Welcome to the Dump . . . Excuse Me, the Laurel

by Dennis Evanosky

Inspiration for this month's article came right from the pages of the August Metro. Peter Bond's "Onions & Orchids" column contained three "Onions" to absentee property owners and would-be developers who have neglected properties at or near the two gateways to the Laurel.

An "Orchid" in the same column had a rather ironic twist. The praise came from me to OFD Battalion Chief James Williams for helping clear another property at the entrance to the Laurel. One morning I read the chief's comments in the Oakland Tribune about the federal government's failure to clear grass at the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. The article even mentioned the city's grass-height requirement to the inch.

I e-mailed the chief with a photo of city-owned "pocket park" at 35th Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard. This park boasted grass tall enough to hide a small child. I asked him why he was pointing fingers at the federal government when the city didn't adhere to its own policies. As always, I e-mailed City Attorney John Russo a copy. I promised the chief that if this property ever went up in flames, I would be the first to come forward with photos. The next day, the grass was cut. Hail to the chief.

A letter to the editor in the August Metro also grabbed my attention. A reader was singing the praises of Razzo's at High Street and MacArthur. "The pizza is good. I never thought to find it at that foreboding corner," the reader said.

Foreboding. Wow! What a revealing description of our neighborhood.

So what makes coming to the Laurel so foreboding?

To find out, I visited the two intersections with my camera. At both gateways, people came over to me and asked what I was doing. When I told them I was writing a newspaper article, they opened up. They used more palpable adjectives than foreboding. "Disgusting," one person said, pointing to a mess on the sidewalk at High and MacArthur. "Shameful," said another, at 35th and MacArthur.

One person got eyes as big as full moons when I explained that the City of Oakland owned the property at 35th Avenue. It currently serves as a dump for truckloads of dirt, gravel, and broken concrete. Another just shook his head when I explained that it took e-mails to an OFD battalion chief and the city attorney to force the city to cut the grass on its adjacent "park."

Over the years, I've learned that getting these parcels developed is difficult. An agent for the realty company responsible for finding a tenant at "Century Foods" (Hollywood Video) once explained, "Frankly, this is not the most attractive neighborhood."

I disagree. The Laurel is a terrific neighborhood. What might make development difficult is the state of the parcels themselves. If a potential businessperson comes to the site at 35th and MacArthur, for example, and sees the parcel with piles of refuse and concrete, what does he or she think about the "neighborhood"?

If another client comes to High and MacArthur to look at a possible place to do business and sees a "foreboding" corner with one parcel overgrown with weeds and bags of trash and a second parcel leveled to desolation, will that person want to set up business here?

If these parcels are ever going to be developed, they must be kept attractive. This must start with the city's property at 35th and MacArthur. If the city can get away with trashing its own property, why should other property owners keep theirs clean?

We should not allow Oakland to tolerate a policy of "fence it and forget it." The city must takethe lead: Clean its pair of properties at 35th and MacArthur, and keep them clean!