Community

Pressure Grows to Rebuild Mosswood Rec Center

Published

6 years ago

February 23, 2018

When a fire destroyed the popular Mosswood Park Recreation Center in North Oakland in November 2016, city officials announced with fanfare they would work with the community to rebuild it.

Now, over a year later, neighbors and supporters of the Mosswood recreation center are concerned that the project may be running out of steam, mired in the city’s bureaucracy.

Supporters of the park and recreation center consider the site a community gem and a neighborhood institution. They are determined to make sure the site is restored.

The center, located in the four-acre park at Webster Street, W. Macarthur Boulevard and across the street from Kaiser hospital, is run by the Oakland Parks and Recreation department and had housed a computer lab, after school programs, a homework club and dance studio, kitchen and programs for children with disabilities.

Lighting and water fountains currently are in disrepair —and trash pickup is spotty —though the park is still used for basketball games and other community activities.

Also situated at the park is the Moss House, a historic mansion that is sealed up and in disuse. The “Carpenter Gothic” style Victorian home was built in 1864 and bought by the City of Oakland in 1912.

“The day after the fire happened, there was a lot of sympathy and support from politicians. But that has not happened since,” said Brian Person, a community member who belongs to the Mosswood Recreational Advisory Council (RAC).

Some of the organizers supporting the Mosswood Park Rec Center are (L to R): Juan Lopez, Matt Ewing, Gretchen Till, Terry Stewart and Cassie Lopez.

“They had to demolish what was left after the fire,” he added. “It’s a hole in the ground now. The park has deteriorated because of the loss of the rec center.

“(But) it’s hard to get traction with the city,” Pearson said.

A number of people in the area want to make sure the park and recreation center remain a city priority, but the pace is frustrating.

“We’re working very hard to bring this recreational center back,” said Gretchen Till, co-chair of the Mosswood RAC. “We’re bringing people together for advocacy to support the park.”

Cassie Lopez, also co-chair of Mosswood RAC, said the center and the park attract people of different ages, races and economic status. Many people use the park for events – birthdays, capoeira, basketball – and they need to be involved to make sure the park is not forgotten, she said.

All these people need to be represented in the renovation planning – along with the homeless.

“A lot of people live in the park,” she said. “People living there have to be part of the conversation.”

Lopez emphasized that the community has staying power “We have a lot of spirt,” she said. “We’re not going away. We’re here.”

Wald, Councilmember McElhaney’s chief of staff, told the Post that he understands the community’s frustrations.

“The lack of information can be upsetting, he said, emphasizing the need for better communication with the community.

“The city has (fire) insurance, but it has taken some time to settle the insurance,” he said. “That’s slowed things down, and the neighbors are concerned.”

He said a settlement has been reached with the insurance company for about $4 million.

“Plans have been submitted to put a temporary recreational center structure, which should be installed by the end of March,” said Wald.

“I’m unhappy people have had to wait so long,” he continued. “The park needs friends, and the neighborhood is a terrific asset. Their work is the start of the process of reinvigorating the park as a whole.”

By Post deadline, the city’s Parks and Recreation department and the Risk Management department had not returned calls.

For more information, contact mosswoodparkrac@gmail.com or https://mosswoodparkrac.org/

The petition to “Bring Back Mosswood Park’s Rec Center is available at www.change.org/p/bring-back-mosswood-park-s-rec-center

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Related Topics:community Mosswood Recreation Center Oakland

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Activism

WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

12 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

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Bay Area

Vivian Coit, 98

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

Published

12 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Vivian Coit

Celebrating A Life Well Lived

Sept. 15, 1925 ~ March 30, 2024

Vivian Coit, a proud Dallas, Texas native made her way to the great state of California in 1943. She was a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great grandmother.

In her 98 years, she had various jobs – San Francisco Naval Shipyard, elevator operator, housekeeping, a salesclerk, and supervisor for the United States Postal Service. After 27 years of service with the United States Postal Service, she retired with numerous commendations. She was a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women. and a devoted member of the Washington/Lincoln Alumni Association of Dallas, Texas.

On April 20 at 10:00 a.m., a life well-lived will be celebrated at Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA under the leadership of Rev. Antoine Shyne.

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

13 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!