RMPJC and Foothills Park Families Stop Boulder's Plan to Spray Toxic Pesticides
BOULDER. Victories are few and far between, but we have won one this week. to halt pesticide spraying in Boulder.
Tuesday, November 13th, there was an article in the Boulder Daily Camera stating that the City Open Space and Mountain Parks Department was going to spray Plateau to kill jointed goat grass at Foothills Community Park in North Boulder.
Randy Weiner, one of the members of Citizens for Pesticide Reform, contacted a doctor who lives adjacent to the park, and asked him to come to our CPR meeting at RMPJC last night. Dr. Sperry did come, and he and Randy went to the City Council meeting to speak during Public Participation. They were able to raise their concerns about the spraying of Plateau and asked for a 3-day moratorium to further consider the ramifications and explore nontoxic alternatives . Council Member Crystal Gray moved to have such a moratorium, but got no second for her motion. City Manager Frank Bruno gave a lengthy explanation about how the Open Space Department had followed all of the regulations and protocols, and had decided, as a last resort, that they had to use Plateau, because none of the manual or mechanical methods they had tried were successful. The City Council voted to proceed with the spraying.
CPR continued our meeting when Randy returned from the Council meeting, printed out the factsheet on Plateau from the Northcoast Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), and began making calls to people we know in the community by Foothills Park to alert them to the situation - they were all disturbed at the thought of the spraying happening so close to their homes - and at a park, where dogs and children play, and that is adjacent to Shining Mountain Waldorf School.
We agreed to be at the Waldorf School at 8 AM Wednesday the 14th, to hand out leaflets about the spraying and ask people to call the City Manager Frank Bruno and Jim Reeder, the Project Director for spraying in the park. Wednesday morning a couple of dozen people showed up - including parents dropping off their children at Shining Mountain - who were horrified at the prospect of the spraying. The administrators at the School were irate that they had not even been notified!
So - people began making calls on the spot - on their cell phones - Others went to organize more of the neighbors - and took leaflets to their friends who could not come out. Betty Ball called the Project Director, Jim Reeder, and the media to follow up on press alerts that had been sent out late Tuesday night. Vanessa Miller, the reporter who wrote the article that appeared on Tuesday, came to the school and interviewed some of neighbors as well as Randy Weiner about their concerns and said she would do a follow up article on Thursday, which she did. (www.boulderdailycamera.com "Protests Prompt Delay in Spraying", Thursday 11/15/07.)
Randy Weiner and the neighbors agreed to meet again at noon at the trailhead to the park, when, hopefully, more press would come and talk with them.
Neighbors continued to pass out flyers at the site - and talked with the workers who came with their atv's ready to do the spraying. The Ranger in charge of the work crew said they would follow the directive of Stephanie Granger, Deputy City Manager, and would call off the spraying if she said to. So, people began calling Stephanie, as well.
By 10 AM, Jim Reeder's assistant called Betty and said in response to all the calls, the spraying had been called off for Wednesday! We asked for a meeting with Mr. Reeder in order to discuss nontoxic alternatives for removal of the jointed goat grass. She said she would relay our request to him.
At noon, Stephanie Granger called some of the neighbors who had been making calls, and told them the spraying had been called off for the whole Fall! They, too, requested a meeting so that nontoxic alternatives could be found.
At 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, Laurie Deeter from the City called RMPJC's office manager, Kristi Vendetti, and told her that the spraying had been cancelled until next August, and that Community meetings will be held with RMPJC's Citizens for Pesticide Reform and the neighbors!
Many Kudos go to the neighbors, including the administrators, parents and students at Shining Mountain Waldorf School for their quick response and very effective work!
RMPJC's Citizens for Pesticide Reform will continue to work with the neighbors and the school to find nontoxic alternatives that we can present to the City - and we will look forward to meeting with them, to insure that a nontoxic solution is implemented to deal with the persistent Jointed Goat Grass.
We invite all of you to join in this effort - as well as the overall effort of making Boulder pesticide free - CPR meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at the RMPJC. You can call Betty for more info (303) 444-6981.
Pictured above are Kay Anderson and Randy Weiner (center), both active with RMPJC's work to control use of pesticides in Boulder with Citizens for Pesticied Refors, united with Boulder families neighboring Foothills Park to urge that the City of Boulder stop its plans to spray the area with a toxic pesticide.
The City on Wednesday announced it was halting the plan, for now, anyway.
Photo credit: Aaron Carter
