Boulevard Bites


by Sheila D'Amico



### One of more than 50 people who deliver this paper to homes and businesses, longtime Metroite Dal Sellman is the face of the MacArthur Metro when he distributes the paper in the Laurel and other places along the Blvd. on the first of the month. Dal is less visible, but no less valuable, as the chair of the Metro's Alameda Food Bank contingent. He wants readers to know that several of the most committed of his food bank crew had to step back for various reasons. He's looking for folks who can step up and volunteer twice a month. Contact Dal at 531-2690.

St. Elizabeth High School students Michael Cunningham ,’11, and Eric Sandoval, ’13, cleaning up at Alameda Point. Photo by Sarah Guthrie.

Click to enlarge.


### Constance Dalton sent word that on one day in February, the entire St. Elizabeth High School spent the whole day in service to the community. Student and staff teams traveled to 13 locations, where they cooked for resident senior citizens, tutored elementary students, cleaned areas from storage sheds to the shores of Lake Merritt, or assisted with sports programs for needy kids and adults. Students and staff were easily identified by their red-on-white "Community Service Day 2010 St. Elizabeth High School" tee shirts. It may have been the first Service Day where the whole school participated, but students and staff vowed it will not be their last. They plan to make this an annual event.


### Rochelle Rodgers suggests local walkers trek over to Sausal Creek. What is normally a stream, looks these days, she says, like a small river. Not suitable for rafting or canoeing, of course, but a different environment than a walk in a dry winter.'


### Community Policing has existed in Oakland for more than 15 years. Experienced members of Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils are realizing that it's great to encourage Neighborhood Watch/Home Alert micro groups, and these groups will be critical in an earthquake or other emergency. But real political power exists in collaboration. Members of several Metro area NCPCs are doing that in various ways. Melrose High Hopes Beat 27X and Rainbow Community Neighborhood Council 27Y worked together to get conditions imposed on a local bar. Pueblos Unidos 20X and Jefferson 24X held a strategy session to determine how best to testify at a Council budget workshop about the need for NSCs and made a draft NSC support letter available for all NCPCs to use. Millsbrae-Burbank 29X's chair is also a member of the Community Policing Advisory Board and is in frequent email contact with other area NCPCs. Community Policing is a part of the fabric of our community.


### We were sad to hear that the community is losing another local print publication. The Berkeley Daily Planet will now publish online only. The Oakland Tribune ran a thoughtful editorial reminding "us in the business of the fragility of the newspaper industry. It should remind readers and residents of the important role of local journalism. Like many things in life, we unfortunately don't appreciate them until they're gone."




Creation by Brian Holmes