QUARTERLY MEETING

August 16, 2011 | Lake Chalet, Oakland

Mark your calendar for the next meeting: November 15, 2011 at 4pm. Location to be announced.

1. Chalet Recreation Field:

   The DEIR is in process at present and reflects responsiveness on the part of the city to the concerns raised. When it is publicly available the HALS group should review it with an eye to the Analysis of Impacts and Mitigation sections to see if the DEIR satisfies the HALS group's goals. Writing a comment letter may be in order. Denise Bradley wrote the landscape evaluation and notes that Chalet Fields are a contributing feature of the Golden Gate National Historic District and appears to be eligible for the National register under Criterion A.

2. Highland Hospital:

   Chris Pattillo reported that while the documentation for the SEIR is very good it does not reflect the request for the county to complete HALS documentation as they had committed to do. Chris will follow up with the county to convey the HALS documentation requirements. There was a SEIR meeting at the hospital on August 24 open to all interested. Based on the timeline of the SEIR, it will be finalized shortly after the public meeting.

3. Berkeley Women's City Club:

   Chris Pattillo announced that the drawings portion of the HALS documentation is complete. The club received them and noted that the handsome perspective drawings will help them in their fundraising efforts to complete the photography component of the HALS submission. Gretchen Hilyard, Celia McCarthy and others are working on the narrative. Some time ago Steven Quinones-Colon provided a quote to complete the photography. The HALS group encourages the club to raise the funds for the photography, and for the HALS group to revisit the status of the project at the next meeting to discuss whether further encouragement in the form of a seed donation is in order.

4. HALS HEROES:

   The brain-child of Chris Pattillo, the outline of this new program is attached. Pam-Anela Messenger offered four, yes four, projects to document for discussion by the group. They are:

   1. Donnell Garden, Sonoma
   2. Fay Park/Berrigan Garden, 2366 Leavenworth St, San Francisco
   3. Potter Garden/Rancho, San Andres Castro Adobe State Historic Park, Old Adobe Road, Watsonville
   4. War Memorial Plaza, Civic Center, San Francisco.

   These are all Thomas Church designs. Based on the conversation regarding which is most threatened and least likely to be otherwise documented, Pam-Anela is to select one and submit her application for the HALS HERO initiative. The application should be submitted to one of the three chairs or at a meeting. The chairs will review and decide if the application is eligible as a HALS Hero site, then announce the decision to the membership per the rules. Documents must be completed within 12 months of the application to receive the $1,000 stipend.

   To promote the initiative, Jen de Graaf will post notice of the HALS Heroes program on Land-8-lounge.

NEW ITEMS

1. UCB Extension Class:

   For the second year, Ellen Johnck is teaching "Cultural Landscape - Preservation and Sustainable Practice". It is one of five classes in the Cultural Landscape strand at UCB Extension. The focus is on large sites including the salt ponds of the South Bay, Pier 70 in San Francisco, and the Port of Oakland's working waterfront.

2. HALS "Indispensable Information":

   Jennifer de Graaf has developed a list of acronyms and other useful information for people who are new to the group or new to HALS. A draft copy is attached. Jen will coordinate with Cate Bainton regarding getting it posted on the website.

3. ASLA Conference:

   Chris Pattillo is speaking about HALS at the ASLA conference in San Diego with Courtney Spearman and Nancy Slade, TCLF, in a talk titled "Documenting our Heritage - 3 lenses for understanding our Historic Designed Landscapes". She will also present the current activities of HALS to the ASLA chapter presidents and to the ASLA trustees regarding the role and responsibilities ASLA has in the tripartite agreement with NPS and the Library of Congress.

4. New Projects to Document:

   Several projects were mentioned including China Camp in Marin County, the War Memorial site in San Francisco, and phase 2 of the Salt Flats project. As the latter two may and should be addressed under county or city funding for mitigation China Camp was selected.

   At the last HALSNCC meeting on August 16, Ellen Johnck proposed to lead a HALSNCC landscape survey and documentation project for the historical Chinese shrimp-fishing village, China Camp, in San Rafael, Marin County. Over 500 Chinese immigrants from Canton, China settled here in 1880s after the gold rush and railroad construction. They chose this site as it reminded them of their home in the Pearl River delta. The site is composed mainly of a pier, 1870s buildings including a small museum, a beach and paths that are serenely and aesthetically nestled on the neck of San Francisco bay as it leads into San Pablo Bay. The site and surrounding 1,640 acres were purchased by the Calif. State Parks Foundation in 1976. It is now operated as one of four state parks in Marin County, all of which are scheduled to be closed soon due to state budget cuts. The site is notable for its historic context and the impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act and other discriminatory laws. A story in the San Francisco Chronicle 10 years ago captures the site's aesthetic and serenity yet its history is a living reminder of the suffering under discrimination:

   "It's early morning; the tide is out; gulls and crows are jockeying for position on the slippery, exposed rocks. Farther out, a dozen sailboats rock gently at anchor. At the end of the pier, a lone fisherman is silhouetted against the waters of San Pablo Bay. A hundred years ago, this pier would have been crowded with fishing boats and pungent with the smell of shrimp fresh on the docks and drying on the hillsides..." (Article, History's Harvest by Mickey Ellinger, S. F. Chronicle, October 1, 2000)

   Ellen and her team will be conducting an inventory to acquire information for a strong context and significance statement. Documentation may include some and/or all of the following: photographs, physical documentation with drawings, and written descriptions and written and oral histories. This notice is a call for a few volunteers to form a HALS survey and documentation team. Ellen went to China Camp Heritage Day on Aug. 27 on a reconnaissance and spent an inspiring day talking with the state archaeologists. They have established an archive for the site and are very happy to help with a HALS project.

   If any HALS member would like to join Ellen on the team, please confirm with Ellen. Once the team has been confirmed, Ellen will set up a teleconference with the team members to coordinate the project within the next couple of weeks.

   We are grateful to Chris Pattillo who first recognized the site's cultural landscape value of the site, and completed a HALSCC short form report in 2008. Because of the landscape's compelling story, quintessential natural setting and threatened status due to the state park closure, Ellen recommends that HALSNCC expand on Chris's previous short form into a more detailed documentation project.

5. There was a request from the membership to not "respond to all" when RSVP-ing to the notice of a meeting.