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OMVNA Newsletter October, 2000 The Year in Review: The Three C's of OMVNA Arbor Day Celebration Committee Emergency Response Team Update The Year in Review: The Three C's of OMVNA First on the communications front, I think the organization has made great strides. We have put into place multiple channels of communication to make it much easier for our large neighborhood to keep on top of the myriad of issues affecting us all. We have a very well maintained and up-to-date web site that not only gives details on OMVNA activities but also lists other important goings-on and has several good links. Kudos to Bruce Karney, our Webmaster, for redesigning and maintaining the site in tip-top shape. It's worth a visit at least once a month at www.omvna.org. In addition to our web site, we have an email group list that you should all join. This is a good way to share information; I have seen everything from important meeting notices to people looking for reliable contractors. The backbone of our communications system continues to be our newsletter. In addition to all the hard work of our Editor Anita Grossman, all the individual contributors, and the gracious support of our advertisers, this publication would not be possible without our volunteer newsletter carriers and Julie Lovins to coordinate it all. Many, many thanks! Building our community is more than just a web site, email and a newsletter. We need to have opportunities to meet with each other face-to-face. OMVNA also provided these opportunities through our monthly meetings - open to all - and our General Meetings throughout the year. In addition to our meetings, we have two important initiatives underway that will help build a better community for us all. We have initiated a Community Emergency Response Team program (see related article) that will help build a better and SAFER community for us all. To ensure a network of support in the event of an earthquake or other disaster, we have purchased, thanks to a grant from the City of Mountain View, $1,500 in emergency supplies. We are in the process of setting up teams to handle various aspects of emergency response. If you are interested in joining this effort, please contact Tim Johnson or Aaron Grossman, who have done a stellar job in getting this program up and running. Our second community initiative was started 10 years ago with the completion of the OMVNA Preservation and Improvement Plan. The plan has been used by the City as a blueprint for residential design guidelines. It is time to give this idea more "teeth" in our neighborhood now, before the charm and ambience disappears. The Steering Committee has been working diligently to help strike a balance between preserving our neighborhood's unique character and maintaining homeowners' rights to improve their property. The final "C" is for Construction, and there sure is a lot of it going on around us these days. Several new multi-unit housing projects are going up, in addition to a three- and six-story building on adjacent corners of Castro and California. Add to that several home remodeling projects scattered throughout the neighborhood, and the buzz and whirr of construction tools and passing trucks seem like they will be with us for the foreseeable future. I am happy to report on one more project that should be underway by the time you read this: Mercy-Bush Park! Yes, the long awaited park at the corner of Mercy and Bush should be completed by January 2001! As my final official act as your OMVNA Steering Committee Chair for 2000, I would like to thank all the Steering Committee members and other volunteers who have taken time out of their busy lives to help make the Old Mountain View Neighborhood a better place to live. I look forward to seeing all of you at our next ice cream social at Mercy-Bush Park! The Downtown Beat The most surprising - and unwelcome - downtown news is the sudden October closing of New Castro Market, a mainstay resource for many people in Old Mountain View. But there is also good news: another Asian market is expected to open in the same location in November. While the sign at 300 Castro still says Dana Oriental Market, the shop in that location now features women's clothing and computers (we also saw a hotplate and a scooter in the window!). I'm looking forward to finding out more, and also, to the re-opening of Dana Market at 800 California St. As of mid-October, the sign in the window still says they'll be there in September. This brings us to Easy Foods, at another Dana and Castro corner. If you can get past the facade, there are odd bits of a grocery list hidden in the back. It's not at all clear what the future holds, but currently they have paper goods, cleaning supplies, and drugstore items, as well as some basic foodstuffs (salt, oil, rice, and so on), and their real claim to fame: a huge selection of soft drinks, snacks, and cookies, along with alcoholic beverages. Easy Foods also has the cheapest self-service photocopying downtown (five cents a throw), and they're open every day. I located four other possibilities, too but all except one has a single machine that is often down, and none of the five does automatic double-sided copying. The library, also open every day, has three machines, but costs 15 cents. Our best hope at the moment is at Mail Boxes Etc. Also noted: alphaGraphics (444 Castro) and Lucky Printing (817 Castro). We have news from TishmanSpeyer. By the time you read this, actual digging should have started at the 400 Castro site, some weeks after the official groundbreaking. The new plazas at 444 Castro should also have been completed, and the rest of the paint job on that structure should be well underway, after a hiatus caused by work completing the plazas. Has everyone admired another innovation of these projects, the sound walls running north-south along a sort-of-line between Bryant and Franklin? Several people have asked me about the parking lot now covering the whole half-block between California and Mercy, on the west side of Bryant. That is temporary parking for use by 444 Castro, while the overflow parking lot they have used recently, across Bryant, is converted to a six-story building with enough underground parking to satisfy the needs of both buildings, and for construction crews. But ultimately, after 400 Castro is done, that area will be residential, as per the new Downtown Precise Plan. Finally, some members of the Downtown Committee are working to recruit retail businesses for the new buildings starting to go up. While we cannot dictate what goes where, we can and certainly should make businesses aware of opportunities. Please email or phone me regarding what you'd like to see downtown, and think about how you can help with networking. Arbor Day Celebration Committee Many of us OMVNA residents are devoted gardeners and tree lovers who would like to increase awareness of the benefits of trees, both to the environment and to neighborhoods. A good way to do this is to celebrate Arbor Day. In recent years, however, Arbor Day celebrations have been low- key in Mountain View. Members of the City's Parks and Recreation Commission and City staff are forming a committee to plan Arbor Day celebrations for the coming March; California has an Arbor Week at the beginning of March. All interested residents and representatives of community groups are invited to join this committee in planning the events. The planning committee's first meeting will be at the beginning of November. For more information, contact Ronit Bryant at 964-1966 or ronitb@ix.netcom.com. Name That Park! Now that the long-awaited day has arrived and construction is actually starting on Mercy-Bush Park (three cheers!), the City's Public Works Department has begun the required formal process for naming the park. Ultimately this will go through the City Council. Some months back, the OMVNA Steering Committee submitted "Mercy-Bush Park" as the apparent overwhelming neighborhood consensus, but at this point it would be very helpful if many individuals submit either that name, or others, before October 27, 2000. The "naming rules" are in a letter you may have received recently, and also on the City's website, at www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/namethatpark.html. Send paper mail with your choice to City of Mountain View, Public Works Department, P. O. Box 7540, Mountain View, CA 94039-7540, Attention: Name the Park 2000; or email Rey.Rodriguez@ci.mtnview.ca.us. The LMV Adventure On Friday, October 13, eight Old Mountain View residents matriculated in the 31-member Class of 2001, Leadership Mountain View (LMV). Those numbers say a great deal about our neighborhood since the program is open to everyone who lives or works in Mountain View. I had been wanting to participate in LMV for years, especially after hearing so many accolades about the program from LMV graduates. Now that I am one of the lucky ones (as is Alison Hicks, our new OMVNA Vice Chair), I want to let everyone know that LMV promises to be just as great as advertised and you should think hard about whether you too, may want to participate in next year's class. The program year begins in October and meets one day per month for nine months, with a few extras in-between. LMV focuses on the contributions that each of us can make to the community as we learn more about who's who and how things work, and also about the unique possibilities (perhaps not fully exercised) within each of us for making a difference. But along with, and probably even more than information acquisition and personal growth, the focus is on teamwork: what it is and how to do it. We spent the first day mostly getting to know each other, in a fast-track series of exercises of all sorts which helped jump-start the process of learning how we can and must work together to solve problems and get things done. The highlight of the day, for some of us (making our unique personal contribution by being lightweight!), was being levitated through a hoop five feet in the air by our classmates. We expect the November class to be more earth-bound, but just as much fun. Stay tuned, and find out more! The official information source is our neighbor and the Program Director, Twana Karney, 968-8378 or e-mail her at tkarney@chambermv.org Don't forget to vote for City Council candidates on November 7. A special thanks to those candidates who helped underwrite this issue with their ads. Emergency Response Team Update Earlier this year, our neighborhood received funds from the City to jump-start our local CERT project. These funds were used to purchase some vital first aid supplies and equipment. With those supplies now in hand, we are ready to begin organizing our emergency response teams. Initially, three teams are being formed. The Shelter Team is headed by Paulie Calma. Paulie is coordinating the neighborhood shelter activities with the American Red Cross. This team will identify and manage this and other available shelter resources within our neighborhood. The Block Captains Team will be headed by Twana Karney. Among other things, the Block Captains will take the lead in damage assessment, search and security within our neighborhood. The First Aid Team is headed by Tim Johnson. The First Aid Team will provide centralized support for first aid needs which are beyond the capabilities of someone without medical training. Each of these team leaders is now in the process of following up with those of you who completed the CERT surveys earlier in this year. If you filled out one of these surveys, you should soon receive a call (or email). If you haven't had an opportunity to complete the survey but would like to get involved, or if you just want to learn more about the OMVNA-CERT goals and objectives, please contact Tim Johnson (962-8609; tdj@best.com). We are particularly interested hearing from people who have completed the City-sponsored, formal CERT training course. This type of training would be invaluable for team members. Together we can make a difference in the level of our neighborhood preparation for the next community-wide disaster. The Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association Newsletter is published by a volunteer editorial committee & distributed to some 2400 homes and businesses by volunteers. To get in touch with us:
The opinions printed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the OMVNA Steering Committee. |
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Last updated: 10/26/00