Brian was introduced to me by our mutual friend Stand Dodson (http://www.oaklandphoto.org/neighborhoods#/dimond). Brian has been in the Oak Knoll neighborhood for decades and takes pride not only in his home and his block, but also in maintaining his neighborhood. As you can see, he and his neighbors have some of the best views in Oakland. But that means they also have a lot visitors who don’t always clean up after themselves. That’s where Brian comes in. While it’s not something he enjoys doing, and he has long tried to get the city to be more involved in the process, Brian goes out on a regular basis with gloves and trash bags to pick up garbage. Bottles, wrappers, plastic and needles. He has seen all that and more. This is what Oakland is, an individual here, a family there, or sometimes an entire block, taking it upon themselves to make their community better, cleaner, kinder.
