When you’re responsible for the care and maintenance of City parks, open spaces, street medians, City-owned buildings’ landscape, and an urban forest of nearly 10,000 trees, the many challenges are always changing and the work is never done at Daly City Public Works.
Yet, Chris Caliendo, Maintenance Supervisor for Daly City Public Works + Parks, sees his role as nothing but rewarding.
Chris recently shared his views on the unique challenges of managing and maintaining this very diverse environment working within a government agency.
By relying on a great team, working closely with other government managers, focusing on the needs of the community, and forging strong partnerships with trusted local resources, he successfully navigates the many demands of his position.
Yet, Chris Caliendo, Maintenance Supervisor for Daly City Public Works + Parks, sees his role as nothing but rewarding.
Chris recently shared his views on the unique challenges of managing and maintaining this very diverse environment working within a government agency.
By relying on a great team, working closely with other government managers, focusing on the needs of the community, and forging strong partnerships with trusted local resources, he successfully navigates the many demands of his position.
Public resources adding to the quality of life
As a certified arborist with a degree in landscape from City College of San Francisco, Chris leads a ten-person team in San Francisco’s most populous peninsula suburb, Daly City.Chris has a special knowledge of and appreciation of how trees can transform an environment. These essential elements anchor a landscape and provide boundaries of calm and separation from an increasingly congested Bay Area.
At a time when cities across California are faced with diminished resources and increasing costs, Daly City is applying innovative approaches and organizational structures to preserve locally delivered services and programs—including landscape support.
The Daly City Public Works + Parks team provide a full range of services for the community including:
- | Care + maintenance of all landscape, open space, street medians, and City-owned buildings landscape
- | Ensuring green + well-maintained parks for Daly City residents
- | Upkeep + replacement of all street trees in the urban forest
- | Working with sub-contractors to expand resources + reach when required
The results provide well-functioning parks and facilities with clean, green space that supports community programs in athletics, exercise, sports, fine arts, drama, crafts, preschool instruction, and more.
A demanding portfolio of parks for Daly City Public Works
In a city known as the Gateway to the Peninsula, the Daly City Parks team supports 27 parks and open space areas that include everything from small neighborhood parks to rambling coastal trails.
A showcase park in need of tree support
The Daly City Public Works + Parks team takes great pride in their work and Gellert Park exemplifies this ethic.This popular, local park features open space, a playground for sports activities, a baseball diamond, 130-person clubhouse, public parking, and more.
Gellert Park also provides plenty of green, open, public space for sports activities including Basketball, Tennis, Baseball, Soccer, Kids’ play area, and more. It also provides visitors with relief from urban congestion and an opportunity to connect with the natural world.
Photo | Eric Brown
Baseball at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Parks
Photo | Tiffany Lin
Kids’ Area at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Parks
Photo | Nancy Lee-Enrique
Tennis at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Parks
Photo | Simon
Soccer at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Park
Photo | Eric J
Green relief at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Parks
Photo | Francois Hurstel
Basketball at Gellert Park | Daly City Public Works + Parks
Ongoing work at Gellert Park includes the removal and replacement of Monterey Pine | Pinus radiata and other trees that have succumbed to aging and bark beetle infestation.
Chris is fond of Coast Live Oak | Quercus agrifolia, Redwood | Sequoia sempervirens, and Monterey Cyprus | Cupressus macrocarpa specimens as attractive replacements that are native, drought-tolerant, and sustainable for the Bay Area mediterranean climate.
Chris is fond of Coast Live Oak | Quercus agrifolia, Redwood | Sequoia sempervirens, and Monterey Cyprus | Cupressus macrocarpa specimens as attractive replacements that are native, drought-tolerant, and sustainable for the Bay Area mediterranean climate.
A local partnership that Daly City Public Works relies on
After working with Pacific Nurseries for over seven years, Chris describes his passion for personally selecting trees as an outgrowth of his background and training as an arborist.And as the lead man responsible for improving and maintaining landscape in Daly City, he particularly enjoys visiting the Pacific Nurseries growing grounds in Colma to find trees. He looks for specimens that will not only look beautiful but also survive the challenges of maturing in an urban environment.
This is where his knowledge and first-person experience of all of the related hazards of pollution, vandalism, and plant competition help him choose specimens wisely.
“The new and improved facility-wide signage program at Pacific Nurseries has made my job so much easier to find just the trees that I’m looking for.”
Chris Caliendo | Public Works Maintenance Supervisor—Daly City Parks
Chris Caliendo | Public Works Maintenance Supervisor—Daly City Parks
Chris purchases mostly trees and bedding plants from our Colma Growing Grounds. He also is a big fan of the recently completed signage program upgrade that makes finding plants there easier than ever before.
Now, when the Pacific Nurseries sales team directs him to a location within the dispersed nursery, he can easily locate the trees or plants he’s looking for in each of the clearly marked areas that feature easy-to-see plant bed identifiers.
Chris added, “It’s great to have a local wholesale nursery partner that allows me to look over acres of inventory and select the exact specimens with the unique characteristics that I need.”
Now, when the Pacific Nurseries sales team directs him to a location within the dispersed nursery, he can easily locate the trees or plants he’s looking for in each of the clearly marked areas that feature easy-to-see plant bed identifiers.
Chris added, “It’s great to have a local wholesale nursery partner that allows me to look over acres of inventory and select the exact specimens with the unique characteristics that I need.”
Daly City Public Works + Parks and many other government agencies turn to us for landscape success
If you’re looking for a proven working partner that’s familiar with the special requirements of government agencies, we’ve got you covered.As both a grower and a plant broker, we’re ready to work with you to provide just the right trees and native, water-wise plants that will make managing your public space a success.
It’s one of the many qualities that has made us different from just an ordinary nursery for over 150 years.
Find what you’re looking for in our easy-to-use lists
If you want to know what’s in season and looking great right now for your project, check out our Prime Plant List. This popular plant list is a summary of items in prime seasonal condition and that are in limited supply.Our large Growing Plant List also offers an alphabetized summary of everything that we’re growing right now along with available sizes. Every item in both of these regularly updated lists is ready for immediate purchase or delivery.
To get a plant material Estimate or to place a Plant Order, just click on over to use our ONLINE ESTIMATE | ORDER FORM.
Ready to step into the SPOTLIGHT?
If you’re interested in being one of our featured landscape pros, contact us and we will consider including you in a future Landscape Pro SPOTLIGHT post. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing your story!
As the Founder of Pacific Nurseries, Don Baldocchi gets satisfaction from knowing the Bay Area is greener and more beautiful by helping landscape professionals succeed. Email Don or give him a call at 650.755.2330.
