Trip to Sacramento

A group of us traveled to Sacramento to present the petitions, and letters to the Governors Office. Channel 3 was there to record the event. See you tomorrow at the rally!

Video

Video

A nice front yard

So, what if someone told you that they would build you a brand new house? That would be pretty exciting. But then they showed you the plans, and you found out that your beautiful front yard would turn into a parking lot? Oh, no, bulldoze the front yard, for a new house with a parking lot in fromt of it! Oh, but you can't complain, or change the plans. You have to accept the whole package, or the funding might go away...
Maybe, just maybe, the firefighters wish they could keep their front yard with their new house. And maybe, just maybe, they need someone else to try to help.

Press Release and Tree Facts

We sent out press releases and a fact sheet for our project, with the hopes that more people will learn about saving the trees. Sometimes we all get "balled-up" in the bureaucratic process, when we just need to do the right thing from the beginning, and avoid these problems. There are worries from the state officials that the rebuilding project will be "thrown to the bottom of the pile", because of the changes we'd like them to make. It seems like the old saying of "throwing the baby out with the bath water". The fire station is needed, no doubt in our minds, but it needs to be done properly with the mindset of 2009, current planning practices, and with the future in mind, not in the old style of bulldoze and start over. Yes, its true, they could plant another Sierra Redwood, and replace the one that's there. In 50 years, it will look like the one that's there now. They could plant an assortment of shrubs and trees to replace the native oaks, but is that really the best idea? There are choices to be made. We are hoping the officials will make the right choices for everyone.

How we got started with this...

You might be wondering how we got started working on this project. Tim F. and Dick S. heard about the trees from friends. And they started a petition. I heard about it from my husband, and asked questions at the Planning Commission. Mary Lou heard about the trees from her husband, and designed the Facebook causes page Laurie heard about it from Bob. Bob was doing everything he could as a Cal Fire Battalion Chief to change the minds of the state officials, before he retired, and he and Laurie are not ready to give up without a struggle. We are all very familiar with the Altaville CDF Station. Others have joined with us, as we try to make this project known in our community. We are ordinary citizens like you, who are trying to make a difference, and preserve something that can't be replaced. We've talked to the Angels Camp City Council, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, State Senator Dave Cox, Unit Chief Mike Noonan of CDF/Cal Fire. And now we are reaching out to you, the world wide web! Please let us know what you think.