by Eric Hughes –
At the November 2020 meeting, we were introduced to Officer Milagro Loyola, our new Community Resource Officer (CRO) for beat 16. Loyola’s short-term priority will be to meet neighbors and to schedule a couple of CPTED (“Community Protection Through Environmental Design“) walks. CPTED walks are organized by OPD for either neighbors or commercial landlords to help evaluate security and safety concerns around properties. If you are interested in having a CPTED evaluation of your property, and you are in beat 16X (Crocker), you can contact Officer Loyola at MLoyola@oaklandca.gov. You must be the property owner to request and schedule a CPTED walk.
There has been on-going concern about three homeless folks in the Rose Garden, and Officer Gonzalez, the CRO for beat 16 Grand Lake, has been working with them. One has recently relocated to South San Francisco, and the other two are working with both Operation Dignity and Officer Gonzalez to find more appropriate housing opportunities.
There was a long discussion of the application for a cannabis dispensary in the previous CVS building on Lakeshore. This was a follow-on discussion to the October 2020 meeting, where we heard from the owner of the cannabis business. It is not clear as to when the permit for the business will be reviewed–it was initially due in early November, but has been postponed.
The City Council Office continues work on next steps for on-going vending issues around Lake Merritt. Most of those issues are in beat 15, but they impact Grand Lake Neighbors. This past weekend was the last opportunity to evaluate the move of weekend vendors from Lakeshore to The Embarcadero. We hope to have some feedback on this at the December meeting.
The Council office is also working on closing the restroom near the Library on The Embarcadero. It will be replaced with a “Portland Loo.” No date has been established yet.
We heard from Jared Spencer, Field Representative from Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson’s office. He expressed concern about upcoming expirations of eviction moratoriums. We hope to get more information about specific dates at the December 16 meeting.
