Dimond Neighborhood News

by Hoang Le Banh

A Message from the Sequoia Dads' Club The Dads' Club would like to thank everyone who came out to our 17th annual Pancake Breakfast. All those rummage sale shoppers were hungry, and smiles and full stomachs were a great reward for the hard work the kitchen staff put in! Also, let's give a big hand for all the help on Earth Day to put the Sequoia Garden back into shape. It looks great. Thanks for supporting the Sequoia community. Music and Masks by Sequoia Students On June 1, at 7 p.m., the Sequoia Orchestra and Choir will conduct its Spring Concert in the school auditorium. June 4 will bring the sixth annual Sequoia Mask Parade. Students will parade from the school to the business district at 10 a.m. wearing the amazing masks that they have been working on all spring. Find a spot along Fruitvale or MacArthur, and be dazzled by all the unusual people, colorful animals, and mythical creatures wandering by. Every Day Is Earth Day For those who missed out on Earth Day activities in April, just a reminder that all year round Friends of Sausal Creek is engaged in creek restoration in Dimond Canyon and native-plant propagation in Joaquin Miller Park, as well as water quality, aquatic insect, and bird monitoring along the Sausal Creek watershed. For work days this month, check out the Metro calendar. For even more information, go to www.sausalcreek.org. Dimond/Fruitvale Coalition for Responsible Development The latest word on the Immaculate Care facility at Fruitvale and Nicol is that Telecare has withdrawn its appeal of the City Planning Commission's firm denial of a major Conditional Use permit. Once again, stay tuned for next steps, which should include brainstorming alternative uses. Altenheim Redevelopment At the March 2 community meeting, the major concern about the Altenheim redevelopment seemed to be the proposed Building 9, which residents considered quite tall and wide. Additionally, concerns were voiced about its close proximity to the property line alongside smaller single-family homes, which would be impacted by morning shadows. As a result, at the April 13 community meeting, Citizens Housing and the Pyatok Architecture team returned to present two alternative schemes. In the end, consensus evolved around scheme 2, which would break up the original Building 9 into two separate buildings. A new Building 9 remains a four-story building, but with a much smaller footprint and arranged to face down the street of Miami Court. Building 10 would also be a four-story building but turned to face MacArthur Boulevard. Shadows on adjacent properties would be reduced. This design puts more density along a heavily traveled transportation corridor, which is in keeping with generally accepted urban design principles. This alternative plan increases costs due to adding another building. Citizens Housing then proposed, and attendees accepted, to move forward with a dual process of submitting the basic scheme and plans to the Planning Department in order for city staff to begin review of the project while the design team continues to work on further development of the scheme. Additional community meetings will be scheduled as necessary throughout the process. Hoang can be reached at hbanh\@lmi.net, and more news is available at www.dimondnews.org.