January mtg notes

HI LAKE NEIGHBORS!!!

Mark your calendars…next meetings: 4/21, 7/21, 10/20 (all from 6-8pm – at FM Smith Recreation Center @ 1969 Park Ave. -- it is the brick building at the park with the mule statues just down the street a little from Woody's on the same side (check both floors, we may be downstairs by the basketball courts sometimes).


So it turns out this new meeting spot works out pretty well. Great turnout. Productive meeting. HUGE thank you to Casa Vallarta for enthusiastically responding to our dinner need and providing us with chicken enchiladas. Thank you to Lois over at the Rec Center at FM Smith park for letting us hold our meeting there – we’d love to know the wish list for the programs you have there for the kids & even have them involved.



Since this meeting, an event (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Safety Walk & Social) was talked about, planned and has already been successfully implemented -- it even got good news coverage thank you to Lake Neighbors Skye & Chimene’s hard work in close partnership with Steve Ma (LMBA & Woody’s & Lake Neighbor) and Hoang Banh (City Organizer & Friend). Thank you also for all the PSO officers who showed up and really got involved and also to Barbara and David from the Cascade neighborhood group! A lot of ideas came from that effort, stay tuned for more safety strategies and pitch your own any time (email to me or bring it to next meeting).





Here is what went on in the meeting itself...



THANK YOU to new people on board:



· Chimene joining Events crew AND ALSO for taking lead on fundraising (she may need some really strong

collaborating on this, please join her if you can)

· Lillian taking Lead on new category sharing resources (Rentalic…more info on this to follow)

· Marvin to Lead on our Emergency Preparedness



Reports/updates are always made per each subject on our 3 prong approach which is:



OVERVIEW OF LAKE NEIGHBORS APPROACH:

The simultaneous three pronged approach is what we are using to address the safety problems here. They are: 1) IMMEDIATE SAFETY ISSUE, 2) STRONG ONGOING POSITIVE EVENTS, 3) HEALING THE CAUSE INSTEAD OF TREATING THE SYMPTOM BY CONNECTING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE AND ALSO POSSIBLY BY CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE BEING CAUGHT DOING CRIMES HERE.

1) IMMEDIATE SAFETY ISSUE:



Emergency Prep – no new news, but we have a new lead who can move us along on this issue. Our current status is on our website and our new Lead is Marvin! Thank you Marvin! We may have more to report on this one now that it is being headed by one person instead of all of us. We got pretty far in planning and some trainings, but we need to upkeep it.



OPD (Oakland Police Dept) update: We have PSO’s again (Problem Solving Officers)! They were taken away with the recent cutback in officers, but we have them again. They are not the PSO’s we knew before: Roland Holmgren and Jeryme Styne I believe are 2 of the officers on PSO duty – Andy (our OPD Lead) will check into this further and invite them to our next meeting in April so we can all get to know them.



Three adults doing the home invasions in the area were arrested, we want to track what has happened with them (when back out on the street) and we also want photos. Andy agreed to contact the DA about this, so stay tuned…



Next meeting Dinner provided by Dave Kim and he needs a cooking buddy! Steve Ma has motivated the LMBA to donate bags of groceries for this project.



The Oakland Fire Department would like to attend and have 10 minutes on the agenda…bring any questions, comments, ideas you have for them.



3) STRONG POSITIVE EVENTS… (recommendation for a safety event was done! – more will come throughout the year)

* Earth Day event in process of being planned by our events crew

* Annual calendar of Lake Neighbor events in process by our events crew (and me!)

* Looking at possibility of Spring Cleaning Day when we all choose a day to go out and “pick up” (a neighbor Katie was interested in this last year…Katie, if you are still up

for spearheading this or getting involved, let us know!)

* Some other events under consideration: New Parkway barn-raising or group movie trips if they are able to work out the lease with the Chengs! Also, more CORE

trainings (1&2 to catch other’s up and then 3 all together soon?)…Outdoor movie event in September! More than likely we will continue our tradition of a progressive New Years Eve party…and MUCH more – but please add in your ideas! Happy hours and progressive parties and block parties are always great – a block yard sale might be fun (flea market) or even a mass give-away!!!



Chimene signed onto leading fundraising here…I know Hoang has a ton of resources here to be explored…I know she would probably appreciate come co-partners in this category.



Community Gardens: Some discussion was had about how to best use the Walgreens plot (it needs a name!) they have let us use. There is no public access – only from a private yard, so this has to be carefully planned. One idea was to have fruit trees planted, but getting trees already fruit bearing is I think hard if not nearly impossible? Does anyone know about this? Something that could be grown, easily picked and then given to the community by the people residing there with little maintenance needed (water use is also a little tricky with rationing/limits on water here). LOTS going on as usual with Funktown farm – if you want to get involved, just ask!



Art in the Neighborhood: Matlena joining forces with Dave to get more active in muraling around here!



Rentalic (new category!): Lillian is taking lead on this -- email to follow explaining this, but in short, it is a great, community building way for everyone to share what they have and avoid great expense!



2) HEALING THE CAUSE: Tracy is taking the lead on this one & Dave is joining forces with her with his high school connections…it is important to get them connected with Lois at FM Smith Rec center and also with Angela with Lotus Bloom and ALSO Andrew because they have do so much work with youth and families here.



NEEDED: New roles!! Make up your own that fits what you have to give. E-participation – as always – is very much appreciated and encouraged…write in and be involved in that way if that is all you can get to right now. Participate and contribute your voice.



OKAY…that is the update for right now…remember to GET INVOLVED! It is as important as everything we do to make our houses and lives run because our neighborhood IS OUR HOME! Do something big or small every day and or week and let me know so I can put the word out – it is inspirational to know the good that is going on here and we have such amazing neighbors living here it will just get better and better the more we all know eachother and grow our friendships.




Stay tuned. Write back if you have anything to say/share -- come to all the meetings and the events! See you around in the neighborhood!




MUCH Friendship!!!!

Sasha