On a beautiful rainy Saturday, October 29, 2016, the Citizen Advisory Committee of the Public Utilities Commission lead a green infrastructure walking tour to see water catchment sites in the Western Addition neighborhood. Their first stop was Rosa Parks Elementary School, where Kat Sawyer from Touch-the-Sky and Barbara Wenger, CommunityGrows Executive Director greeted them. Kat and Barbara described the success of the PUC Urban Watershed Grant that CommunityGrows received to put a water catchment and greenhouse in the upper garden of Rosa Parks. The two tanks have 625 gallons of storage capacity. This water catchment system captures over 3,000 gallons of stormwater per year. Some of the dignitaries on the tour were:
Sarah Minick, (Urban Watershed Management Program Manager)
Rosey Jencks (Urban Watershed Management Program Manager)
Ken Kortkamp (Stormwater Program Manager)
Tracy Zhu (Stakeholder and Advisory Body Analyst)
Tamar Barlev (Schoolyard Greening Project Manager and SFPUC Citizen Advisory Committee member)
Anietie Ekanem, Social Niche Guru and SFPUC Citizen Advisory Committee member (D10 seat)
Ernesto Martinez, SFPUC Citizen Advisory Committee member (D9 seat)
Misty McKinney, SFPUC Citizen Advisory Committee member (Environmental Justice seat)
Wendy Aragon, SFPUC Citizen Advisory Committee Chair (D1 seat)
After their tour of Rosa Parks Elementary, the group went on to explore different green infrastructure sites within walking distance. These sites included Willie B. Kennedy Apartments, 388 Fulton, 300 Ivy St, Avalon Hayes Valley & Hickory Allen (325 Octavia St) and Alta Laguna at 55 Laguna Street. Thank you for this visit of the PUC Citizen Advisory Committee and for this opportunity from the Public Utilities Commission to enhance the gardens at Rosa Parks Elementary!