Boulevard Bites

by Toni Locke

### I believe the Laurel needs Lucky and welcomes Manager Betty Brook 's efforts to improve handling of the parking lot and her presence at neighborhood meetings. The Laurel Merchants Association, L-CAP, the NCPC, and residents should all be at the table when top management representatives of the chain come to deal with reports in the Metro of drug dealing and shenanigans as they did last month. Together, we can work out a cooperative game plan to reach consensus. We need to remain friends, all of us, to make the Laurel a safe, clean, friendly palace to live in. ### Thanks to our neighborhood leaders, Councilmember Dick Spees and people of Oakland, who said no to the City Manager's original proposal for so-called "community oriented government." Thanks also to Dr. George Musgrove, Assistant City Manager, who sweated through 60 neighborhood meetings, listened, and changed his thinking. Tremendous credit goes to all who turned confrontation into fruitful dialogue. Here's the way matters stand at this writing: Neighborhood Service Coordinators such as Renee Sykes, Traci Corcran, and Teresa Williams will stay under the OPD; NCPCs will retain their name and status; the new City Service Delivery Teams will meet with the community through quarterly meetings open to all concerned groups until a better-tuned plan for a working partnership is developed by the citizens in each service area. The Dimond and Laurel working groups Dick Spees manages are one possible model. So, the democratic process is alive and well in Oakland! ### Healthy Start, comprehensive support services for children and families at or near schools, a dream? In fact, State Senate Bill 620(1991) created the framework for local collaboration and control that now slowly blossoms around Bret Harte, Sequoia, Fruitvale, and Laurel schools under the leadership of Geri Murphy and her staff. Adequate grant funding is in the works. Buildings open after school hours for athletics, arts and tutoring, health clinics, adult education, parenting help, and much more. Under Healthy Start, the services are designed to fit the languages and family cultures of the diverse populations around these schools. Dozens of County and City agencies and local groups are on board to make this effort work. See the Metro calendar for the next meeting at Bret Harte and help make a dream come true. ### I promised to report on my adventure as an Oakland Reader, helping a third-grader at Fruitvale School. Challenging for us both, and for me at least, a rewarding pleasure. ### What's new? "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." Mark Twain (1835-1910)