trenching happening lately on Teresita) so they will withstand strong shaking. It’s great to invest in our built environment, but we must also cul- tivate our most important resource during stressful times: each other.

For years we’ve heard “You need to be ready to survive on your own for 72 hours.” The reality is that we will need to help not only ourselves but also those who lack the resources and capacity to help themselves, especially the elderly, ill, and disabled. The Resilient Miraloma Park initiative takes on this challenge. Coming together as a community to craft our own plan to prepare for and respond to a disaster successfully, we’ve taken a big step toward ensuring that everyone, even the most vulnerable, will survive. A recent significant milestone was the graduation of 30 Miraloma Park residents from local Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) training, bringing our total of NERT-certified volunteers to 40. A great start, but our goal is 300.

It can be hard to identify secure ways to help disaster victims in a place as far away as Nepal, but here are my recommendations:

• Contribute to the nonprofit AMA Foundation ((Site no longer available))  with whom the Aadhikaris have been working for years, collecting donations to help families in a community near Kathmandu.

• Honor the dead by turning their tragedy into a call for action in your home, so you and your loved ones don’t suffer needlessly when our next big earthquake strikes. Appreciate the living and take time to make preparations today that will be invaluable tomorrow. Visit ((Site no longer available)) to find out how to get ready.

• Join the growing community of Miraloma Park residents working together to ensure that our most vulner- able residents will be cared for during times of stress, by visiting resilientmiralomapark.org or emailing me at danielhomsey@yahoo.com.

• In the last 2 weeks, the children of Miraloma Elementary School have emptied their piggy banks into a big jar in Principal Bass’s office, amassing $4000 in contributions to Nepalese relief. These kids are “walking the walk.” Take their lead and follow in their footsteps.

From the MPIC Safety Committee

The table pictured here shows the incidence of residential burglaries and vehicle crimes within a 1-mile radius of the Miraloma Playground and within Miraloma Park it- self from December 1 to March 31, 2013-14, and for the same period in 2014-15. Overall percentage incidence increases over the 2-year period, but relatively less in Miraloma Park (3.5%) than in the larger surrounding area (16%).

Action Items:

• The Board of Supervisors can address SFPD under- staffing, but needs to hear from constituents. District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee has demonstrated a serious interest in community safety. Phone (415-554-6516) or email (norman.yee@sfgov.org) Supervisor Yee’s office to urge increased funding for Police Academy classes.

• Report all crimes and suspicious activity, because the SFPD uses crime reports to determine officer presence in a given area. Your call may prevent a crime and/or lead to an arrest.

• Consider installing a security camera, highly recommended by the SFPD, as a deterrent to crime.

The MPIC has requested information from Ingleside Station as to whether or not an investigation of any of the burglaries listed below has been done or is ongoing:

12/14

1. Unit blk Agua 2. Unit blk Chaves 3. Unit blk DelVale 4. 200 blk Teresita 5. 800 blk Detroit (according to neighbor, front door kicked in)

1/15

6. Unit blk Melrose (front door kicked in, according to a neighbor)

2/15

7. Unit blk Marietta

3/15

8. Unit blk Bella Vista

5/15/15

9. Unit blk Melrose (5/13/15). According to a neighbor, “the neighbor across the street saw the entire thing and called 911, but the burglar had already left by the time police arrived. An African-American man dressed in a business suit looked like he was on official business by ringing the doorbell. When no one answered, he ducked down to try to go below the line of sight and ran at and kicked the door in.”

We warmly commend the observant resident who called the police to report observations of the 5/15/15 Melrose burglary. Typically, burglaries begin with doorbell ringing to determine whether or not residents are at home. The recent Melrose burglary began in this way before escalating to forced entry and a 9-1-1 call by a vigilant neighbor.

What other circumstances should trigger a non-emergency call to 415-553-0123? Anyone going door-to-door or appearing to size up or otherwise reconnoiter a home. If the individual is engaged in legitimate business—no harm done. If not, police can address any illegal activity, including outstanding warrants (not uncommon), and help to get the word out to Miraloma Park residents to watch out for each other and have zero-tolerance for illegal activity.

America’s Military Mission: 70 Years Out-of-Date

By Jim O’Donnell

The seventieth anniversary of V-E Day was on May 8. Victory then, yes, but since then the US military has developed issues in all branches. The world has changed, and though weapons have become more sophisticated, the military’s mission and organization have not changed accordingly to meet the new challenges. Seventy years ago, in 1915, the situation was similar: the new technology of World War I was deadly on the battlefield, but the mission, strategy, and tactics were not essentially changed from 70 years before. Traditional military doctrine was to defeat the enemy army in mobile warfare and then negotiate a peace. This was impossible in the entrenched positional warfare of Europe’s battlefields a hundred years ago. Failure to recognize that the world had changed, and to adjust the military’s mission accordingly, resulted in an attritional war over small bits of territory. Political leaders made no real attempt to negotiate a peace for 4 long years, resulting in 9 million dead and 20 million wounded.

The post-World War II history of the US Navy illustrates again a lack of adjustment in the US military. In 1945 the Navy had the largest fleet in the world, having surpassed Great Britain early in the war. The Navy’s mission was to defeat enemy naval forces and help our ground forces take airbases that provided land-based air cover for the fleet. The US Navy is still the world’s largest by far, with a dozen aircraft carrier battle groups. The mission is much the same: to defeat potential naval threats. The problem is that the world has changed but the Navy’s assigned role hasn’t: there are no real threats to US naval supremacy. Recent air missions against ISIL in Iraq were carried out by naval air groups flying out of the Persian Gulf, a ground support mission traditionally carried out by the Air Force.

The Marine Corps were the shock troops of amphibious warfare and continued in that role through the Korean War. Now, the Marines regularly find themselves in missions traditionally performed by the Army: long land campaigns. Their “First to Fight” motto, as initial intervention troops, has gone by the wayside.

But it is the Army that has had the toughest time dealing with an alteration in world conditions that should have brought a significant change in mission. They are now called on to occupy countries with very different cultural backgrounds, and the positional warfare training of World War II has been tragically out of date in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Just recently, Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno moved to transform the modern Army’s mission into training that meets the demands of long-term relations with culturally different countries.

The main cause of the lag in updating the US military’s mission is the defense contractors and their relationship with Congress. Expensive weapons systems create jobs in home districts, while trained liaison personnel for foreign countries do not. Systems that the military would like to discontinue are continued anyway because of resistance from Congress, like the M-1 Abrams tank. In 2001, President George W. Bush told the Army to get rid of it because it was no longer needed on the modern battlefield. The 70-ton tanks were a liability in Iraq, where engineering battalions had to reinforce bridges just to allow passage of the behemoths. However, the M-1 Abrams was not discontinued until 2013, 12 years after the President gave the order.

Needless redundancy has been another chronic problem for the US Military. Barry Goldwater in the 1990s complained that the US is the only nation in the world with four air forces: every military service branch has one. Actually, there are six, including the Coast Guard and the CIA. All this mission duplication could be eliminated if not for defense contractors lobbying compliant congress persons from states where the aircraft are manufactured. The entrenched traditions and interests of each military branch also contribute to the problem.

Similarly, every military service has its own Special Forces, and the Army has three: Rangers, Green Berets, and Delta Force. Since they are all intervention troops, why not consolidate all them into the Marine Corps, where “first to fight” is in the Marines Hymn? The Marines could retain one or two intervention brigades and the rest should be disbanded or integrated into the Army. The Navy and Air Force could deliver them to the venue needed either by sea or air.

The last federal budget proposed calls for an increase in defense spending, with no mention of where redundancies can be reduced or eliminated. Long-suffering US tax payers deserve an efficient military attuned to the needs of the today’s international environment. A complete reevaluation of the US Military’s mission, including a realistic mission concept and consequent reorganization, are long overdue. America’s future success in foreign policy and as a world leader will depend on it.

About SF SAFE

SF SAFE (Safety Awareness for Everyone), Inc., SFPD’s non-profit partner in crime prevention and public safety, offers a Security Survey for businesses, homes, and residential buildings, including a walk-through with a Specialist to examine doors and windows, locking mechanisms, access control, lighting and landscaping, and surrounding areas. The Specialist discusses ways to increase safety and security, and provides a written report of recommendations. The home security program is free for single-family dwellings; there is a nominal fee for multi- unit dwellings and businesses. To get started, please fill out a service request form at sfsafe.org/services. SF SAFE also conducts group Residential Security Presentations, including general safety best practices.

The New Lab at Miraloma Elementary

by David Schwartz, Miraloma Parent/STEAM Committee Chair

Construction is underway to create a new Miraloma El- ementary STEAM Lab, a space dedicated to enhancing students’ exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM). The lab will foster students’ interests and better prepare them for both the world and the jobs of the future.

During STEAM lab construction, a Miraloma Elemen- tary team including teachers, parents, and Principal Bass, has been participating in a SFUSD iLab design program to imagine and develop the design of the new space. The iLab program uses a Design Thinking process, champi- oned by the Stanford Design School and commonly used by leading product design teams. This process is helping us envision “how might we enhance how we prepare our kids for a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world by sparking their interests in STEAM with our new lab.”

The process starts with research. The team has been looking at examples of personalization in business and education (i.e. Amazon, Pandora, Netflix, Khan Academy, etc.) as inspiration for how we can create a more personalized and differentiated learning environment. We have also been identifying stakeholders, including our kids, teachers, parents and potential partners, and interviewing them about their wants, needs, and ideas. From there we have been developing user personas (fictitious students representing a cross-section of all Miraloma students), and we have been envisioning “a day in the life” of these personas to help create a prototype of what our lab should entail.

As part of this process, all of our teachers and several of our students have been interviewed and have provided their STEAM Lab wish lists. Teachers have also provided a very impressive list of STEAM-related units they currently offer in their classrooms, and of STEAM-based professional development they have completed. This input will be paramount in driving the design of the new lab.

We are extremely excited to turn this space from an empty class room into the vision that we are developing in order to bring the Miraloma STEAM Lab to life! This will only be possible through the collective work of teachers and parents and broader partnerships with science and technology and the Bay Area STEAM community.

Summary of the MPIC Board Meeting of May 7, 2015

Guests: Ryan Sims, Justin Ryckebusch, Prahtiba Tekky, Serdar Yeralan, Vivienne Antal (see lead article in this issue). Gina Passanisi, John and Laura Winch, and Cary Sanjabi, of Teresita; Barbara Ericson of Fowler; and Joanne Whitney spoke regarding Teresita Municipal Transit Agency (MTA) modifications of traffic-calming proposals and their likely impacts. Concerns about pedestrian crossing and bus routes were discussed. Residents were concerned about the MPIC Board speaking to MTA independent of input from residents on streets impacted by the work. Community meeting with MTA called for May 30 from 11 am to 2 pm at Clubhouse.

Treasurer’s Report (R Gee): April income included $605 in membership dues. Various expenses totaled $210. April rental income was $3,440, up from $2,765 in March, compared with $5,790 in April 2014 and $3,100 in April 2013.

Committees: Membership (B Kan)—458 MPIC members as of April 30. Clubhouse Maintenance (K Rawlins)— $200 for installation of light switch and light fixtures in basement. Motion: MPIC Board to allocate $450 to install lights for nighttime safety along patio side of Club- house (approved unanimously). Safety (Committee)— See article in this issue. Planning (K Breslin, T Armour)—Notification of pre-application meetings has improved (contact list amended to include MPIC repre- sentatives). Two projects on Juanita are large but within plans. No notification received of 305 Juanita horizontal extension. New building on Cresta Vista has permit in place. Resiliency (D Homsey)—See article in this issue. NERT graduation event at Clubhouse on May 20. Getting supplies out in the neighborhood discussed. Streets and Transportation (K Breslin)—Discussed meeting with SFMTA (see following item). Events (R Gee) May 30 (11 am to 2 pm) meeting on SF Capitol Project pro- posals with presentations from SFMTA, Sup Yee, SFPD. Agenda to include discussion of Teresita Blvd Traffic Calming Initiative (work done 2004 to 2015). Directors R Gee and D Homsey helped with Miraloma Elementary school fair and MPIC provided prizes.

Community Organizations: Coalition for SF Neighbor- hoods (CSFN, K Breslin)—Resolutions supporting (1) downtown extension of Caltrain (vote in May); (2) keeping the ballot initiative process open and accessible to all citizens and opposing proposals that would make it more costly, cumbersome or difficult to collect petition signatures to qualify ballot initiatives (vote in May); (3) urging Planning Commission to enforce all planning codes (passed). MPIC Board to support these positions. West of Twin Peaks Central Council (WTPCC, K Breslin)— Need for more police and better residential safety discussed (increased burglaries). Police and DA conflict on prosecuting suspected felons. Discussion of water saving in new projects.

Old Business: Process of amendments to the MPIC By- laws and Articles of Incorporation discussed: need approval of Amendments to Articles from both Board and general membership. Yearly audit completed with help of V Antal.

New Business: Motion: MPIC to write a letter in support of long-term lease from City for Twin Peaks Service Station (approved unanimously). D Liberthson to write letter in support.

Leaf Season: Miraloma Park

Familiar foreboding at the door.
How many will there be today?
Untidy piles, stuck to the mat.
Leaves, always leaves!

Two-pronged pine needles, neon privets,
blue-gray eucalypts, golden grass stalks,
strewn hither and yon, ganging up in corners,
placed by an unseen hand that mocks delusions of control.

I spy a ginkgo leaf!

Whence this rare interloper?
Skipped from the next street?
Wafted from St. Francis Wood?
Blown in from the Sunset, perchance?

Imagination takes flight—Japan? China?
Buddhist temple grounds draped with ancient trees,
leaves strummed by a warm gentle breeze.
loose leaves lofted, whisked far away …

My broom takes flight, sweeps leaves and dreams alike.
Ginkgo, set adrift, joins the swarm.
Then the gusting wind once more,
drives them to all my neighbor’s door.

Hapless Miraloma Homeowner