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Dear Neighbor,
I will 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's In--Drive Carefully!
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 Both public
and private schools have reopened--or will by next week. 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.
About those Drive 25 signs ....just a reminder to those of you who posted these
signs on major routes-- signs MUST be on private property, not PG & E
poles or public medians. The signs will be removed. Since many of you hang on
to these signs from year to year, we ask that you post them on private
property only. Otherwise, they will be confiscated by the city or PG & E
and thrown away. The signs,while free to local residents thanks to Supervisor
Nate Miley, do cost money and are expensive to replace.
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2 - Office
Hours and Art & Soul this weekend
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Council Recess: Formal Council meetings
start again after Labor Day. The Laurel Office will be closed this 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 10th.
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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
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Thanks to dozens of tips from outraged
residents, Oakland
police officers have a suspect in custody who has confessed to nabbing 75 of the
fancy, green stainless steel trash cans. Police officials declined to
identify the suspected trash can thief, saying the investigation is ongoing.
However, Police believe the thefts were part of a scheme to sell the steel
for scrap metal.
Hopefully, the heists are at an end. But, just
in case, 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 cost up to $1500 each.
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5 - More
Updates: Bridge, On-Ramp, & Trail Closures,
Dog Park Delay
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Rehabilitation of 35th Avenue
and Redwood Road
now underway. As of Wednesday, August
30, contractors will be replacing sections of paving on Redwood Road and 35th Avenue through the end of
September. You may recall that this area was resurfaced about 4 years ago.
And, for those of you who travel this route on a regular basis, you may have
also noticed that the surfacing material was defective. So this time around,
the contractors will grind down the defective pavement and place a new layer
of asphalt. While construction work is in progress, parking in these areas
will be temporarily restricted. "No Parking" signs will be posted 3
days prior to the start of work. The contractor is required to maintain
continuous local access to residences and businesses affected by the work. For
questions or additional information, please call Wai Wong at 238-7261. If an
emergency arises after normal business hours, please call the City's Public
Works hotline at 615-5566.
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 Rockridge 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
County 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.
Jose Ortiz, the Brookdale Park Director,
introducing Spree (the horse) and Paris
Cartier(the human) of Bay Area Cowboys and Cowgirls to the neighborhood.
Photo by Bob Vaughn
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. A new exhibit, marking the123rd birthday of the Chabot Science Center,
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.
(Above) Jean and Kingsley Wightman, the
Oakland teacher who dedicated 44 years to making science fun as in schools
and as a volunteer at Chabot, 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 -
Gondolas & Beauty and the Beast at Woodminster
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 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 -3
Great Festivals & Street Fairs
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 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 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 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 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) 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, September 17 or Saturday, September 23,
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. For details, go to the Oakland
Heritage Alliance website
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13-
Settlement Agreement Reached with owners of Pennysaver Market
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Over the last few months, there has been an
ongoing collaborative effort between residents of the Melrose High Hopes
NCPC, the Oakland Police Department, the Nuisance Enforcement Unit, the
Neighborhood Law Corps and my office to eliminate the nuisance activity
occurring at and around the Pennysaver Market at 4800 Foothill Blvd.
After several meetings with the owner and his
attorney, the owners entered into a compliance agreement with the City on
August 14. The owners have agreed to make a series of improvements to their
store in order to deter loitering and drug dealing on their property.
Amongst the conditions they agreed to are:
- Installing a video
camera system
- Actively discouraging
loitering
- Increasing the
lighting outside the store
- Completing a facade
improvement to the exterior of the store
- Gating off the parking
lot
- Not selling fortified
and/or malt liquor
- Not selling alcoholic
beverages in paper bags
Thank you to all the vigilant residents who reported
problems at the location, and thank you to OPD for their continued
enforcement at the location. My office will now work with the property owner
to ensure compliance.
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14 - 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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15 -
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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16- 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
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