Tuesday, December 22, 2015
We are close to making the vision of an enhanced Frog Park - with more swings - a reality. Your donation will help meet the costs of these improvements and get us over the finish line. The park has been a part of your family's life. Now make FROG a part of your year-end giving.
FROG Park: Online: frogpark.org. Mail/Payto: FROG Park, 4123 Broadway, PMB 311, Oakland, 94611. Tax ID 94-3011284
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Rockridge today is a long way from its near-undoing when construction of the Grove-Shafter freeway - Highway 24 - in the late 1960s wiped out more than 3,000 homes and many area commercial buildings, crippling businesses and leaving significant College Avenue storefronts boarded up. Was the evolution due to community involvement? Mere chance? Market action? The answer: all three, in that order.
Community Involvement
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Well, at long last, the electronic parking space monitor for the Safeway rooftop parking deck is working - sort-of. After an initial period when it showed more spaces available than the deck even held, followed by a period when the display constantly said Òfull,Ó it now appears the display is starting to be at least roughly accurate, so that, when the sign says "full," it may actually mean there are no spaces available.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
How's crime in the Rockridge beats? The board of the NCPC realizes that all crime is upsetting, and it is upsetting to the NCPC boardmembers, too, who also live in the neighborhood. But compared to almost anywhere else in Oakland, Rockridge has very low crime.
As board secretary, I collect monthly data from the Oakland Police statistics site. All the data for 2015 is not in yet, but there is enough to make some comparisons between 2014 and 2015 (through October). This is summary data; I publish monthly lists of reported crimes at http://tinyurl.com/pnkx4qk.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Today someone in our neighborhood is checking out a book, applying for a job, learning to read, finding healthcare benefits, or getting help from a trained librarian.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Rockridge District Association (RDA) is pleased to bring security ambassadors to College Avenue for the holiday season. RDA has contracted with Intervention Group Incorporated, Security Services, an Oakland company, to provide personnel as security ambassadors during the holidays, helping to make this an enjoyable time on the avenue this season. They will not only work to keep us safe but will be able to provide assistance with directions and information.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
I recently ordered lunch online for an upcoming Thursday, although my husband and I actually saved it for dinner - sliced Chicken Marbella over kale salad and brownies for dessert.
To retrieve it, I walked several blocks to the kitchen of my Rockridge neighbor, Diana Pasquali, arriving between the hours of 12:30-2 p.m. as instructed and drawn in by the delicious smells wafting from behind her front door.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
This past year, FROG has conducted annual park maintenance events to support the park, and made significant efforts to settle park enhancement planning and design. Following are some of FROG's activities and issues over the past year:
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
More than 500 copies of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" for the entire freshman class. Dissection kits and science lab materials. Field trips. PE equipment. LCD projectors. Teaching tools for students with special needs. These are just a handful of the dozens of programs and projects financed by the Oakland Technical High School PTSA this year alone.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
A tree is growing at Oakland Technical High School, and so are butterflies and a Goddess with billowing hair and arms stretched wide. They're part of a four-wall tile-and-mirror mosaic mural coming to life on a formerly nondescript building alongside the field bleachers. Fifty feet from where football teams scrimmage and tackle, the student-led Oakland Tech Mosaic Club team adheres and grouts, hoping to catch as many sunny afternoons as possible to finish the project in December. The mosaic is one of several projects the group plans to create in the coming months.
Monday, November 16, 2015
We are faced these days with great challenges whose magnitude can push us toward apathy, indifference and inaction: gentrification; failing schools; ecological collapse; food injustice; racial profiling; homelessness; financial inequality; and the deafening isolation of social media. These forces can make us believe we are impotent to make a difference, or to have a voice in our world. We can"t let this boisterous brouhaha keep us from being present. There is no room for apathy in our great and changing city of Oakland.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Wait! Did you see that? "We come in peace," said the message on his uniform. Having seen his green head and her green hair, you could be forgiven your moment of doubt, a doubt confirmed when you spy the hapless human hostage confined to the mobile holding cell.
If you could scream, you would, but when you turn for help, you see only grotesque and distorted and Munchkinesque creatures advancing toward you, muttering their unearthly chant: Triggertreet, Triggertreet.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Join the merchants and members of the Rockridge District Association (RDA), Saturday, November 28, from 3-6 p.m. at the College Avenue Rockridge BART station to celebrate the holiday season. Kids have fun playing in snow, visiting Santa with his elves, and listening to live holiday music presented by Musically Minded Academy. Pony rides will be available for a small charge. Donations for One Warm Coat and Toys for Tots accepted.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Too many Oakland and Rockridge residents today are unprepared for a major earthquake on the Hayward fault.
Although the City Council and Oakland Fire Department take the warnings seriously and have produced the disaster preparedness program "Communities of Oakland Respond to Emergencies" (CORE), community response has been lethargic.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Rockridge Shopping Center Redevelopment (AKA - Shops at The Ridge): Broadway and Pleasant Valley Avenue
Members of the community met with representatives of Terramar Properties on October 13 at the Rockridge Library. As those passing the site have noticed, work is well underway, especially on the new Chase Bank building (two-story structure near the Pleasant Valley entrance) and the new Safeway (further back from that same entrance). Plans are largely unchanged from those approved by the City, but there have been two design changes:
Monday, November 16, 2015
In September 2014, Kevin Faughnan, RCPC boardmember and liaison to the Rockridge District Association (RDA), Rockridge's merchant association, submitted the first in a series of articles for The Rockridge News chronicling merchants in business in the College Avenue business district for 25 years or longer. With his report on Rockridge Furniture and Design (see page 7) in this issue, the series concludes. The list below is the record of the 49 businesses featured in the series.
Monday, November 16, 2015
You may know the opening song "Tradition" from "Fiddler on the Roof" (which the Berkeley Playhouse performed so well this summer).
But with new edifices going up all about those of us on the southern end of Rockridge, I can't help substituting "Construction" to the same three notes.
My neighbors to the rear are putting in a backyard pavilion, a next-door neighbor is adding a second story, and neighbors across the street are building a deck and patio.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Frog is pleased to announce park enhancement plans are moving forward.
On October 25, the FROG committee met with the immediate Frog Park neighbors, along with City Councilman Dan Kalb, to share our updated design proposal. After much design work to address neighbor concerns and the long-term needs of the broader community, we were able to present a new design with a reconfigured layout of play equipment and added trees.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Established by John Knight, Sr., Rockridge Furniture & Design at 5601 College has been on the Avenue since 1970. John was an accountant by trade, but his passion was as an antique collector, repairman and salesman. The business evolved as his clientele's tastes began to support the Arts and Crafts furniture style more complementary to the many bungalows in Rockridge. Meanwhile, John Knight, Jr., who received his B.S.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Scenic Streets is looking for a new leader. Peter Lund, who successfully led Scenic Streets for the past five years, is leaving to pursue new opportunities. Under Peter's strong leadership, Scenic Streets completed numerous complex community projects, including beautification projects at the Claremont Highway 24 on-ramp and off-ramp as well as DaVita Dialysis center landscaping on the corner of Claremont and Clifton. (For the full list of projects and to learn the history of Scenic Streets, visit www.scenicstreets.com).