Photo by Flickr user tinaxduzgen
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!
More than a few heads were turned as Santa was spotted window shopping the other day in Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek.
Thanks to a reader for pointing out that the Plaza Escuela parking garage in downtown Walnut Creek (where The Cheesecake factory is located) now has parking meters on the ground level. This has particular relevance since the Walnut Creek City Council voted last week to increase street parking to $2 per hour and eliminate free parking on Sundays (beginning this Spring). Is this the beginning of the end of free parking in downtown Walnut Creek?
This week the Walnut Creek City Council approved a plan to double parking meter rates in downtown Walnut Creek to $2 per hour, charge on Sundays, extend the meter time from 6pm to 8pm, and increase parking meters outside of core downtown locations according to this article in the Contra Costa Times.
On the other hand, the first hour when parking within city-owned garages will be free which is nice, and the meters will begin at 10am instead of 9am. The increased revenue will support downtown programs and there will be more metered spaces available when you do need them.
I can only imagine how packed the free garages will become when this takes effect in the Spring. It’s not going to be pretty in which case I may have to think about trying out the city garages and try to get out within an hour. So do you support the parking meter changes approved by the Walnut Creek City Council?
The Lafayette Community Park, located at 480 St. Marys Rd. in Lafayette is home to one of the great tree swings in all of Lamorinda. The tree you see above is really quite massive, and if you look really closely at the photo above you may be able to spot a kid enjoying a swing ride. Take a look at a close-up below for a better look. Suspended high up in the air on a solid branch, the simple wooden slat for sitting allows one to hang on while swinging like Tarzan.
When you enter the park there are a couple of small playgrounds which are quite interesting as well. To get to the swing you’ll need to take a walk around the baseball field at left up a hundred meters or so until you reach the swing. Who has been to this swing before? Is this the coolest tree swing or what?!
It took almost 50 years but the Caldecott tunnel finally has its fourth bore, allowing traffic to pass through two tunnels in each direction, Orinda – Oakland.
From the project site:
Saturday morning, November 16, 2013 at 4:10 a.m. the first vehicles drove through the new, two-lane, 3300-foot-long Fourth Bore of the Caldecott Tunnel. The long-planned $417 million project provides congestion relief to residents and workers in the East Bay, and brings to an end the daily process of switching the traffic direction of the third bore to accommodate travel between Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
The new Fourth Bore features wide travel lanes, roadway shoulders, bright lighting, emergency exits along the length of the tunnel, and state-of-the-art fire and life safety systems. The tunnel’s incident detection and response systems underwent extensive testing before Caltrans began the traffic realignment needed for the new State Route 24 lane configuration utilizing the Fourth Bore.
Years ago when I used to live in Oakland and work in Concord I would dream about that fourth bore opening while waiting to get through, so it’s really amazing that it’s finally happened. Has anyone noticed a difference in their commute time?
Photo from Caldecott Tunnel project
1511 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Walnut Creek
Last year I wrote about possibly the most amazing part of downtown Walnut Creek, the secret koi garden behind Va de Vi on Mt. Diablo Blvd, and now the restaurant has a new, smaller koi pond similar to the koi pond next to Sasa on N. Main St. Also note the wine barrel menu display, looks great.
If you haven’t been to the koi pond in back you need to go, it’s incredible! The koi are HUGE and it’s very serene back there. While we were watching the koi swim around, numerous people wandered by and were amazed by what they saw.
This Macy’s Christmas window display in Broadway Plaza has been up well before Halloween and a reader writes in:
It is all Christmas and has been like that for two weeks now. Can you get a photo of it and do a poll to see how many folks think it is too early seeing that it is before Halloween AND Thanksgiving?
So do you think it’s too early for Christmas window displays? If so, what’s the best time to start displaying?
Spotted in downtown Walnut Creek at the Second to None consignment shop. I know I’ve seen this character before. Is it Disney related? Who is it?
