Boulevard Bites

by Toni Locke

### "What one person can do anyone can do." So says Stella Roda-Lamb of Patterson Avenue in the Laurel. She rallied 85 homeowners in her neighborhood to ask for tree-planting in the Great Green Sweep of May 15. Her effort, teamed with L-CAP, the Neighborhood Council (Laurel/Redwood Heights NCPC), Heather Hensley of C.E.D.A., Sandra Stein of We Mean Clean, the East Bay Conservation Corps, and Jerry Smith and Dan Gallagher of Parks and Rec, resulted in 10 of the 80 citywide plantings bringing 140 trees to enhance the district. ### Searching for a useful role along the MacArthur corridor, the MacArthur Leadership Coalition is emerging as a strong lobby for a neighborhood point of view on issues like trucks on 580, resident-friendly planning for Leona Quarry development, and local zoning enforcement. Leaders from Dimond, Laurel, High Street, Allendale and points east and south showed up at a May meeting. These stalwarts have taken on City Hall in a big way. ### New curtains to replace those old sheets at Doug Patterson's Tattoo Shop ! About time, and guess who's doing it? Doctors Dorothy Okamoto (optometry) and Maureen Dorsey (Veterinary Medicine) are sewing them as part of the Laurel Merchants Association offer to help small businesses along the Boulevard. ### Shakespeare in the Parking Lot by Mills College talent, dance lessons at the Chick'n'Coop, one-woman theater at Victory Outreach, storm drain to Bay ecology lessons for hundreds of kids, and much more, moved this year's L-CAP -sponsored Laurel Neighborhood Festival into the category of cultural treasure as well as business promoter. ### David Chou, owner/manager of the Hillcrest Motel, has joined the Dimond Improvement Association. A productive meeting at Councilmember Dick Spees office saw this friendly outcome. Beat 22X Crime Prevention Council, the Dimond Improvement Association and neighbors are monitoring a written, ongoing plan, laced with deadlines, to stop the damage afflicting the community from illegal behavior at the Hillcrest. ### Your next Metro will appear on August 1. No Metro in July. Our summer vacation will see me in Massachusetts with extended family. May all readers enjoy similar change and refreshment this summer.