Leona Heights Neighborhood News

by Gordon Laverty

Hooray! Summer is here. What a beautiful spring it was in Leona Heights.

So many people's gardens looked like rainbows as flowering plants of all kinds bloomed like crazy. As for gardens and the land surrounding our homes, we were sharply reminded by the Santa Barbara fire in May about keeping uncontrolled vegetation to a minimum around our homes. It's plain to see that if a wildfire did get started in our neighborhood, most of us would be in sad, sad shape. So just to help me sleep better at night, I keep weeds and brush down low around our home and keep trees trimmed back as much as possible. The folks in Montclair had no reason to expect a fire almost 20 years ago… and we all know what happened there.'

I have to point out that our wonderful neighborhood has had another couple of breakins. So, as a simple reminder, avoid leaving items of value out in the open in your home when you go to work or out for fun. In these recent events, the bad guys had gotten into homes where the owners were at work, made a quick sweep of the homes for valuables, and made an equally quick getaway. No alarm or neighbors being at home prevented a darn thing. The two sure things we can do are keep an eye out for unfamiliar faces and call the Oakland Police (OPD) about any suspicious behavior. Our beat officer, in fact, recently encouraged me to do just that, using the OPD nonemergency number. (Nonemergency is 777-3333; emergency is 911 or 777-3211 for Oakland emergency response from a cell phone)

And as my wife Margie and I walked our part of the neighborhood delivering May's edition of the Metro, I was reminded of what a pleasure it is to simply get out and walk.

Walk our beautiful tree-lined streets, even if it's just up to the nearest corner, and see if you don't notice somebody else's beautiful garden, or meet a new neighbor, or hear the happy birds singing. Leona Heights is a great place to live!

Gordon Laverty can be reached at lavertyhillmob2\@sbcglobal.net.