23rd Avenue Corridor Action Team

23^rd Avenue Corridor Action Team
February 25, 2002
EBAYC

Attending: David Kakishiba, Isabel Toscano, Elena Serrano, Jennie Mollica, Mariano Jauco, Fred Blackwell, Libby Schaaf, Wendy Simon, Jessica Pitt

Agenda

Updates
EBAYC / SACDC Report
Service Delivery System Team Follow-up
Data Needs for the 23^rd Ave. Corridor
Next Steps

I. Updates

Urban Ecology will come to the March 25^th meeting to discuss a land use/physical planning process for the 23^rd Ave. Corridor.
The building on 23^rd Avenue, behind the Bank of America building, is going on the market. There is retail space on the ground floor and housing on the second floor.
The Lighthouse Charter School is exploring a one year lease on the Bank of America building.
Two parcels that are part of the Garcia building are on the market.
YEP now has architectural drawings for the façade design. Their board is meeting later in the week to approve them. They are looking into a grant for a mural.
The City is sponsoring an Earth Day clean-up on April 20^th. A neighborhood group has to sponsor the clean-up. The group will adopt a staying area as a central gathering place. Garfield has been a successful site in the past. David suggested that this event could be a call to action. There could be build-up activities—such as going door-to-door with flyers or a structured walk through 2 weeks ahead of time.

II. EBAYC/SACDC UpdateEBAYC

The Garfield Parents Council met on Feb. 14. Approximately 45 parents attended. They identified the following concerns:

Safety

Cleanliness around Garfield

Speeding—they plan to petition for speed bumps

Desire for crossing guards

School bathrooms are a problem

Their discussion shifted to the 23^rd Ave. corridor. Parents have a great deal of interest and concern about the Corridor. In particular, they are concerned about:

Loitering

Robberies

Prostition

Twelve parents signed-up to do a neighborhood walk through, like the one led by the SDS Team, on March 6 at 4pm.

EBAYC is working on a draft survey for door-to-door outreach campaign.

SACDC

Casey has decided to fund them for a full-time merchant organizer. They have posted the job and are still collecting applications.

III. SDS Team Follow-Up

The SDS Team reviewed the list that was generated during the walk through. They divided the list between economic issues and physical blight issues. Many of the problems that were identified are code compliance issues. The person in charge of sidewalks is making a list of problem sidewalks and will issue notices to property owners. They were very concerned about the junk in front of the International Appliance Store on International Blvd. The team hasn’t yet decided how to deal with the problem of appliances on the sidewalk, but they are working on it.

The SDS Team is developing a work plan for the next six months. For the most part, the SDS Team can take on small projects, but they are not a vehicle for big systems change. Some issues may be better handled by the Collaborative. There was a question about whether the 23^rd Ave. Work Group could have input into the SDS Team’s priorities. It was decided that the SDS Team will come back to the group with a work plan, and they can provide additional feedback. Question for the Collaborative is how can they fill in the gaps in the areas that the SDS Team can’t cover.

Libby expressed the concern that the City has a lot of punitive powers, but we may not want to use them up front. Instead of sending code enforcement, we could send the Fire Marshal, who doesn’t have the authority to fine. We may want to work with less punitive measures first. It would be useful to get presentations from the different City departments so that the group understands what they do and what their powers are.

There was a suggestion to hold a Citizen’s Academy in the neighborhood as part of the organizing approach. The Academy could be tailored to the issues raised through the organizing process.

The SDS Team will present their work plan to the work group at the March 25^th meeting. The work group can then decide how they want to fill the gaps. Fred asked that the SDS Team identify short and long term priorities, which may give the work group a better sense of what to work on.

IV. Data Needs for the 23^rd Ave. Corridor

The group brainstormed the following data needs:

There are a lot of liquor stores in the neighborhood. The group could use data on the number of liquor stores, how many have been cited by ADC, the transfer of business licenses, etc.
Crime rates in the immediate neighborhood
Data that would be useful for the organizing effortProfile of residents
History of the commercial district
Ownership patterns—absentee landlords
How many people are living in blighted buildings so we can know what replacement housing is needed
General information on existing conditions in the Corridor
Drugs and prostitution in the neighborhood
Where are services for the homeless

The group needs to find out what data the residents want. We need general data on the Corridor, but also in depth data.

The group agreed that crime data is essential: what kinds of crime are prevalent, what time of day are they committed, what is the age of the people involved, etc.

V. Next Steps

The data discussion points to the need to have a clearer sense of what the 23^rd Avenue Work Group is doing. How can they be strategic in taking on projects. We should spend the next couple of meeting discussing short-term actions. We need a discussion about what the organizations around the table have to offer to a strategy.