First Friday, September 6: Fairyland Drawn Together - 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Participating artists include: Alexis Amann, Nicholas Bohac, Michaela Coffield, Susan Chen, Michaela Coffield, Serena Cole, Randy Colosky, Amanda Curreri, Christian Davies, FICTILIS, Welly Fletcher, Sean Ford, Erica Gangsei,Tim Giang, Josh Hagler, Justin Hayes, Daniel Healey, Carrie Hott, Kelly Falzone Inouye, Mary Anne Kluth, Jon Lady, Peter Max Lawrence, Elise Mahan, Vanessa Marsh, Christine Monohan, Crystal Morey, Blake Morse, Lauren Napolitano, Nayeli Nava, Emily Rassmussen, Darren Russell, Nathaniel Parsons, Jerry Pierson, Bunnie Reiss, Stephanie Rohlfs, Allegra Rush, Maja Ruznic, Reece Santos, Crystal Silva, Clare Szydlowski, Shannon Taylor, Tallulah Terryll, Meredith Tromble, Bryan Von Reuter, Annie Wong, Daniel Woodling, and many more! 

For more information, visit www.fairyland.org or go directly to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/437446. 

Admission: $15.00

Schedule for volunteers:

Saturday, September 7: 5th Annual Volunteer Fair Sponsored by Volunteering in Oakland - Lakeview School Auditorium @ 746 Grand Avenue from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

The Fair is a forum for Oaklanders interested in volunteering to meet with approximately 25 organizations to find a good fit for their volunteer efforts. Most of the volunteer opportunities are in the Oakland Unified School District although some focus on at-risk youth no longer in school.

Questions? Please contact Ed Gerber at egerber@psln.com or Natalie Van Tassel at natalie.vantassel@gmail.com.

• Saturday, September 7 from 10:00 am to Noon @ Frick Middle School - 2845 64th Avenue
• Saturday, September 7 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm @ the Oakland Public Library - Main Library Auditorium - 125 14th Street (Interpretation services will be provided in Cantonese and Vietnamese) 
• Sunday, September 8 from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm @ Claremont Middle School - 5750 College Avenue

Wednesday, September 11: Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission to consider the City's application for a Snow Park dog play area 

Wednesday, September 11: Parks 7 Recreation Advisory Commission to consider the City's application for a Snow Park dog play area

The Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission will consider the City's application for a Snow Park dog play area - Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Avenue, 4:30 pm - Item 9.C on the agenda. The staff report is available here. Attachment A to the report will be available at the meeting.

Friday, September 6 - 15: Woodminister Amphitheater Presents "Legally Blond, the Musical" - 3300 Joaquin Miller Road, 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm

Performances: September 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15

Fridays and Saturdays @ 8 pm
Thursday and Sundays @ 7 pm 

Legally Blonde is the story of famously perky Elle Woods, whose perfect life is turned upside down when her boyfriend dumps her so he can attend Harvard Law School and pursue a career in politics.  

Visit website: http://www.woodminster.com  

Wednesday, September 18: Celebrate a Year of the Closing of the National Lodge - 1711 International Blvd. (at the old National Lodge) from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm 

National Lodge Update: Hotel Sold to New Owners

In February 2012, the Oakland City Attorney's Office went to trial to shut down the National Lodge, located at 1711 International Boulevard, for running a business that relied on prostitution as a business model. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte ruled in the City's favor, closing the National Lodge in July 2012 for the maximum period of one year as provided by state law. During the year of closure, the owner of the property was to make improvements to the premises and come up with a future business model that did not include illegal activity.

The owner of the National Lodge walked away from the property and, in May 2013, the judge granted the City's petition to force a sale of the property. After many offers, escrow closed at the end of July 2013. The new owners, Enoch Shin and Bruce Van Vuong, are local merchants who have great vision for improvement of the neighborhood and hope that their purchase of the hotel will be a catalyst for that vision. They plan to turn the building into office and retail space.

A celebratory Safety Walk, sponsored by the East Bay Asian Youth Center (EBAYC), will take place on September 18, 2013 from 6:pm to 7:30 pm at 1711 International Blvd (the old National Lodge). Everyone is invited and encouraged to walk in celebration of this victory against prostitution. For more information, please contact Xavier Sibaja, Program Manager at EBAYC, at 510.533.1092 ext 14 or xavier@ebayc.org.

Neighbors are encouraged to report prostitution activity to the Oakland Police Department at 510.777.3333. Calls can also be made anonymously to the police department's Prostitution Hotline at 510.238.2373.

Celebrate a Year of the Closing of the National Lodge

In August 2012 united San Antonio residents and businesses closed the National Lodge for allowing prostitution. The new owners of the building are committed to find a community-friendly use for this property.

So, please...

Invited guests: Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent, City Council President Pat Kernighan, City Attorney Barbara Parker, and Area 3 Captain Ricardo Orozco.

Join your neighbors in expressing your continued commitment to stop prostitution in San Antonio.

This presentation will be offered in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. For questions, contact: Xavier Sibaja at 510.533.1092 ext. 14 or xavier@ebayc.org

Love Your Neighbors: help end gun violence forum 

Saturday, September 21, 2013 from 9:30am-3:00pm @ St. Paul's Episcopal Church - 114 Montecito Ave, Oakland

2013 NCNCA Oakland Grand Prix  

The 0.9 mile course brings some of the best cyclists from Northern California and Nevada to Oakland once a year. The Oakland Grand Prix offers a technical, downtown course, with an uphill finish on 20th and Harrison at Snow Park, where spectators will find plenty of room to see the final sprint to the finish.  

Click here for the schedule: http://www.ncnca.org/ncncaevent/oakland-grand-prix-1

It's the annual Oakland Creek to Bay Day again! Go here for a listing of the various registered locations throughout the city.  For more information about this year's Creek to Bay Day, go here.

You can report most property crimes online by clicking www.oaklandpolice.com. Look under "New Features," and click on "Download and Submit a Citizen Crime Report Form." You can report the following: 

• Lost property
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Vehicle burglary
• Vehicle tampering

For "Abandoned Autos," (vehicles that have been parked on the street for more than 72 hours without being moved), you can email the information to abandonedauto@oaklandnet.com or call the Oakland Police Department's Abandoned Auto Unit at 510.238.6030.

Former District 2 Oakland City Councilmember Mary Moore passed away in August.  She was a longtime community activist and politician.  In 1977, Mary became only the third woman elected to the Oakland City Council, and the first in 28 years to hold that position. Her election was part of a movement that ushered in a new progressive era in Oakland.  During her 17 years on the Council, she was a constant champion for neighborhood preservation, describing healthy neighborhoods as "central to the survival of the core city."

Mary and her former husband the late Judge Vern Moore, began their political activism in the early 1960's, campaigning against California's Proposition 14, which overturned the 1963 Rumford Fair Housing Act. Throughout her lifetime, Mary was a champion of civil rights and civil liberties. In 1979 she was honored as a Jewish Woman of Distinction by Oakland's Temple Sinai and Woman of the Year by the city's Allen Temple Baptist Church.

A native of the Bronx, Mary was the daughter of  Russian Jewish immigrants Gershen and Sarah Brondz.  She came to California from New York in 1950 and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1951. She attended UC Berkeley where she met her core group of lifelong friends as a staff  member at the Daily Californian.

Mary is survived by her children Alison Moore, Hilary Nally and Adam Moore; their spouses Jesse Ragent, David Nally and Leila Alpars Moore; grandchildren Josh and Mia Ragent, Brenna and Rierah Nally and Asa and Dimitri Moore, and her sister and brother-in-law Rose and Galen Smith. The family plans a gathering to remember Mary later this fall. Those interested in sharing memories or learning more about the gathering may send emails to alisonmoore6@gmail.com.

Although not religious per se, Mary was a lover of the Old Testament and especially this from the Book of Ecclesiastes (by way of Pete Seeger):  "To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under Heaven."

Mary's deepest regret was that she would not be here to see the election of the first woman president.  In keeping with Mary's passion, the family suggests donation in her name to ReadyforHillary.com, the campaign to elect Hillary Clinton president.  Donations may also be sent in Mary's name to local public radio stations KQED and KALW.

- Based on obituary provided by her family

The Graffiti Abatement program is responsible for the abatement of graffiti on public property. The Graffiti Abatement program will perform one "courtesy" abatement on private property. Subsequent instances of graffiti on the same private property will be referred to Oakland's Building Services to enforce under the Oakland Municipal Code §8.10.080. Graffiti on the property of other agencies will be referred to them for abatement.

Examples of Public Property:

• Streetlight poles
• Traffic signal poles
• City utility boxes (at traffic signals)
• Sidewalks, curb and streets
• Tunnels (e.g., 105th Ave)
• Walls (underpasses, etc.)
• City-owned facilities (parks, etc.) 

Private Property:

• Commercial
• Industrial
• Residential 

Other Partner Agencies:

• AT&T
• US Postal Service
• CalTrans
• BART
• Union Pacific Railroad
• EBMUD
• PG&E
• Port of Oakland
• Oakland Unified School District
• Peralta Community College District 

To report graffiti in the public right-of-way, please do one of the following:

• Contact the Public Works Call Center at 510.615.5566, Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm 
• Download SeeClickFix to your smart phone and report via mobile application
• Send an email to PWACallCenter@oaklandnet.com
• Online, visit our website at www.oaklandpw.com

Removal of graffiti on private property is the responsibility of the property owner. 
To report private property graffiti, please contact the City of Oakland Building Services at 510.238.3381, Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm, on Wednesdays from 9:30am to 4:00pm or email inspectioncounter@oaklandnet.com. 

The new construction on Latham Square Pilot Pedestrian Plaza started in July. Now that it's completed, Telegraph Avenue vehicle traffic is diverted onto 16th Street and are prevented from turning left onto Telegraph from Broadway near 15th Street during this pedestrian plaza experiment. 

The experiment will run at least until October 2013. Staff will be taking citizen input as the pilot plaza goes along, and making adjustments as needed to respond to concerns. In October, staff will report to Council on the experience of the plaza, including whether a version of the pilot plaza experiment should be created as a permanent pedestrian plaza within the next year.

Over the three years of transformation of the south end of Lake Merritt, you may have watched the deconstruction of the Frickstad dam and the construction of the new bridges and four-acre park. But have you seen the aerial photographs of the entire project? Erik Niemann documented the transformation with weekly and sometimes daily aerial photographs taken from the 11th floor of 1200 Lakeshore. His coffee table book is now available. You can go here for a free preview of the entire 100 pages of the best of his 25,000 photographs of the project. (It's best to preview the book in "full screen"). And then you can order the coffee table style book, 11"x 13", via Blurb. A hard copy photographic record of the project is available in three forms. There is an inexpensive PDF instant download option ($4.99) and two physical book options, dust jacket ($135.99) or image wrap ($100.81) for the hard cover book. Tax and shipping are extra. All ordering or issues are between you and Blurb. The book has been a labor of love for Erik who has declined any profit on book sales in order to make them more available. Go here to order.

Are you looking for a great way to help students in Oakland? WriterCoach Connection runs a terrific program that matches trained community volunteers with middle and high school students to work one-on-one on their English assignments.

Our volunteers emphasize essential writing and critical thinking skills. We work with students at Oakland's Fremont High School and at schools in  Berkeley, Albany, Richmond, and El Cerrito. Get to know some wonderful Oakland students and enjoy the satisfaction of helping a student succeed.

You do not have to be a writer or teacher to volunteer. WCC's in-depth training provides the strategies and practice you'll need to be a great coach. Training sessions for new Oakland volunteers begins in September. Coaching starts in October. For more information please visit, www.writercoachconnection.org or call 510.524.2319.

Questions? Email catherineoconnellwcc@gmail.com

In order to increase the public's access to neighborhood library branches, Oakland Public Library will be implementing a schedule change soon at four of the library's 16 branch locations. Effective Monday, September 16, the Brookfield, Eastmont, Golden Gate, and Piedmont Avenue branch libraries will be open Monday through Friday. All other branches will keep their current Tuesday through Saturday schedules and the Main Library will continue to be open seven days a week.

The four branches that are shifting to a Monday through Friday schedule will be open on Monday evenings, instead of their current Tuesday evenings, with the following Monday hours:

* Brookfield and Eastmont branches: 11:30 am - 7:00 pm

* Golden Gate and Piedmont Avenue branches: 12:30 pm - 8:00 pm

All Tuesday-Saturday branches will continue to be open on Tuesday evenings, and the Main Library will continue to be open on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

To view current branch schedules, visit the library's website at: http://oaklandlibrary.org/using-library/locations-hours.

The Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District is reporting 2 dead birds that tested positive for West Nile Virus (WNV). This is the County's first indication of active virus transmission this year. The birds were both American Crows, one of which was picked up in Zip Code 94602.

Since West Nile Virus is a mosquito-transmitted disease, controlling the mosquito population is paramount. District staff routinely inspect and treat all known mosquito sources, including but not limited to storm drains, catch basins, and neglected swimming pools. 

Residents may contact the District if they are being bothered by mosquitoes or know of a potential mosquito breeding source.

As part of an on-going surveillance program, the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District is asking the public to report any dead tree squirrels or wild birds, especially crows, ravens, jays, magpies and birds of prey that have been dead less than 48 hours (and show no signs of decomposition), to the California Department of Public Health. Their website address for reporting the dead birds is www.westnile.ca.gov. They can also be reached by phone: (877)WNV-BIRD/(877)968-2473.

The public can access information about mosquitoes, West Nile Virus, and mosquitofish on our website: www.mosquitoes.org. Residents can also pick up FREE mosquito-larvae eating fish at our District office from 7:30-4:30pm for their ornamental ponds, horse troughs, or neglected swimming pools. We are located in Hayward at 23187 Connecticut St. Our phone number is 510.783.7744.

In August, Asian Health Services (AHS) had a grand opening of a multi-million dollar clinic in the former Silver Dragon Restaurant in Chinatown. The new location is right across the street from their original clinic and is located at 835 Webster Street.

The much needed expansion will help service more patients who have been on the waiting list and current patients in need of more medical care as the aging population grows.

The new facility has 20 new exam rooms and a central space where doctors and caseworkers meet to diagnose patients' health conditions.  The new clinic is estimated to be able to help 10,000 patients per year.  On the second floor, there are 10 exam rooms for geriatric care. 

Asian Health Services' mission is to provide health care for people regardless of income, insurance status, immigration status, or language.

Visit their website at http://www.asianhealthservices.org.