Leona Heights Neighborhood News

by Gordon Laverty

Leona Heights residents join our new mayor, Jerry Brown, expressing our sorrow at the January loss on the same day of Police Officer James Williams Jr. and longtime fireman Tracy Toomey. Alert citizens in our neighborhoods can speed the time when our days and nights are safer. Leona Heights neighbors recently rededicated themselves to be more observant, to write down license numbers and descriptions of vehicles and suspicious activity, and to discuss with each other and/or report in a 911 call in a timely way. We noted recently that CalTrans crews worked over the paving on the Mountain Boulevard to I-580 onramp at Rusting Avenue. Reflectors were mounted on the guard rails to better inform drivers of the curve of the onramp, and pavement crews scarified the pavement surface to help channel off rainwater and reduce slipperiness. Now it is time for the City of Oakland to do more to reduce vehicle speed on the Mountain Boulevard downhill approach. Perhaps pavement surface ripple (not speed bumps) treatment would remind drivers to slow down. The Leona Heights Improvement Association will keep working on this problem. We commend Marilyn King for her effort to inform this area about the Y2K (year 2000 computer glitch) problems and what our neighborhoods might do to be prepared for potential effects.