02
Sep
10

The Library Will be Closed, But the Internet’s Open

By montclairoak Leave a Comment
Categories: Just The News and Local Events
Tags: ,

Between Labor Day, Admissions Day (What?! You don’t celebrate Admissions Day? Shame on you.) and the budget crisis, the library is going to pretty much shut down next week. Wednesday is the one day next week when you will be able to do your library business. Unless you have Internet access, that is.

Montclair's Storybook Library (OPL)

Use the unfortunate library blackout to experiment with the Oakland Public Library’s cool new OverDrive system, which allows patrons to download ebooks and audiobooks to PCs and Macs. The audiobooks play on most MP3 players, including the iPod. You can read the ebooks on your computer with free software, on the Barnes and Noble Nook or the Sony Reader. You can’t use your Kindle or iPad…yet. Start browsing.

While we’re on the subject of the Oakland Public Library, help out your friendly local librarian and take this survey about the library’s website. They are in the process of revamping it and making it easier to use.

30
Aug
10

Back To School, The Green Way

By montclairoak 1 Comment
Categories: Just The News
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The amount of trash a school can generate is staggering.

This year, Montclair Elementary plans to join other schools in the area in trying to cut down its trash. There’s a lot to reduce. Each week, a garbage truck hauls 12 cubic yards of trash away from the school. The Green Team is the brainchild of parents Jane McCrea and Kim Hoffman. McCrea said that once they had the idea last school year, it didn’t take long to find a bunch of other parents eager to make the school more green. The Green Team will have six components: Gardening and composting, zero-waste lunch, walk to school, art and the environment, energy efficiency, and green fundraising.

McCrea said the Green Team will borrow best practices from other schools, such as Peralta, Joaquin Miller, and Glenview, which have made efforts to make their campuses greener.

26
Aug
10

Rara Avis in Claremont Canyon

By montclairoak Leave a Comment
Categories: Montclair People and Nearby Nature
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We’re going to stick with the wildlife a little bit longer.

Indigo Bunting (Photo by Pat Bachetti)Kay Loughman runs a beautiful and fascinating website called Wild Life in the North Hills. It’s all about the flora and fauna in Claremont Canyon. She has pictures of everything from a grey fox lounging on a patio chair to a banana slug slithering across a stone. She’s a keen naturalist and a skilled photographer. The only thing more remarkable than all of the natural beauty at our doorstep is how easy it is to forget it’s there during the course of a busy week. Loughman’s website is a good reminder.

We asked Loughman for the news this summer from the world of Oakland’s birds, bugs, and other critters. She said that the big story so far was the indigo bunting sharp-eyed birdwatchers spied in Claremont Canyon back in June. Common back east, the indigo bunting is very rare this far west. Phila Rogers wrote about it on her blog at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

24
Aug
10

Dead Trout Mystery in Sausal Creek

By montclairoak 1 Comment
Categories: Nearby Nature

What killed the rainbow trout in Sausal Creek? At the beginning of August, city workers found dead trout in the creek not far from the culvert at Wellington Street. They found 25 in all, the largest was nine inches long.

Rainbow Trout in Sausal Creek (City of Oakland)

A federal lab in Charleston, South Carolina is investigating the cause of death. But until there are answers, Kimra McAfee, the executive director of Friends of Sausal Creek, wants to remind folks that the city’s riparian habitats are fragile. Tap water in our creeks can be lethal for fish.

What many people don’t realize is that tap water is disinfected with chloramine or chlorine, and both can be toxic to fish. Residual traces of chloramine at concentrations considered safe for human consumption remain in tap water. As aquarium owners know, chlorine dissipates into the atmosphere pretty rapidly, but chloramine combines chlorine with ammonia, and ammonia is very toxic to fish and doesn’t dissipate like chlorine. Consider, for example, the act of draining a swimming pool or Jacuzzi spa directly to a storm drain or a creek. Without first treating the water to remove traces of chlorine and ammonia, fish and other aquatic life in the creek could be harmed. – Kimra McAfee

McAfee said that the dead fish were found in only one location, and creek watchers have spotted healthy fish in other pools. Whatever killed the fish is out of the creek now.

This isn’t the first time there’s been a fish kill in Sausal Creek. In February 2008, runoff from a construction site killed 11 trout.

 

23
Aug
10

District 4 Candidate Forum Announced

By montclairoak 2 Comments
Categories: District 4 Race
Tags: , , , , , ,

It’s settled. A whopping seven candidates have qualified with the City Clerk’s office to run to replace Jean Quan as District 4′s representative on the Oakland City Council. In alphabetical order, they are: Jill Broadhurst, Jason Gillen, Ralph Kanz, Clinton Killian, Libby Schaaf, Melanie Shelby, Daniel Swafford.

A few months ago, the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association had a cocktail party for the candidates to meet some potential voters, as well as one another. Jay Ward, a member of the PPNA’s board, said that the “debutante’s ball” drew around 60 people. He expects a lot more for the candidate forum the PPNA is hosting on September 14 at Joaquin Miller Elementary School. Ward said that the precise format hasn’t been finalized, a tricky task with so many candidates. All of the candidates have confirmed that they’ll be there except for Daniel Swafford, said Ward.

Since that party at Monaghan’s in early June the candidates have made progress. Take a peek, for example, at Libby Schaaf’s list of endorsements.

What: District Four Candidate Forum

When: September 14, 7pm

Where: Joaquin Miller Elementary School, 5525 Ascot Drive

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