High Street Neighborhood News

by Adelle Foley

Courtland Creek Teamwork. Photo by Linda Lawson.

Pogo Stick Contest at the Creek

' As I returned home from BART the spots on my windshield didn't bode well for the next morning's Creek to Bay Day cleanup, but instead, the clouds provided a wonderfully cool cover for the event. When the morning was over, Courtland Creek and the adjacent park were cleaner and tidier thanks to more than 40 energetic volunteers. The native-plant area along the path near Brookdale had been cut back and many bags of green cuttings lined up at the curb. Branches were dragged from the creek bed and a eucalyptus tree was cut into dumpster-sized pieces. This year's treasures included a giant stuffed lion, a terra cotta pot, a pumpkin PEZ head, a headless Egyptian dog (that now adorns a neighbor's deck-in-progress), sewing machines, a car bumper, a water heater, and a pogo stick. After eating the pizza, provided by Councilmember Jean Quan's office, the kids took the pogo stick into the cul de sac and competed to see who could jump the longest. Participants took home cloth grocery bags and T-shirts with a great fish graphic.

'

What's Your Exchange?

' Some of us can remember when telephone numbers began with letters, and before that, exchanges. Here in Maxwell Park some of our phone numbers begin with 532 or 533. In our garage we discovered an old metal sign that translated our exchange to Kellogg (or perhaps more properly KEllogg). Do you know your exchange? If you do, send me an email with the numbers and the exchange, and I'll publish a list in a future column.

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Radar on Foothill Blvd.

' Late one Sunday afternoon three of us stood on a corner of Foothill Blvd. with a radar gun, a clipboard holding a log, and a desire to calm the traffic. The flow of traffic was fairly slow that afternoon, especially when they saw us in our attractive, lime-green, one-size-fits-all, safety vests. A woman came up to thank us and give us suggestions when to come back and catch the speeders. After dusk, it was hard to read the license plates. We logged some speeders, who will receive letters from the Oakland Police Department. But we'll be back, and we hope more neighbors sign up for the training.

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Neighborhood Schools Briefs

Melrose Academy has begun to plan for the kindergarten class that will start school in August 2009. This will be the first bilingual class. Each year the school will add another grade until it becomes a bilingual K-8 program. The Maxwell Park International Academy welcomed the new Vice Principal Earl Walls.

'Tis autumn'

Bright blue morning skies

Dry leaves swirl along the street

Pumpkins on the porch'

Adelle Foley can be reached at jandafoley\@sbcglobal.net.