My kids and I had a great dinner at last week and I was struck by how much the intersection of Oak Grove and Lavista has changed in just a few years. For years we used the parking lot of the closed Village Market as a meeting spot, a place for groups to meet up for outings... because we could leave all our cars in the empty parking lot and carpool! Today we've got Napoleon's, , , , a new package store, a gym and the Dollar Store! If we could just get the gas station back up and running we'd be batting 1000.
The upcoming construction work on the Oak Grove/Lavista intersection is generating a bit of conversation, but I think the concept of straightening out that intersection can only be a good thing! I think there's still opportunity for public input at some level, but I believe work will start on that next year.
On another note, I've been most impressed the last few years with the power and activism of this neighborhood, particularly around school issues. We got through the redistributing issues last year, but now we need to look at the proposed school board changes that could leave our area with less representation than we deserve. More on that to come!