Letters to the Editor
The Metro has received the following statement from our Dimond neighbors on Boston Avenue.
As neighbors who fought for six years to get the former Hillcrest Motel shut down, we would like to shed some light on claims made by opponents of a senior-housing project proposed for the site.Domus Development and Self-Help for the Elderly have applied for a $3.

Essential Medical Services at Stake: March 2nd's Measure A
Nancy M. Friedman
The campaign to pass a one-half-cent sales tax on Alameda County residents that willpreserve most services offered by the Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC) has kicked offto a strong start. ACMC provides care to those who are caught in the oft.

Yes on Q and E on March ballot
An urgent call for help
to maintain essential school and library services to keep library branches open six days a week Sign up, and sign in! Tell your friends to vote, get informed, join a phone bank, mount anddistribute signs, help at headquarters at 333 Market, donate money.

Contribute to Your Metro
Sheila D'Amico
As we welcome in the new year, both 2004 and the Chinese Year of the Monkey, we are far from the beginning of the millennium, when celebrations around the globe seemed to bring such promise. So far, the new century has been disheartening. It's tempti.

The Metro Joins the 21st Century
Meredith Florian
Stop! It's hailing and freezing outside. And you just put on your furry slippers. Thanks to BrianHolmes, our dynamic Metro Web master, you no longer have to venture out for that favoriteMetro feature you want to read with your morning coffee.

Onions & Orchids
Peter Bond
Dear readers: This writer does search for individuals and businesses worthy of inclusion in this column, but he relies mostly on input from others. So please e-mail your ideas for Onions & Orchids to bpbond\@aol.com.Orchids to Board Members of the .

Notice
Simba Chapter 10 (Bora Kumi Village), an African American mentoring group, is now recruiting boys for membership in our organization.
Simba s goals are to teach our children to choose self-programming through the modeling of positive, supportive, and cooperative behavior.If you are the parent or guardian of an African American boy from ages seven to eleven, please contact us at 599-0242 for more information.

Paving Paradise Invasive Plans Meet Growing Opposition
John Coffey
Neighbors living on the cul-de-sacs of Hickory, Nicol, School, Cordova, and Castillo (off ofFruitvale Avenue) are mounting opposition against the application and architectural planssubmitted to the Oakland Planning Department by Telecare Corp. of Alameda.