High Street Neighborhood News

by Adelle Foley

High Hopes NCPC Projects and Priorities High Hopes NCPC will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, at Horace Mann School. The meeting will review priorities and projects, setting the stage for the rest of the year. During the last year, the priorities have been Fremont High School, High Street and Fairfax, and Foothill in the vicinity of Fairfax and Cole. Our Community Policing Officer, Neighborhood Service Coordinator, Patrol Officers, and City Code Inspectors will be available in both private and group settings. Spring Is (Almost) Here The High Street Neighborhood Alliance will be planning spring cleaning and greening at Courtland Creek. This spring's activities will include replacing trees, some repairs, and first steps towards a mural on the wall. Focus on Enforcement A major focus of work on pedestrian safety along High Street during 1999 will be enforcement. Clearly, infraction of traffic laws must take a back seat to more serious crimes. Yet behavior such as speeding, other aggressive driving, and blocking sidewalks with cars is dangerous, unpleasant, and illegal. The Pedestrian Safety Project invites stakeholders bordering High Street (NCPCs, schools, individual merchants, neighbors) to join this effort. Contact Adelle Foley at 532-3737. Community Energy Field I dropped in at the Melrose Branch Library on a Saturday afternoon for an update on the move to temporary quarters. While I waited, I received a lesson in the variety and importance of the services provided to neighbors of all ages. (Did you know that the library provides free access to the Internet?) A mother checks out a game for her young children. A young man picks up a CD he had reserved. A teenager asks for a book about Marian Anderson for a school project. A woman signs up to use the computer to write a letter to Mayor Brown. The phone rings with a reference question. I discover a new detective novel. The library will relocate to the Deliverance Church property on Bancroft below Fairfax, while the current building undergoes a year-long upgrade to meet seismic and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The tentative date is the end of March.