More Window Vandalism

Your Boulevardier notes that a large window at Eden Bicycles in Castro Village was boarded up yesterday afternoon. Asking in the shop about the circumstances, he learned that nothing was taken from the store; the vandals simply broke the window and ran. So the spree continues, but has now moved off the Boulevard.

Post-Holiday Blues ... and Reds

On his walk today Your Boulevardier noticed several broken windows on Castro Valley Boulevard. Specifically, a window at Crush Comics was boarded up, and a window and two glass doors at Direct Sales were secured with plywood or tape and awaiting repair. It's a shame to think that holiday revels in Castro Valley got so out of hand that vandalism was the result, but it so appears. Do readers have any more information about these happenings?

By way of contrast, nature was having none of the human-caused havoc. The morning skies were clear and cold, and the few remaining leaves and berries on deciduous plants were calling for attention, as evidenced by these fruits appearing on a shrub on Redwood Road.



The clear winter weather just begs for long, objective-free walking, in the opinion of Yours Truly. It (the weather, that is) is not supposed to last; off-and-on rain is predicted for the rest of the week. Your Boulevardier has professional work to catch up on, and so, in a way, he hopes the inclement weather comes; it will force him to stay at his desk and complete the projects before the New Year arrives.

Down In The Dumps

On a Monday walk from Chez Boulevardier to downtown, Your Boulevardier encountered an illegal dumpsite on Norbridge Avenue, just west of Nunes Avenue. Returning to the scene yesterday, the detritus was still there. (Not that it would get up and remove itself.) Your Boulevardier apologizes for the poor quality of the photo.



Your Boulevardier and Mon Petit Chou, who was making a rare-but-welcome weekday visit, discussed the circumstances that could lead to a person dumping two couches, a bed, a pallet, and other miscellaneous refuse on a public street. Certainly, a trip to the dump can be costly, but the Castro Valley Sanitary District offers a free bulky pickup once a year. Perhaps timing and finances were the issue: the dumper had been evicted from his home and had nowhere to take the stuff, and no money to deal with the problem. Chances are the truth will never be known, in this particular case.

Regardless of the circumstances, dumping on a public street is a selfish, wasteful, uncivilized way to deal with refuse. Clearly the perpetrator knew this, because he dumped his junk in a dark, untrafficked stretch of road with no residences on either side.

Worthy Cause in Castro Valley

Your Boulevardier received the following email from two different people, and commenter Greenridge posted it below. The originator is L'avocat de Boulevardier Steven Dimick, who has given permission to republish it here. (Some slight edits have been made, clearly marked.)

Your Boulevardier went by Lee's Donuts this morning and purchased a very nice cinnamon roll. His waistline will not let him do so daily, but he will be making a contribution and encourages readers who are able to do the same.

Friends,

You have probably read that the owner of Lee's Donuts on the corner of Grove Way and Redwood Road was brutally pistol whipped about a couple of weeks ago during an early morning robbery. I'd like to tell you a little more about him.

Sam Nouv came to the U.S. from Cambodia and, in 1987, started working at Lee's Donuts. Before long, he was leasing the business from its owner and, in 1990, bought the business. He and his wife, Lori, go to work every day at 3:30 a.m., open up at 4:00 a.m. and don't close until 6:00 p.m. -- every day, seven days a week. They do close on a very few holidays, but in 19 years have never had a vacation and the most time they have ever had off at any one time is two days.

Our grandparents or great-grandparents worked like this when they first came to America, but no native-born American that I know would do so.

In addition to working these brutal hours, they are raising three sons, a 21-year-old currently at Chabot College, a 15-year-old at Castro Valley High School and a 10-year-old at Independent Elementary.

And Sam and Lori are two of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet.

Sam has been back to work -- briefly -- for the last couple of days, but the burden of keeping the shop open for the last two weeks has fallen on Lori, the kids and a few friends.

I asked Lori if they had adequate medical insurance and she said they did, but their deductible and co-pay were killing them, when nearly all of their income goes for basic living expenses. Lori said their share of the medical expenses was $15,000. Sam later told me it might not be that high, but is at least $7,000 (Kaiser told them they don't have a final figure yet.)

Some community members are [planning] a series of fundraisers for the family. Ken Martin is planning a charity bocce ball tournament and other ideas that have been kicked around include a car wash. If you'd like to participate, [contact Steve Dimick via the link above].

In the meantime, if any of you can see your way to making a donation, however small, the family can sure use it. $100 would be great, but $5 or $10 will be equally appreciated. (I merely slipped them some cash.) Please look in your wallets for old, unused bills or consider writing a check to "Sam Nouv." You can deliver your donations to my office (20880 Redwood Rd., Castro Valley) or directly to the Nouv family at their store.

You could also pass this story on to your neighbors or other friends in Castro Valley. They just might see fit to give you a donation to pass on, or to visit Lee's and slip a few dollars into Lori's hand. And maybe they'll pass the story along even further.

Thank you in advance for any help you might be able to give. Despite our occasional differences, Castro Valley is a real community.

Steve Dimick

CV Crime Scene

On his morning walk, Your Boulevardier noticed an Alameda County Sheriff's cruiser and a crime scene truck in the strip mall kittycorner to Trader Joe's, at the corner of Grove Way and Redwood Road. The part of the shopping center with the nail salon and pizza parlor was cordoned off with crime scene tape, and a few anxious-looking folks hovered about. No other details are available at this time.

The Rest of the Story

Able reporter Kris Noceda provides the whole story on the arrest of a federal probation violator in Castro Valley in this article. It's well worth reading.

The version of the story that appears on page 8 in today's Castro Valley Forum is missing some critical information -- such as the criminal's full name -- as well as the amount of detail and quality of storytelling found in Noceda's report.

Determined Vandals

It's safe to say that those who commit vandalism are generally considered to be lacking in ambition. But not the vandals in Castro Valley. Check out this bit of destruction done to the mini-park at Castro Valley Creek (near KFC).



It appears to Your Boulevardier that the vandals constructed a ramp of concrete blocks and a plastic shelf in order to remove the immense -- and immensely heavy - spherical finial from the bollard.

One does not envy the crew that needs to put this to rights.

This park seems, to Your Boulevardier, to be a trouble spot generally. Last week he encountered two homeless men fighting there. The park is usually littered with trash and shopping carts, and is not generally trafficked by aficionados of the creek. It will be interesting to see if that changes when the Library opens.

Under the Weather

The skies have cleared after weeks of rain, but Your Boulevardier remains under the weather. A rip-snortin' sore throat, stuffy head, ringing ears, and aching joints have been his burden for a few days now, and it has not been pleasant.

However, he dusted himself off today and walked to Castro Village to get his hair cut. The Village Barber Shop wasn't busy, and a seat with Limbo was procured immediately upon arrival. Eventually the place filled up, but Al (proprietor Al) did his best to share the wealth as he answered phones, checked the mail, and so on.

Eventually, as so many conversations do these days, talk turned to the economy. A fellow whom Your Boulevardier assumes to be a banker came in, and Al (bicyclist Al) asked him what he thought of the Bernie Madoff scandal. (Mr. Madoff had plead guilty to all counts earlier in the day.) An unpleasant but not unlikely scenario was suggested for how Mr. Madoff would spend his 150 years in prison. Then a suggestion was made: that Mr. Madoff should be executed during halftime at the Super Bowl.

Your Boulevardier was startled at the words, but did not speak up. It's not certain if the suggestion was made in jest, or was the true sentiment of a very angry person. But nonetheless, Your Boulevardier wishes he had found the words to say that a public execution would be beneath the dignity of the United States. For as difficult as the time we must go through in the future may be -- and it's believed by many, including Yours Truly, that the coming days, weeks, months, and perhaps years will be very difficult -- we cannot allow our society to be reduced to shows of violence. We cannot allow our baser instincts to take hold. We must punish wrongdoers, certainly, but we must not make doing so a public spectacle. We cannot become like the societies we look down upon -- those that glorify vengeance over justice, humiliation over punishment, emotion over reason.

Perhaps Your Boulevardier is overreacting to some barbershop trash talking. But he is embarrassed for himself that he did not speak up in this circumstance.

Scammer at work in Castro Valley?

Your Boulevardier received the following email from a neighbor. Names have been obscured for privacy reasons.

Yesterday, around 4:00 p.m., a woman came to Julia Roberts's door, said she was Ann Margaret's daughter, and had locked herself out of her mother's house. Julia asked questions and found out that this woman was referring to Ann Bancroft. The woman said she grew up in this neighborhood and the reason she hasn't been around is that she was in the military. Julia knew that Ann Bancroft's daughter lives over the hill and the Roberts children went to school with the daughter. Lots didn't make sense to Julia. The woman wanted to use Julia's phone to call her sister and a locksmith. Julia let her. When she called the locksmith, she found out the cost for coming out was $69 and then she said she would drive to the locksmith?????

Julia has a older woman friend in CV that recently got the same scenerio from a different woman .. but she cried and ended up with $100 from the older woman!

So...heads up! Julia is calling Ann Bancroft to check the story and she will call the Sheriff and report the incident.

There you go ... another very good reason to have our neighborhood group on watch!!

Please be alert to similar scams in your neighborhood.

Wudas Is Right

There are fewer things online that are more pathetic than an abandoned blog. One of those things is a blog with a long hiatus followed by a post reading "Sorry it's been so long since there has been a post."

The Castro Valley Boulevardier falls into the second category.

The usual excuse applies: real life has been busy. Several things have been noted by Your Boulevardier, but he has not taken time to post on them. For example:

• A couple of weekends ago, several of the concrete trash bins on Castro Valley Boulevard were knocked over. They were righted within a day or so.
• Other vandalism seemed to spike as summer drew to a close. The pedestrian overcrossing over Highway 580, frequented by Your Boulevardier, was tagged again, and promptly cleaned up again. Your Boulevardier is pleased that the appropriate authorities are staying vigilant to it.
• Restaurants have come and restaurants have gone. The Indian restaurant in the Village, the Vietnamese place across from Pete's Hardware, and the "Theme Unknown" place by Kragen Auto Parts are among the openings. (Your Boulevardier has not tried any of them.) Closed are Fongs, Peking Village, and Pancho's. Meanwhile, Bangkok 580 fell victim to a takeover robbery.
• The cloudy creek question (the post on which prompted Wudas to remind Your Boulevardier to update the blog) was resolved, and it appears the problem was simply construction erosion upstream. If Your Boulevardier appeared alarmist, he apologizes.
• Your Boulevardier participated in Barefoot Boot Camp at Castro Valley Yoga in the third week of August. The upper body is still complaining, though proud to have made it. It's amazing and heartening to think that a dozen people would be up and exercising at 6:00 a.m. for six consecutive days!
  
• School has opened, and it is pleasing to Your Boulevardier to see children walking to their classes. Still, school zones continue to be dangerous places for pedestrians, what with distracted parents driving their offspring while engaging in telephone conversations, eating breakfast, or attending to their grooming.
  
• For Sale signs, and vacant properties, seem to be appearing more frequently around town, at least in Your Boulevardier's home district of Baywood.
• Your Boulevardier saw a poster for a Green training class co-sponsored by the Castro Valley Sanitary District and the Castro Valley Adult School, upcoming on September 27. More information can be found at the Adult School website (appropriately enough, on Mr. Green's welcome page.)
• A production of Carousel is coming to the Center For The Arts later in September. One can't go wrong with Rogers and Hammerstein.
• Castro Valley product Rachel Maddow is getting a regular MSNBC show. Your Boulevardier does not partake of intense political coverage from any portion of the spectrum, so he has not seen the show; but he knows friends of Maddow's parents, and hears that they are rightfully proud of their daughter.
  

For now, this list of tidbits will have to suffice. Again, Your Boulevardier apologizes for the long drought of new material.

Overpass Gets a Blast

Graffiti-removal crews have worked for two days to clear graffiti from the pedestrian walkway over I-580 connecting the Baywood District with the BART station and downtown Castro Valley. As Your Boulevardier and the Trusty BoulevarDog are regular users of this overpass, its cleaning is most welcome.

A workman on the crew told Your Boulevardier that his firm had been hired by Alameda County to do the work. He said that there had been some conflict between CalTrans and the County over who was responsible for the cleanup but that in the final analysis the responsibility had fallen to the County. He also said that cleanup was not (yet) on a regular schedule, so it would behoove users of the walkway to contact the County when the tags reappear. One can call (510) 670-5500; more information can be found here.

Personally, Your Boulevardier is busy composing a thank-you note to Supervisor Miley. One does not know if he was responsible for the cleanup, but it's good that he knows that graffiti removal is important to residents of Castro Valley.