Our Library Is Opening on April 20
News from Jenera Burton, our Supervising Librarian
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We will, indeed, be open from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturdays for what Oakland Public Library is calling “OPL Express” – which means that the whole branch will be open for browsing and our signature friendly service. Visitors will be required to wear masks, get screened for a temperature at the door, and maintain social distancing. Capacity will be limited, and there will be no seats inside. We will continue to quarantine returned materials for 24 hours before putting them back on the shelves. Details about the OPL Express service is here.
There will be no public computers/scanners at our branch, but computer labs will be open at 81st Ave, Golden Gate, Melrose, and West Oakland. Hours and reservations are linked here.
Phone help 510-238-3134, online live chat, digital offerings, including movies, and eBooks, plus virtual programs, are still available at www.oaklandlibrary.org .
Our Sidewalk Service will end on Saturday, April 17.
All of this will be happening as we welcome our new Branch Manager, Leni Matthews. She has been both a librarian and a teacher and we look forward to welcoming her.
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Another Step Forward Toward Making the CDC Building a Permanent Home for
Our Library
The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Board meeting on April 14 approved a resolution that is a small step towards making the former Piedmont Child Development Center (CDC) into a permanent and larger home for the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library.
To urge passage of this consent resolution, Friends of Piedmont Avenue Library (PAL) assembled a comprehensive 20-page information packet explaining the background facts and showing strong support from all sectors of the community. The packet was sent to the OUSD Board members the previous week. PAL supporters also submitted many e-comments, which are posted on the resolution page and will remain for some days after the meeting.
This resolution paves the way for OUSD to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) to rehabilitate and convert the CDC building to a public library. This procedural step is required by the state Education Code before OUSD can take the step of working on a long-term joint occupancy lease agreement between the school district and the City of Oakland for a library in the CDC. Oakland Public Library (OPL) administration has been aware of this process and is working with the City Attorney and other City departments to see how OPL can develop a proposal.
Meanwhile, City staff are working to estimate the costs of renovation and repair for the CDC. The City’s Library Department has requested planning funds to do a feasibility study, and we believe that request will be included in the draft Capital Improvement Program that the City Council will review soon, as part of the 2021-2023 budget to be finalized in June. Dan Kalb has said that this item is one of his top priorities for the Capital Improvement list. We know that more funding, beyond what could be approved for the feasibility study, will be needed in the future to bring the concept to construction reality.
Friends of PAL will continue to coordinate with Library staff to learn how we can help.
By Arleen Feng, member of the Steering Committee of Friends of Piedmont Avenue Library
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The Friends of PAL Care About the CDC Property
If you weren't there on April 10th, you missed a good time. If you were there, thank you.
In an event organized by Joanna Smith for Friends of Piedmont Avenue Library, twenty-two of us gathered to clean up the leaf-covered yard next door to our branch library. It is the yard surrounding the now-empty building that formerly housed Oakland Public School’s Childhood Development Center (CDC).
Twenty-two of us, of various ages to the upper 80s, were raking and grabbing armfuls of leaves to stuff into the heavy-duty garden refuse bags – we filled 45 bags - and dragging them to the curb to be picked up by the City.
Christen Soares's family was represented by three generations. Her children, Lillian, a fifth grader at Piedmont Avenue Elementary School next door, and six-year-old Lucas, in first grade there, both worked steadily along with their grandmother, Andee Wise.
Louis Segal, Renate Woodbury, Miriam Valesco, Karen Franklin, and Rik Belew all raked the leaves into piles. Mark Brosamer and Daniel Smith helped stuff them into bags. Helen and Paul Gerken and new grandmother Christine Wilder Abrams raked and swept. Zeena Cameron and Ruby Long each stuck a foot into open bags and stomped to make more space for more leaves.
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Margitta Gardner, with her ever-present senior dog, Penny, helped staff the welcome table as did Ronile Lahti. Peg Janosch directed workers to the action site while she pulled weeds. Everyone proudly wore the stickers showing our owl, masked, and raking, designed by David Moore, and given out by Gail Jara. |
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We were joined in our work by Sam Davis, School Board Director District 1, who had worked with the Friends to organize the event, and our Councilmember Dan Kalb. They pitched in to the final clean up and photo shoot.
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By the end of the morning the site had been transformed. There were 45 bulging bags at the curb waiting to be picked up, and participants went home knowing they had contributed to making the empty CDC property and the community look much better and more cared for.
By Ruby Long
Ruby is a neighbor whose work has appeared in local and national publications.
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The welcoming smile of my librarian
The anticipation in my heart
All those books—another world—just waiting
At my fingertips.
From "My First Memory (of Librarians)” by Nikki Giovanni
April is National Poetry Month and Oakland Public Library has many new poetry books in our collection to help you celebrate.
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The Bookworm Recommends
Bones: Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream
by Joe Tone
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Books have the power to introduce us to places, people and experiences that are far from our everyday lives. And Bones may be the perfect example. It is the fascinating tale of two brothers – Jose Trevino Morales and Miguel Trevino Morales -- and a revolving cast of characters. They’re all involved in laundering drug money for a powerful Mexican cartel through the sport of quarter-horse raising. The story takes readers back and forth across the border between Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and to racetracks in Ruidoso, New Mexico; Oklahoma City; and Orange County, Calif.
Yes, this book is about horses and horse raising, but it’s more about the people involved. Jose, who had gone to Texas as a 17-year-old and become a bricklayer, tried to remain free of the influence of his brother Miguel. Also known as Forty, Miguel rose to leadership in the Zeta cartel whose members are considered the most violent in Mexico.
Jose became entrenched in the cartel’s work, acting through the horse racing business and eventually getting caught. The journey he took, and the people involved, provide insight into a world that few readers are probably aware of.
By reading Bones you’ll learn about the quarter-horse racing popular among the cowboys of the American Southwest and Mexico. You’ll be introduced to the business of racehorse auctions and the breeding of winners who can rake in as much as $1 million in top races. You’ll meet Jose, cartel members, trainers, stud farm operators, wealthy horse owners and the FBI agent and his partner assigned to prove that Jose and a host of others were laundering Zeta cartel money. And you’ll be totally drawn into a story that in many ways is stranger than fiction.
By Judy Jacobs
Judy began her career in journalism covering energy and went on to be a writer and editor specializing in the business of travel. She loves nonfiction, especially books that inspire or encourage her to explore new places.
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What's Happening at the Library |
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Our Library Is Opening on April 20 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturdays
Sidewalk Service will end on Saturday, April 17.
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