July 2, 2017 | A Happy Holiday Weekend

Friends and neighbors:

Just a note to say that happily, Berkeley’s landmark fountain is flowing again this weekend. Many thanks to the City of Berkeley staff, led by parks maintenance supervisor Bruce Pratt, for their help in draining and refilling the fountain after the most recent vandalism. We hope this will be the last incident for some time. As we’ve noted in previous posts (you can find them below), vandalism is not a harmless crime and affects all of us. And we are looking into measures to try to mitigate or prevent further problems. Stay tuned…

Also many thanks to our monthly volunteer cleanup crew, led by new coordinators Steve Weindel and Jim Reynolds. A number of volunteers turned out Saturday, July 1, and made spiffing up The Circle and Fountain Walk a part of their holiday weekend. If you are interested in taking part in the future, our standard cleanup day is the first Saturday of every month, starting around 9 a.m. No special skills are required; just elbow grease and a desire to pitch in as needed with weeding, raking, sweeping, etc.

We hope everyone has a safe and pleasant Fourth of July.

Check back on this blog for updates on the pending improvement projects slated for The Circle later this summer.

— Michael Gray for the FOFW Board