Last week, the Glenview Neighborhood Association held a meeting despite the rain. More than thirty residents braved Park Boulevard’s rush hour traffic and raging water run-off to attend. Reps from the Woodruffians, a network of neighborhood watch teams with origins in the Glenview, also showed up for the latest news.

The bad first: due to city budget cuts, the neighborhood needs funds to keep up the garden median, a Park Boulevard runner of plants and flowers. Then the good: a new Web site will help raise the money.

The new site launched this week: GlenviewNeighbors.com. Notice of the neighborhood’s “virtual” block reached nearly 3,000 members of GlenFriends, an email list for Glenview residents. Online donations continue to trickle in; the goal is set to “flood.” 

Some residents at last Thursday’s meeting expressed concern that the GNA couldn’t raise enough funds. With the projected city deficit for 2011 at least $25 million, the city suggested turning the garden’s drip water system off. In addition, there are many more community projects—such as replacing the tattered, streetlight banners on Park—that need tending like the median. This makes the push for memberships even more pressing.

Michael Hunt, an aide to city Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, said that the city could offer supplies for the upcoming garden party this spring.

GNA President Bob Gray came forward as well to put some perspective on the membership campaign: “Remember that we’re the ones who raised $60,000 for the median.” The site hopes to rally residents once again and keep Park Boulevard blooming.

About

Patsy K. Eagan is a nonfiction writer who covers city history and culture. Her articles have appeared in Elle, Bitch and Oakland Magazine, and she also works as a development writer for businesses and nonprofits. An Oakland native, she currently lives in a Glenview house and has a nursery of raccoons living in her basement. Read her neighborhood blog at OaklanderOnline.com; contact her at oaklandgrown@yahoo.com.