potrero view

May 2009

Starr King Openspace to Hold Board Elections

Starr King Openspace will hold a meeting to elect members of its board of directors at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House on May 13 at 7 p.m.  Seven board positions are open to Potrero Hill residents, as defined by the area within 23rd, Wisconsin, De Haro and 24th streets.  A valid California identification will need to be presented by board candidates and voters.  Residents interested in board service should post a 200-word statement summarizing their views on Starr King Openspace, and their qualifications to be a board member, to Starr King Openspace, P.O. Box 880293, San Francisco, California 94188-0293.  All submissions must be received by May 11.

Starr King Openspace is a mostly sloping, approximately five acre parcel bounded by 23rd, Carolina, 24th, and De Haro streets, with views of the hills to the west and Golden Gate Bridge to the north.  It’s part of a line of serpentine grassland, an ecosystem that runs from Southeast San Francisco to Inspiration Point in the Presidio.  Starr King Openspace is an environmentally protected area which people can enjoy, but which can’t be developed with the usual park amenities.  The site was donated by Barratt Construction, developers of Parkview Heights, a nearby housing complex, as a condition of their building permit to mitigate the complexes’ high density in an agreement brokered by the Mayor’s Office of Community Development.

Local geologist Ralph Hunter has compiled an extensive list of California native plants which grow naturally at Starr King Openspace, and which have been encouraged by Board members and volunteers over the years.  Hunter was originally mentored in his pursuit by Jake Sigg of the California Native Plant Society.  By clearing so-called invasives and encouraging plant life that’s natural to the area, native plants have been restored over the past 25 years.  Roughly 150 different plants grow in the open space, about 30 of which were used as foodstuffs by Native Americans and early settlers.

Susanne Shields, who has long served as board secretary, has compiled an archive of information about Starr King Openspace’s history and plant life, along with information about the rocks, animals, birds and butterflies.  This information, as well as a board agenda and description of election procedures, can be viewed at www.StarrKingOpenSpace.org.

Thomas Starr King, for whom Starr King Park, Starr King Elementary School, and Starr King Way between Gough and Franklin streets, have all been named, was a naturalist who loved mountains. A pastor and leader in the Unitarian Universalist Church, King was called the “orator who saved the nation” during the American Civil War, credited by Abraham Lincoln for helping to persuade California to stay in the Union. There’s a statue of Starr King in Golden Gate Park, facing JFK Drive, and a monument in his honor is located at Starr King and Franklin streets at the Unitarian Universalist Church’s southeast corner.

A wildflower walk will be led by Ralph Hunter at the open space on May 16, starting at 10 a.m.  Volunteers are needed to help manage the plant life, with work days held the third Saturday of every month year round.  Contact Susanne Shields, 810.4900, for more information about these activities or the board election. 

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