Former Sharp Park Golf Course Supervisor suing San Francisco (keeps Park job)

739 trees may fall

This "hazard" is leaving

ABC 7 News (KGO), Dan Noyes, 4/23/15. "I-Team investigates water waste during the drought."

 ....  The former supervisor at Sharp Park Golf Course complained about water leaks and other safety problems for years, and now he has filed a lawsuit accusing the city of retaliating against him because of it. .... Wayne Kappelman lost his job at Sharp Park, his lawyer, Greg Brock, explained to the I-Team. "As he rocks the boat, the city begins to come down on him," Brock said.

Too much water usage

....  Ana Alvarez, the Superintendent of Parks and Open Space, disputes the 50,000 gallon leak figure and said the workers now respond to leaks quickly. "It's an irrigation system that we continue to work on, and it's a part of not only renovating a couple of pieces, but also to be able to problem solve in those specific locations where there's a need for an immediate response," Alvarez said.

Bummer, a lawsuit
client I missed

Wayne Kappelman says, "despite his warnings, Rec and Park failed to address: 739 dead trees that could come down any time, old and unsafe equipment and vehicles, containers that posed tripping hazards."  The City Attorney responds that much of it was Kappelman's duty to address that, and that he got suspended from the golf course for "insubordinate behavior, inattention to duty, poor judgment, and behavior unbecoming of a supervisor."

 ....  All sides in this say it's impossible to add up exactly how much water was lost during the past few years. Kappelman is now assigned to another park that doesn't have a golf course."  Read article.

Note photographs.  Fox by Jesse Garnier from SF Bay News, 11/18/11. SPGC trees from Stockton image shack, (want to see more trees try Golf Club Atlas/Bo Links and Richard Harris).  Frog from Wild Equity Institute, "Pesticide Truths". Brent Plater ("leader of groups such as Wild Equity and the Sierra Club"), by Angela Hart/SF Public Press,1/19/10. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh