Grand Lake Neighbors Meeting Minutes: 5/20/2015

Attendance: 9 neighbors, 2 OPD officers, Neighborhood Service Coordinator Renee Sykes, Jenny Gerard from Councilmember Abel Guillen’s office, 4 Representatives from One Medical

  1. Crime Reports
    • Beat 14Y (Between Lakeshore Ave, Oakland Ave, I-580, Piedmont Border).
      • Community Resource Officer (CRO), Ken Bui, was unable to attend.
    • Beat 16X (Between Lakeshore Ave, almost Park Blvd, I-580, Piedmont Border), Office Madlangsakay (Maddy).
      • Trader Joe’s parking lot is a priority.
      • Last 2 months:
        • No home burglaries.
        • 1 robbery.
  2. Other Crime/Qualify of Life Concerns
    • Honda CRVs have become a popular car to steal and use in crimes.
    • 35 officers just graduated from an academy. 57 are in the new academy. Officers will be graduating in July and November.
    • On-line reporting tool.
      • Renee is following up with the records manager about the form.
      • As an example of how difficult the form is, Mary Dooley pointed out that a user must go through 10 screens to report an auto burglary.
    • The City has introduced Alert 360, a smart phone app, and a new website to provide access to real-time information about calls for service. This includes crimes in progress.
      • Renee said the Alert 360 people are willing to come to community meetings to discuss the app.
    • OPD has been undergoing significant IT transitions. The officers will have much larger email boxes as a result. However, during the transition some online services have been down and access to email has been spotty.
    • Maddy asked if GLN had developed Top 3 priorities.
    • There will be safety fair on June 11 at Park Boulevard Presbyterian Church.
  3. Proposed One Medical Group Clinic on 3850 Grand Ave (former Silver Screen Video)
    • Four representatives discussed One Medical’s plans. www.onemedical.com.
    • One Medical is a chain of primary care clinics. They focus on using technology to make it easy to make appointments and see providers with minimal wait.
    • One Medical has one Berkeley location and 16 in SF and the peninsula.
    • Expected hours are 9am-8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm weekends.
    • They’ll have 12 parking spaces, which they expect to be sufficient for their patients. 5 to 6 spots will be used by employees, but some employees may bike to work since many live in the area.
    • Status: They are close to finalizing the lease. The use is allowed, but they must receive a Minor Change of Use from the City. They will be posting a notice and the public has 17 days to file comments. They hope to be open by the end of the year.
    • Physical: The awnings will be removed, revealing the floor to ceiling windows. They will use exterior colors consistent with the original art deco style.
    • They will put in security cameras.
    • One Medical will also “lock up” the billboard on the roof and make sure it is used for wellness messages.
    • They’ve posted a petition via Facebook to get community support.
  4. Grand Ave Resurfacing
    • According to Jenny Gerard, the city is looking at putting Grand Ave. between Ellwood and the Piedmont border on a “road diet”. That means adding bike lanes in each direction, reducing the traffic to one lane in each direction plus a turning lane in the middle.
    • The city believes this is feasible given the traffic volume, but there’s too much traffic from Ellwood to Lake Park to do the same on that section.
    • Councilmember Guillen will be hosting a community meeting on this on June 22, at Barnett Hall behind Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church (3534 Lakeshore Avenue) from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.
  5. Misc
    • Ken Katz, Russell Hill, and Eric Hughes will be helping to raise funds for new trees on Grand Ave to replace about 15 dead/missing ones, contact Eric for information.
    • Public budget meetings are continuing around the city.
    • There will be an Emergency Preparedness event at Splash Pad Park on May 29 and May 31 in conjunction with the premier of the movie San Andreas at the Grand Lake Theater.
    • Barbecuing at Lake Merritt: The Parks and Rec Advisory Committee decided to set up a task force to address problems that surround the barbecuing at the Lake. Overall things have been very positive, but there are instances of public urination, amplified music bothering neighbors and improper disposal of coals (dumping on ground and in lake). The task force will recommend new policies at a June 10th meeting. Citizens can provide input via email. Jenny will post how via Abel Guillen’s Facebook page.