Council makes it official — Bob Johnson Park

It’s official — Bob Johnson Park. The city council voted last Wednesday to name Lodi’s newest park after the late city councilman.

There was plenty of competition for whose name would be affixed to the park. About 13 official nominations were submitted to the city for consideration. There were scores more that people suggested in a social media forum.

The park is located in the new Avalon subdivision, west of Lower Sac between Harney and Century. It is kind of ironic that a park would be named after Johnson. Years ago, before he was an elected official, Bob was a vocal critic of the city naming parks after individuals, deserving as they may be. Johnson spent 15 years on the city council, serving three terms as mayor. He also served for years on the Parks and Rec Commission. He died in February 2020.

COVID-CANCELED: The Lodi Street Faire is normally held in May and October in downtown Lodi. But not this year. The Chamber of Commercesponsored event has been canceled for May, according to Chamber president Pat Patrick. He says the problem is finding a suitable venue where the crowd size can be controlled, plus vendors aren’t too anxious to be around large crowds. Patrick is hoping restrictions are loosened by October so the fall event can be held as scheduled. … The annual Farmers Market could also be canceled if a new venue isn’t found. Patrick says they’ve asked the city for permission to hold the market at Lodi Lake, which could work, but no answer has yet been received, he says. Stay tuned. … STOP THE PRESSES! This just in: the Lodi Grape Festival is planning to host a series of outdoor markets at the fairgrounds starting this spring, according to Festival Manager Mark Armstrong. The first one is scheduled for April, followed by one in May and June. The markets will feature crafts, antiques and commercial vendors. Sounds kind of like the Street Faire. Armstrong says the events will be smaller than the Chamber of Commerce events. … Ann Voegele really knows how to live it up. She recently had knee replacement surgery and is now laid up in a local facility, recovering. But she’s worried her friends don’t know what’s happened to her. So, she’s asked granddaughter Katie Jay to pass the word among her friends that she is just “vacationing” at Fairmont Rehab. Just shows how desperate people are to get out of the house.

COMING SOON: There has been keen interest in what is going in the old Salisbury’s Market space at Lower Sac and Turner. Well, it’s a new grocery store, named Valley Food Market, according to the city’s Community Development Director John Della Monica.

Salisbury’s was an anchor tenant in the Woodlake Shopping Center for years. But things went terribly wrong after Bruce Salisbury sold the place. Two separate fires broke out within hours of each other on Oct. 15, 2011. One firefighter was injured. The three new owners of the store were later accused of arson, but the district attorney eventually dropped the charges.

The owners reportedly had a $1 million insurance policy on the market, but struggled to collect more than $500,000 in damages. The space has remained empty for the past 10 years. Neighborhood residents are thrilled that another market is opening there.

GOOD EATS: To date, the city has plowed $7.8 million into the Great Plates Delivered program, which provides three hot meals a day to 504 elderly or vulnerable people in Lodi. The program has been running since last May. The meals are cooked up and delivered by five participating Lodi restaurants. The city says they should be reimbursed for most, if not all, of the cost by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. … Papapavlo’s new restaurant on the corner of School and Lockeford in Lodi is finally open. The new place has been in development for about two years. Owners Andy and Jennifer Pappas were ready to open late last year, but the COVID restrictions pushed the opening into this year. The restaurant was supposed to open a couple weeks ago, but a problem with their new oven caused a delay. The Corner Scone on School, formerly named Mad Dog and Pepper bakery café, should be opening next door soon.

OUCH: Residents of Stockton were recently told that they will be fined for overfilling their garbage cans or throwing nonrecyclables into their recycling carts. Sound familiar? We’re next. Lodi Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys confirmed that Lodi residents will also start being dinged for refuse infractions as soon as this fall. “We are tentative for 4th quarter this calendar year, however there are a number of steps involved prior to initiating the program,” Keys says.

One of those steps is a public education campaign that will inform people about proper garbage etiquette — what’s ok and what’s not. Commercial and industrial customers around here have been subject to the penalty fees for more than a year. Last time we checked the city had billed commercial customers hundreds of thousands in penalty fees. Why, you ask? “Dirty” recyclables can’t be sold and wind up in the dump. It’s a whole new recycling world than when the program started some 30 years ago. The city’s refuse hauler Waste Management serves both Stockton and Lodi, among many other locations.

GOOD OL’ DAYS: Someone posted on social media an old 1970s menu from the Woolworth lunch counter, which Garold Murray forwarded on. Here’s a sampling: a roast beef dinner would cost you a buck ten. A roast turkey dinner cost 95cents, likewise a meatloaf dinner and the fried fish platter. A hot beef sandwich would run you a dollar. The luncheon special, which included baked macaroni, vegetable, cole slaw, roll and butter, a dessert and beverage, would set you back 99cents.

Back in the day, there was a Woolworth variety store in every town and burg, including Lodi. The store here was located right across the street from the post office. Their lunch counter was popular with downtown merchants and shoppers alike. The Lodi store closed about 25 years ago and has since become Woolworth Place with a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Mokelumne Brew House, a pottery-making studio, and offices upstairs.

LAST LAUGHS: Sterlie Kruse Eaves writes, “Coffee is my duct tape, it fixes everything.” … Here are a couple more roadside signs spotted by Lowell Flemmer: “My relationship with whiskey is on the rocks;” and, “To be frank I’d have to change my name.”

———