EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT

This is a special edition of the Splash Pad Newsletter. We don't have a lot to report, but what there is should be of interest to a great many of our readers. So, here it is. Short and sweet.

The Grand-Lakeshore Retail Advisory Survey is now available online

The results of the neighborhood survey conducted by the Grand-Lakeshore Retail Advisory Group have just been posted online. Unlike today's newsletter, the GLRAG report is not short and it's not always sweet. Its 20 pages are filled with graphs, analysis and public comments. At times, the latter can be quite acerbic. The results are posted on the GLRAG home page. If you don't have time right now to wade into the entire document, check out the "Top Ten Wish List" posted on the same page.

GLRAG is looking for additional community volunteers to assist in implementing a host of recommendations that have their basis in the survey results. Please consider volunteering.

Major Transit Improvements Proposed for Lakeshore

Oakland's Transportation Services Division has developed a set of proposals for fairly major improvements to Lakeshore Avenue at Lake Park Avenue; Lakeshore at MacArthur and on Lake Park Avenue where the Neighborhood Center is located. These proposals are an enlarged and enhanced version of plans that originated from Jerry Cauthen's Pedestrian and Traffic Calming Committee. Pat Kernighan's office is facilitating community input. Joanne Karchmer, an Aide in Pat's office, will be at the Farmers Market this Saturday (the 15th) from 11 AM until 1 PM with schematic drawings. There is also a brief survey available online. Click here to take the survey.

A Timely Announcement

Brent's Christmas Tree Lot has been a fixture at Splash Pad Park since 1976 and will have trees available for sale just before or just after Thanksgiving.

A Political Comment--But No, Not Really

A few years back, I took a lot of heat for injecting politics into this forum and swore that I'd never again broach a subject even remotely related to an election. Today, in honor of last week's historic events, I'll make a very minor exception.

In a November 6 column in the New York Times, Roger Cohen wrote this:

The other day I got an e-mail message saying simply this: Rosa Parks sat in 1955. Martin Luther King walked in 1963. Barack Obama ran in 2008. That our children might fly.

On a personal note, I first arrived in the East Bay in 1963 and found myself immersed in a series of demonstrations at Lucky's, B of A, the Sheraton Palace and Auto Row in San Francisco. All protesting the absence of people of color in anything other than janitorial positions. A lot thankfully has changed in (depending on your perspective), 45 short or 45 very, very, very long years.

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