Several additional topics were covered at the January 20 meeting as outlined in the meeting minutes provided by Jerry Barclay. Chief concern is the wear-and-tear to the park lawns--a problem that is particularly acute during the rainy season. PFMAC is participating in negotiations with the Public Works Department, the market management and Pat Kernighan's office to work out a payment schedule that will require the market to reimburse the city for damage specifically attributable to the Saturday event.

With the heavy cutbacks in park maintenance, volunteers have become a crucial element in our efforts to keep Splash Pad looking like the gem of a park that helped Walter Hood earn his selection as the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's landscape architect of the year. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, our volunteer numbers have dwindled and the last workday in October was pretty much a disaster. You don't have to look very hard for the 15 foot wide bare spot in the lawn where a pile of compost sat for about a week--rather than the one day we'd planned.

If we can pull together some loose ends, please watch your mailboxes for a special edition newsletter announcing an unusual work day opportunity in the next several weeks.

More Farmers Market News

If you're one of a great many Grand Lake Farmers Market customers who've purchased utilitarian stoneware from Jackie Formanek, you may be wondering why she hasn't been seen for quite a while. Tragically, pulling out of her driveway on her way to the market, her truck was struck by another vehicle and rolled over three times. Both legs and her pelvis were broken as was her entire stock of ceramics. At this point, we don't know of her future plans, but extend our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Atheists and agnostics aside, the market's information booth has the perfect something for yourself or that special someone who also happens to be a farmers market devotee.

With much of the US blanketed with ice and snow, I've been relishing the opportunity to photograph flowers for my Flickr account. In the last several weeks, I've photographed irises in the Western Sun Floral Booth, orchids in the Half Moon Bay Nursery booth and protea in the Hieb Family Farm booth.

The vendor list on the Splash Pad website is hopelessly out of date as I realized when I tried to provide a link to the Hieb family. Fortunately, a Google search turned up the link to the biography posted on the Marin Agricultural Institute's web site. On their Grand Lake market page, you'll find a fairly comprehensive list of current sellers here in Oakland. Biographies of most of the vendors at all 8 of their markets are posted separately. Time permitting, (with Nessia's assistance) we hope to update the SPNF vendor list with additional photos and with links to the Marin Institute website.

Another of my photos includes flowers, but has as its main subject a very unassuming woman named Jenny Miller. Jenny is one of my unsung heroes. Years ago, when we were raising funds for the Splash Pad fountain, Jenny donated over $200 in exchange for nine t-shirts--one for each of the youngsters for whom she served as a nanny. Her generosity extends to the Oakland Police Department as well. The officers memorial downtown and the Eastmont substation are very often graced with her floral salutes.

One last Farmers Market photo is worth citing since it is the harbinger of improving weather. This little tike was happily splashing in the fountain last Saturday. I had to resist the temptation to walk up to him and croon, "Baby, it's cold outside". But didn't as the temperature was in the high 50's or low 60's. In addition, I've taken to heart my younger son's admonition when he was about five or six suggesting that if I had a good singing voice, I should try using it. Another good omen last Saturday, folks were sitting on the grass on the slope behind the Plaza.

Grand Lake Merchant News

While we regret the closing of Papyrus, we're thrilled to see the space already reincarnated as a third location for Greetings a fixture on Piedmont Avenue since 1984. In addition to greeting cards, they carry an extensive line of gift items and, as a matter of policy, feature merchandise that is produced locally. As a prime example of the latter, their Piedmont Avenue location is the flagship, retail outlet for Oaklandish. You'll find a big selection of Oaklandish merchandise and other tees here on Lakeshore. If you were a Papyrus customer, you'll also find a familiar face as Kris remains the store manager.

Just down Lakeshore, the small storefront next to Arizmendi will shortly become the home of a new, self-serve Frozen Yogurt Shop.

Around the corner on Lake Park, the Heart & Dagger Saloon has their new signs up and have announced February 19 as their Grand Opening date. For more details (including photos of the renovation process), visit their Facebook page.

Right next door, Gary Rizzo, who owns and operates Somerset Restaurant on College Avenue, has signed a lease for the Kwik Way property and interior demolition has already begun. No word yet on their timetable, but the kind of extensive restoration that is in the works will obviously be fairly time-consuming.

The Grand Tavern continued its ongoing string of great press with Angela Woodall's recent Night Owl column in the Oakland Tribune. While the bulk of that column is about the Grand Tavern, she also briefly mentions a couple of other notable Grand Avenue nightspots--Kingman's Lucky Lounge, the Alley where Ron Dibble has been tickling the ivories (don't you just love that phrase) for fifty years, as well as Smitty's.

Last year, Madeleine Loh (Chair of the GLRAG Retail Attraction Committee) told me a story about the latter that may be apocryphal--but probably isn't. Supposedly, Smitty had a well-deserved reputation for being friendly and exceedingly generous until the feds busted him some 60 years ago for running a counterfeiting operation in the back room.

Lakeshore Complete Streets Improvement Project

In our January newsletter, we trumpeted an initial community meeting to discuss landscaping design for the Lakeshore Complete Streets Project which is slated to begin construction in January of 2011. The results of that meeting are summarized in Pat Kernighan's February 11 E-News. A follow-up meeting at the Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, 3534 Lakeshore Avenue, is scheduled for 7:15 p.m this Thursday, February 18.

Jerry Cauthen, Chair of the Grand Lake Traffic Calming Committee that initiated this process wrote that this "meeting will represent an excellent (and perhaps final) opportunity to make certain the City design reflects the objectives some of us been struggling to achieve for almost ten years now". In a letter to city staff, he outlined the group's overall objectives and expressed some concerns about the initial plans.

Residential Rezoning in the Grand Lake District

Grand Lake Neighbors will host a town hall meeting on Thursday, March 4 at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church to discuss the city-wide rezoning process with a special focus on how it applies to residential zoning in our Grand Lake neighborhood. Details were announced in Pat Kernighans February 11 E-News.

Grand Lake Neighbors to Elect New Officers April 1

Holding elections on April Fools Day may seem to border on the absurd, but the first Thursday of every month is their regular meeting date and that's the way the cookie crumbles. David Flack, the current chair, sent a message describing Grand Lake Neighbors as a group of volunteers who are working to preserve and improve the Grand Lake district of Oakland through better communication in order to solve problems and effect change.

He said in part:

We work with neighborhood groups and individuals to tackle issues such as public safety, attracting and supporting retail merchants, beautification and streetscape improvements.

We are having officer elections this spring. The chair, vice chair, recording secretary, membership secretary, web master, block group liaison, and community group liaison positions are all on the ballot. Nominations are open through March 4. If you would like to become more involved in the community, or if you know someone who would be a good candidate for any of these positions, please contact David Flack at mdavidflack@yahoo.com. For full election details, visit our web site at www.grandlakeneighbors.org.

Free Plant Exchange March 27

Odette Pollar has scheduled her next bi-annual plant exchange for Saturday, March 27 from Noon to 4 pm. For more details, visit her Plant Exchange website.

Department of Unsolicited Advice

I've decided that last month's suggestion that you take time to visit Lake Merritt (with or without a grand-child) was a precedent that should be institutionalized as a regular newsletter feature that I'm calling "Department of Unsolicited Advice--Take it or Leave it". This month, I'm passing on two recommendations.

Looking for a recipe online, I happened on a blog called Delish. All the recipes are gluten-free; beautifully photographed and very well organized with an emphasis on natural ingredients. The recipe I found on this site for oven-baked, baby-back ribs was, in fact, delish-ious.

My other recommendation is that, if you haven't done so already, check out Shoreline Park in the outer reaches of West Oakland. It's surrounded by Port of Oakland cranes and other facilities and has killer views (unless it's foggy) of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge. I've ridden there a couple of times on my bike as on weekends (or maybe, just Sundays), the port is basically closed and there's very little traffic. It's also a great place to picnic or fly a kite or teach your little ones to ride their bikes.

Splash Pad Newsletter Subscriptions

If you have friends or neighbors who may be interested in receiving this newsletter, please forward this link: www.splashpad.org/mostrecent.html and invite them to subscribe by sending an email to info@splashpad.org.