November 14, 2003

Mr. Alex Hahn
80 Grand Ave., Suite M
Oakland, CA 94612

Dear Mr. Hahn:

I am writing to you on behalf the Grand Lake Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) concerning your plans to improve the Kwik Way property. I am Andy Usher, co-chair of the council.

As you may know, NCPC's exist throughout the city, and are the cornerstone of Oakland's Community Policing Initiative. In addition to public safety and crime, NCPC's undertake and support projects that address quality of life issues such as blight, litter and public nuisance. For example, Grand Lake NCPC members are responsible for the installation of new lighting in the Morcom Ampitheater of Roses, and construction of the new traffic rotary to be located at the intersection of Elwood Ave., Jean St., and Santa Clara Ave. In these efforts, we work in concert with organizations such as the Lake Shore BID and Grime Busters.

At our last NCPC meeting, Mary Ellen Navas and Bob Archibald of Grime Busters briefed the membership on your plans to upgrade the Kwik Way property. Since problems associated with the property: blight, litter, discarded food, loitering, unruly behavior, etc., have been topics at previous meetings, we were excited to hear that you are taking steps to improve the situation.

Mary Ellen and Bob indicated that the centerpiece of your plan is to locate a national fast food chain willing to replace Kwik Way as the property tenant.

At the conclusion of the briefing, the major concerns expressed by the membership were whether the new tenant would take positive steps to correct the problems noted above, and whether a national franchise would generate a large volume of non-neighborhood vehicular traffic in an already congested area. As such, we would like to set up a meeting with you to discuss your plans and to talk about how we might participate as you select a tenant and proceed with you plans. Since I understand you are moving quickly, I request that we meet prior to a lease being signed.

I can be reached at 510-409-0445. I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Hahn!

Sincerely,

Andy Usher
Co-chair, Grand Lake NCPC