“This is just the beginning…” (West Oakland Gentrification)

pstrongResidents, artists and community organizers gather to Clean the Air of West Oakland/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/500/photo_1_feature.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Lani Kent/PoorNewsNetwork /p pPolitically engaged West Oaklanders are focusing their energy on redevelopment issues and a powerful voice has sent vibrations across the community. This past Saturday supplies a good example of the spirit spreading over locals. The Clean Air Festival, hosted by CWOR (Coalition for West Oakland Revitalization) lifted people out of their homes and down to the Mandela Transit Village Parking Lot. /p pPeople performed, children had their faces painted, local ladies served up good food and everyone seemed to know each other. Although the festival’s focus pushed air quality concerns, talk revolved around redevelopment issues. And for good reason. The area around West Oakland BART station is being seriously considered by major development interests. The vision for this location: A transit village. /p pMany are saying, “West Oakland’s time has come,” and dedicated residents are making sure they reap the benefits. Benefits include youth/family development, health/social services, housing, public safety, job development, transportation, land/environment concerns and education. Before the “development” beast moves in, local interests have charged the issue disallowing anyone to make decisions for them./p pThe City of Oakland Community Development Agency (CEDA), Oakland Housing Authority (OHA), and San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) all have their fingers involved in this project. In a study financed by these three groups, the potential problem of displacement topped the list of local concerns. With the gentrification disease spreading across the bridge and working its way through North Oakland, it’s not surprising that locals fear that redevelopment may not mean redevelopment for them./p pAfter contact was made with residents and homeowners in the neighborhood, the study concluded with a commitment to maintain the integrity of locals by making it a better place for current residents to live.br / But did this awareness come to late?/p pBetween January 1997 and June 1999 “21 percent of land parcels in West Oakland changed hands”. This turnover rate is higher than in the city as a whole and means people are buying low and selling high, and then selling again. The rapid turnover can be a serious threat to community stability, and can ultimately displace those who can not afford to buy high. Sixty-five percent of current Oakland residents can not afford an average sized home, 69 percent of Oakland residents cannot afford a slight increase in their rent. So, no matter how good-natured development projections are, unless rent actually levels out or goes down, resident vulnerability will continue grow and displacement will be more likely./p pNot far away from this study, march local coalitions, fighting to ensure development remains in the community’s best interest. “Our #1 issue is the Just Cause Initiative campaign. Right now a rent stabilization plan does not exist and we need to keep the renters in,” said James Thomas, representing the Anti-Displacement Network. /p pTwenty percent of West Oakland residents are homeowners; the other 80 percent are mainly comprised of renters. The need to keep these same renters in West Oakland, and at affordable rents, may prove challenging for this redevelopment project. The study is quoted as saying: “Construction of new affordable income housing, both rental and for-sale, is crucial to preventing the economic displacement of existing residents given the large number of renters and the recent trend of converting rentals to market-rate for-sale units.” /p pSo how can they start preventing long-time residents from selling property to aggressive developers?br / People like Maria Ezcurra-Padilla and Ramon Ariza, who have made their home in West Oakland and have built a realty business in West Oakland, are interested in keeping long-time residents in West Oakland.br / “I love West Oakland and this redevelopment project is not about gentrification. It’s about West Oakland and making it better for the people who live here,” said Ezcurra-Padilla. I only hope these words are true and resonate with other realty companies. Great care must be taken as the community invites new residents to share their streets./p pAccording to Monsa Nitoto, CWOR board member and event coordinator, “New people ARE moving into the community.” And that’s okay, as long as the old people remain. /p pThe West Oakland Community Land Trust, Inc. and The Institute for Community Economics have found ways to keep people in West Oakland. They are offering an “Affordable Housing” workshop on Friday, October 17th at the Poplar Recreation Center. “We need to create a balanced mix of people and make it possible for people who could not otherwise afford it,” said Robert Arnold, presenter of this up coming open forum. He is one of many residents who showed up Saturday, flyers in hand, motivating people to get involved./p pAlthough under-attended, Saturday’s event did bring together many of West Oakland’s political/community leaders. And it appears that these leaders are willing to unite and together explore ways to get the community involved. “In a poor neighborhood…this is what you have to do to educate our folks about the hazards they face,” said Nitoto. /p pThe Clean Air Festival drew attention to the hazardous condition of West Oakland air. West Oakland air has five times more toxic chemicals than the whole of Oakland. As a result, local “children are seven times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma than the average child in the state of California”.br / There were forums on these issues run by several non-profits. Those with mucho information included American Lung Association, East Oakland Recovery Center, City of Oakland Public Works, Communities for Better Environment (CBE), and GreenAction, to name a few./p pSaturday’s intimate event proved successful as information exchanged hands, yet not many hands showed up for the trade. An anti-war rally drew many residents who would have otherwise came through, but the smallness of the crowd did not dampen spirits. Nitoto acknowledged this be saying, “This is just the beginning.” And the beginning it is.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p