Boulevard Bites

by Toni Locke

### Allendale residents filled the school auditorium for their October NCPC meeting, attracted because Councilmember Quan had stepped in to sponsor the gathering, expediting the welcome appearance of Chief Word of the OPD. Complaints filled the agenda. Valuable information was exchanged on prevalent crime and blight, and on how communication between residents and police and City Council may be facilitated. To get involved, contact Beverley Blythe, chairperson (388-1448), Marie Rainwater, vice-chair, Herb Chan, secretary (also Director of the Allendale Recreation Center), or Steve Reuss, treasurer. ### Councilmember Quan and a highly professional development team are rushing Dimond neighbors into accepting a replacement for the Hillcrest Motel with 120 units, four-story height, with only 40 parking spaces, a saving permitted by law because seniors are the projected residents. Retail and a drop-in health clinic add to proposed density on a steep slope where MacArthur and Lincoln cross in a problem intersection. Traffic congestion at MacArthur and Fruitvale, one block away, is already disastrous. Let's count to ten and think it over. ### The residents of 39th Avenue are tired of having their street taken over as a stomping ground by a roving bunch of hoodlums. Old and young spoke out in no uncertain terms to the October NCPC meeting in the Quan Headquarters on MacArthur at Maybelle. Creative solutions that empower the community are needed. Calling the police is not enough, though it is a beginning. ### The Laurel streetscape plan is posted in the community corner of the Dimond Library. The city was supposed to break ground this fall. What is happening in this time of budget crunch? This column goes to press before the meeting on October 20. The Laurel has a fight on its hands.