A beautiful Mother's Day Celebration

Celebrate Mother's Day with the Lake Neighbors

Stop by and enjoy a cupcake and meet your neighbors to celebrate mothers everywhere!
E 17th Street at 3rd Ave
Sunday, May 12
10-12noon

With great thanks to Sasha, Menyui, Jessica, Debra, Jessica and the fabulous Mollie of the Mollie Rose Baking Company

Meeting with Pat Kernighan

Dear Neighbors,

I've had a recent dialogue with Pat Kernighan regarding issues that our neighborhood is facing and am asking that she partner with us to find solutions to tackle the issues. We have invited her to come to our home and meet the neighbors, hear our concerns, come up with solutions that she will commit to, and follow through with implementation. I will add that we can longer put all the responsibility on the city and the police to cure all our problems- we need to step up and become part of the solution and take accountability for our own space and neighborhood so that we can make the Brooklyn Neighborhood (made up of all the little neighborhoods that lie east of Lake Merrit) the community that we all deserve. We seek to form partnerships with all the other neighbors, the city, local businesses and other organizations to achieve our goals and together we are all stronger.

 

We are striving to work with Pat's office to find solutions together and we will all do our own part to resolve it. I ask you all to contact me direct atskopff@sbcglobal.net or Brittany to let me know what issues you see as needing attention in our neighborhood and, if you can, also provide what action you would like to see happen and possible solutions for the city as well as us as neighbors to perform in order to accomplish these goals. We will forward Pat and her office our list when completely compiled prior to the meeting (we will announce the date and time later when we firm it up). Below is an excerpt of my last email with Pat to give you an idea of some of the issues we have already identified. In some of the cases we have offered solutions. See what you think and let me know:

 

"previously I mentioned we would like some seed money to invest in landscaping our sidewalks. We are looking for about $10K this year and are expecting neighbors to pay when they can and the charity will cover the costs when it needs to. Josh and I are planning to hold fundraisers at our home and in future years we would like to have garden tours to raise money. Some potential ways you could help us raise money would be trying to fight for it in the upcoming city budgets, ask for local corporate sponsors to help out either by cash or by donating their products or services to be auctioned off by our group (it would be tax-deductible for them). Or you could put us in touch with other organizations with grants available. These are the things we need from you and your office as a partner. I already mentioned tackling the war zone effect (the atmosphere that is created when people concrete over their entire front yard and install tall chain link fences up to the sidewalk)- we already are adding two more issues: the potholes on E 21st and many other streets are excessive. We are aware of the Click-fix app but how do you get a whole street or neighborhood repaved? You need to visit and you will see what I mean.  And the crazy thing is people still speed down our street- we need some speed bumps installed. An informed neighbor mentioned there is money in the budget for speed bumps so can you get some installed. I have to be very careful backing out of my drive because people speed up our hill coming up from 14th and 13th Avenues.  And I mentioned previously the stolen cars and trucks being dumped as well as forwarded the email of the two guys casing the neighborhood." 

 

Let's all pitch in and take ownership of our neighborhood. Let's clean our streets, landscape our sidewalk strips, make our neighborhood inviting to encourage foot traffic which reduces crime, makes us a more vigilant neighborhood, and makes it an atmosphere where coffeeshops, corner bakeries and restaurants, quirky welcomed pop up markets like Humblebees, cheese boutiques, and funky local nurseries like Berkeley has an abundance of. We can do this! Start today.

 

As always, thanks for your consideration and commitment to make the change.

 

Steven J. Kopff, CPA

Earth Day - Introducing The Brooklyn Neighborhood Beautification Project

Way to go, Lake Neighbors! Her's the the first of many great median and neighborhood improvement projects brought to you by The Brooklyn Neighborhood Beautification Project - our local non-profit dedicated to improving our public spaces! Okay, so THIS was a beautiful weekend!
To support this amazing project - please read about ways to volunteer below or offer financial support by sending your check to: Brooklyn Beautification Project C/O Steve Kopff 1218 E. 21st Street, Oakland, CA 94606.  We need everyone's support here!

a note from sasha and some pix from the kickoff project this weekend!

We went over and caught part of the beautification event that went on today thanks to Steve Kopff's organizing with his neighborhood non-profit "Oakland's Brooklyn Neighborhood Beautification Project."  All that showed up vastly improved a median over on 20th St/12th Ave...and a strip over on 19th.  Get involved with this!!!  We can do this all over and around where we live here by the lake.  : )   

Not only is it fun -- REALLY FUN -- to work together and meet people in this way, but you feel connected and great and so much more comes from it exponentially.  Get to as many of these events as you can to support all they do and make more happen.  Pick areas you want to see developed and beautified and let Steve K. know and lets get everyone behind it.

Seeing this today -- seeing how highly organized, knowledgeable and skilled they were at transforming spaces just made me want to motivate us all to get this whole place cleaned up and perked up.  They had a library box (that was to be honest, a work of art) that maybe you saw in an earlier email and it would be great to see those in several spots.  While we were working I saw a girl and her dad walk up and get a book.  

Good to make one over by E. 18th and 3rd someplace that also has a place to put up flyers and info for us neighbors to share...a message board and library box.  ?

We also talked about potlucks, chickens, gardens, bees (lots of blocks are doing this -- if you want help making it happen on yours write me).  We are also planning another outdoor movie @ Regen (with a swap/give-away beforehand) after Javier has done his Parkway projections. 

We plan to have a neighborhood artist's show in October with SO many immensely talented people living here so people can take that in and also purchase gifts for loved ones before the holidays.  If you are a neighbor and would like to be a part of that...get in touch with me.  More about that in a little while.

Write with your ideas and what you want to make happen -- and/or get tied into what we have coming up.

We are planning on having a Mother's Day Outdoor Street Party coming soon -- likely on the "dogleg" block of E. 17th because it is like a giant sidewalk (between 3rd & 4th Aves)...write me if you want to help with that one.

FYI, here is a narrative by Steve K if you want to get signed on with them directly...

"...I'd like to start talking up the next phase of our beautifications happening this summer. We would like to focus on a block or two at a time and landscape the sidewalk strips of everyone on a block interested in participating. We will use plants that are drought tolerant to ensure that what we put in survives and looks good...SO shoot me an email atskopff@sbcglobal.net or give me a call at  510 479-3660 so we can get this going for your block."  Steven J. Kopff, CPA (1218 E. 21st Street, Oakland, CA 94606 510 479-3660 Fax 415 651-8565

Happy Spring Everybody.  See you a lot.

MUCH Friendship,
Sasha

Earth Day Median planting

On Saturday we will  landscape the median at E 20th and 12th Ave as well as a sidewalk strip on E 19th ST at 11th Ave (in front of 1033 E 19th street). More plantings already are lining up and will be announced in the near future.   Directly following the planting our gracious neighbors, Christina Molcillo and her housemates, will host a potluck at their home at 1044 E. 19th Street around noon. We ask everyone to bring a dish- a casserole, empanadas, dim sum, sandwiches, pizzas, your favorite dessert, side dish, salad, or beverage to share with all. Give me an email or call at510 479-3660 to let me know what dish you plan to bring so we don't have too many of the same dish.   And stop by the intersection of E 20th and 12th Avenue- the incredible 12th Ave neighbors have already installed their Neighborhood Library Box in a portion of the median and it is fun and quirky and something we can call our own. A huge round of applause for Chris Houchin for constructing it, Kelley Lamsens and Goose Manriquez for watering the new plants, and the house full of teachers in the third of these three households who pushed the idea and donated the books.    And a huge thank you to our neighbor Debra Capitan for her generous cash donation to help fund a portion of this weekend's planting as well as providing clipping from her garden as well as to Todd Smith and Michael Clancy for their contribution of clippings from their garden. You guys rock and are an asset to the neighborhood!     If you want to see more neighborhood beautification projects as well as help fund this weekend's planting please make a tax-deductible donation made payable to our neighborhood non-profit, "Oakland's Brooklyn Neighborhood Beautification Project", and mail or drop off at our home at 1218 E 21st Street, Oakland 94606. Invest in our neighborhood- any amount will help so ensure the likelihood that we can continue this going forward.   And I'd like to start talking up the next phase of our beautifications happening this summer. We would like to focus on a block or two at a time and landscape the sidewalk strips of everyone on a block interested in participating. We will use plants that are drought tolerant to ensure that what we put in survives and looks good. Attached is a pic from a recent magazine showing a sidewalk in Berkeley where all the neighbors landscaped their sidewalk strips. Imagine how our blocks will look! SO shoot me an email atskopff@sbcglobal.net or give me a call at  510 479-3660 so we can get this going for your block.   Josh and I have met some incredible neighbors over the last 2 and a half months since we moved in, some who have been carrying the flame for decades. We all thank them for their efforts and hope to reignite their desire to contribute to the neighborhood even some more. You all should come out and meet them this Saturday and each other. You'll be surprised at the wonderful folks right around the corner from you that you've never met. We all are truly lucky to be living in this neighborhood. :)  Hope to see you all Saturday or in upcoming plantings. Steven J. Kopff, CPA

The March Madness Spring Cleaning Walk

We all met up at @ Woody's today  for coffee/tea & to gather the group.   Steve Ma (the owner of Woody’s) provided us with water and cereal bars for the journey (We walked for 1½ hours or so).    We walked a circuitous route, cleaning all the way.

Thank you to the City of Oakland Public Works set us up with tools/supplies AND picked up the trash we collected!  Great. Thank you to Jennie Gerard (of Pat Kernighan’s office) for helping us out whenever we need anything ever.

Thank you all and of course, Steve Ma and Woody’s!

Earth Day Planting

Hi!

I wanted to see if you could get the word out there regarding the start of a few beautification projects that I hope to roll out in our neighborhood this year (the first hopefully for Earth Day) and I also am looking for volunteers to help out in a variety of roles.

 

One of the projects is taking over the medians that block some of the intersections and landscape them as neighbors in the same manner as the Buddha garden at the intersection of E 19th Avenue and 11th Avenue. I have my eye on the one at E 20th and 12th Avenue and I know there are others. We would like to landscape at least one of these for Earth Day on the Weekend of April 20/21. What I need is for someone at one of these intersection to act as the lead and be a block captain in the surrounding block to drop fliers in mailboxes and speak to neighbors to get their contact info, tell them the date and get them to show up on planting day. Once emails are collected from neighbors I can coordinate from there. We'll also have a potluck afterwards to celebrate the new planted space(s). 

 

The other project I need block captains for to do outreach to neighbors upfront is landscaping of the sidewalk strips between the sidewalk and the street curbs. We can plant trees (do the appropriate approval from the City) and also plant drought tolerant plants in the spaces and then fill the top with decomposed granite which will keep the weeds out and the moisture in. We've done this in San Francisco many times and it transforms a block when it is all nicely landscaped and maintained. And my partner, Josh, is a landscape designer so he will work with each neighbor to design a garden that needs minimal water (like once a week) and little maintenance free of charge. We will remove cement in the spaces where new gardens can be placed but most homes already have areas ready to plant. We will be working with a non profit that plants city trees for a reduced price to bring down the cost where we plant trees

 

Please contact me @ skopff@sbcglobal.net or 510 479-3660 to ask more info or volunteer for any of the roles. We also will be looking for donations (which should be tax-deductible since I've set up a non profit) to help the neighbors who want to participate but need a little financial assistance as well as to fund the landscaping of the public spaces.

Steven J. Kopff, CPA
1218 E. 21st Street
Oakland, CA 94606
510 479-3660