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May 2000 DIA Newsletter

TRAFFIC Meeting
Our May meeting will focus on Dimond-area traffic problems. This will be a great opportunity to air the pros and cons of bike lanes on MacArthur. Representatives from the City's Traffic Engineering office and Councilmember Spees's office will be there to hear our recommendations.

NEWS FROM DOWNTOWN DIMOND
By Neil Dean
Big news from Safeway. I talked to Assistant Manager, Remsley Anthonymuth. He confirmed that Safeway Inc. will be spending as much as $250,000 to upgrade our Safeway store located on Fruitvale Ave. The work is scheduled to begin in the Fall of year 2000. There are plans for a Deli, Pharmacy and a Bakery. This information was confirmed by several managerial staff members.

Southern Cafe recently moved to our neighborhood from International Blvd. and is doing very well. They are located at 2000 MacArthur Blvd. They specialize in southern cuisine such as fried chicken. Looks like we have found a winner in that spot.

Bonnie Barnett, the owner of the old Sprouse-Reitz building, is very supportive and wants our input on the nicely upgraded building located at 3439 Fruitvale Ave.

Do you like good Mexican food? Look no further; our own Taqueria Los Comales is located at 2105 MacArthur Blvd. This is one of our more established businesses, serving the people in the Dimond district for the past 13 years.

Lastly, we have a new hair salon, Studio Fixx, opening this month in the long vacated site next to Romano's Pizza.

Neil Dean is the contact person for the DIA Business Working Group. Call him with any comments or suggestions you might have about commercial development in Dimond. He is especially eager for ideas about good tenants for the Sprouse Reitz building.

News From the City
On April 19th, DIA members Mike Mannix, Jim Hill and Janet Broughton attended the Interdepartmental Working Group convened by Councilmember Dick Spees.

Representatives of seven City agencies reported their progress on dozens of Dimond-area problems. Here are some highlights.

  1. City Council will soon be considering a broad new ordinance to regulate the installation of public pay phones. Dimond currently has 20!
  2. Traffic on Lincoln has already been slowed by retiming the traffic signals at Head Royce School and the Cerebral Palsy Center. By June we will also see centerline markers and shoulder stripes to narrow Lincoln, and new stop signs at Tiffin and Hearst.
  3. Code Compliance will investigate reports that an unlicensed K-12 school is being run in the church at 3618 Dimond. Local residents are concerned to see children apparently using neighborhood driveways as their recess playground.
  4. A number of code compliance issues have been on the Interdepartmental Working Group's list for several years now. The process is slow and sometimes ineffective. There are inspections, notices, re-inspections, fines, appeals, new deadlines, and on and on. Councilmember Spees is seeking some way to tackle the worst offenders, perhaps using some of the techniques that worked with problem motels.

Did you know?
Fruitvale School #1 was built at School Street and Boston Avenue in 1868. It began as a one-room school-house, but soon became a three-story building complete with belfry, bordered on two sides by the Empire Dairy farm. The corner was a busy one; there were three grocery stores (Neergard's, Gulliver's and Decker's Meat Market), a shoe repair shop, and a dry-goods store.

Wanted: Web-Person!
Tim Chapman, the DIA's webmaster, has developed chronic pain in one arm, and his doctor has ordered him not to touch his keyboard until the arm has had a chance to heal.

This means that the DIA desperately needs someone who can maintain and update the DimondNews web page. Tim can train a volunteer pinch-hitter; he estimates that even a fairly inexperienced person can do the job in about one hour a week.

Our website is user-friendly and highly informative. At least thirty people visit it each week, and other neighborhoods have been using it as a model.

Do you have some web skills and a little time to give to your community? If so, please send an email to

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