Dear Neighbors,

Thank you for making the City Council’s bike ride through the park an overwhelming success!  It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, and Orchard Grove has never looked better.  Many people went out of their way to have their homes and yards looking spectacular.  Over 85% of our homes had “YES! Save Salvar Orchard Grove” signs proudly displayed.  And it was great seeing everyone outdoors enjoying our community.

Council members on the bike tour were Matt Applebaum, Angelique Espinoza, and Deputy Mayor Crystal Gray, along with several family members.

We had 15 homes for open houses, and the council were able to stop by a few, though unfortunately not all.  Even though they could not visit every individual home, our willingness to share our homes impressed them.  It was the same as our going all together to the last City Council meeting -- not all of us got to speak, but our sheer numbers said volumes.  They truly felt our warmth, with so many open house balloons;  and they saw the extent of our support for Saving Orchard Grove.

In fact, Sunday night may have been a turning point in the way City Council views our community.  Thank you everyone for all the effort and neighborly love that made it happen – you are what makes Orchard Grove the special place that it is.

-- The Orchard Grove Conservancy

Here are some stories from the Bike Tour:

The whole group stopped by my back yard and talked for almost a half hour.  They enjoyed the fresh strawberry parfaits that one of our teenagers, Lila Eifler, had made for them.  We shared our stories of what this beautiful place has meant to us all, disabled, elderly, alternative-types, and kids.  We told them we were meeting 2-3 times per week to work on the issues.  We told them about our commitment to integrating our Hispanic neighbors.  They said they'd heard that Orchard Grove residents opposed rezoning back in 1985 (when all the other parks were protected) because Lu had threatened them, and asked if we had heard that too -- so we read Lu's 1985 letter threatening retaliation if residents didn't oppose it, and they asked me to send them a copy of it.  Matt Applebaum was pleasant but neutral.  Crystal Gray was completely, wonderfully enthusiastic.  Angelique Espinoza said she was "behind us 110%."  Angelique also said that it was one of the most moving things she had ever seen, when so many of us came to the City Council meeting, and she asked us to extend her invitation to all our Hispanic neighbors to contact her personally.  The deer family wandered lazily by, and they laughingly asked us how we got the deer to appear on cue.  It was a wonderful visit.  -- Rita Bowman