Neighbors, join Halcyon Neighborhood AssociationÕs Facebook group!
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Halcyon Neighborhood
Association E-News 5/10/12
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Items appearing in the HNA E-News are deemed
to be of general interest to neighbors but do not necessarily reflect the views
of Halcyon Neighborhood Association (HNA), its Steering Committee, or the
Editor. The EditorÕs introductory comments express her personal viewpoint.
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Contents
1. Earthquake Exercise Sat. May 19 and How
EVERYONE can participate Pre-Drill!
2. Multi-Block Yard Sale on Saturday 6/2;
RSVP by 5/24 to Participate
3. Your Help Needed:
Work Party in the Park, Sunday, 6/3, 9:30 a.m.–2 p.m.
4. Crime Watch Update: Burglary, Purse
Snatching, Car Break-in, etc.
5. Next Community Meeting with Whole Foods
Market, Weds. 6/2, 8:30-9 a.m.
6. Report on the Institute of Urban
Homesteading
7. Pedestrian Injury at Shattuck at Prince:
Safety Committee Forming
8. Halcyon Resident Seeking a Room Nearby
9. Prince Street Neighbor Announces Sculpture
Garden
EditorÕs
Introductory Note:
Any neighbor who has text capacity can participate in this monthÕs citywide
earthquake exercise, whether or not youÕre able to attend the neighborhood
portion of the drill itself. See item 1 for information on the 5/19 drill and a
variety of ways you can participate. We know if there were a 5.1 earthquake
between now and 5/19, everyone would want to come out. I hope our neighborhood will
demonstrate that we get the importance of preparedness even without such a
reminder!
On the neighborhood-watch front, among the trends weÕve noticed over
the past two decades is that there tends to be an upswing in crime as the
weather gets nicer (and again in the late summer/fall, when students return to
town). And lately there have been some brazen daytime burglaries and a purse
snatching (six neighbors chased the purse snatcher, and while he got away, the
purse itself was recovered). See item 4 for more on crime watch.
Please stay safe and enjoy this beautiful spring!
—Nancy Carleton, HNA Co-Chair and E-News Editor, halcyon92@gmail.com
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1. Earthquake Exercise Sat. May
19 and How EVERYONE can participate Pre-Drill!
EditorÕs note: HNA Disaster Preparedness Coordinator Susan
Snyder submitted the following notice about the upcoming drill on May 19 and
what you can do to participate.
Citywide Earthquake Exercise with Halcyon Neighborhood
Participation
Saturday, May 19, 9-11:00 a.m.
Halcyon Commons (Halcyon at Prince)
Coffee courtesy of Mokka Cafe
Four Ways to Participate in the Berkeley CERT Citywide
Earthquake Exercise
On May 19th, a simulated 6.9 earthquake on the Hayward
Fault strikes Berkeley. YouÕre okay, and your family is okay but whatÕs next? ThatÕs
what the earthquake exercise is all about!
1) REGISTER to receive a message from the Berkeley
Emergency Notification System (BENS). To register to receive the
exercise message, send an email to Khin Chin at the Office of Emergency
Services at KChin@ci.berkeley.ca.us .
Include your name and cellphone number, and indicate that youÕre part of the
Halcyon neighborhood group. (This ONLY registers you to receive the drill
message; you can do this even if youÕre not able to attend the drill!)
2) On
May 19th, after you receive the exercise notification, CALL OR TEXT your
out-of-state contact and request a response.
3) TUNE IN to BerkeleyÕs emergency information radio
broadcast on 1610AM. If you canÕt hear the message, try
moving to a different part of the house or a different part of the
neighborhood.
4) COME TO HALCYON COMMONS to
participate in the neighborhood response part of the drill. The Incident
Command Center will be set up prior to the 9 a.m. drill start time. Sign in and
take on a role that fits your skill set and/or learn something new. We
need YOU to make our drill a success! (You donÕt need to have any prior
experience to participate!)
Please contact Susan at hnaprepared@gmail.com to volunteer or be
added to the Halcyon Disaster Prep email list, or if you have any questions.
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2. Multi-Block Yard Sale on Saturday
6/2; RSVP by 5/24 to Participate
EditorÕs note: HNA Treasurer and past organizer of
successful Multi-Block Yard Sales Susan Hunter submitted the following
announcement. Multiblock sales tend to draw a much larger crowd of potential
customers, so if youÕre interested please be sure to reply soon so thereÕs time
to plan.
Spring Cleaning?
Early Summer Sale? Anyone else out there up for another Multi-Block Yard Sale
sponsored by HNA? We need to get at least a dozen households signed up if so
(no matter what, a couple of us will still do a smaller-scale sale on Halcyon
that Saturday, June 2, so let us know if youÕd want to participate at your
household even if it remains a private sale). Cost to participate will be $5
toward ads and supplies for flyers, and everyone will need to post at least a
few flyers the week of the sale. Email halcyon92@gmail.com
by Thursday 5/24, and your response will be forwarded to the event organizer,
Susan Hunter.
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3. Your Help Needed: Work Party in the Park, Sunday, 6/3, 9:30
a.m.–2 p.m.
Work
Party in the Park (and Surrounding Neighborhood): Volunteers Needed!
Meet at Halcyon Commons
(Halcyon at Prince)
Delicious refreshments
courtesy of Whole Foods Market.
Fresh coffee courtesy of
Mokka (cafe at Telegraph and Dowling).
* Weeding & light mulching in Halcyon Commons and nearby landscaped
barriers (rain or shine)
* Picking up litter from streets in the larger neighborhood (rain or shine)
* Graffiti removal in the
larger neighborhood (if sunny & if we have sufficient help)
Many hands make light
work: Please lend yours! Even half an hour helps. Children welcome. Bring your
own tools if you have them, or use ours if you donÕt. We donÕt have any student
volunteers to help with this work party, so itÕs up to us neighbors!
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4. Crime Watch Update: Burglary,
Purse Snatching, Car Break-in, etc.
EditorÕs
note: A reminder to join the HNA Facebook group at Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=292160762499
for breaking crime reports in between E-News editions! If youÕre a neighbor who
isnÕt yet part of this closed Facebook group, youÕre missing out!
HNA
Steering Committee member Mikel Delgado submitted the following summary of
crimes in or near the neighborhood:
A Prince Street neighbor reported the following daytime burglary on Facebook:
Ō[On May 3] our house was burglarized at noon (near Prince and Fulton). They forced open a window and stole jewelry. . . . The police are here and the crime unit [came]. The burglar ransacked our bedroom and stole my jewelry but nothing else. Our nanny and I happened to both be out, and I didnÕt set the alarm because she was coming back. We do have a security camera and got some clear footage of the person who broke in. WeÕve given that to the police so hopefully they will catch him soon. [Note: If youÕre a Halcyon neighbor and have joined our Facebook group, you can find photos of the suspect from the security camera at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10150821175067500&type=1; the photos are also posted in the bulletin board at Halcyon Commons and on various telephone poles in the neighborhood.] There are stills from our video that show him crossing the street less than two minutes after I left in my car. He goes directly to our front door, spends about four minutes on our porch, and then must have gone off the side of the porch because [the video never shows him leaving]. The person broke in through the back, but we only have footage from the front (and he left from the back). I was gone for approximately twenty minutes, and the burglary took place in that time. Description is a young male, either Latino or light-skinned African American. He had a beard just around his jawline/chin and had on jeans, a grey sweatshirt, black hat with a red symbol and black Chuck Taylors.Ķ
Another neighbor reported on Facebook about a purse snatching on Woolsey that included a chase by neighbors:
Further details were added by a different neighbor:
ŌThere were six of us running after this guy. What a great neighborhood we live in. Keep up the good work neighbors :).Ķ
And
on May 4, another Prince Street neighbor reported:
A Prince Street neighbor
submitted the following report:
ŌLast night [May 6] someone stole a citrus tree in a nursery container from my front yard. I never dreamed that this could attract a thief, so I did not take the precautions I apply to everything else. It was a rather valuable plant ($50), but thereÕs no way a thief could tell that unless I carelessly left the price turned toward the street. The thief will learn itÕs worth $50 only to a very rare person, someone who is a fancier of Japanese citrus. To anyone else, it is worthless, as they will discover. The interest in this is that it illustrates the aggressiveness of our local current thieves.Ķ
A Halcyon neighbor reported:
ŌMy car was broken into (rear passenger window smashed) and purse
stolen yesterday (April 18) afternoon between 4 and 5 on Halcyon at Webster. I
made a police report, and a friend thinks he saw the perps drive off in a White
Chevy Malibu. Just a heads-up for the neighborhood.Ķ
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5. Whole Foods Market News:
Live Jazz on Memorial Day; Community Meeting Weds. 6/6, 8:30-9 a.m.
EditorÕs
note: News from Whole Foods Market courtesy of Jim Hallock.
Live Jazz on Memorial Day
Monday, May 28
1-5 p.m.
ItÕs becoming a tradition here in Berkeley, to host MB
Hanif and the Sound Voyagers, playing some spirited jazz on this holiday
afternoon. WeÕll have free refreshments and snacks, so stop by, put your feet
up, and relax with us for the afternoon.
Construction
Update
A revised project schedule for the installation of the roof
refrigeration units is now available. Please note the crane will be here on
June 11. Most of the work will now be during June.
Drop-In Progress Meeting (first Wednesday of
each month)
Wednesday, June 6,
8:30-9:00 a.m.
Whole Foods Market
(check in at Customer Service)
These meetings are held at the Community Table
at the front of the store, and the purpose is to share our plans for noise
abatement, the store remodel project [scheduled for 2012], street litter
control, and progress on any of the ongoing issues we discuss [with HNA reps
and nearby neighbors]. Mel [Store Team Leader] and I will meet, and anyone is
welcome to join us. Of course there will be complimentary coffee, tea, and
snacks. Our goal is to follow up immediately on any issues that we hear about,
and to hear how the store can be a better neighbor.
Jim Hallock
Community Relations Team Leader
Whole Foods Market Berkeley
3000 Telegraph Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705
F: 510-649-1474
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6. Report on the Institute of
Urban Homesteading
EditorÕs note: Deborah
Mikuteit, an East Lorin neighbor near the portion of Halcyon neighborhood west
of Shattuck, submitted the following item.
I
was delighted to recently discover that here in North Oakland, really very
close to the East Lorin District, we have the home of the Institute of Urban
Homesteading, which has dozens of classes on all facets of self-sufficient
urban life. There are classes on various aspects of organic gardening,
permaculture, foraging for greens in the city, sharpening knives, classes on
raising chickens, quail, rabbits, bees, even goats. There are classes on
intriguing aspects of kitchen homesteading: fermenting foods, making mead,
canning, making yogurt and cheese, building solar ovens. There are also
classes on textiles and handcrafts, making soap, storing water. IÕve identified
about a dozen classes I would love to take. Probably youÕll find something too.
ThereÕs something for everyone here. WouldnÕt it be great if each local
community had people with skills in some of these areas, and then all put
together what a resource we could all be to each other! Harnessing these skills
for self-sufficient urban living, we can really move away from reliance on
industry and unsustainable dependence on fossil fuels.
The
website of the organization is www.iuhoakland.com. The founder of the
organization K. Ruby Blume, wrote a book called ŌUrban Homesteading: Heirloom
Skills for Sustainable Living.Ķ I also recommend ŌThe Urban HomesteadĶ by Kelly
Coyne and Erik Knutzen, as well as their ŌMaking It: Radical Home Ec for a
Post-Consumer World.Ķ
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7. Pedestrian Injury at
Shattuck at Prince: Safety Committee Forming
EditorÕs note: On April 27, a
number of neighbors reported hearing sirens and seeing a large police presence
at Shattuck and Prince. It turned out to be a pedestrian injury. See reports
below. At our Steering Committee meeting last week, Steering Committee member
Stephen Pitcher and several other Steering Committee members agreed to help
nearby neighbors interested in a Traffic Safety Committee to explore ways the
crossing at Prince and Shattuck (and possibly other crossings on Ashby or
Shattuck) could be made safer. If youÕre interested in helping with this
effort, please email halcyon92@gmail.com,
and I will pass your contact information on to the committee.
ŌAt about 9:30 p.m. or so I
heard the all too familiar thud of a vehicle accident at the corner of prince
and Shattuck, just outside the Starry Plough. This time a pedestrian was hit
when crossing I think from the northeast corner of Prince and Shattuck. The
pedestrian was responsive and talking but remained on the ground until medics
took them away to the hospital. The vehicle and presumably the driver remained
there until the police completed their investigation. Accidents are not
uncommon on this part of Shattuck. Since weÕve lived here, IÕve seen multiple
fender benders, bike-car collisions, and now this. IÕve been wondering for a
while now what more can be done. Thanks to the work of some concerned
neighbors, the crosswalk was put in sometime within the last five years. It
seems something more is needed to truly slow down the traffic or to provide
awareness of cross traffic. IÕm happy to help in this effort with some
guidance.Ķ
Another neighbor added these details:
ŌLast night after
a womenÕs poetry community event at La Pea, [N. Z.] was hit while crossing the
street at a crosswalk. She was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland and had
surgery. Her lower leg is broken and she has extensive abrasions. She will be
in the hospital for at least a few days but sheÕs reportedly doing remarkably
well!Ķ
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8. Halcyon Resident Seeking a
Room Nearby
EditorÕs note: The following
item was submitted by a Deakin Street neighbor.
ŌHi, IÕve lived on Deakin (Prince/Webster) for over a year
and must move soon. Would like to find a room in Halcyon or not too far away. If
your household has an opening for a quiet, neat, responsible veteran of
community living, please contact Gordon Pedersen at gordon@visi.com
or 312.612.9415.
Thanks for your consideration.Ķ
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9. Prince Street Neighbor
Announces Sculpture Garden
EditorÕs
note: Prince Street
neighbor Nina Lyons passed on the following announcement.
ŌI am pleased to announce my new Sculpture Garden
website is also now open for private tours! I will be hosting the Oakland
Art Museum Guild here this spring. The Garden is open by appointment. Please
email me if you are interested in visiting the garden! Visit the website here: www.sfbayareasculpturegarden.com. I have also just launched ŌFlights of the
Imagination.Ķ Visit the website here: www.birdsasartspace.com.Ķ
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