Our 2007 Local Heroes
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District 4 Neighborhood News #216
February 23, 2007
Our 2007 Local Heroes
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Dear Neighbors,
n, The 2007 Top Awardees are:
(Left to Right Above) For inspiration, read more below about all of the amazing nominees.
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Selma Abinader & her Allendale Neighbors |
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For months neighbors noticed that people seemed to be living in a vacant house in foreclosure
and they began to throw
garbage in the driveway and backyard, creating a health hazard.
Then they became increasingly concerned that children seemed to be
living in squalor, without heat and water, and were not attending
school. Others found that a dozen or so people connected to the house
were responsible for a mini-crime wave in the neighborhood. Selma
helped spark neighborhood watch group organizing so that neighbors
effectively documented the problems and worked with the new problem
solving officer. They also provided information so that the city
Nuisance Property staff could hold the bank accountable and order
inspections, leading to a clean-up and closure of the house in about a
month! |
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Abdo Alawdi
of Two Star Liquors |
 Over the years Abdo has worked with the neighbors to improve the quality of his neighborhood liquor store. He often cooks for the Dimond Picnic (left) generously donating much of the food and is active in the merchants association. He is being nominated for his Annual Thanksgiving Lunch held in his parking lot. Each year more neighbors are participating. |
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Max Benitz |
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Last year when the new Dimond garbage cans were stolen, Max was the
first of three citizens who called in with information. Thanks to his
alertness and the information that he and the others provided, the
police were able to identify and charge the thieves. |
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Stephen Bennett |
 Eagle
Scout candidate Stephen Bennett organized his Boy Scout Troop 202 to
play "victims" in a major CORE (Citizens Organized to Respond to
Emergencies) First Aid training for his neighborhood under the guidance
of Arthur Hsieh, Chief Paramedic of San Francisco.
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John Bowers, Friends of Sausal Creek |
Since the founding of Friends of Sausal Creek (FOSC)10 years ago, John
Bowers has been a steadfast champion of improving Sausal Creek
especially in the lower watershed. Every Creek to Bay and Earth Day, he
leads a team in cleaning and improving a little hidden segment of the
creek at 27th Ave. This area was full of rubbish and is difficult to
access and work in. His enthusiasm keeps the site going and the
neighborhood has become more interested and involved. A new restoration
project is planting native plants on this former garbage dumping site.
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Dean Bradley |
 When
retrofitting her home last year, Dean found that information on
retrofitting standards was confusing and inconsistent. To share what she
learned, she organized free retrofitting workshops for the community. We
worked with her last spring to organize a workshop where over a 100
residents learned the basics about retrofitting and what to ask
contractors to determine if their work will protect your home from
expected earthquake dangers. The questions she raised inspried us to
start work on clarifying Oakland City standards and procedures and on
developing regional standards through my work with the Association of
Bay Area Governments. She continues to work with our office on
streamlining City policies to make retrofitting more attractive and
affordable to Oakland homeowners. Based on this work, I hope to
introduce new legislation and lower planning fees for retrofitting
homes this spring. |
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Jill Broadhurst & Jim Clardy |
 Since
summer 2004 Jill and Jim, members of the Montclair Safety and
Improvement Council, have spearheaded the effort to plan, fundraise, and
literally build the Shortline RR Pocket Park at the Thornhill entrance
to Montclair. Turning this weedy corner into a pleasant spot and
commemorating the history of the Sacramento Railroad Line that passed
here. Please note their efforts when you drive by, they are still
seeking donations of approximately $16,000 in cash and in-kind
donations. http://www.montclairsic.org/beautification.htm |
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Adriene and Herb Bryant |
For their leadership as Shepherd Canyon Park's "Guardian Angels" and
representation on the District 4 Shepherd Canyon Park Task Force. The
Bryants have been honored for their work with "Ecopullers and
Planters", every third Saturday to remove dangerous vegetation to
improve fire safety on public land. They have been renominated for
their work on cleaning and restoring the meadow (once a dump) and trail
from Escher Drive and for native plant restoration in coordination with
Friends of Sausal Creek. Adriene (center) volunteers at the Friends of
Sausal Creek Native Plant Nursery in Joaquin Miller Park every Saturday.
bryantah@lmi.net |
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Jennifer Contreras-Danner and Pete Ditmer |
 The
Melrose NCPC has helped organize many neighbors to volunteer at the
school. Jennifer Contreras-Danner is a neighborhood artist who
volunteers her time to bring art to Horace Mann students; she has
conducted 20 over art classes for the After-School Program. Somehow she
evaded our cameras, but here is one of her students.Pete Ditmer, another neighbor, has designed 5 learning garden venues for the school. Raising funds to complete the project is the focus of work this year. |
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Jo-Ann Maggiora Donivan |
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Jo-Ann has been leading a one woman campaign to eradicate graffiti from
the Laurel as well as up and down 35th Ave. She works with other
homeowners to assist. She has also worked with merchants such as the
owner of LaFranchi's Liquors to keep that corner spotless.. |
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Claudia Falconer |
As Chair of the Design Review Committee of the Shepherd Canyon
Homeowner's Association she has worked with neighbors and city staff on
design issues affecting environment, safety, and aesthetic values of the
community. She is also working with the Montclair Village Association
to develop an improved streetscape. |
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Matt Forman, Daniel Levy and Mark Ceraldi |
 With
limited funds for park improvements and maintenance, we have been very
grateful to work with talented scouts. Matt and Daniel built benches &
interpretive signs for the Shepherd Canyon Trails with funds from the
Homeowner Association and our office. Mark built the new picnic tables
in the upper meadow near Escher.
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John Frando |
 John
Frando, a landscape architect, (2nd from the left) has donated his many
talents to creating a more dynamic and beautiful community in the Laurel
District. In the past he was nominated for his work creating school
mini-gardens for the Laurel Pre-school and he has worked on the
creekside pocket park at Rettig and Wisconsin. This year he was
nominated for his work on the new Laurel planters in the commercial
district. |
| Helen Rischbieth & Bennet Hall |
 For
their work to improve traffic safety on Skyline Blvd after the death of
bicyclist Ed Weiss last year. They are working on a memorial, traffic
circle and other traffic calming measures.
Sue Piper of our office is working with the Skyline Traffic group which is working with traffic engineering on the same issues.
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Susan Harder & Wendy Dutton |
  The very skilled and long-serving organizers and implementers of the Thornhill Elementary School Native Plant garden. Always my favorite school garden when I was a School Board Member. Their work was featured here in last year's Bringing Back the Natives Tour. |
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Tom Heidel and Jonathan Taylor |
 For
many years, Tom and Jon have taking a Sunday each month to cleanup the
length of Shepherd Canyon Road-- picking up litter debris, old tires,
dumped materials, and trash. Their work is unsung and for the most part
unrecognized, but without them trash and debris would be much worse.
Jonathan serves on the Keep Oakland Beautiful Committee. |
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Jan Hetherington & Joe Davis |
 It's
hard to know where to start when you are talking about Jan (redhead in
front). She's everywhere in Maxwell Park as a Neighborhood Crime
Prevention Council leader, infinitely patient MP Listserv moderator, and
Keep Oakland Beautiful Board Member. She has received the Local Hero
award in the past for her work on the pocket park that she has helped
create at Redding near the freeway. She and her husband Joe were
nominated for their "Maintain a Drain" work across the street at
Walgreen's lot where they haved worked long and hard on their
landscaping. "...they went to the Walgreen's parking lot on
High/Courtland a couple of times in the winter and cleared out the
gutter. The clogged gutter was turning the parking lot into a lake."
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Paul Mankin |
 His
work on traffic safety at Redwood Heights School has included the
establishment of a drop off lane and organizing the parent volunteers to
be greeters." This has meant almost the virtual disappearance of the
dreaded double parkers" He leads the school safety patrol -- meetings,
students training and supervising them on the job. He has arranged and
run the neighborhood CORE trainings for the past several years as well
as being the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the school. |
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Kathy Marks |
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For saving the lives of almost 1,000 dogs and educating hundreds of
people about responsible pet ownership in six years as founder and
president of
Smiley Dog Rescue. In addition to being a single parent and running
her own business, Kathy has given freely of her time, day and night to
make Smiley Dog Rescue a successful Oakland based non-profit. Kathy
finds the good in dogs rejected by other organizations and works with a
team of volunteers to rehabilitate their health and retrain the dogs to
make great family pets. A tireless worker for animal welfare in Oakland,
Kathy brings happy adoptive households together every year at the Smiley
Dog Rescue Family Reunion Picnic..." |
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Rev. Valerie Marks-Trimble |
 
Rev. Valerie Marks-Trimble of Imani Church (Bret Harte-Laurel) plays a
leading role in citywide advocacy for affordable housing. She worked
with the coalition that successfully negotiated over 400 affordable
housing units at the Oak to 9th project. She also worked with me to
craft Inclusionary Zoning legislation. See photo at top. |
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The Horace Mann Library Volunteers |
 After
6 years of school building modernization, parents and neighbors had to
build the Horace Mann School Library from scratch. Jeanne Nixon used
her last year's Local Hero Award to buy new shelves and a rug. School
Parents: Josephina Flores, Evelyn Orellana, Pedro Delpino, Lisa Beaver,
Martin Whatley, Veronica Hernandez, and Norma Vasquez; Community
Volunteers: Laurie Umeh, Sheila d'Amico, Ellenor Zebbs, katch keating
[yep, no caps!], and Jeanne Nixon.
(Left) School garden volunteers. |
| Randall Hughes & Julie Morris |
 Randy
won an award last year with Jeanne Nixon for his work with the Melrose
School Beautification project. This year he and his wife have been
nominated for the most recent phase of the work, the planting of street
trees around the school and for caring for the trees on Congress Avenue
during their crucial first years. We don't have a photo of them, but
this was the planting last May. |
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Jeanne Nixon |
 Jeanne
is constantly working on projects for the Melrose neighborhood,
especially the school. She won the local hero award last year, but has
come up with many new projects. This is what school staff say about
her: "She is an honorary unpaid member of the staff. She runs the
Garden Group and has been responsible for working with the community and
school staff and students in beautifying Horace Mann School... She
works with teachers and students weekly in maintaining our school
garden, and works to secure grant monies needed for improvements... But
that is not all. Jeanne also is responsible for re-establishing a School
Library at Horace Mann, which we haven't had for over 6 years. She is
generous, tireless and an amazing organizer." |
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Sandra Pohutsky |
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Residents in the Oakland hill area are vulnerable during disasters.
With narrow streets, relatively more isolated homes, and the Hayward
Fault potentially disrupting many streets...we urge every street to
prepare for at least 72 hours. Sandy has helped take the leadership in
coordinating a Montclair CORE (Citizens Organized to Respond to
Emergencies) Leaders Group that has generated more than 30 different
CORE block groups in Montclair. |
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Queeto Giovanna |
 Giovanna
is spearheading the revitalization of the Sequoia school garden and is
organizing the silent auction for April 28th. "Our objective is to raise
at least $10,000 towards our Playground Improvement Fund.We hope you can make it to the event, as well. It will be a blast, with local Jazz musicians and a multicultural dance program." To donate: jojo@queeto.com Photo of past garden efforts. |
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Carter Roberts |
 Carter
as a leader of the East Bay Astronomical society has volunteered for
decades to save the old
Chabot Science Center when the school district almost closed it and
has sat with me on the board for over a
 decade.
He and the group loving maintain and upgrade the telescopes and have
donated uncountable hours to keeping the telescopes open and free to the
public every Friday and Saturday night. Carter additionally donates many
weekend days in community outreach from the Laurel to Chinatown Street
Fair. His gorgeous photos of the center and space often appear in my
newsletter. |
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Emily Rosenberg (ODOG) & Dale Risden, Joaquin Miller Park Dog Owners
Group |
 Mission
Accomplished: Emily and Dale with Jean, Sue Piper and their favorite
dogs at last week's Dog Park opening.Emily and Dale have worked with us on the Joaquin Miller Planning Group for over two years on many projects They are being nominated for their work on Dog Park. Emily is also being recognized for her citywide advocacy for dogs and their humans as a founder of ODOG. |
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Bob & Veronica Vaughn |
 Laurel
residents Bob and Veronica Vaughn are retired county sheriffs , who bring
their good humor and energy to a variety of community issues. Bob is my
appointee to the Community Policing Advisory Board and visits nearly
every NCPC in District 4 regularly. Veronica led the campaign for the
new library bond which would have built a new library in the
Laurel...and I think she got Bob to deliver every sign! |
| Roger Vickery |
 Roger
(left) giving a presentation about MSIC's Mail Theft Campaign at the
Community Policing Conference.Roger chairs the Montclair Safety & Improvement Council (MSIC). He is being nominated for his leadership in setting up the MontclairSIC.org website and for monitoring the MSIC Information listserv. |
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Ruth Villasenor |
 Ruth
(left) serving at the Dimond Community Thanksgiving dinner. Ruth is a great community organizer with vision for the potential of the Dimond District. She co-ordinates projects like the trash pick up and helps clean Dimond District's sidewalks, organizes the Dimond Winter Festival at Fruitvale Presbyterian Church, and co-chairs the Dimond Merchants' Association. Ruth can be found at the first of each month at the Peace Vigil. She and her partner and operate their very creative Paws & Claws, a natural pet food store and bathhouse, in the heart of the Dimond. If you have a pet, go by! |
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Eleanor Dunn and Sheelah Weaver, Friends of Sausal Creek |
These last two presidents of the
Friends of Sausal Creek are being recognized for their work to make
the funding of this critical neighborhood environmental group more
stable. This is the only grassroots group that I know that provides
volunteer opportunties for beautification and creek restoration every
week. The large number of volunteers hours needed critical staffing, a
part-time coordinator and volunteer/nursery coordinator. These two
helped lead the efforts to raise funds to pay the part-time staff.
(Left) FOSC Fundraiser at Peralta
Hacienda. |
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Over 50 neighbors are nominated, please join us in thanking them for
their work on behalf of all of us!!
Sincerely,
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 Jean Quan Neighbors for Jean Quan |
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Past Nominees |
