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Dear Jean,
I'm return from vacation in Viet Nam September 1 but will immediately leave
for a League of Cities meeting in San
Diego.
Meanwhile, Richard Cowan, Claudia Jimenez, Sue
Piper and Jennifer Argueta will be holding down the fort in my absence.
Jean Quan
Vice Mayor, District 4 Council Member
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1 -
School Reopens THIS Monday--Drive Carefully!
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 Oakland Public Schools reopen for the 2006-2007 school
year on Monday, August 28th. Please be especially careful if you are driving near
our schools, particularly during the morning drop off or afternoon pick up
times (generally between 7:45 and 8:10 am and 3 and 3:30 pm). Everyone--
drivers, parents and the students themselves--need to get used to the new
routine.
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2 - Chinatown Streetfest; Office Hours
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We'll be at the Chinatown Streetfest this
weekend, sharing a booth with Councilmember Pat Kernighan across the street
from the Pacific
Renaissance Plaza
about midway on 9th Street
between Franklin and Webster. Please stop by!
Council Recess: Formal Council meetings
start again after Labor Day. My staff and I are taking our vacations while we
can. Consequently, we will not be staffing our usual Thursday Dimond Office
Hours on August 24th. Next weekend, Sue, Richard and Claudia will be staffing
a booth at the Chinatown Street Festival, so please stop by there instead of
the Laurel
office if you want to meet with us on Saturday, August 26. Over Labor Day,
we'll be at the Art & Soul Festival, and the Laurel Office will again be
on hiatus for that weekend. But we'll be back on schedule after Labor Day.
Meanwhile, please feel free to contact us during the work week at City
Hall--238-7004, and of course, by e-mail.
On Labor Day weekend, I'll join the city
recycling staff at the Art and Soul Festival downtown to explain our Zero
Waste Goals and the new ban on polystyrene take out food containers.
September Montclair Office Hours . Instead of
hosting our office hours on our usual first Sunday or Labor Day weekend, we
will have our booth at the Montclair
Wine & Jazz Festival on Sunday, September 9th.
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3- Free
E-Waste Recycling September 8 and 9
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How many times have you wondered where to
recycle your computers, televisions, toner cartridges and other e-waste?
Worry no more. On Friday September 8, Noon to 5 pm, and Saturday, September 9,
9 am to 3 pm, come by Lot D at the Oakland Coliseum for a free E-Waste
Recycling Event. (7000 Coliseum
Way off of 66th Ave at North Mall Area). Drop off
is free and there is no limit! Electronic items accepted include:
Televisions, fax machines, VCR's and DVD's, Audio/Visual equipment, monitors,
printers, cell phones, copy machines, toner cartridges, power cables, stereo
equipment, computers & components, telephone equipment, video game
systems and household batteries. On the other hand, please DO NOT bring
microwave ovens, household appliances, car batteries or smoke detectors. For
more information, call (866)336-3373 or go to their
website at
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4 - Trash
Can Heist Update, Reward Increased to $2000
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 $2000 Reward
for Clues Leading to the Arrest of the Trash Can Snatchers: After a flurry
of publicity, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, Community Bank of the Bay, and
the Public Works Department have offered to match my offer of a $500 reward
from my privately raised office holder funds for evidence leading to the
arrest and conviction of the thieves, driving a white truck, who stole 20
trash cans in the Dimond last week. It appears that 75 cans have disappeared
citywide! If you have any information regarding the theft, please contact
Richard Cowan in my office: rcowan@oaklandnet.com
or 238-7041.
OPD is currently conducting an investigation
and has a few leads. We are asking the public to report any suspicious
activity to OPDs Theft Section at 777-8602. Furthermore, a notice is
being sent to all scrap metal recyclers in the region notifying them to be on
the lookout for these stolen containers and warning them that recycling
stolen municipal property is illegal.
How much do these cans cost? Due to an
apparent math error in the Chronicle story, local media has
incorrectly reported the cost of the cans as being half a million or $8000
each. Fortunately, we are not buying these from the Pentagon's suppliers. The
cans were purchased with a state grant, funded by bottle deposit fees on
beverages, to increase recycling in the city These tough stainless steel
trash cans have compartments on the top for recycling bottles and cans. To
buy, ship, and install, they may cost up to $1500 each.
A NICE CONTRAST: Boy Scouts
install trash containers at Joaquin
Miller Park.
Thanks to John Bouey, the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association and our
Joaquin Miller Park Working Group, Boy Scouts will be installing concrete
pads, bollards and trash containers in the park along Skyline Blvd. The work has been organized
by Eagle Scout Kevin Terashima, a senior at Bishop O'Dowd
High School and
Piedmont Pines resident, who plans to study medicine. The team has
refurbished old cans and continues work over the next few weekends, forming
the frames for concrete bases, and pouring the concrete. (Above l-r):
Kevin Terashima, Bryan Ong, Sawley Vickrey, Michael Traylor.
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5 - More
Updates: Bridge, On-Ramp, & Trail Closures,
Dog Park Delay
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 Bay Bridge
Closures on Labor
Day Weekend.The Bay Bridge eastbound deck and several eastbound on- ramps (First Street, Essex Street, Sterling
Street, 5th and 8th Streets) will be closed from 11:59 pm, Friday, September
1 until 5 am Tuesday, September 5. Closures are in the eastbound direction
only. Westbound into San Francisco
will remain open throughout the weekend. Please plan ahead-- Expect delays. Use alternate routes, such as the Golden Gate Bridge,
Richmond-San Rafael
Bridge or the San Mateo Bridge.
Or use public transportation. BART will be running overnight service
to select stations Friday night through 1 am Tuesday morning. Regular BART
service resumes at 4 am Tuesday. Visit the BART
websitefor schedule information. There will be limited access over the Bay Bridge
for public transit routes only. AC transit will be running modified
schedules. Visit the AC
Transit websitefor details. Also call 511 or visit Caltrans
updatesfor additional information and status reports.
Warren Freeway Sign Replacements Scheduled
for November/December. CalTrans has
informed our office that exisiting signs within the gore areas at various
exit ramps will be replaced with overhead signs at three locations on Route
13: northbound off to Carson Street; southbound off to Moraga Avenue, and
southbound off to Mountain Blvd. Construction is slated to begin in
November/December 2006.
Cinderella/Sunset Trail Slide Repair: For those of you who hike the Cinderella or Sunset
Trails in Joaquin Miller near Castle
Canyon, please be aware
that city funds to repair the slide which closed parts of the trails and
threatened the creek have been approved by the Council. A contractor is now
being selected and work may close the trail in the fall.
Dog
Park Delay: Due to difficulties
of running water lines out to the new Dog
Park in Joaquin Miller
Park, it appears that
we will not be able to open until the fall. For questions or more
information, contact Sue Piper in our office: spiper@oakland net.com or 238-7042.
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6 -
Oakland/Berkeley Firestorm 15th Anniversary
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The City of Oakland Fire
Department and BART host the Oakland/Berkeley Firestorm 15th
Anniversary on Saturday, October 21 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Rockridge
BART Station in Oakland.
The Remembrance Ceremony will begin at Noon. There will be family and
neighborhood fire prevention activities and a commemoration BBQ in the Street
sponsored by the Rocridge Market Hall Pasta Shop at 1 pm. Partners for this
event include the Oakland Wildfire Prevention Assessment District, the City
of Berkeley Fire Department, Hills Emergency Forum, Diablo Fire Safe Council,
the Alameda Coutny Fire Chief's Association, East Bay Regional Park District,
California Department of Forestry, Neighborhood and Homeowner Associations,
Citizens of Oakland Respond to Emergencies (CORE), the Red Cross and many
more.
For more information, call 238-7388 or go to the
Wildfire Prevention District website
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7 - Brookdale Park Survey
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Our office is working with the Office of Parks
& Recreation to enhance the programs and equipment at Brookdale Park.
As part of that process, we have designed a quick survey for park users.
Please complete and return this survey to Claudia Jimenez by September 1st.
Fill out the Brookdale
Park Survey....
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8 - Happy
Birthday Chabot Science
Center! New Exhibit
Records History of Oakland's
Beloved Telescopes
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 Chabot
Observatories: A View to the Stars - Since
1883, countless visitors have gazed through the Chabot telescopes at the
wonders of the night sky. This new exhibit opened this week to mark the 123rd
birthday of the Chabot
Science Center.
It explores the history of the Chabot Observatories and how its historic
telescopes continue to be used today. Anthony Chabot, who created Lake Temescal
and brought water to Oakland
residents, purchased the first telescope at the request of the School
Superintendent who wanted students to have access to the latest tools of
science. Generations of students have been touched, including Foundation
Chair Ed Penhoet, founder of Chiron, and actor Tom Hanks, whose inspiration
for Apollo 13 came from his visits.
Daytime visitors can virtually operate a telescope, experiment with mirrors
and lenses to understand how telescopes create images of distant objects, and
travel though more than a century of Chabot's history via multimedia kiosks,
historical images, and artifact displays.
At Founders Day this week many of the people who had the vision to keep the center
open for new generations of Oakland
students gathered. The most honored guests were the dedicated members of the
East Bay Astronomical Society, the core of unpaid volunteers who care for the
telescopes, and Kingsley Wightman, the Oakland
teacher, who dedicated 44 years of his life to making science "fun"
and who probably did more to save the center than any other individual.
Kingsley worked for a decade after his official retirement without pay.
Generations of children remember him as "Mr. Science." (Above)
Jean and Kingsley at the dedication of the third and current Chabot Science Center
at its dedication 6 years ago.
Don't forget that on these warm and clear
nights, the Chabot telescopes are free to the public on Friday and Saturday
nights. They are the largest telescopes in the nation open to the general
public.
More about Chabot's
history....
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9 -
Children's Fairyland Puppet Theater Reopens, Kids Ride Free on BART,
Gondolas, & Bike Trail Clean-up
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 Celebrate the
reopening of the Puppet Theater at Children's Fairyland , Saturday, August 26, 10 am, tours, 11 am ribbon cutting
and opening of "The Wizard of Oz." Please RSVP to bgriffin@fairlylan d.org.
Kids Ride Free Saturdays on BART in August: Each paying adult can bring up to 2 kids free on
Satudays this month, thanks to Giant Viz Media, the people who make the
Pokemon toys. In addition, $5 tickets for Saturday's, August 12th A's game
against Tampa Bay and $5 tickets for the August 19th Ringling, Barnum
& Bailey Circus performances are available.
Bicycle Trails Council of East Bay Trail
Cleanup on Chaparral Trail in Joaquin Miller Park, Saturday, August 26 at 8 am. Volunteers will finish
their prunning work along the Chaparral Trail to improve sight lines. Tools
and water will be supplied by BTCEB. Dress appropriately, as there is poison
oak in the area. Meet at the parking area by the restrooms near the Sequoia
Arena gate (off Skyline) at 8 am. Take the Joaquin Miller/ Lincoln Avenue exit off Highway 13
(Warren Freeway). Proceed up the hill (east) on Joaquin Miller about 1 mile
and take a left onto Skyline
Blvd at the light. Continue on Skyline 1.2 miles
and take your first left into Joaquin
Miller Park.
Circle around to your right to the rest rooms. Non BCTEB members are welcome
to join the work party.
Beauty and the Beast , opens at
the Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin
Miller Park
Friday, September 1 and runs through Sunday, September 10. Free tickets to
children 16 and younger who are accompanying paying adults to any
performance. These tickets are not reserved; present your adult ticket at the
box office between 7 -8 pm on the night of the performance and receive a free
child's ticket as close to your seats as possible. If the adult tickets were
purchased with a group rate, a free child's ticket will be issued per TWO
adult tickets. For information, www.woodminster.com
Lake
Merritt Gondolas are
back. For $75 you can take your
sweetheart out on Lake
Merritt for an hour. If
you must take the kids or friends, its only $10 more per person. You can make
reservations or buy gift certificates online at Gondola
Servizio or call 866-737-8494.
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10 -5
Great Festivals & Street Fairs
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 Chinatown
Streetfest, Saturday & Sunday, August 26-27, 10 am-6 pm: One of the largest Asian American festivals in the
nation, this festival spans ten blocks of Chinatown
with more than 280 booths. Small businesses and community organizations from
all over California
showcase a myriad of delicious foods, unique Asian products, and special
services. There will be arts & crafts, entertainment on four stages, and
a Cultural Village presented by the Oakland
Museum of California. Free. Look for us at the fair-- we'll be sharing a
table with Councilmember Pat Kernighan.(Left) Feeding the Lion at last
year's Laurel Street
Fair.
5th Annual Sistahs Steppin in Pride East
Bay Dyke March and Festival, Saturday, August 26, Lake Merritt.
March gathers at the Lake
Merritt pillars at 11
am and marches at noon. Bring friends, your drums to join the SSIP Drum
Corps. Contact Afia Walking Tree at 534-9603. The free festival continues
from 1-6 pm in Snow Park's Sistah
Village (Harrison
between 19th & 20th Streets) with vendors, information, children's area,
elder space, food and performers.
Art and Soul, Labor Day weekend, September
2-4, 11 am-6 pm, Live rock, blues, jazz,
gospel and more makes Downtown Oakland rock with 60 bands on five concert
stages, an Oakland Expo of our food and wine industry, children's area,
poetry, and many arts and food vendors. Adults $5, children under 12 free.
There's no better way to end the summer!
Montclair Wine & Jazz Festival,
September 9-10, noon-7 pm. For one
magical afternoon, the town is transformed into a street fair featuring live
music, wine and food booths, arts, crafts and kids activities. For details,
go to Montclair
Village Association
A Day in the Park at Maxwell Park. Come join neighbors and friends at the First Annual
Maxwell Park Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council Picnic on Saturday,
September 16, 10 - 4 pm at Maxwell Park. Watch for details.
For a full schedule of
performers at Oakland's Art & Soul Festival....
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11 -
Sundays in the Redwoods and other Free Music Events
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 Sunday's in
the Redwoods--Music and Drama at Woodminster Amphitheater this fall!
Starting September 17, Oakland Parks & Recreation, the Montclair Village
Association, Friends of Oakland Parks & Recreation, and my office are
sponsoring four FREE events at Woodminster.
- Oakland East
Bay
Symphony and The Great Wall Chinese Youth Orchestra, Sunday,
September 17, 3 - 7 pm.
- The Taming of the
Shrew, set in the 70's, by the African American Shakespeare Company,
plus poetry and other spoken word, Sunday, September 24, 3 - 7 pm
- Four Flavors of
Jazz and up and coming youth jazz groups, Sunday, October 1, 11- 7
pm
- Gospel at the Woodminster,
Sunday, October 8, 3 - 7 pm
VIP Seating & food
available. Call 238-3092 for reservations.
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Free Wednesday Noon Concerts at City Center:
Steps away from the 12th Street
BART, enjoy the variety of restaurants and music this summer. Coming up,
Noon-1pm:
- August 16, Low End
Theory - Funk/Rock/Jazz
- August 23, Tom Rigney
- Zydeco
- August 30, Natasha
Miller - Vocal Jazz
Free Wednesday Evening Homegrown Blues
Concerts in Old Oakland at 9th Street and Broadway, 5:30-7 pm: After work
head for Old Oakland and enjoy one of 40 restaurants, 33 galleries, 40 clubs
and bars, and many other attractions. My current favorite is the new Breads
of India at 948 Clay Street
near Ninth Street.
They're all listed in this guide.
On Wednesdays the Bay
Area Blues Society has put together great free concerts.
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12 -
Black Holes & Even More Great Summer Community Activities
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 "Black
Holes: The Other Side of Infinity" is
Chabot
Science Center's newest planetarium show. Watch the birth of a black
hole, zip through a wormhole, journey past the event horizon, and experience
the formation of the Milky Way. The show is done in association with the PBS
science series, NOVA. NOVA will air a one-hour film about black holes in the
fall of 2006 titled "Monster of the Milky Way." The planetarium
show is free with general admission.
Friends of the Oakland Public Library Host local author
Andrew Lam on Wednesday, September 6 at
6:30 pm at FOPL's Bookmark Bookstore, 721 Washington Street. Lam will discuss
Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora. Space is
limited. Please RSVP at bookclub@fopl.org or call 531-3420.
Celebrate Laurel Book's 5th Anniversary this
month! Congratulations to Luan Strauss
who opened her independent book store on MacArthur five years ago on
September 15th. The Book Store will have a booth at the Laurel Music Festival
this weekend with special guests Erika Mailman signing copies of Oakland's
Neighborhoods.
Oakland Youth Chorus Auditions!Auditions for the 33rd Season of the award-winning
Oakland Youth Chorus are going on from now through September at Arts First
Oakland/First Congregational Church of Oakland,2501 Harrison St. Oakland,
94612. Concert Chorus has space for youth ages 14 to 21 for the 2006-07
concert season! (Rehearsals Tuesday and Wednesday 4-6pm) Auditions will be
held at Please contact Rachelle Rogers-Ard at (510) 287-9700 x101 to set up
an audition. For more information, visit oakland
youth chorus.
Walking Tours of our Local Neighborhoods.
Oakland Heritage Alliance hosts its 25th Annual Walking Tours of Oakland including
the Redwoods. On Sunday, August 13, 10 am-12:30 pm, join Dennis
Evanosky and Richard Schwartz on a tour through Leona Heights.
This tour is limited to 30 experienced hikers by reservation only. Extra
tours have been scheduled for Sunday, September 17 and Saturday, September
23. For details, go to the Oakland
Heritage Alliance website
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13 - Need
Small Office Space in the Laurel?
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For our district office we rent a small office
space at 4137 MacArthur conveniently located in the Laurel near Maybelle Avenue on MacArthur. We share
a kitchen and conference room with non-profits and small businesses. Our
landlord has recent expanded the number of small offices available. If you
are interested, please contact Kevin Rath at 499-6136 or go to the
Laurel Office Center website
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14 -
Sept. 16 Library Fund Raiser Venue Changed to The Rotunda Building-Join the
Campaign for a New Laurel Library, Dimond Library Expansion & Facility Upgrades
for All Branches
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 The first library
bond, since Oakland
passed a $1.7 M bond after WWII to build the current main library and several
branches, will be on the November 7th ballot. This bond would fund
approximately $148 million of an estimated $167 million in facility upgrades
called for in the Library Master Plan: upgrades for all libraries, two new
branch libraries, and a new Main library at the historic Kaiser Convention Center.
If passed, Measure N--the Library Bond Measure--
would fund a new branch in the Laurel.
While we don't know exactly where it might be located at this time, we are
interested in community input concerning programming you'd like to see at a
new Laurel Library. Please feel free to download our survey and send it back
to us.
Save the Date, September 16th at the Rotunda
Building: The Oakland Neighborhood Library Coalition is sponsoring a
fundraiser September 16th at the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
in downtown featuring Oakland authors. This building was Oakland's first main library and has been
beautifully restored. The Coalition is forming outreach committees for each
branch library. If you can help, contact Sue Piper in her private role (she
only works for us part-time): sgpiper@sbcglobal.net
What's at Stake for District 4? The Library Master Plan proposes several important
improvements for our district:
- New Laurel District
Branch, the most under served area in the city after Prop 13 brought
the city to close over a quarter of its branches.
- Major expansion of
the Dimond Branch, the third busiest branch in the city.
- Upgrades for the Melrose and Montclair branches.
To view the Library
Master Plan & Kaiser Center Proposal...
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15 - AB
32 Capping California
Global Warming Emissions
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 AB 32
Capping California Global Warming Emissions: The Union of Concerned Scientists
is organizing support for Californias landmark bill to Cap Global Warming
Emissions, AB 32, which goes for a vote in the legislature in August. A
similar bill was vetoed by the Governor last year.
California is
the worlds twelfth largest source of carbon dioxide, the chief heat-trapping
gas that causes global warming. The melting Sierra snow caps are threatening
our water supply and rising oceans threaten our sea life and coasts. If the
bill passes, California
global warming emissions will have to be reduced by about 25 percent by 2020,
the equivalent of 1990 levels. This reduction will be accomplished through an
enforceable statewide cap on global warming emissions that will be phased in
starting in 2012. I have the DVD from the evening and will have materials at
our booth at the Laurel Festival on August 12th.
For more information
about AB 32 or to contact State Legislators....
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