Book by nisha malley

Nisha Malley

The Last Orchard

Nisha Malley

The Last Orchard

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To my family for supporting me

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I’d like to thank Elizabeth Geurts-Oren, Rob Rennie, and Edward Morimoto for sharing their experiences and thus contributing to this project. I’d also like to thank Freestyle Academy for supporting me throughout this project and providing me with the resources to pursue my passions.

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The Preface

As a student journalist who loves in-depth reporting and highlighting untold stories within our community, the documentary unit at Freestyle Academy has easily been the most enjoyable and rewarding project of my junior year...

An Introduction

In the heart of technological innovation sits forty acres of farmland known as Yuki Farms...

12 Arriving in America 15

Valley of Heart’s Delight In the 1900s, cultivators of intensive crops, like fruits and nuts, dominated the Santa Clara Valley rather than tech giants...

Tsurumatsu and and his wife Hatsuyo Yuki left Japan for Honolulu, Hawaii in 1898 in search of greater economic opportunity...

18 Reshaping Silicon Valley 22 Living off the Land 26 Conclusion 30 Home on the Farm

When the family settled down at the Los Gatos orchard in the 1940s, the Bay Area had already begun to urbanize rapidly...

The development of Yuki Farms will inevitably change the face of Los Gatos, a small town of 30,000 and home to major media company Netflix...

Elizabeth Geurts-Oren currently lives on Yuki Farms with her husband and two daughters, residing in the original home of the Yuki family...

The notion of preserving the orchard as an homage to California’s agricultural history sounds appealing, Morimoto admitted, but fails in practice, as the town would lose a prime location for housing and source of new revenue from taxation...

Preface As a student journalist who loves in-depth reporting and highlighting untold stories within our community, the documentary unit at Freestyle Academy has easily been the most enjoyable and rewarding project of my junior year. I was drawn toward featuring Yuki Farms, a walnut orchard in Los Gatos, as I wanted to learn more about the local history of the Bay Area. I felt especially tied to this subject as I was born in Los Gatos at Good Samaritan hospital, half a mile from the farm, and many of my childhood memories connect back to the town. I still take piano lessons in Los Gatos every week, located within walking distance from Yuki Farms.

Throughout the project, I definitely faced several setbacks as I struggled to find people willing to speak with me and schedule an interview. Although I knew with a passion that this was the story I wanted to tell, at times I had trouble seeing that vision through. My documentary didn’t come together until the final hour, with barely a week until our publication date. At that point, I still hadn’t found a third interview, and as a result, my documentary lacked information critical to the storytelling.

Somehow, inexplicably, everything fell together perfectly; I managed to conduct last-minute interviews and with some late nights, competed the book text and layout for print.

I enjoyed the entire process of this project. I am a very research-oriented person, and my subject matter in particular has been well-documented by local publications. In addition, there were many nuances to my documentary, such as additional historical context, that allowed to delve deeply with my research. I also appreciated learning more about the housing market in the Bay Area, as it has always been a concerning interest of mine. I’m also proud of the interviews I conducted to contribute to this book. While it was incredibly grueling and at times disheartening to try and connect with people and schedule an interview, I’m very happy with the overall quality of my interviews, as they provided insightful and interesting information relevant to my topic; I truly enjoyed hearing their stories and unique perspectives.

I hope this book tells the story of Yuki Farms well. For me, I’ve learned so much through this project – about the Bay Area’s history, the significance of our local agricultural industry, and the ever-changing landscape of the Silicon Valley.

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Introduction In the heart of technological innovation sits forty acres of farmland known as Yuki Farms.

An outlier among the housing complexes, corporate office, hospitals and malls that spring from the Silicon Valley, this walnut orchard wedged between Highway 17 and 85 speaks to the greatest era of local history, when traditional Yoemen farming flourished.

Owned by the long-time agricultural family the Yukis, the orchard has been an interest for the town of Los Gatos for decades, as they waited for the opportunity to develop the farm.

In 2009, Yuki Farms LLC entered into an agreement with the London-based developer Grosvenor to sell a majority of their land. In August 2017, the town approved for the first phase of construction to begin.

The development known as the North 40 has the opportunity to help relieve housing pressures in the Bay Area and revitalize the town of Los Gatos with added commercial and retail space.

However, the project could come at certain costs, such as traffic, crowded schools, and potentially the loss of the town’s character.

Moreover, the North 40 development necessitates the loss of Yuki Farms, one of the last orchards left in the Bay Area.

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Valley of Heart's Delight In the 1900s, cultivators of intensive crops, like fruits and nuts, dominated the Santa Clara Valley rather than tech giants. The turn of the 20th century met a series of developments that caused an agricultural shift toward smaller-scale, intensive farming operations and ushered in an era of California orchards. First, from 1850 to 1900, the size of farms dropped from 4,000 to 327 acres, as rising land values motivated ranch owners to sell their pieces of their land to farming families. (Chapman) In addition, locals were encouraged to participate in agriculture as farmers developed a better understanding of California agriculture. “When the Gold Rush began, the American occupiers knew little about the region’s soils and climate. As settlement continued, wouldbe farmers learned to distinguish the better soils from poorer soils, the more amply watered land from the more arid, the areas with moderate climates from those suffering greater extremes” (Olmstead and Rhode). With a surge in intensive farming, yields from fruit and nut trees nearly doubled between 1889 and 1919.

Orchard laborers came from diverse ethnic and national backgrounds. In Robin Chapman’s The Lost Orchards of Silicon Valley, Yvonne Jacobson recalled people from San Jose’s Italian American, Chinese American and Japanese American communities

working at her father’s farm, some of whom had acreage of their own. Japanese Americans were noted in particular for gaining vast horticultural knowledge and becoming successful orchard farmers.

American environmentalists and authors travelled to witness the budding industry in the Santa Clara Valley. “The farmers’ houses, surrounded by garden and orchards, appear like beautiful green islands in a golden sea,” wrote historian J.P Munro-Fraser.

As time passed, orchards were lost to urban growth. People flocked to the state, transforming what was once a largely agrarian society into the $2.8 trillion tech neighborhood that exists today.

In 1900, California’s population was 1 million; by 1950, it was over 10. “Housing developments and hospitals were starting to sprout in the orchards. Condominiums, townhouses, malls, technology company headquarters, churches, schools and highways would follow” (Chapman).

California remains an agricultural hub for the country, producing over one third of vegetables and two thirds of fruit and nuts in the United States. Yet, very little orchard land exists in the Bay Area today. Construction of roads, housing, and large technological and business companies have swept away the remnants of the Silicon Valley’s undeveloped land.

The farmers’ houses, surrounded by garden and orchards, appear like beautiful green islands in a golden sea

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Arriving in America Tsurumatsu and and his wife Hatsuyo Yuki left Japan for Honolulu, Hawaii in 1898 in search of greater economic opportunity. “The prospect of maybe doing something better in America was appealing,” said Edward Morimoto, one of the Yuki’s great-grandchildren and current manager of all the family properties.

Moving to the Salinas Valley in California in 1905 after the birth of their first son, Takeo, the Yukis labored in agricultural fields to provide for their family, similar to the many Japanese Americans that were involved in farming at the time. “Most of the Japanese that came to the United States were either farmers or fishermen, or they came to work in the logging industry,” Morimoto said.

Following the path of his parents, Takeo Yuki established an even greater presence in the Salinas, growing up to be a smart and successful businessman and farmer.

He purchased additional parcels and established the Salinas Vegetable Grower-Shipping Association with his partner Tom Bunn. Labeled the “Lettuce Kings”, they rose to prominence as two of the most successful lettuce growers in the valley.

(Bergtold) In addition to hard work and some luck, Morimoto identified Takeo Yuki’s business acumen as what set him apart from his peers and allowed him to achieve success. “We always say with our family, we’re actually pretty lousy farmers,” Morimoto said.

“Although he was a farmer, he really was a businessman, and he really did think about things through that lens.”

Despite their achievements, the Yukis suffered extreme levels of prejudice throughout the 1900s, due to the competition and jealousy surrounding the prosperity of Japanese farmers, according to Morimoto.

In addition, anti-Japanese sentiment arose from existing anti-Asian prejudices that originated from the influx of Chinese Americans to California during the prosperity of the Gold Rush and completion of the transcontinental Union-Central Pacific railroad. Racist hatred of Japanese Americans reached its peak during World War II, when the United States declared war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Executive Order 9066, signed by President Truman, authorized the forcible relocation of people of Japanese ancestry.

The Yuki family was interned to Poston II, Arizona in 1942, where they lived until the end of the war in 1945. That same year, the secretary of the Yuki’s lettuce growing association Austin Anson advocated for internment.

We always say with our family, we’re actually pretty lousy farmers 15

Next page (clockwise from top left): Poston, Arizona. Living quarters of evacuees of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center as seen from the top of water tower facing south west; Preliminary medical examinations are made by Registered Nurse Hosmer upon arrival of evacuees of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center; This bus, bringing evacuees of Japanese ancestry to the Colorado River Relocation center has become sand bound near its destination; Police chief Kiyoshi Shigekawn painting a sign on first police station at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Photos by Fred Clark.

“We’re charged with wanting to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons,” Anson said to the Saturday Evening Post May 9, 1942.

“We might as well be honest. We do. They came into this valley to work and they stayed to take over. If all the Japs were removed tomorrow, we’d never miss them in two weeks, because the white farmer can take over and produce everything the Jap grows. And we don’t want them back when the war ends either.” (Neuburger) Many detained in relocation camps lost their farms, homes, and businesses, in addition the loss of their wages or jobs. The total economic losses amounted to an estimated $6.2 billion.

The people suffered enormous damages, both material and intangible “The [sic] people suffered enormous damages and losses, both material and intangible,” commission Chairwoman Joan Bernstein said in a statement. “Undoubtedly, the ethnic Japanese suffered many other kinds of losses from their lives being uprooted and from their careers and education being disrupted.”

With an honest Caucasian partner, the Yuki family still retained their land and business holdings, but they no longer felt welcome returning to the Salinas Valley. Rather than endure the hostile environment that persisted even after the Second World War, Takeo Yuki purchased orchard land now known as Yuki Farms and brought the family to Los Gatos.

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Poston, Arizona. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry are being registered upon first arrival at this War Relocation Authority center. Photo by Fred Clark. May 10, 1942.

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Home on the Farm When the family settled down at the Los Gatos orchard in the 1940s, the Bay Area had already begun to urbanize rapidly.

Over time, the Yuki family observed neighboring farmers leave their practices and sell their land - some of which the Yukis purchased - as it became increasingly difficult to sustain a farm in a developing town.

However, for Takeo Yuki, he never purchased the Los Gatos orchard with an ultimate goal to farm the land for profit. In fact, the 30-acre orchard was an insignificant parcel compared to the thousands of acres of farming land they retained in the Salinas Valley.

Rather, the orchard was first and foremost the home of Takeo and his wife Miyoko Yuki, who decided to buy the property as a homestead that brought the family together rather than a true farming endeavor.

“The fact that we’ve never viewed it as a farm is the reason why it survived,” Morimoto said.

Everyone living on the farm contributed to the agricultural work. In its early years, they experimented with different crop varieties: apricots, almonds, and grapes among them. For a family that prided themselves in “not being very good farmers,” walnuts eventually proved to be the easiest crop, and the nut stuck.

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In addition to their four children, many of the Yuki’s extended family lived in Salinas Valley and all came to Los Gatos in 1945. Aiko Sato came to the Los Gatos orchard as a child having just been released from internment. Three families with eight children lived in the main home, a large two-story house, she recalled.

“At that time the ranch was isolated; the closest house, I think, was on Shannon, and you’d go up Blossom Hill and look at all the flowering fruit blossoms,” Sato said to the Mercury News, adding that she sometimes still longs for the old Los Gatos. “When I think about houses after houses after houses, it’s just a shame.”

Takeo Yuki would cook for everyone in a house that he converted into a giant kitchen. The internment camp in Poston, Arizona was organized like a prison, with rows and rows of building blocks and a central mess hall where the evacuees congregated for their meals. During his time there, he worked in the kitchen as the block chef, cooking for hundreds of people.

“My grandfather didn’t know how to cook for fewer than

The walnut trees began to bud in late March.

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That farm is the geographic center for the Yuki family 200 people at a time,” Morimoto said. “So he needed a big kitchen. He had giant pots and pans and so forth.”

According to Morimoto, the orchard hasn’t been profitable for decades, since “the farm even stopped paying for itself” in the 1970s. Yet, the family held onto their home for as long as they fiscally could.

“That farm is the geographic center for the Yuki family,” Morimoto said, noting the social importance of the orchard for his family. “I spent a good deal of my childhood on that farm.”

Unfortunately, a problematic issue arises for those with highly-valued real estate when a death in the family occurs.

When a person inherits land from a deceased relative, they must pay an estate tax on the property – approximately 40% of the property’s value.

Moreover, while the Yukis utilize the forty acres for farming purposes, the state values the property based on its “highest and best use.”

“We had this looming problem,” Morimoto said, “in that we have something that makes no money, and that...when the estate tax bill comes due, we’re in the moral equivalent of house poor.”

As such, the family chose to work proactively and look for potential buyers.

“You hope it doesn’t happen for a very long time, because you’re talking about the passing of your family members,” Morimoto said. “But once it happens, you have to do something about it very quickly.”

Reshaping Silicon Valley

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The development of Yuki Farms will inevitably change the face of Los Gatos, a small town of 30,000 and home to major media company Netflix. The North 40 Specific Plan outlines an ambitious plan to create new housing, retail, and commercial space, while still preserving the character and beauty of Los Gatos.

Approved in August 2017, Phase 1 proposes building over 300 high-density housing units, of which over 50 would be senior affordable housing units (Team). The developers of the North 40 – Summerhill Homes and its partners Grosvenor and Eden Homes – hope to break ground within the next few months.

With such a massive project, the North 40 has garnered concern from all corners of the community. Many have resisted the North 40 development, fearing the impacts of a high-density development project in their area: worse traffic, crowded schools, and the loss of Los Gatos’ small-town charm.

However, Mayor Rob Rennie, who has served on town council for four years and is up for reelection this fall, expressed that these concerns, while understandable, lack validity, According to Rennie, stating that the development will actually lead to a reduction in traffic and will not severely impact school density.

Millions will be spent by the North 40 developers on transportation improvements, such bike paths, sidewalks, and additional lanes; and the developers will finance improvements unrelated to the project as well. Furthermore, development team has coordinated with local school districts and has provided

financial relief to accommodate the increase of students resulting from the project.

Rennie believes most of the criticism comes from a small but vocal minority. Yet in a small town of 30,000 where elections can be determined by dozens of votes, small voices can carry a great impact.

“The challenging thing in a small democracy like the town of Los Gatos is everyone has a point of view...and it doesn’t take a lot of people to create meaningful opposition,” Morimoto said.

A major topic of discussion for the North 40 has revolved around the need for additional housing in the Bay Area.

Purchasing a home in the Bay Area has become an increasingly distant dream for many, as the cost of housing rapidly increases in California faster than the rest of the country, surpassing states similarly strained for housing such as New York and Massachusetts.

The McKinsey Global Institute found that 30% of residents in every metropolitan area in California could not afford the rents.

(Daily News) Most solutions to alleviate the region’s growing pains rely on producing high-density housing units. According to a report by McKinsey & Co., California would need to build 3.5 million new homes by 2025 to meet the demand (Villaraigosa).

Morimoto strongly advocated for the town to better take advantage of the North 40 development by building badly-needed homes for Bay Area residents, adding that Los Gatos in particular

Approved August 2017, Phase 1 of the North 40 development clears land to build over 300 housing units and 66,000 square feet of commercial and retail space. From the North 40 Phase 1 plan by Grosvenor Americas, Summerhill Homes, and Eden Housing and submitted to the town of Los Gatos.

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Purchasing a home has become increasingly challenging given the bay’s desirable market.

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is behind in producing its “fair share of housing.”

“I actually had wished that a lot more housing had been used.

I am in that camp that believes that we in California and the Bay Area in particular has a bonafide crisis on its hands,” Morimoto said. “We are literally threatening the economic vitality of the Bay Area, because if people can’t afford to live here...all of these bright, talented, hard-working people who have been flocking to the Silicon Valley for the last 20 years are going to start going to other places.”

High-density projects can help to create more housing, but it comes at a cost for the those that desire higher living standards. Many people are leaving the Bay Area in exodus, and a large number of millenials question their future in California.

According to a 2017 Bay Area Council poll, 40% of Bay Area residents said they want to leave the area in the next few years, with younger inhabitants polling at 46%. “The stories were wrong that millennials wanted to live in a hyper-urban environment and that it would be OK to raise families in a condo,” said Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Council’s Economic Institute. “When they have a family, they want what their parents had: a house on a nice lot pretty close to work.” (qdt. in Avalos)

While Rennie acknowledged the need for housing in the Bay Area, he countered that the responsibility should not fall on towns like Los Gatos to build high-density projects.

According to Rennie, Los Gatos lacks the infrastructure and transportation systems necessary to support large population growth. Furthermore, he believes in constructing housing in the cities that also create jobs, as to reduce long commutes, traffic, and smog pollution.

“We’re not a town that’s trying to grow,” Rennie said.

“Change is going to happen. We need to manage the change, but Los Gatos tries to resist growing at the same rate as the rest of the valley is.”

Responding to the backlash the North 40 has received for proposing housing development, Morimoto said that Los Gatos residents need to welcome new housing projects into their area.

“Your average Los Gaton is 75 years old, has lived there for thirty years [and] likes it as a quiet, sleepy town,” Morimoto said.

“They love the orchard, and they couldn’t give a damn about the housing crisis. They’re not concerned that people can’t live here and that eventually, the people who serve them food in restaurants aren’t going to be here anymore.”

Yuki Farms itself experienced the difficulty of hiring workers for manual labor under the area’s expensive real estate conditions.

According to Morimoto, their one farm hand currently lives in one of the very few available government-subsidized homes in Los Gatos, which has allowed him and his family to stay near the orchard.

“Labor is getting more expensive. Land is getting more expensive,” Morimoto said. “Again, one of the many reasons why you don’t see any farms around here [anymore].”

The Bay Area in particular has a bonafide crisis on its hands

Living off the Land

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Born and raised in the Netherlands, Elizabeth Geurts-Oren currently lives on Yuki Farm in the Yuki family’s original home, with her husband and two daughters. She works at the Youth Science Institute in Los Gatos part-time, providing educational activities for elementary students on class field trips.

Elizabeth Geurts-Oren currently lives on Yuki Farms with her husband and two daughters, residing in the original home of the Yuki family. She works at the Youth Science Institute in Los Gatos part-time, providing educational activities for elementary students on class field trips. Born and raised in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Geurts-Oren moved to the United States four and a half years ago after her husband accepted a job offer from Google, a technology company based in Mountain View, California. His employer offered the couple a three month stay in corporate housing until they could find permanent residency. Surprisingly, after only a month, they “lucked out” and found their ideal home.

“It feels like we’re living in the countryside, but we’re still very close to [Highway] 85 and 17, so it’s very convenient,” Geurts-Oren said of the house, which lays tucked away hundreds of feet inside the orchard. “It’s really nice for the kids because they can play outside without having to worry about traffic or strange people roaming around. It’s all very safe.”

The search started on Craigslist. Geurts-Oren sifted through endless listings for apartment complexes, instead seeking out an individual house with a yard, and assembled a list of top choices. Yet, just as fast as she could identify potential homes, real estate was taken off of the market.

“If you saw a posting in the morning,” Geurts-Oren described, “by the time you called at one pm, it was already rented out to someone.”

It feels like we’re living in the countryside, but we’re still close to [Highway] 85 and 17

Dealing with an incredibly high turnover rate for real estate in the desirable Bay Area, Geurts-Oren faced disappointment when every home had been rented out except for the last choice on her list. According to GeurtsOren, this Craigslist advertisement showcased an unstaged, old house near two highways and off of a major street with high traffic.

“There were no pictures of the yard, no pictures of the orchard at all,” she recalled.

When she and her husband finally visited the location, they were happily astonished with what they found; and with so little competition for the quietly advertised home, they had the luxury of revisiting the home once more before making their final decision.

“So that’s how we found it,” she said. “This inconspicuous posting on Craigslist.”

Geurts-Oren has enjoyed the home and all it offers open space, proximity to work, privacy, and beautiful vistas - though her time here may be short-lived. “I feel like I’m in southern France everytime I drive in here,” she said.

The view of the Geurts-Oren family home as seen from the backyard.

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I try to be blissfully ignorant so I don’t have to worry about when we move out Given her home’s location within orchard, the GeurtsOren family will not be affected by the development until the second phase of the project begins, which could take up to a few years. However, when construction does start, she knows that she will have to find a new place to live.

“There’s no way stopping it,” Geurts-Oren said. “I try to be blissfully ignorant so I don’t have to worry about when we will have to move out.”

She experienced the immense housing pressures unique to Silicon Valley when she and her husband searched for their first home in the Bay Area. Knowing that finding a nice, affordable home comparable to the experience of living on an orchard will be near impossible, Geurts-Oren instead has been considering moving back to the Netherlands after she moves out. “I can’t imagine finding a house that’s as nice as this one here,” she said.

While Geurts-Oren feels it is a pity to see the orchard disappear, she said she understands why it will happen. “I mean, walnuts or lots of houses?” Geurts-Oren said.

She also acknowledged that very few people can enjoy the orchard other than its residents, as Yuki Farms is a private property. Some local orchard land has been preserved as heritage sites or opened to the public, such as the Emma Prusch orchard in San Jose. Yet Yuki Farms remains one of the very few fully-operating farms in the Santa Clara valley.

“It used to all be orchards,” she said, “but this one of the last ones left in California.”

Conclusion The notion of preserving the orchard as an homage to California’s agricultural history sounds appealing, Morimoto admitted, but fails in practice, as the town would lose a prime location for housing and source of new revenue from taxation.

“What people don’t realize is the town of Los Gatos absolutely does not want it to be a park. They don’t have the money to maintain another park [and] a park doesn’t make them any money,” Morimoto said. “Certainly you want to do things for your community, but these things are not without cost.”

Fortunately, the North 40 Specific Plan ensures the preservation of some elements of the orchard. For example, the red barn, deemed a structure of historical significance that represents the area’s agricultural history, must be incorporated into the development.

Morimoto also said that before the developers clear the land for construction, the walnut trees will be made available to any locals interested in taking one.

Most importantly, the Yukis retained about 20 acres of orchard land located on the other side of Highway 17 that will not be included in the development.

Morimoto said that he has “no plans for that to be anything but orchard for the foreseeable future,” adding that selling part of the orchard provides the Yuki family with the fiscal means to preserve the other 20 acres for another generation or two.

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Works Cited Avalos, George. “Housing, Traffic Woes Stoke Urge to Flee Bay Area, New Poll Shows.” The Mercury News, The Mercury News, 31 Mar. 2017, https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/30/housing-traffic-woes-stoke-urge-to-flee-bay-area-new-poll-shows/ Bergtold, Peggy Conaway, and Stephanie Ross. Mathews. Legendary Locals of Los Gatos, California. Legendary Locals, 2014.

Chapman, Robin. California Apricots: The Lost Orchards of the Silicon Valley. History Press,

2013.

Daily News. “California’s Housing Crisis - It’s Even Worse than You Think.” Daily News, Daily News, 28 Aug. 2017, www.dailynews.com/2017/08/28/californias-housing-crisis-its-even-worse-than-you-think/.

Geurts-Oren, Elizabeth. Personal Interview. 14 March 2018.

Morimoto, Edward. Personal Interview. 2 May 2018.

Neuburger, Bruce. Lettuce Wars: Ten Years of Work and Struggle in the Fields of California.

Monthly Review Press, 2013.

Olmstead, Alan L, and Paul W Rhode. “A History of California Agriculture .” University of California, Davis, University of California, Davis, Dec. 2017.

Peterson, Judy. “Aiko Sato Remembers Old Los Gatos, but Appreciates the New Days.” The Mercury News, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2014, https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/03/26/aiko-sato-remembers-old-los-gatos-but-app reciates-the-new-days/.

Rennie, Rob. Personal Interview. 28 March 2018.

---. Personal Interview. 4 May 2018.

Team, Dawn Thomas. “The North 40 Battle Continues.” Silicon Valley and Beyond, The Dawn Thomas Team Http://Www.siliconvalleyandbeyond.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/svab_logo-1.Png, 10 Nov. 2017, www.siliconvalleyandbeyond.com/north-40-battle-continues/.

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Villaraigosa, Antonio. “A Solution to California’s Housing Crisis - Reinstate Redevelopment.”

San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Sept. 2017,

www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/A-solution-to-California-s-housing-crisi

s-12235876.php.

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About the Author Nisha Malley is a junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She is passionate about journalism and the use of media to tell stories. She greatly values the technical skills she has developed as a Digital Media and Design student, from photography to website and print design to music production and motion graphics. Outside of class, she loves to spend time with her cats and her family, compose music, and write for the student newspaper.

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Nisha Malley

The Last Orchard