Spotted in downtown Lafayette at the Hen House.
Spotted in downtown Lafayette at the Hen House.
Don’t you just love the window decorations at David M. Brian in downtown Walnut Creek?
The 2012 National Citizen Survey results are out for Walnut Creek which shows how satisfied people are based on various quality indicators like safety, crime, shopping, parks and more. You can check out the complete report here. The report sorted by zipcode is available here, and sorted by demographics is here. The benchmark comparison report is here.
From the Walnut Creek website:
Residents are overwhelmingly satisfied with the quality of life in Walnut Creek and give high marks to nearly all City services, according to the 2012 National Citizen Survey.
The survey was sent to 2,000 households in early January and 717 surveys were returned. That’s a 37 percent participation rate (after making adjustments for those surveys marked undeliverable by the post office).
Some 96 percent rated the quality of life in Walnut Creek as excellent or good, and 97 percent said they would recommend living in Walnut Creek to someone who asked.
Overall, it looks like people are quite happy with how things are going in Walnut Creek. The main negative thing I found was, “Traffic flow on major streets” which was rather low. What do you like most about Walnut Creek? What’s the one thing that could be improved that would make life in Walnut Creek even better?
Peet’s Coffee recently remodeled their store in downtown Walnut Creek, and moved the bathroom outside. Check out the inside:
The note says:
STOP
Do not turn the handle to lock
Turning the handle indicates that restroom is not in use and available
1. Insert token
2. Enter restroom and let door close
3. After usage, turn handle and exit
If you have to have a note explaining how to use a door lock, you have failed. This is so counter intuitive I don’t know where to begin. Who is more at fault here, the company that makes these locks, or Peet’s for buying and installing them?
From a Walnut Creek press release:
MARCH 21, 2012 — Parking in Walnut Creek is about to get easier with new meters that accept credit cards. More than 1,000 of the meters will be installed throughout the downtown in early April. The easy-to-use meters will accept coins or credit cards, said Matt Huffaker, Assistant to the City Manager.
Parking in Walnut Creek is about to get easier with new meters that accept credit cards. More than 1,000 of the meters will be installed throughout the downtown in early April. The easy-to-use meters will accept coins or credit cards, said Matt Huffaker, Assistant to the City Manager.
The new meters communicate wirelessly, accept secure credit card payments and allow the City to monitor each meter’s status to ensure they are functioning properly.
There will be no paper receipts and no need to remember space numbers. Patrons will simply park, slide their card into the meter and be on their way.
“Installing state-of-the-art parking meters is just the first step towards making parking easier to find and easier to pay for in Walnut Creek,” said Huffaker.
In addition to the new meters, other plans in the works include clearer parking signage and using technology to provide real-time (on- and off-street) parking availability information via smart phones and the Internet.
Reading between the lines, I would be extra careful about being late in getting to your car as I imagine parking enforcement will have an easier time determining who is overstaying their time slot.
Maybe Yogurt Park will be next in accepting credit cards?
Photo by flickr user redyaffle
The Walnut Creek Open Space staff are giving a talk titled, “Why Trees?” from 7 – 8pm this evening at Howe Homestead Park.
We’ll be discussing the facts and fancies about three of the most common trees found in the Open Space — the oak, sycamore and walnut. Learn about the benefits to wildlife from these species as well as cultural information from around the world. We’ll be in the Dutch Kitchen at Howe.
Spotted at a Starbucks in downtown Walnut Creek on N. Main St. and Duncan St. According to the Walnut Creek downtown historic sites page:
Walnut Creek’s first financial institution, the San Ramon Valley Bank, was built in 1908 at the southeast corner of Main and Duncan. The bank left the building after a few years, and the building saw many different uses as an office and retail store before being razed in 1998.
This is what the bank looked like in the beginning:
I can’t believe it was still here as late as 1998. That would have been cool to see.
With a few hours to spare I decided to check out the new 21 Jump Street movie at the Century movie theater in downtown Walnut Creek. The times popped up on Google immediately so I headed out for a 2:25 showing.
I get there and they ring me up for a $14 ticket. For a moment I thought I was hallucinating that I was in Manhattan, because a movie ticket in Walnut Creek can’t be more than $8. And then I remembered about the special XD movie theater with special seats, audio and a larger screen. Not wanting to lose out on seeing the movie I shelled out the $14 and decided to see what’s so special about the XD theater. Would it be worth the extra 75%? Put simply, no way. The theater was rather empty considering it was opening weekend, so I think most people would agree.
Lesson learned: when you check for movie times at the Century theater in downtown Walnut Creek, make sure you steer clear of the XD showings.
Be on the lookout for a toy that looks like a bus as pictured above. In 2007, they were handed out in Antioch, Bay Point, Concord, Pittsburg, Richmond, San Pablo, Martinez and Brentwood, but may have ended up in Walnut Creek and Lafayette. From an email:
Dear Beyond the Creek,
I would like to alert you to a lead contamination health crisis here in CCC involving toys containing up to 2100 ppm (which is 21 times the current federal limit).
This situation was not reported to the general public here in Contra Costa County, CA, and as the danger remains, I feel the public has a right to be more fully informed about the matter. Moreover, it seems that the agency violated the federal Consumer Product Safety Act, which requires that any distributor of hazardous toys involving a recall is required to immediately report it to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They admittedly did not do that, nor did they report it to the State of California public health officials, and it’s not confirmed that they actually informed our county’s lead poisoning office, which may be required by law as well.
Read the rest after the jump
photo by flickr user joeshlabotnik
The City of Walnut Creek is giving out free sandbags:
Free sand and sandbags are available in the parking lots of Heather Farm Community Center, Howe Homestead, Larkey Park and at Lancaster Road at Orchard Lane. Bring your own shovel. See a road hazard due to the rain? Call 943-5854.