From: Kari Svanstrom
To: Mary Gourley
Subject: FW: Calder Creek
Date: Tuesday, February 01, 2022 2:46:31 PM
Attachments: Poem final Daylighting the Water Daughter .doc One additional comment for Council.
Kari Svanstrom
Planning Director
From: Magick Altman >
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2021 1:45 PM
To: Kari Svanstrom <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]; Sarah Glade Gurney <[email protected]> Subject: Calder Creek
Dear Kari, Please forward this message to all the Planning Commissioners and the presenters that will be there tonight. Please let me know you have forwarded this email. Thank you! I have been a longtime community activist and am excited to see that we are on a path towards removing the chain link fences that block our access to the shores of the creek.
I live a few blocks away and it is so disturbing to see these fences in an otherwise beautiful Public space.
Also, Daylighting of creeks is a worldwide
movement. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/world/asia/17daylight.html In Seoul, Korea the creek was daylighted and is now a delight to all the people who find fresh air and green to refresh themselves next to the meandering
Stream.
As we can see from the Halloween Horror show that Calworks has failed miserably to work with waterways and in fact has done serious damage.
It is time to respect the ways of nature and work in co-operation with her and stop imposing our will.
The young people of this community are very
involved in all the principles of regeneration and permaculture, systems of co-operation.
The Rights of Nature is in our General Plan a concept that I introduced to the Council years ago. This would be the perfect time to create an ordinance
to give teeth to this policy.
Worldwide, the Rights of Nature have been incorporated into many communities and countries.
Currently it is in the Constitution of Ecuador, Bolivia and New Zealand as well as over 200 communities nationwide.
The Rights of Nature declares a river or a tree has a right to exist and yes, a right to thrive. Not just that we have the right to want them to be protected.The Maori protected one of their most beloved rivers through this constitutional law.
The Ecuadorians recently protected a cloud
forest. https://www.democracynow.org/2021/12/8/headlines/ecuadorian court shuts down minin g plans in cloud forest citing constitutional rights of nature? fbclid=IwAR196iGdaszjrbFyWV3OkHlGrRbyzJvd1pZZAzhTOyXULt7a-TPcdDa7gFY This is a perfect way to circumvent the current bottom line of property ownership.
I have also attached a poem I wrote and read years ago at a council meeting.
To find out more about the Rights of Nature check out CELDF.org With the Climate Crisis it is time to abide by the laws of nature and humbly learn her ways.
Remember when wetlands, the very wombs of life, were called swamps and drained? Same as trapping our living waters underground.
Yours in Truth,
Respectfully, Magick Altman