Today she renewed her commitment to protecting the most vulnerable people in her city and that, she said, starts with offering them affordable housing. The mayor was at a groundbreaking ceremony in the Fruitvale district where long-time activists Arabella Martinez was being honored. Martinez was instrumental in transforming the Fruitvale District, a largely Hispanic neighborhood in Oakland.
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In the early 90s, nearly half of the businesses on International Boulevard were boarded up.
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"And we were able to say well what we're going to do is re-vitalize the Fruitvale economically, physically and socially, " said Martinez.
She and others took on Bart which wanted to build a four-story parking lot to protect riders from the once crime-infested Fruitvale.
"She stood up and said BART should not be protecting its riders from this community, it should be benefiting this community, " Mayor Schaaf told a group of people who attended today's ceremony.
BART sold the land to the city of Oakland which then helped to create a public and private partnership to build affordable housing for seniors and in the Fall of 2019 a four-story apartment building will serve about 400 residents appropriately named "Casa Arabella."
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"Primarily townhouses for families and 21 of the units are reserved for formerly homeless veterans, " explained Chris Iglesias of the Unity Council the non-profit which has led the effort to make this project a reality.
Just across the street another public and private venture will go up, which will have even more units, 185.
Besides housing, that project will include office space for non-profit organizations in the neighborhood and an urgent care clinic.
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