Grand Lake Neighbors Meeting Summary - November 2020

At the October 21 Grand Lake Neighbors meeting, we were pleased to host Josh Chase, the owner of the “Have A Heart” cannabis dispensary on Broadway in downtown Oakland. He is proposing to open another location at the former site of CVS Pharmacy, 3236 Lakeshore Avenue.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

Josh is the 100% owner of ‘Oakland Cannabis Company,’ and owns 100% of ‘Have A Heart,’ too.

Although Josh started his business in Washington State in 2012, he was born and raised in Oakland and lives here now. He has been involved in the industry since 2009.

The public hearing on the Lakeshore location was on October 5 and residents within 300 feet of that location were notified. Some folks were concerned about the rather short 300 feet distance and the notice period but that’s in keeping with an Oakland policy set in 2018. City of Oakland approval for the project is expected by November 4.

The location on Lakeshore will be staffed from 7 am – 11 pm and open from 8 am – 10 pm seven days a week. Guards and cameras will be part of the security provided. Josh is planning for the location to open sometime in the Q2/Q3 2021 timeframe.

Josh is planning to help maintain the little park between his building and the “TJ’s” parking lot.

Greg Minor from the Oakland City Administrator’s office is reviewing the application

Most marketing for the new site will be via text, google adWords, and social media.

The October 21 meeting also included a presentation from Dave Brown, Supervisor Wilma Chan’s Chief of Staff, regarding the current status of the COVID-19 infection in Alameda County:

All data as of 10/21/20

22,807 cases in Alameda County:

Oakland is 26% of population but 39% of total cases.
Highest case rate by age in the county: 18-30 year olds

432 deaths countywide:

83% are age 61 or older.
32% of deaths are in skilled nursing facilities

Alameda County is better than state average:

4.2% of the state population
2.6% of the cases
2.5% of the deaths

Daily Case Numbers:

Peak over 300/day early to mid August
Drop into October – now mostly less than 100/day

Hospitalizations:

Flat thru July
Increase in August
Decrease in September
From 200 in early September to under 65

Testing:

March 16% positive rate
May 9%
August 6%
Sept 2.2%
October 1.4%

528 tests/1000 residents:

94610 has one of the highest testing rates in county
1.3% positive rate in 94610

Zip Codes:

Fruitvale and East Oakland have highest rates.
94610 – cumulative total 589/100,000 residents (total cases 182)
94611 – 571
94612 – 673
94602 – 1213
94606 – 1931

County’s neighborhood response is having an impact:

Latinx daily case rates were above 30/100,000 residents in July. Approx. 5/100,000 in October
African American daily rates were close to 15/100,000 in August. Below 5/100,000 in October.
Rates overall have also fallen since the summer. We are now in Orange tier – second lowest tier for the state.
The Alameda County COVID-19 statistics are regularly updated and are available at this link.

Visit Oakland provides similar information geared particularly for visitors from out of town. That information is available here.

The Grand Lake Neighbors group meets on the third Wednesday of each month beginning at 7 pm. As long as social distancing is required, the meetings will be held on Zoom. Follow them on Facebook to learn more.

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Grand Lake Neighbors Meeting Summary – November 2020

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