Alcatraz Avenue Neighborhood Association

July 2000 Meeting

Minutes of Meeting: July 12, 2000

Alcatraz Avenue Neighborhood Association

Minutes of Meeting: July 12, 2000,
Location: Over 60 Center: 3260 Sacramento St.
Berkeley, CA 94703

Attendees:

City of Berkeley: Margaret Breland, Reh-Lin Chen, Jeff Knowles, Taj Johns

AANA Officers: Ron Casimere (Chair), Anida Weyl (Vice-Chair), Fredia Street Smith (Treasurer), Andrea Cesar (Communications Coordinator), Lori Lott (Secretary)

1. Reading of the minutes by Lori Lott.

2. Our thanks to Laura McElroy and the Over 60 Center for the use of their facilities for our meetings. They cannot leave the door downstairs unlocked, so we need to post someone downstairs to admit late arrivals.
Laura announced that the Center offers community tours the 3rd Thursday of every month at 5 pm. If interested, call 601-6060 to make a reservation.

3. City of Berkeley Update: Councilmember Margaret Breland

She is happy with our new venue, as it will bring in more people from further down Alcatraz. The pedestrian street lights are beautiful, and we should expect to receive an official "Proclamation" for the Block Party

Margaret encouraged our group to send a liaison (or take turns attending) the Community Action Team meeting. which meets the same night and time as we do. Their issues are health related: they have received money from the City Council to investigate the high incidence of infant mortality in South Berkeley. For information contact Sheryl Walton, Public Health Department (644-6500).

City Council is on break from the end of July until September.

Clarification on Green Cans: These will be emptied on the 2nd and 4th week of the month on normal trash pickup days.

4. Police Update: Neighborhood Services Liaison Taj Johns

Taj explained the police action that occurred in the neighborhood on June 14th. The incident, which occurred at California and Fairview involved a home invasion, by a person with a gun. It was not a random act (people new each other), and it was under control within ~4 hours. No one was hurt, and the people involved have been evicted. She also reported that many arrests were made at a recent "Safe Block" in the Fairview area.

Liquor Stores: Tom Myers (Department of Economic Development) has put together a list of the worst liquor stores in the city. Citizens can send letters documenting problems and violations to the Zoning Adjustment Board. Taj will provide forms at the next meeting. It isn't easy to shut down a store, but the process can result in modification of zoning, or in the most extreme cases store closure. Also keep in mind that if you see any violations (e.g. loitering within 20 ft of liquor store is illegal), you can call THE-COPS (843-2677). She reminds us to use the "phone tree" since more complaints are better than one.

"Officer" White is now Sergeant White, and will no longer be our area coordinator. Our new area coordinator will be Officer Melero, who will attend the next meeting.

We have received our Neighborhood Watch registration materials. Membership fees are $10 per year for each block. This entitles us to: two meetings per year, dumpsters for block clean-ups, and the use of crime reduction videos, and engravers to label electronics.

Taj also encouraged us to participate in the National Night Out: Tuesday, August 1.

5. Proposed All-Way Stop at Alcatraz Ave. and King St.

Reh-Lin Chen (who was the Acting Traffic Engineer) reported that the Transportation Commission voted in support of the All-Way Stop. However, he has stepped down, and the new Traffic Engineer, Jeff Knowles announced that he will return to the Transportation Commission to ask them to reconsider their decision. The main arguments AGAINST the All-Way Stop are that:

a. stop signs would lead to an increase in automotive emissions (from starting and stopping) and increased noise (from acceleration and deceleration).
b. the traffic light at Adeline and Alcatraz creates "surges and gaps" in traffic. Stop signs would spread traffic out making it harder for cars to exit side streets and driveways.
c. a 3 year report of traffic leads him to the conclusion that traffic is working better on Alcatraz than on similar streets (e.g. lower report of accidents on Alcatraz and King than at other intersections with All-Way Stops in place).
d. he has to look at impact on the entire area, and like it or not, the City has designated Alcatraz Ave. a "collector street".

There was a great deal of discussion on this matter. The main reason the AANA supported the addition of the All-Way Stop was that we believed it would:

a. slow down traffic on Alcatraz. Too many cars speed on our street!
b. provide pedestrians with a safe place to cross the street
c. reduce the volume of traffic on our street, by encouraging drivers to use alternate routes (e.g. Stanford Ave: 4 lanes, less traffic, and direct freeway access).

Many other concerns were raised by residents. If these can't be addressed by an All-Way Stop, then what can be done? Part of our next meeting will be devoted to further discussion of this issue. Neighbors will be on hand to voice concerns, Jeff Knowles will again be present, and Taj will ask Lt. Muller to attend to address speed limit enforcement.

The Transportation Commission will hold a public meeting on Thursday, July 20 at 7 pm at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Concerned residents are encouraged to attend.

6. Financial Report: Fredia Smith
We will open an account at the Co-op Credit Union as soon as we receive a Tax ID number .
Dues will be $25 per year, renewable during the month that dues were initially paid. However, no one will be refused membership if they are unable to pay the membership dues. Basic guidelines on the dues (what they will be used for, etc) will be provided at the next meeting.

7. Next Meeting is scheduled for August 9 at 7:00 pm at the Over 60 Center, 3260 Sacramento St.

8. Meeting Adjourned at 9:00 pm.