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Reclamation plant first step in clean beach

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Reclamation plant first step in clean beach




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Mike Beanan walks on the berm that separates polluted urban runoff in Aliso Creek in foreground from the ocean. The Aliso Creek Water Reclamation facility will help reclaim runoff water from Aliso Creek and provide it to customers who use reclaimed water, predominantly for landscaping.


Aliso Creek Urban Runoff, Recovery and Reuse Water Conservation Project

Where: Laguna Beach

Cost: $2.8 million project between County of Orange, City of Laguna Beach and South Coast Water District

What: Plant will remove 800,000 gallons of runoff from Aliso Creek for filtration.

Additional benefits: Provides a water supply reserve in the event of disaster such as fire or earthquakes.

Contamination: Reduces contamination levels at nearby Aliso Beach.

Conservation: Helps restore habitat for the federally protected gobi fish.

Historic and current Aliso Creek flow

• Prior to the 1970s before the region became heavily urbanized, Aliso Creek was an intermittent stream. Creek flow data from 1930 to the 1970s show that during the summer months and dry periods, little to no flow is documented in lower Aliso Creek.

• Creek flow has significantly increased since 1970 with urbanization and residential development and the resulting urban runoff entering Aliso Creek.

• Over a 30-year period, flows in Aliso Creek from 1970 flows in the creek have increased 450 gallons per minute to approximately 4,500 gallons per minute.

• Aliso Creek flows year-round; creek flows have declined in recent years due to the drought and ongoing outdoor water conservation efforts.

• County data shows the average creek flow in 2012 at approximately 3,000 gallons per minute and in 2013 at approximately 2,900 gallons per minute. This represents an estimated decrease in creek flow by more than a third in less than 10 years – from about 4,500 gallons per minute in the 2004-2006 timeframe to approximately 2,900 gallons per minute in 2013.

Heal The Bay

Data: Three monitoring sites by the county provide weekly data. Heal The Bay calculates the data and puts it into an algorithm that calculates the grade.

Ratings: Since 2000, Aliso Beach has received an F nine times from Heal the Bay. 2008: B and 2013: B.

Grades: Given during the wet times of the year. Dry times of the year produce better results because the creek flow is lower and less bacteria flows onto the beach.

LAGUNA BEACH – Michael Beanan swims in the ocean off Thousand Steps beach at least three times a week – a habit he’s had for 30 years.

An avid ocean advocate, the former Navy SEAL has targeted ways to create a healthier ocean for years. Now for the first time he sees a solution to the brown and murky algae bloom often hugging the coastline of some of Laguna’s most picturesque beach coves. The bloom is caused by bacteria-filled water that flows along Aliso Creek and into the ocean at Aliso Beach from inland communities.

The murkiness stays concentrated in coves like Thousand Steps, where water has very little circulation. Recent data show that about 1.3 million gallons of runoff enter Aliso Creek daily from uphill communities. Recently, officials at the OC Health Care Agency closed the popular beach after 10,000 gallons of sewage dumped into the creek from a storm drain in Laguna Hills. Unlike Trestles Beach in San Clemente, where a berm filters runoff water that flows into the ocean, the berm at Aliso Beach is breached daily.

A new $2.8 million plant called the Aliso Creek Water Reclamation Facility is what Beanan calls the first step to taking a beach rated F for multiple years and turning it into an A or B beach in non-drought years.

Experts say the plant may remove as much as 300,000 gallons a day. Care will be taken to not remove too much water so as not to disturb wildlife habitat or to affect the lagoon at the creek’s mouth near the ocean.

Beanan, who two decades ago joined a city clean water task force and researched other facilities such as Santa Monica’s Urban Runoff Recycling Facility, is credited by project experts as being the catalyst that gave city, county and public agencies the needed push to look for solutions to help the beleaguered creek.

Beanan, who has a degree in biology from UCI, toured the Santa Monica facility and brought back some ideas that could work in South County to officials at the South Coast Water District and the city of Laguna Beach. He also helped write grant proposals that ultimately secured state funds.

The new facility was funded partly by $300,000 from a State Water Resources Proposition grant and $25,000 from the city of Laguna Beach. The rest comes from the water district’s operating fund. Officials at the water district say ratepayers won’t see an increase from the new facility – a collaboration of the County of Orange, South Coast Water District and the city of Laguna Beach.

It will remove runoff water coming from uphill communities in Trabuco Canyon and Saddleback Valley and turn it into reusable water. Although similar to SMURRF in its results, its technology is the first of its kind, said Andrew Brunhart, general manager of South Coast Water District.

It works by harvesting water through an extraction pipe – which protects against the removal of fish, plants and larvae – placed in Aliso Creek. The site is about half a mile from Aliso Beach near the South Coast Water District-owned Coastal Treatment Plant in Aliso and Woods Canyon Regional Park. That plant treats wastewater from homes in Laguna Beach, Emerald Bay and Dana Point.

The district’s water comes from the Colorado River through an open aqueduct traversing the desert. Due to evaporation along the route, the water arrives with a high salt content. Most homes filter out the salt with water softeners. About 10 percent to 30 percent of the brine water with high salt content is sent into the sewer system. Though the water is treated at the Coastal Treatment plant, it’s still too salty for use at golf courses or as landscape irrigation.

The new facility is dual-purpose. It captures urban runoff in the creek to be blended with present high-salt recycled water, diluting the salt content of the recycled water so it can be used for landscape irrigation.

And when the creek is too low for water recovery, the facility can be used to polish present recycled water supplies to a lower salt content.

The facility brings other benefits such as increasing the supply of potable water in the event of a disaster such as earthquake or fire.

Mike Dunbar managed South Coast Water District for 25 years. Recently he, representatives from the county, the city of Laguna Beach and the water district dedicated the new facility.


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6 Ways to Update An Outdoor Space This Season

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As a landscape contractor, you know the advantages of updating your clients’ yards and gardens in accordance with their needs. A recent Houzz study revealed that 56% of homeowners are making updates to their yards and gardens for entertaining purposes. Likewise, another 55% are updating their outdoor space to solve problematic issues such as sun exposure, privacy and flooding.

Now is the ideal time to offer your landscaping expertise to clients who wish to have their outdoor space updated but don’t have time to do it themselves. Here are six ideas that will make their outdoor spaces pop and serve their functional and entertainment needs this summer.

Ideas for Outdoor Space Updates

Outdoor Bar and Grill. A deck or patio can become an extension of someone’s indoor living space with the addition of an outdoor bar and grill. Your professional knowledge of landscaping and design allows you to listen to what the client is envisioning and make suggestions. The addition of an outdoor bar and grill makes it easy for homeowners to entertain family members, friends and other guests.

Multi-Tasking Storage Space. Lack of storage space in a person’s yard results in the frustration of trying to figure out where to put garden supplies, kids’ toys and other frequently used items. Storage benches placed on a patio or deck can take care of removing clutter and also provide additional seating. Suggest storage and seating combinations that work well with clients’ existing patio decor or that will complement the overall design you’re working on.

Automated Watering. It’s a real treat for homeowners to be able to come home after a long day at work and relax outdoors. Automated watering is an effective addition for busy couples or families that have a large yard, a garden or landscaping that needs regular watering. Use your expertise to explain the benefits of automated watering and how it can add to the quality of your clients’ lives.

A Comfy Outdoor Living Space. Turn a “nice patio” into an outdoor living space that’s inviting, comfortable and functional. As you plan along with your clients, offer suggestions for seating areas that complement the rest of the area, as well as your clients’ lifestyles. Show them how particular seating arrangements or styles can add to the enjoyment derived from their outdoor space.

Landscaping and Gardening for Non-Green Thumbs. Not everyone has a green thumb. Suggest easy-to-care-for plants that are hardy during dry weather or will thrive with little care, while still adding to the beauty of the yard or garden. Your professional knowledge will be highly appreciated by people who want their yards to make it look like they’re master gardeners.

Light the Way. Lighting around patios, garden pathways and other areas allows homeowners to enjoy their outdoor space long after the sun has gone down. Suggest various types of lighting that fit in with the yard design.

Professional Landscaping for Beauty and Function

By working with your clients and really listening to their needs and dreams, you can help increase awareness of the benefits of professional landscaping. Many homeowners used to feel that they could or should do the landscaping themselves. But times have changed and homeowners are interested in enlisting the help of a professional to solve their outdoor problems or help them create the outdoor space of their dreams. The above ideas, along with the ideas and services you have to offer, can assist clients in obtaining the yard, garden or patio they can enjoy throughout the seasons.

About the author:  Jeff Caldwell is Brand Manager of Superior Shade in Carrollton, GA. Superior Shade provides protection that matters—umbrellas, shade sails, and shade hips—all that provide protection from the sun and harmful UV rays. We provide custom products for parks, schools, auto dealerships, and more, and our engineers can custom build shade for your unique space.

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Facebook Garden Junkie

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6/2/2014

Yes, I have to admit it; I am a Facebook junkie. Not a stalker. Let me be very clear on that part. I am an equal opportunity Liker/Sharer of fun, interesting and possibly never able to be accomplished, cool gardening and landscaping ideas. It is just so easy to “like” something and then post it to my own FB page with a “for later” or “cool idea” or more than likely “need this.” Heaven help me if I ever really get going on Pinterest.

However, I have come to the conclusion to get any of these cool ideas initiated, built or otherwise established in my yard, I am going to have to lay off Facebook and get going with the actual starting of the projects. To that end, here are my top three “too cool” projects I want to accomplish before fall.

Potato Box

The caption reads “How to grow 100 lbs of potatoes in four square feet.” Love it; sign me up. Oh wait. I have to build it from instructions? Oh boy. But I really want it. Colleague at work suggested using old pallets for this project as the dimensions would work. We also have leftover wood from the parents’ house project. The premise is to keep building the box around your potato plants and add soil as the plants get taller. With each addition of soil, the plants will grow more potatoes on that level. You harvest from the bottom.

Get your potato slips together and plot out where your 4-foot-square box will be in the garden. Potatoes like sun but can tolerate afternoon shade, so keep that in mind as you scout out your location. Once you decide where to put the box, assemble your supplies of untreated wood either from existing stock, old pallets or purchased wood for the project. The online instructions gives you all the details including size of wood needed, nails, screws and exactly how to construct the box.

Make Your Own Plant Fertilizer

When I clicked on this link, I was hoping it was all about compost tea (which I do pretty frequently) and I could say “Yay, I am already doing this!” Well, it was compost tea and many more fertilizer recipes including manure tea, Epsom salt fertilizer and even fish tank water as fertilizer. Great ideas; not too much work. Sounds like a plan.

Once again, I would like to mention the website www.gardeningknowhow.com as a great reference tool. They post gardening info on Facebook and send out a good newsletter not too frequently, so it doesn’t bog down your mailbox.

And last, but not least:

The Garden Journal

When I first started writing these articles, I did keep a journal. I recorded what worked where in the garden; if seeds germinated and when; when it rained and how much rain water I managed to use before the next rain, etc. This last year, I haven’t kept up a journal and sometimes I struggle for things to write about as the memory is not what it used to be. Keeping a garden journal will aid the gardener (including me) in plotting next year’s plantings and harvest; what grew best where; what did not grow anywhere and what was attacked and which attacks were successfully thwarted with what. (Yes, that last sentence may only make sense to a few of you, but I am sticking by it.)

Next time you are at Brace Books or office supply store, grab a cute notebook and attach a pen to it and start writing. Take a few minutes once or twice a week to jot some notes on your garden, be it flower or vegetable, and start recording your successes as well as your failures. You will find you learn more from the failures, but the successes make you willing to try something new next year. Like sowing wildflower seeds where the cannas were supposed to be because, sniff, they are not coming up this year. But the wildflowers and buckwheat are coming up all over the place and the bees are buzzing.

Here’s to trying something new and Happy Gardening.

—————

Online:

Potato box Instructions: http://bit.ly/1kgTpxq

Garden fertilizer recipes: http://bit.ly/1nW47cD

www.gardeningknowhow.com

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Newly renovated Three Belles Marina in Niantic offers range of products and …

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Outdoor Education Classroom completed

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ANSONIA – Ansonia Local School District is reportedly the first in this area to have an Outdoor Education Center, and it was introduced to the public Friday afternoon.

Located just east of the football field at the east east end of town, it features a shelter surrounded by wetland [a vernal pool], a woodland habitat and a fossil collection area in the shape of the State of Ohio.

“We’re here to take an informal moment to thank all the sponsors and donors for the Outdoor Education Classroom,” said Jason Wright, environmental science and life science educator at Ansonia. “A few years ago, Pheasants Forever came up with an opportunity to invest in our local schools. They offered a grant proposal of $5,000 to construct it. It is on the school campus, using natural elements. Thanks for making this a reality for us.”

He said the school was chosen for the grant in January 2012

“Students researched and surveyed and polled the teachers,” Wright said. “Up until then we had two years to look for matching funds to create an outdoor element. It’s truly a community effort.”

He said it was FFA educator Brad Lentz who coordinated the project,.

“If it weren’t for Brad and the ag kids, none of this would be possible,” Wright said.

He added, “Over the last two years, we’ve tried to implement the project into our curriculum, with our landscaping class, the ag class doing the building and the planting of trees. We had the wetlands done professionally, but the rest was done by students via the curriculum.”

According to him, 20 trees were planted by students after they researched to find trees that are native to this area.

“Pheasants Forever came up with ideas for the prairie,” Wright said.

As for the vernal pool, it will stay wet when it’s raining and dry during the summer. Frogs and salamanders, it was noted, can be bred in the vernal ponds.

The woodland habitat will become a prairie, after biological studies are done.

“We made the fossil collection area for digs for children so they can find all different kinds of fossils,” he said.

The stone that was used for the flooring of the shelter was donated from a company in Ludlow Falls, and placed by local volunteers. The flooring will probably be treated with some coating soon to preserve it.

“The kids went wild with creativity and ideas,” Wright said. “What we’ve done with this investment has already impacted our students.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for reintroduction back to nature and the outdoors for students,” remarked Jeff Wenning, Darke County game warden, who presented Wright with a proclamation designating Ansonia’s classroom a ‘Wild School Site,’ as well as signs telling about the classroom to post around, even inside the school. “This is the first site to be certified in Darke County. It takes motivation to do things like this.”

Inside the shelter are five benches made from recycled milk jugs and provided by the Darke County Solid Waste District. One is sponsored by R.B. Cox Insurance and Premier Crop Insurance; another by the Ansonia Board of Education; one by Darke County Solid Waste District; another in memory of Mary H. and Stanley G. Hines; and another by Greenville National Bank.

Wright said he had 15 environmental students in his class this year.

“I saw the email Pheasants Forever sent out, and I thought we have to do this,” Wright said. “Those 15 kids were just awesome. They created a survey and sent it to teachers.”

Ansonia graduate Terry Starns, who was on hand Friday, said he was there when they started talking about it, so he decided to get involved.

“They asked if anybody was interested in helping,” Starns said. “We tried to find any kinds of matches and donations and to do community service.”

The outdoor education classroom is on land measuring 66×300 feet, and there are still more plans to add features.

“We want to install bat boxes for flying mammals and set up a butterfly garden,” said Wright, who has also taught at Ansonia for 13 years. “We’ll let the curriculum decide. It depends on standards.”

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Andra Bryan Stefanoni: Garden tour to offer inspiration, ideas

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PITTSBURG, Kan. —
It hardly seems possible, but the Zone 6 Garden Club held its first communitywide tour of private and public gardens 14 years ago.

The tours have continued every other year ever since, providing an opportunity for gardeners seeking ideas, inspiration or simply lovely views.

In 2008, we were pleased to host one at our place, Woods Edge, and we still cherish our garden paving stone given to us by the organizers.

This year, the tour will be held Saturday, June 14. I am amazed at the diversity that the five chosen properties offer.

Mark Row and Zetta Varns, 812 S. Catalpa St. in Pittsburg, live in a historic part of town in an older home that had very little landscaping when they moved in. They have transformed their outdoor space, adding a pond to attract wildlife from a nearby wooded area, a playhouse for the grandchildren, an outdoor kitchen and cedar pergola, a fountain, shrubs and window boxes.

Dr. Ali and Carol Hammad, 1406 E. Quincy St., have created a private “resort” in their backyard, using a tiered approach on their sloping topography. It includes a blue-green saltwater pool reminiscent of their favorite Caribbean island, a pavilion, blue-green Atlas cedars, rose bushes, Russian sage, crape myrtle and a stone-lined rainwater creek accented with irises and hostas.

Mike and Beth Wishall, 1302 Randall Drive, have enjoyed their home at the end of a quiet road for more than 20 years. It sits at the edge of a large mining strip pit. It’s an inviting place to pull up a chair and watch for great blue herons or Canada geese, or to take a stroll to see interesting yard art assemblages.

Pete and Jo Farabi, 303 S. Crawford St. in nearby Frontenac, have added improvements to their property since moving in 45 years ago. They began by planting shade trees, then shifted focus to the small backyard. A deck and arbor added a welcoming atmosphere for a pool surrounded by planters of perennials, and a walkway and patio were built from brick made by the Pittsburg Nesch and Moore Brick Co. at the turn of the 20th century. The bricks were rescued and repurposed from the streets and sidewalks of Frontenac.

Gary and Sharon Starr, 446 E. Highway 47 near Girard, have in four years changed their yard into a beautiful panorama. They’ve added to their gardens, which intertwine and meander through the property, items they’ve collected during their travels. One of their newest additions is a potting shed. Plantings include shrubs such as hydrangea, roses, azaleas and crape myrtle, as well as an array of perennials of varying heights, colors and textures.

Tickets for the tour are $7 in advance from Zone 6 members, at Paradise Mall, VanBecelaere Greenhouse, Carla’s Country Gardens, In the Garden, or Silver Creek Antique Mall, or they may be purchased for $8 between 7:30 a.m. and noon the day of the tour at Pritchett Pavilion at Second Street and Broadway. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

The tour is self-guided, so visitors may visit the gardens in any order and spend as much or as little time as desired in each. A garden tour booklet with addresses, a map and garden photos with descriptions is included with each ticket purchase.

Proceeds from tour tickets provide funding to support the club’s garden-related community projects, educational programs and city beautification efforts.

Also at Pritchett Pavilion the day of the tour will be Zone 6’s usual gardeners market. A special garden tour luncheon will be put on by Angels Among Us from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Timmons Tea Room inside the historic Hotel Stilwell, Seventh Street and Broadway. Tea sandwiches, garden salad, dessert and beverage will be served for $6.

What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.

FOLLOW ANDRA BRYAN STEFANONI on Facebook at facebook.com/andrajournalist and on Twitter @AndraStefanoni.

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North Boise garden offers mini-retreats

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Walking through Ann Guardiola’s yard is like exploring the different rooms of a house – small spaces with distinct personalities and purposes. There’s a circle of mossy rocks around a fire pit, a place to hold Tiki parties or to “sit and meditate.” There’s a courtyard created by the parallel walls of her house, equipped with a barbecue, speakers and dining table, looking out on a fountain and greenery. There’s a hot tub next to a wall of bamboo, which thrives beside the warmth.

The space has come a long way from six years ago, when Guardiola remodeled her 1921 home in Boise’s North End, tore down an old garage and found herself with dirt for a backyard. She had attempted gardening starting in 1988, when she bought her first house, but admits, “I really didn’t have the eye for it. I still really don’t.”

So she turned to Kecia Carlson, principal designer and general manager of Madeline George Design Nursery off Hill Road. Guardiola came in with ideas about what she wanted – a place to entertain, privacy from nearby neighbors – and thoughts about the types of plants she found appealing, such as pine trees. Carlson took those wishes into consideration, along with practical matters, including the size of Guardiola’s yard and the fact that her dog would need adequate grass and space. All of that went into her final design plan.

Carlson said she tried to stay true to the architectural style of the home, a bungalow, with a simple design, mixing evergreen hedging with classic perennials. Over the years, Guardiola has acquired a “nice, tight collection of plants,” she said.

Guardiola said she wanted to include a number of plants that stay attractive even when covered with snow – things like boxwood shrubs and bay laurel, as well as plants like rosemary, which has evergreen needles.

“It’s nice to have that green in the winter,” she said.

Lavender, daylilies, roses and gold thread cypress add color to the garden when the weather is warmer. Carlson said some of her favorite plants are included on the grounds: electric blue cedars, ‘Limelight’ hydrangea and hellebore. She also lists ninebark shrubs, which Guardiola said she was initially skeptical of. But Guardiola said she learned that plants she didn’t immediately respond to were more appealing once she saw how they looked mixed with other things.

Carlson notes that Guardiola’s garden is able to transition from Asian inspiration to native, high-desert plants because of the way it is separated into distinct spaces. She encourages anyone who needs help trying to create a landscape plan to break up their yard into sections – “bite-size pieces” – and give them each a name or theme to help organize the space and to avoid becoming overwhelmed by the task ahead.

“It makes it more fun,” she said.

Guardiola’s garden has evolved over the years. It took her a while to fully embrace Carlson’s insistence that it was good to experiment with plants and move them around if they didn’t work right away. She accepted that gardening involves a lot of trial and error. And she said it was helpful to work with a designer – someone to offer solutions to problems and a different perspective. For instance, a door on the side of Guardiola’s home was Carlson’s suggestion. The pathway in Guardiola’s courtyard is made of blocks of salvaged sidewalk Carlson got from a friend.

Carlson also told Guardiola not to be afraid to plant more in the front of her home. Before, Guardiola said, she had kept plants close to the walls of her house and away from the edge of the sidewalk – just as most of her neighbors do. With Carlson’s guidance, she extended the planting area farther into her front lawn.

This is advice Carlson gives often. She doesn’t know why people tend to limit planting to the border of their home but says it can give houses a compressed feeling. Planting farther out adds more depth to the property, she said.

Guardiola is planning to sell her home – but not before expanding her garden by adding succulents on the hot, sunny south side. Without hesitation, she says she will undertake a gardening project in her new space as well.

For now, she enjoys the “private little space” she created in her small, urban backyard – a sanctuary for reading the newspaper in the morning or holding parties. She hopes it shows other people who don’t have a lot of property what is possible.

“You can do a lot with a little space,” she said.

Allison Maier worked as a reporter in Montana and New York before joining the Idaho Statesman, her hometown newspaper, as a copy editor.

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Human trafficking a blight in progressive Bay Area

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The Bay Area prides itself on its progressive politics, forward-looking culture and concern for human rights around the globe. So why is this one of America’s top markets for human trafficking?

In a 2009 report, the FBI identified 13 areas with the largest incidence of child sex trafficking in the nation – and one of them was San Francisco.

In July 2013, Bay Area law enforcement worked with the FBI on an operation to rescue a dozen children here and charge 17 adults with exploiting them. While very little research has been done to determine the extent of human trafficking on a state-by-state basis, the U.S. attorney general’s office reported that California identified 1,277 victims between mid-2010 and mid-2012, and that those numbers are assumed to be very low.

Human trafficking earns an estimated $32 billion worldwide per year, and that number is growing. While other industries have pulled back during a tough economy, the sale of the world’s most vulnerable human beings – overwhelmingly women and children – shows no sign of flagging.

The Bay Area has become a magnet for such exploitation. It’s a diverse, affluent area that has been an early adopter when it comes to technology and globalization. It’s a global hub for travel – both business and leisure – and well-connected to communities all over the world, thanks to the large number of immigrants who live here.

Our freewheeling culture may be one of the factors in why such exploitation goes undetected. There is general laissez-faire attitude toward the activities in massage parlors and other adult-oriented establishments that human traffickers can use to their advantage. And it’s not just about sex. Cheap labor for everything from construction to pedicures to landscaping is sought and received with few questions asked.

The Internet and the evolution of easy plane travel have facilitated the exchange of people for money in ways their inventors could have never fathomed.

“The Internet and technology has made all of this much worse,” said Nola Brantley, executive director of the Oakland nonprofit organization MISSSEY (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting, and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth). “Digital photography, cell phones and text messaging have all made it far easier for traffickers to find and organize customers and to keep tabs on their victims.”

The technology may be new, but human trafficking is as old as recorded history. The United Nations defines it as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

In today’s world, that usually looks like forced prostitution, forced labor, forced servitude, or even – as horrific as it is – the forced removal of organs.

Most cases of human trafficking are not so dramatic. “The imagery of handcuffs and chains is not really happening for most victims,” said Jadma Noronha, the Human Trafficking Program coordinator at the SAGE Project, a survivor-led antitrafficking organization in San Francisco. “The exploitation is usually far more subtle, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”

Sexual trafficking happens in homes, airport hotel rooms and the massage parlors that have mushroomed all over Bay Area downtowns. Labor trafficking happens in restaurants, nail salons, child care facilities, in the construction industry and in rackets for drug sales. In both instances, you’ve probably seen a victim and just didn’t know it.

“Getting the tools to fight this is not our challenge,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California Melinda Haag, who is based in San Francisco. “Awareness is our challenge. We have to get people to understand how this works and what it looks like.”

Many of the best-publicized cases in this country concern international victims: girls or young women who were tricked into applying for a job in this country, only to find themselves stripped of their identification and forced to become sex workers or in-home labor.

But an enormous number of victims were born and raised in the United States. Most of them fell victim to traffickers because of poverty, previous experiences with abuse, and a lack of stability in their lives. The vast majority of these domestic victims had previous experiences with the child welfare system.

“Average” cases, though underreported, can have catastrophic consequences. For example, Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County’s district attorney, shared one of the typical cases prosecuted by her office: that of a local pimp named Andre Moncrease. Moncrease, already a convicted felon, had exploited a 19-year-old woman as a sex worker for many months when she said that she wanted to find a way to leave him and to return to her family. On July 12, 2012, Moncrease shot the woman in the face and fled, leaving her body. He was convicted of second-degree murder on Jan. 23 of this year.

“When someone says – and we see this in domestic violence cases, too – I’m going to leave, I’m going to get out of here, that’s when violence can start to escalate,” O’Malley said. “And we see a lot of violence around sex trafficking, because it’s commercial. It’s a way for (pimps) to make a lot of money.”

It’s maddening – though not unusual – that Moncrease was convicted on the charges of murder and illegal firearm possession instead of being successfully put behind bars earlier for having exploited the victim.

“We’ve worked really hard to improve our processes around prosecuting this,” O’Malley said, and indeed her office is considered to be a national leader for its success against human traffickers. “But it’s a difficult crime to prosecute. Our laws around demand are terrible. It’s looked at like a nuisance crime. And on the other side of it, the psychological hold traffickers have over victims is incredible.”

That goes for domestic as well as international survivors.

“Initially we had more international survivors, but as we got better known in the community we started getting referrals – and now 90 percent of our survivors are domestic,” said Jaida Im, executive director of Freedom House, a nonprofit that runs the first safe house in Northern California for adult survivors of human trafficking. That safe house has been open on the Peninsula since August 2010.

“I was definitely one of the people who had no idea that this was going on in my community,” Im said.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

With all of the skills, energy, resources, and innovation in this area, there’s no reason why the Bay Area can’t be a global leader in the fight against human trafficking.

There are plenty of concrete things that need to be changed. On a state level, we need to get rid of the legislation that has allowed massage parlors to operate with impunity in our communities. We need mandated medical reporting, so that people who are on the front lines know how to recognize trafficking victims and can urge them to get help.

On a local level, we need better data, transitional housing, 24-hour hotlines, better regional coordination, and vigilant, educated communities.

Even though human trafficking is an old practice, there’s room for optimism. Just as the Bay Area has emerged as a leader in the market for human trafficking, it’s also emerged as a leader in the fight against it. There are dedicated people who are making impressive efforts to educate the public and help survivors overcome unbelievable trauma.

“We were the first to talk about domestic trafficking, as far as we know, in the country, in 2002,” O’Malley said. “In 2003, I sponsored antitrafficking legislation in the state Legislature, and no one paid attention to it. In 2004, we launched a statewide conference about trafficking, and I started pushing for specialists to prosecute these cases, because they’re incredibly complicated.”

Part of the reason why they’re so complicated is that it’s historically been easy for the public to be blind to a crime that happens in plain sight. We need to shed the delusion that human exploitation is something that only happens far, far away.

Human trafficking

The Chronicle editorial board plans to stay on this issue. We invite your feedback and insights. Send letters to the editor and story ideas via our online form: www.sfgate.com/submissions/#1

Combatting exploitation in sex trade will take multiple tactics

1. Regulate massage parlors

A law passed in 2008 restricts local officials from regulating council-certified massage establishments – including critical regulation like zoning – unless all of the locals’ rules apply to all other professional service providers. The result has been a spike in the number of massage parlors all over the state – increases of up to 600 percent over the past three years in some communities. Many of the parlors are fronts for prostitution and human trafficking.

Local jurisdictions are fighting back. It’s inexcusable that massage parlors, of all places, have been granted a special exemption from community pressure and local regulations. Legitimate massage therapists have nothing to fear from this, and in fact can only benefit from the shutdown of the illegal places with which their profession is currently being linked.

Fortunately, there’s a movement afoot in the Legislature to amend the 2008 law, SB731, which is up for sunset review. Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, wants to change it so that localities have more control over their own zoning and regulations for these establishments. But we see no reason why the law needs to continue in any form.

2. Require medical reporting

One of the biggest challenges to helping victims is identifying them in the first place: Human trafficking, by its nature, is a crime that exists outside of the public eye. With education and training, medical professionals could help identify victims when they come into hospitals and clinics for help – as so many of them must do. It would be easy to have a question on a medical form about whether or not someone is forcing a patient into sex work or labor, and a medical facility would be a good place for professionals to intervene with victims.

3. Invest in training

While some local law enforcement agencies have identified and adopted best practices in handling human trafficking cases, others have not.

San Mateo County law enforcement officials have paved a path for other agencies around the state. They’re using a new protocol that was designed to help police and community members identify victims, detect potential instances of trafficking-in-progress, spur prosecutions and provide better service for victims. The protocol, which was developed over two years with the help of Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, is already showing success – a tip from a hotel clerk last year led to three arrests and the recovery of five victims.

Child welfare staff and foster caregivers also need training to recognize and respond to signs of commercial sex trafficking, since so many victims are children who have contact with the state welfare system. A coalition of agencies and organizations is currently lobbying the Legislature to provide $20.3 million to provide training for welfare staff and foster caregivers, along with enhanced services for victims.

Filed Under: landscaping ideas

Greenery at the Green

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The graceful “Winged Figure Ascending,” by the late, internationally recognized sculptor Stephen De Staebler, greets visitors as they approach the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University.

Inside the courtyard at the entrance to Weill Hall is a grander sculptural display: 12 16-foot-tall pieces wrought by Mother Nature over the course of 118 years.

A building as striking as the finely-tuned music box designed by renowned architect William Rawn deserves an approach that conveys venerability. That was achieved with these ancient Sevillano olive trees — six on each side of the courtyard — with their gnarled trunks of multiple branches braided together over more than a century.

The olives trees, harvested from a doomed orchard in Corning, trucked in and then carefully placed in trenches beneath the limestone pavers of the courtyard, are among the most significant features within the outdoor spaces surrounding the hall.

With its barn-style door in a concert hall that opens to terraced grass seating, the center is truly designed to offer music without walls on a fine summer day. So the grounds needed to offer the same serenely simple beauty found inside the hall itself.

Observant homeowners and gardeners can glean ideas from public spaces like the Green Music Center, taking note of anything from natural architecture like trees and plantings to pathways, lighting and courtyards such as the entry to Weill Hall.

The grounds are the work of both Bill Mastick of Quadriga Landscape Architecture and Planning of Santa Rosa and the husband and wife team, Larry Reed and Cinda Gilliland, of SWA, an international landscape architecture firm with local offices in Sausalito and San Francisco.

Quadriga came up with the overall site plan for the 52-acre Green Music Center, including the parking lot, the front of the center and the 12- to 14-foot acoustic berms that provide a sound buffer from nearby road noise.

A total of $8.55 million of the $145 million music center project went into the grounds, from the courtyard and colonnade to the west and south lawns, site grading, structural fill, berms, signage, pathways, trees, landscape plants, lighting and outdoor sound equipment.

The long delay had an unexpected upside. The first part of the project to go in back in 2000 was the parking lot, dotted with London Plane trees. By the time the center opened two years ago, they had grown into the mature shade trees Mastick had envisioned.

In fact, time has softened and cooled the whole front of the center. A long line of Chinese elm trees and blue oat grass also are maturing and helping to conceal the plain walls of the classroom wing of the center.

One of the last areas to be developed was the courtyard, made possible by the $12 million infusion from the Weills that finished off the hall and landscaping.

Old olive trees were not part of the original design for the courtyard. But Reed, whose company was brought in to finish the grounds work, said Sandy and Joan Weill pressed for these ancient trees that project an image of both old California and new Wine Country.

They and Reed hand-picked the trees from an orchard near Chico owned by Troy Heathcote of Heritage Olive Trees.

“The olive industry is really going downhill. They’re tearing out these old trees and starting to plant walnuts,” said Heathcote, who buys up old orchards before the trees are bulldozed and tries to sell as many as possible. But he figures he is only able to find homes for about 7 percent of them. Price is a big factor, with each tree costing up to $3,000 or more. Removal, shipping and planting easily double that cost.

The Semillanos are actually good for landscaping because their fruit is larger — more for stuffed olives and martinis — and thus not as prolific and messy.

The other dominant trees in the Green Music Center landscape are redwoods. The giant evergreens, purchased in 15- to 84-gallon boxes, will provide screening around the periphery of the lawns. The trees also needed to be tall, said Reed, to be in proportion to the stately Weill and Schroeder halls.

The understory plantings are natural and typical of the North Coast — anemones, pennisetum or bunnytails, rock roses.

Reed said the economic downturn also took its toll on the landscape business.

“With the economy going south, growers had to start chipping plant material because they couldn’t sell it,” he said. “These are the last of the trees of a good size that we were able to get.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.

Filed Under: landscaping ideas

Brainstorming at younger alternative to Mackinac Policy Conference yields plan …

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HAYES TOWNSHIP, MI – There was a hydroponic demonstration bus, a mobile water park and a plan to crash a weekly neighborhood blues party, but the winning proposal was strategy already tried and tested.

About 50 people gathered on a farm at the northern shore of Lake Charlevoix this week in a younger, smaller, less expensive answer to the Mackinac Policy Conference, only they wanted to be sure to return to Detroit with imminent action as a product of their discussions.

As a result, Recovery Park — an urban farming initiative looking to provide training and employment to recovering addicts, ex-convicts and other people facing barriers to success — will hire youth and senior ambassadors in the coming weeks to help with outreach in the east-side neighborhood the group serves.

In addition to its farming and employment efforts, the organization is part of a major, federally supported stormwater retention initiative that will have bulldozers doing some peculiar green infrastructure work that may confuse some neighbors.

“The last thing you want to see is them digging up your street and don’t know why,” said Gary Wozniak, head of Recovery Park. “(Neighbors) really need to be part of how that happens.”

The group presented its outreach problem to the Assemble@Mackinac(ish) conference and asked for a solution.

(Related: Detroiters seek solutions to old-new, black-white divide in frank talks at alternative policy conference)

The crowd split into six teams and competed to develop the best idea with the help of young advertising professionals with experience facilitating brainstorming sessions.

“These people had a few hours to not only have ideas, but to package them and present them. They were stunning,” said Stephanie Pool, 28, who designed the ideas challenge with the hope that competitive spirit coupled with a commitment from Recovery Park to implement the winning plan would breed top-notch brainstorming.

“People really embraced the challenge.”

Dean Hay, 46, a landscaping architect from Dearborn who works for the Greening of Detroit, steered his team toward a strategy that his organization has used for three years to reach residents.

Forming a youth fellowship program and hiring senior neighborhood figures would best help the group spread the word on what it’s trying to do, Hay proposed.

“The message is very clear, and it travels, that this is an organization that deserves to be in the community,” he said.

The idea wasn’t as colorful as some of the others, but it was the most immediately doable, said Wozniak.

“Theirs seemed the most implementable,” he said. “They’ve got the track record of piloting and testing the process. And it’s going to create jobs in the community immediately.”

He expects to hire the first senior ambassador and youth fellow in June.

Some of the other ideas presented may also eventually be put to use, he said.

“I personally like the slip-and-slide,” Wozniak said about a plan to tour the neighborhood with a mobile water park and a diorama demonstrating the group’s upcoming work. “The kids will bring in their families.”

The competition was held in between discussions reacting to live-streamed policy talks taking place on Mackinac Island.

The group of young activists camped for four days on a farm owned by Detroit real estate developer Matt Lester.

“I want to be a change agent like them,” Lester said. “I think that this generation has changed the paradigm on how to do that.”

Follow MLive Detroit reporter Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.

Filed Under: landscaping ideas
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