Quality-of-life issues are on the rise in Oakland, much like crime. Homeless encampments, graffiti and illegal dumping are a constant source of angst on social media sites as Oakland perennially struggles to keep up.
Montclair Park has long been a magnet for taggers who target the bathrooms and walls of the tennis and pickleball courts. A once-beloved duck mural was repeatedly tagged and then mistakenly painted over by city workers, leaving a bleak canvas for vandals who spray-paint foul language on walls visible to children.
While Oakland hills residents lament the lack of resources for districts that pay the lion’s share of taxes, there are some programs in place for dealing with illegal dumping and graffiti. The website seeclickfix.com takes blight reports from citizens and then prioritizes cleanup based on how many complaints a site gets. A neighborhood watch group alone could file multiple complaints for a quicker response.
The city of Oakland also has its adopt-a-spot program, which lets residents choose public areas where they’d like to spearhead cleanup campaigns. Neighbors have adopted Montclair Park and regularly host cleanup days where volunteers get supplies to paint over graffiti, pick up trash and help with landscaping and beautification. In Montclair Park, the Girl Scouts built a shed to keep the supplies close at hand.
Recently, volunteers have painted over tags on the outside of the Montclair Park bathrooms, as well as the heart-breaking vandalism of the newly-painted railroad mural on Mountain Boulevard. Studies have found that keeping graffiti at bay can reduce crime — a goal everyone can agree on.
Around town: Montclair Village is getting a new Mediterranean restaurant. Falafel Corner is a franchise started by a Sacramento man who honed his cooking skills while serving time in San Quentin prison. After his release, Sajad Shakoor opened Falafel Corner and it’s grown to more than 40 locations.
The owner of the new Montclair location, Khalil Rehman, says his shop should open this month, as soon as the final inspections are complete. Falafel Corner will operate in the former Rustica location at 6106 La Salle Ave. and serve gyro platters, Greek salad, falafels, wraps, rice bowls and dolmas.
“Montclair is a really good neighborhood with nice people,” says Rehman, who is excited to offer Mediterranean food in the village.
Meanwhile, the Montclair eatery Yellow Door is doing a booming business at 6466 Moraga Ave. Co-owners Beth Barrett and Virginia Davis opened the coffee shop/café at the beginning of the pandemic and have built a steady following of customers who love their healthy breakfast and lunch options and specialty coffees.
Davis says they’re planning to expand next-door, possibly this fall, in the space recently vacated by Fifth Quarter Charcuterie. A bigger space will provide more indoor seating for the popular cafe and gathering place.
Glenview concerns: The owner of Marzano restaurant at 4214 Park Blvd. says her business has been broken into three times — repeated incidents that have tested her resolve to remain open.
In an interview with Oakland Voices journalist Brandy Collins, Marzano’s Manna Tekie shares what many business owners are experiencing in Oakland. She says she wants to stay but also wants accountability.
“I want our city leaders to step up and let us know that they have our back,” she tells Collins.
The full interview can be read online (bit.ly/3UwzWPP) as part of a first-person series on public safety issues in partnership with Oakland Voices and supported by the American Press Institute.
Ginny Prior can be followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.