Publication Date: Wednesday, December 03, 2003
EAST PALO ALTO
Council seeks to fulfill 'the promise'
Council seeks to fulfill 'the promise'
(December 03, 2003) City hopes to find homes for social service agencies
by Don Kazak
There's a new home on the horizon for more than a dozen of East Palo Alto's social service agencies, fulfilling a commitment made several years ago.
"When we recycled Whiskey Gulch, there was a promise to relocate the agencies," said Councilman Duane Bay. "I'm looking at it as 'the promise' when I talk about it out in the community."
The City Council voted unanimously last week to find a master developer to coordinate development of the block into a single plan, bringing together multiple property owners and the agencies themselves. It's the first step to getting a plan approved to redevelop the large, 17-acre block bounded by Bay Road, Clarke and Pulgas avenues, and Weeks Street.
Some of the agencies have been in temporary homes since they were forced to leave Whiskey Gulch several years ago to make way for the University Circle development project.
The gleaming office towers were a big step forward for the city economically, but also left the low-budget agencies that help the poorest of the city's residents scrambling.
The dream is to a have a unified development of service agencies on the block, with common parking areas. "Most of them serve the same clients," said Nevida Butler, executive director of the Ecumenical Hunger Program, "so it's one-stop shopping. For people with limited transportation, it will be a help."
Other elements of the plan, some of which are more tentative than others, include:
* The South County Community Health Clinic would build a 40,000-square-foot facility.
* A 10,000-square foot clinic for mental health and family services.
* A 10,000-square-foot center for Free at Last, the alcohol and substance abuse program.
* A 1,600-square-foot center to be shared by the Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Pacific Islander Outreach, New Perspectives, El Concilio's Health Outreach, and One East Palo Alto.
* A 60,000-square-foot Opportunities Industrialization Center West (OICW), a job-training center currently located in eastern Menlo Park.
* A 12,000-square-foot community center and theater for cultural events.
* A 28,000-square-foot facility for The Ecumenical Hunger program.
* A 41,200 square-feet of space for other, smaller nonprofit agencies.
In addition, the development could include about 180 housing units and about 38,000 square feet of ground-floor retail shops.
"The goal is to work constructively with the city to make something good happen," said Ken Alsman, the executive director of the Ravenswood Shores Business District, a group of 17 property owners in the city's industrial area, which includes the Bay-Pulgas-Clarke-Weeks block and extends out Bay Road.
Putting the nonprofit agencies together -- besides making it easier for clients, would also help revitalize a part of town scheduled for additional redevelopment.
"We want the Ravenswood business district to not be a cut-off part of town," Bay said. "So we need the foot traffic, we need the housing."
The block slated for the nonprofits is also close to the Four Corners site at University Avenue and Bay Road slated for a possible supermarket, which would further attract people to the area.
There is resounding support so far for the plan for the nonprofits, Bay said.
Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com
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