A WET BLANKET SPEAKS AT THE PARKS PRESENTATION

The use of the word presentation is because tonight's meeting was nothing more than a presentation of what the city already has in play, they were not there to listen and engage in discussion. Below is the presentation I made.
First off let me say thank you for posting somewhat of an agenda for tonight’s meeting, better late
than never. Missing are a planting charts for the locations of proposed plants along with the type 
of grass being replace. 
Some will call me a “wet blanket”, or an “old crank” along with several other names because of a 
list I will be giving the secretary but my primary concern is making Wildomars parks unique to the 
valley along with the potential liability all the taxpayers may face. Out of 31 species proposed to 
be planted 23 are non native, 13 have some level of toxicity per the California Poison Control Center and 3 that are classified invasive per the California Invasive Plant Council.
Due to the size of the 3 local parks it would be impossible to layer plants in order to place certain species away from daily traffic therefore it is necessary to ascertain any problems associated with each plant along with the toxicity of all plants being placed in the parks.
Looking at  Marna O’Brien Park which is pproximately 2/3 ballfield the idea of adding 50 additional trees 
along with 1,175 shrubs is ludicrous.  With Heritage Park the idea of adding 700 non native invasive plants is just as insane. Heritage Park which is primarily a flood retention basin first and a park second, at certain times of the year this park will contain substantial amounts of water which ultimately drains into Lake Elsinore and should be planted accordingly meaning no invasive plants, along with plants able to withstand being waterlogged for a number of months. 
Windsong Park borders a creek and the 500 non native invasive plants proposed should be avoided to prevent their introduction into the Murrieta creek and possible spread downstream as far a the Pacific Ocean.
Just because something is free does not mean it is cheap.
It was further brought to the subcommittee's attention that Riverside County has been known to remove invasive species from properties that threaten waterways.
The laughable part is us taxpayers paid a professional to draw up this list of plants and their placement locations.