Author: montclairoak

Your Everyday Food Winners

We recently surveyed Montclarions about everyday food, including top spots for coffee, grocery shopping, pizza and chocolate.  Coffee seems to be the most local preference, since everyone gets their fixes in town.  When it comes to the other staples, however, you are willing to shop around.

Coffee Houses:

Over 60% of Montclarions prefer Peets, in a resounding and crushing victory.  The rest of you split the remaining votes among Thornhill Coffee, Royal Ground and Nelly in the rear.  Good old Starbucks didn’t register much with locals, but some visitors must keep them in business.  (Click for more Montclair Coffee Shop info.)

Grocery Shopping:

There’s simply no consensus about the best place for groceries.  As the election official, I’ll award the sentimental favorite medal to Farmer Joe’s (Yelp).  There were enough write-ins to make it rank among the balloted candidates.  Here’s what Yelpers had to say:

  • Farmer Joe’s is also a great alternative to battling the parking lot mess and angry hippies at Berkeley Bowl or the feeling of conspicuous consumption at Whole Foods.
  • The prices and quality of the fresh stuff are really really good, especially compared to Safeway or Lucky, and you feel like you’re supporting a family-owned business.
  • This is by far my favorite grocery store in the entire world.
  • I skip over Lucky’s, Safeway and Farmer Joe’s #1 to shop here from the south, where I live; or, from the Berkeley direction where I work, I skip over a far more impressive collection of Safeways, Whole Foods and yes- even Berkeley Bowl, which is now a zoo at all hours of day and night- to shop at Farmer Joe’s #2.

Back to the official election results now.  Within the Village, Lucky received the most votes but no one raved about the market.  They did like the convenience, staples and prices there.  Beyond the Village gates, Trader Joe’s (Yelp) was the preferred alternative.  By comparison, Safeway and Village Market trailed behind and Whole Foods straggled into last place.

Pizzerias:

What a close race, which required a recount of the paper ballots!  The almighty Zachary’s (Yelp), over in Rockridge, came out the overall winner – which means our pizza identity is shaped more by Chicago than anywhere else.  Within Montclair, the two winners were Cybelle’s and Rustica.  The runner up and dark horse was Red Boy (Yelp), just down Park Blvd.  (Click for more Montclair Pizza info.)

Chocolate Sources:

Well who can argue with Berkeley’s Scharffen Berger (Yelp), which came out tops?  It was a three-horse race, with strong contenders Le Bon Bon and XOX Truffles pulling up the rear.  At least we have truly top-notch chocolate around here, so the supermarket option wasn’t much considered by survey respondents.

Thanks all, for your votes and opinions.  What morsels should we survey next?

Your Hills Budget Meeting, Monday at 7pm

Before the City of Oakland makes its final budget cuts, there’s one opportunity for you to participate in the discussion.  Our city rep, Jean Quan, organized a meeting for District 4 constituents tonight at 7pm, in the Redwood Heights Recreation Center (map).

Given the Oakland budget gap, this is an important opportunity to discuss where the cuts should be and should not be made.  Among other city services, our well-loved parks and libraries are at risk – and we must provide guidance in these areas.

To understand the current budget, this chart (above) shows how funds are distributed to each department.  There’s not much to work with, with some 64% that gets directed to the police and fire departments.

Late last month, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums issued a full report covering the budget and where the city recommends cutbacks.  According to the report, Dellums and his team explain that “having only $110 million in discretionary budget leaves little flexibility when attempting to eliminate a $37.4 million shortfall.”

Just like private industry, the recommendations to freeze hiring, lay off current staff, minimize salary increases, and shorten the work weeks are appropriate – if painful – steps to close the gap.

Mark Zinns, who supervises Montclair Park, confirms the cuts:  “Yes it’s true that Montclair Recreation Center and Park is facing some serious cut-backs because of the city’s financial crisis.”  He expects to shutter the Rec Center every Friday, and make cuts/layoffs to maintenance, gardening and recreation staff.

The City also plans to eliminate the remaining handful of park rangers, who specialize in park safety.  This past weekend, for example, Joaquin Miller was closed due to high winds and fire danger.  Are the replacement beat cops, who earn more than the rangers, ready to handle new assignments?

Finally, local libraries are under examination – and Montclair’s hours and programs are at risk too.  No one needs to argue about the educational resources available both online and on the shelves.  Our storybook library has been a source of pride for years, and it should stay opened six days/week.

Cutting back on parks and libraries doesn’t solve the bigger budget gap, because their numbers are quite small.  As you can see, only six percent of the budget is spent on them.  While there’s no question that some minor reductions could be made, we have to make sure that these civic resources don’t get decimated.

We live in interesting times.  Keep in mind that the WPA was busy building up these neighborhood gems during the Great Depression, and now we are thinking they are places not worthy of sufficient resources with this economic downturn.

Quake Epicenter Visits Montclair

It’s time to celebrate our Hayward Fault legacy, which delivered the Big Quake some 140 years ago.  That Hayward shaker’s considered one of the three majors, along with the 1906 and 1989 quakes.

We began the commemoration with a light jolt.  Last Friday afternoon, a magnitude 3.1 earthquake shook Montclair.  This quake is worth mentioning because the epicenter was near Mountain Avenue – right under our feet.

You just have to be philosophical, while living on the fault-line.  The last big quake occurred on October 21st, 1868 and the U.S. Geological Survey scientists “describe this fault as a tectonic time bomb.”

The U.S. Geological Survey says we’re due right now, while the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory declares a 27 percent chance of delivering a 6.4+ quake in the next 30 years.

To honor the past destructive forces, there are all kind of earthquake commemorations and activities:

  • Lawrence Hall of Science – Ride the earthquake simulator in the museum’s outside park.  Also attend their family-friendly show about Quakes & Shakes – Sundays, Oct 12th and 19th, at 12:30pm and 2:00pm – U.C. Berkeley Campus (map)
  • U.S. Geological Survey – Visit the USGS to see a special photo exhibit of the Hayward Fault damage back in 1868, and how these spots look today – Monday-Friday, 8:00am – 5:00pm – USGS Building 3, Menlo Park (map)
  • The Great Quake Lecture – Listen to Timothy Swenson, local author and historian, discuss the 1868 earthquake – Tuesday, Oct 14th, at 7:00pm – Fremont Main Library (map)
  • Mission San Jose Commemoration – Attend the official 140th anniversary, which will be held at the exact quake time – Tuesday, October 21st, at 7:55am – 8:30am – Mission San Jose (map)

More info:   Oaklander Andrew Alden shares more about Montclair itself.  There are also interesting virtual sites covering the Fault, including the USGS Field Tour, Cal Berkeley Tour, and Cal State Hayward Tour.

Burglaries Way Up, And We Can Help

When the Oakland Police report that burglaries have jumped 73% in our ‘hood, we should take notice.  These break-ins have increased in the past month or two, while all other crimes have held steady.

For the whole 94611 zip code, there’s no question things have gone awry.  Last time we looked, there were 43 burglaries in a three month period (early May- early August).  In the past two months, there were already 49 hits.

In Montclair’s Beat 13Z, south of Thornhill, there have been 23 burglaries in the past two months as compared to 18 during the three preceding months.  Beat 13Y, north of Thornhill, is also experiencing similar levels.  I’m not precisely sure where that 73% figure came from, but there’s no question about the trend.

While it’s unclear how many crooks are casing Montclair, they are good at what they do!  They stay under the radar and specifically enter homes to snatch easily re-sold items.  The burglars like electronics most of all, and also pick up construction materials.

Earlier this week, our police officers attended a neighborhood meeting and focused on these burglaries.  The cops haven’t received more calls, and they want us to communicate whenever we see anyone out-of-place.

Apparently post-burglary interviews sound something like this:  “Yes, I thought he looked suspicious but I didn’t want to be racist so I didn’t call.”  We seem to suffer from a bit of political correctness, and need to get over it.  If there are unfamiliar faces, then pick up the phone.

The cops may be able to connect the dots, when we provide additional eyes and ears.  Speaking of which, some neighbors do report local speeders and I recently received a fair warning from the Oakland Police.  We should be able to pay attention to other suspicious activities, too.

Foreclosures In Our Zip

How have foreclosures hit our zip?  There are precisely 1,105 housing units that are in pre/foreclosure status, including 519 that are currently owned by banks.

This morning, I was listening to a radio report about subprime foreclosures which are equally hitting urban, suburban and rural reaches throughout America.  Of course, I needed to find out and share how we’re doing locally.

The chart shows distressed counts reported by realtytrac, including pre-foreclosures, auctions, bank-owned properties, for sale by owners, and resale homes.  These counts are divided by total housing units, as reported in the 2000 census.  Finally these rates are compared in the last column.

On a proportionate basis, our zip seems to be hit twice as hard as Oakland or Alameda County.  At first this result surprised me, but it can be tough to meet the larger monthly payments around here.

What are you hearing around the Village?