Farmers Market News
In my haste to mail last Friday's newsletter before the onset of the weekend, I left out several important stories and failed to check my facts regarding yet another. So let me begin with an apology to Helen and Peggy from Kassenhoff Growers and a reminder that there's a very good reason I don't get paid for doing this. Immediately after Friday's email, Helen called to tell me they will be selling at the market for another two Saturdays--so there's still time to load up on exotic tomato plants, other vegetables and a good selection of ornamentals.
Another story I meant to report on and flat out forgot was with regard to Live Oak Farms which has been a cornerstone of the Grand Lake Market for many years. Juan Berrelleza and his young assistant, Edgar, have been absent from the market for the last couple of weeks. According to Jim Fenton, Juan's wife, Nina, has been seriously ill and he's temporarily stopped doing markets in order to provide care for her and their young children. If you're one of their valued customers, you may want to sign a "Get Well/Best Wishes" card that will be available in the market's information booth this Saturday.
On a brighter note, the first of the season corn arrived last week and, for me, the "high" is roughly equivalent to that prompted by the first of the season cherries. We ate the first two ears on Sunday night and it was so good and so tender, I gnawed through the top inch or two of the cob--knowing my gastroenterologist would approve of all the extra roughage.
Speaking of which, last Saturday morning you may have seen me and Jerry Barclay, the Chairman of the Splash Pad/Farmers Market Advisory Group in an animated conversation. We've been discussing for quite some time possible solutions to the migrating gravel beds and Saturday I suggested, only half in jest, using Metameucil. As strange as that may sound, Psyllium seed is, in fact, widely used as a binder to stabilize decomposed granite--the material that lines the adjacent pathways. I seriously doubt it would work with the gravel and even if it did so, the amount we'd need would put a severe dent in the nation's Metameucil supply. On this score, Dr. Turchyn would most definitely not approve.
Grand Lake Entertainment Calendar
On a far more positive note, the Grand Lake Entertainment Calendar has finally been updated and is now current through July 12. One of the calendar's most striking elements is the inclusion of seven venues on Lakeshore and Grand plus another on Park Blvd. near the Parkway Cinema that offer live music one or more evenings per week. I suspect we tend to take for granted the cultural riches available to us here in Oakland and particularly in the neighborhoods surrounding the lake. A great many of the musicians performing at these venues do, in fact, live right here in the neighborhood.
If tentative plans come to pass, many of those musicians will have a new stage on which to perform on August 2 and 3. Helen Wynam, who has been hired by the Lakeshore Business Improvement District to coordinate the LakeFest 2008 Street Festival on Lakeshore, is hoping to feature local groups and they will have available not one, but two stages. The first will be on Lakeshore somewhere between Mandana and Lake Park and the second will be in the Splash Pad Park Plaza which they'll share with the Farmers Market on Saturday. In the park on Sunday, in addition, to live music, Helen is talking about kids-oriented activities including one or more bounce houses, pony rides and sidewalk chalk art. For grown-ups, "art bikes", food booths, and a display of fine art in the park is being planned. On Lakeshore, both days, the street will boast up to seventy-five arts and crafts booths and a wine tent hosted by "Vine"--our new wine bar. A lot of the details are still tentative, but in the next couple of weeks, watch for more news here, in Pat Kernighan's Newsletter and in the local press.
Volunteerism
I spend a lot of time, in this space and elsewhere, talking about volunteer opportunities and today is no exception. For starters, the organizers of LakeFest 2008 will, to a very great extent, be relying on volunteers. To complicate matters, there will also be a booth at the Festival recruiting volunteers for neighborhood beautification efforts and we'll likely need volunteers to staff that.
One of those ongoing volunteer efforts is at the Morcom Rose Garden where work days are scheduled for the second Saturday of each month from 9 to 1. If you have time available this Saturday, bring tools and gloves. Splash Pad Park is equally in need of some TLC. Before the park opened, the Splash Pad Neighborhood Forum pledged to maintain the California Native Plant Bed and for the first several years, we did that plus lots more. Unfortunately, over the past year, our workdays and numbers have dwindled and not, coincidentally we've all aged and become a little less able. Before the festival in August, we'll be scheduling a special work day to weed, rake and prune and possibly mulch the native plant bed. Once we have a date, you'll be getting an EXTRA edition of this newsletter with a plea for assistance--including hopefully some younger folks who haven't found time to volunteer previously.
As an aside, I'm actually a bit ambivalent about volunteering to help with park maintenance. In a very real sense, all of us who volunteer regularly very much enjoy the sense of community and the knowledge that we're helping to beautify a public space. On the other hand, I resent the fact that we have to be doing this if we want our parks properly maintained. But the main reason Oakland has to rely on volunteers to such an extent is an ongoing shortage of funds and park maintenance employees. The Rose Garden used to have seven gardeners--now there's two. Twenty-seven gardeners used to maintain Lake Merritt. I don't know what the current number is but, as of a few years ago, that number was reduced to three. The gardener responsible for maintaining Splash Pad works seventeen other locations and has maybe three or four hours each week for mowing and clean-up here. The problem applies equally to materials and equipment. We'd been trying for at least two or three years to get the sod at Splash Pad aerated. It turns out that the City aerator is broken and there's no funding to repair or replace it. When the city finally did aerate a couple of months back, they used rental equipment.
Although the parks department lacks an aerator and has far too few hands-on employees, it does now have a costly global positioning satellite system that tracks the location of key Public Works vehicles. As I understand it, this measure was prompted by concerns that some employees were goldbricking. Since I'm not privy to that kind of information, I can't honestly say that the money would have been better spent elsewhere. But I do think it would have prudent to postpone this decision until after an audit of the Public Works Department had been completed.
Public Works Audit
Better late than never, a comprehensive audit is in the works. I'm hoping this will prove to be a "no holds barred" analysis that will articulate what's right and what's wrong and what needs to be done to implement major improvements. To accomplish this goal, the auditors will need unfiltered input from the community, from management, from the council, and from Public Works employees. That first step, community input, is scheduled for three sessions at three different locations beginning June 24. This is your opportunity as a resident and taxpayer to have your voice heard regarding all the many operations and services that fall under the purview of Public Works. A message from City Auditor, Courtney Ruby, is posted on this link along with the schedule of the community forums.
Open Studio Tours
In the earlier paragraph about musicians, I noted that we tend to take for granted the musicians in our midst. That's equally, if not more true, about the artists. The East Bay has, perhaps, more artists per capita than any other region in the US. Some 400 of them are opening their studios this Saturday and Sunday for the second weekend of the Pro-Arts Open Studio Tour. I've done this a number of time including one year on my bicycle. By car, bike or walking, I recommend it highly. The Pro-Arts Directory is available online as a rather large PDF file and printed copies may still be available at the Coffee Mill, Walden Pond Books and Arizmendi.
National Night Out
Are you looking for a good excuse to party? National Night Out is the perfect excuse to block off your street for a neighborhood pot-luck and hob-nob with the new and not-so-new neighbors. This year, the 25th Anniversary of this event, takes place August 5 from 7-9 pm. To register online, click on this link. Grand Avenue merchants have their own celebration the same evening that stretches from the Grand Lake Theatre to Safeway.
Di Bartolo Review in Chronicle
The Di Bartolo Restaurant had an extremely favorable review in yesterday's Chronicle. John's a really good guy with a long commitment to Grand Avenue and it's great to see his newest venture continuing to thrive. Just for the record, the Chronicle reporter erred in regard to the killing of their sous chef. He was actually shot on the other side of town.
National Night Out
Finally, I feel obligated to pass along some information I've just received from the Homeless Action Center. At the next meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Alameda County is poised to limit recipients of General Assistance to a maximum of six months of benefits per year. This will affect approximately 8,000 individuals and families--the poorest of the poor with no other resources available. If you'd like to become involved, the meeting will be held on the Fifth Floor of the Court House beginning at 1 pm on Monday, June 16. Copies of their flyer and fact sheet are posted online.