San Pablo Ave Community Newspaper Edition 1

What is this newspaper?

by The San Pablo Ave Community News Team

Welcome to the first edition of the San Pablo Avenue Community Newspaper! This newspaper is a group effort, put together by a team of San Pablo Avenue area residents and creative partners. We have been working together to investigate and share current events and resources, celebrate local history and culture, and organize neighbors to get involved in shaping the place where they live. Please join our design and editorial team, or contribute content for future editions! Email rrobichaud@ebaldc.org or call/text 510-519-8985 to learn more.

Holding Spaces

by SPARC

Formed in 2014, SPARC is working to improve the neighborhoods along, and surrounding, the San Pablo Ave Corridor for the benefit of long-time and low-income residents. The partnership is dedicated to increasing community and resident control around San Pablo Ave.

SPARC is moving towards this goal by prioritizing Holding Spaces. In recent months there have been significant new developments around San Pablo Avenue—and some sad losses, including the closure of Community Foods Market and other neighborhood businesses. Major infrastructure and community-serving building projects are being planned for our area as well. SPARC works to redefine how space is used along San Pablo Ave and create a path that increases our efforts to produce, preserve and sustain affordable spaces for community based businesses, resources and affordable housing along the corridor.

The Holding Spaces workgroup provides a coordination and info-sharing space for community-centered development around San Pablo Ave. The Holding Spaces workgroup is currently made up of residents and stakeholders. If you’re interested in learning more about this workgroup and ways to get involved, please contact us at sparcoakland.org/contact or sign up for the newsletter at sparcoakland.org/newsletter.

The home of the Warrior’s iconic fan, Lloyd Canamore, is in trouble again.

The famous blue and gold house, where Steph Curry once danced in a music video, drew attention in 2020 when it was in jeopardy of being taken by the bank. A Go Fund Me account was set up at that time by a generous neighbor and it raised $287,230 in donations. An attempt was made by the Warriors to secure additional funds for the revamping of the house, but that deal did not come to light.

Canamore moved into the family house with his three brothers and his mom when he was eight years old. He began selling peanuts and hot dogs at the Coliseum during the Warriors’ games when he was in tenth grade. After work he would spend time with the team and other vendors getting to form a bond and special a connection with the team.

Canamore went through a hard time in 1997 when he lost his only son, Lloyd Canamore, Jr. Canamore was so distressed he lost track of himself for a few years. However, his loyalty to his mom brought him to his senses and he returned home clean and sober. It was only after the death of his last two brothers that a friend offered to paint his house for free and the blue and gold Warriors’ house was born.

He and his mom greeted everyone as they passed, on the road or on the street, laughing and taking selfies. Recently, Lloyd’s mom passed away and he discovered that she had been a victim of a predatory lending scheme and a reverse mortgage had been taken out in her name by an old caretaker.

Significant work was required on the home then, but now the problem is the lending company. They continually harass him with threats unless he can come up with $350,000. The last thing we need is for another person to become homeless due to predators. Lloyd is on disability and depends on the donations of the kind people who have been supporting him. If you know of someone who can provide a house locally for $350,000 or a way he can keep his house and save him from this predatory lender, please contact SPARC.

You can also help by donating directly to the Go Fund Me account at: Fundraiser by Alexandra Roth: Save the Warriors House (gofundme.com).

Referenced in link above: Oakland Neighbors Fund: https://oakclt.org/support-us/

1,000 Blankets

This past December, 1,000 blankets along with socks and hygiene items were distributed to the unhoused on the streets of West Oakland by 25 volunteers. Socks were donated by Free Brown of Sankofa Garden, a neighborhood partner who creates and maintains the resident garden behind the California Hotel.

“The ‘1000 Blankets’ giveaway came together after we sent out a team to encampments on the streets of West Oakland where we found over 500 of unhoused residents – individuals and families — living in unfathomable conditions in nearly 50 encampments,” said Marjorie Goolsby, a West Oakland RLC member and resident of Jack London Gateway. “With the wet and cold weather now here, survival out on the streets just got that much harder. We hope that at least some sense of comfort was brought to those living amongst us who are unable to access proper housing.”

The West Oakland Resident Leadership Council (RLC) is comprised of resident leaders from East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) properties in West Oakland and Emeryville, including: Avalon Senior Housing, California Hotel, Jack London Gateway, and San Pablo Hotel. One of three RLCs sponsored by EBALDC, the West Oakland RLC provides place-based, community engagement opportunities, and recently organized a get-outthe vote training session.

Hoover

Foster Resident Action Council

• First Thursday of the month

• 6:00-7:30pm on Zoom

• Email hooverrac@gmail.com for Zoom link

Now seeking a Youth Board Member Rep, high school to young adult.

West Oakland Neighbors

• Third Thursday of the month

• 6:00-8:00pm on Zoom

• Zoom link on bit.ly/won_oak

Learn more about meetings and announcements.

All of Us or None

Check out the website for meeting minutes and events.

Friends of the Hoover Durant Public Library

• First Thursday of the month

• 5:30-6:00pm on Zoom

• Email hooverrac@gmail.com for Zoom link

Check out the online events calendar for upcoming events

NCPC Hoover Durant Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council Beat 6X

• 4th Thursday of the month

• 6pm on Zoom

• Email Beat6x@gmail.com for Zoom link

• Grassroots organizing project fighting to restore the civil and human rights of formerly- and currently incarcerated people and our families

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

FOOD & MEALS

St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church 2nd & 4th Thursdays 12-3pm 3129 San Pablo Ave 510-467-9621

SHOWERS & LAUNDRY

Black Men Speak, Inc. & Men and Women of Color blackmenspeak.org

contact@blackmen speak.org

510-969-5086

DetermiNation Black

Men’s Group (Age 16-26) Wednesdays Email dieudonne@urbanpeacemovement.org to learn more 510-444-5400

Seeking short term and long term volunteers!

All

CLASSES & PROGRAMS

Bay Area Mural Program Classes and more! Learn more at bit.ly/bamp_events 510-965-5315

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Classes bit.ly/opc_classes 510-836-4649

Serenity House Sisters to Reentry Services, groups, and advocacy for formerly incarcerated women, sobriety services 510-905-9124

Goodwill Services for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals bit.ly/goodwill_ services

Contact your local Goodwill

Alameda County Pool of Consumer Champions Of, by, and for consumers in the behavioral health care system. bit.ly/ac_pocc

HOW TO APPLY FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Learn about different kinds of affordable housing. Affordable rental housing is available from many different organizations.

San Pablo Avenue — Change is on the Way

by Tim Fisher

The San Pablo Avenue Corridor Project is a redesign of this major East Bay corridor that traverses seven cities, often serves as a backup when I-880 is a parking lot, and in the next 20 years expects to service 75,000 new households along its route. That could mean a lot of traffic congestion.

Plans have been underway for a number of years now for a major redo that will see big change. In our part of town, a San Pablo refresh started with the building of EBALDC’s very own Avalon Senior Housing. Last year residents of Avalon and the California Hotel were summoned to share their thoughts on what’s to come. Plans that could eliminate all on-street parking, add a lane specifically for buses, widen a protected lane for biking only, keep just one lane for cars, expand pedestrian walkways, and add shade trees.

Avalon resident James JB Brooks who attended the Project’s presentation shared these thoughts with the San Pablo Avenue Community News:

“I think it’s a great idea, modernizing this area and making things move faster. But then I’ve had thoughts about gentrification and how many people get displaced. You see when they put that freeway in down there (I-580) there were a lot of people who had homes that lost their homes. And some of them were too old to get uprooted and do anything else. And some of them are probably some of the people that’re on the streets right now. So, there’s a number of things that have crossed my mind.”

ST. MARY’S CENTER

St. Mary’s Center is a community of hope, healing and justice dedicated to improving the wellbeing of Seniors and Preschool Families in West Oakland by meeting basic needs for food, housing, and social connection. Seniors find an advocate, crucial resources, and the way home with St. Mary’s Center Senior Homeless Services.

Senior Homeless Services often include:

• Housing Access and Documentation

• Coordinated Entry Assessments

• Support in applying for or renewing financial entitlements and benefits & more

Learn more:

Architecture 101

Everyone gets a say in co-creating a shared vision for the future city.

Julia Grinkrug

California College of the Arts

Participatory design teaches students to better understand places and the people that inhabit them. Our goal is to undo the legacy of architecture that is indifferent to people’s needs and values. A new generation of architects is interested in listening to people and their stories, and co-creating a shared vision for the city where people feel like they belong. A group of architecture students and educators at California College of the Arts has been partnering with grassroots organizations in Hoover Foster and San Pablo Avenue to develop frameworks co-creation. They are laying the foundation for a new type of architectural practice: that respects people’s cultural values and lived experience and highlights the creativity and ingenuity of the deeply rooted communities. The outcomes of these courses will be featured in upcoming issues of this newspaper.

NEWSPAPER TEAM

Keith Arivnwine, Photographer

Sister Cece, Community Outreach Specialist

Tim Fisher, Writer

Julia Grinkrug, Consultant

Annie Ledbury, Project Manager

OAKLAND 2045 GENERAL PLAN

The Oakland 2045 General Plan will guide development for the next two decades. Focuses include housing, environmental justice, and disaster safety. The Deeply Rooted Collaborative organizes events to share resources and conduct community engagement about the General Plan.

Learn more: deeplyrooted510.org

COMMUNITY CROSSWORD

2. What Avalon residents fought for near the Pak & Save

3.Spinning ________

Artisanal pizza on San Pablo Ave Oakland

ACROSS DOWN

4. Who can get involved in this newspaper?

5. Artisanal pizza on San Pablo Ave Emeryville

6. Risky mode of transportation on San Pablo Ave

8. What was on 28th and West Street before the Central Kitchen?

Hint: This place was named for the first African American superintendent in Oakland.

Annette Miller, Outreach Manager and Community Member

David Peters, Community Member | WOCAN

Raine Robichaud, Graphic Designer

1. Mini park with playground on 29th St.

Hint:

3. Type of car cleaning you can get done at By the Bay Car Wash on 33rd & San Pablo

7. Homeless help. Lifechanging.

Beth Esperanza Rosales, Resident Leader | Avalon Tenants Advocates

Cindi

Sharp, Writer Jesse Williams, Graphic Designer

Photography (top): CCA Students, Spring 2022

Graphic (bottom): CCA Students, Fall 2022

Photo by Keith Arivnwine

Community Map SAN PABLO AVE

History & Culture Resources Get Involved Favorite Spots

Original photography by Keith Arivnwine

Other photography provided by organizations

Building footprints

Green spaces

We love the people and places around the San Pablo Avenue corridor. This 1.5 mile stretch is home to abundant businesses, historic and cultural spots, resources, and strong community groups. SPARC's Holding Spaces initiative works to produce, preserve and sustain affordable spaces for community based businesses, resources and affordable housing.

Ms. Barbara’s Oakland Juneteenth

Oakland Juneteenth is organized by B.H. Brilliant Minds Project Inc. This year’s event will include live music, vendors, community resources, dominoes, chess, pony rides, health screening, fashion show and more! Learn more at bhbrilliantminds.org

From Nguzo Saba, The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa

Nia:PURPOSE to make our collective vocation, the building and development of our community, in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness!

Imani:FAITH to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

The Black Liberation Walking Tour (BLWT) is a community-led cultural asset map and walking tour celebrating Hoover-Foster’s multi-generational Black history and culture.

A project of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network (WOCAN), the BLWT captures oral histories to document the lives, art, and the culture of long-time residents, historical figures, and rapidly disappearing former Black cultural spaces. We are creating this archive to mitigate cultural erasure and physical displacement. The BLWT has been named a top Black history tour in the U.S.

This walking experience is guided by local native David Peters, founder of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network, and Gene Anderson, author of Legendary Locals of Oakland, an Oakland historian whose family has historical roots in West Oakland.

Peters and Anderson are passionate about telling the history of this area as a way to share historical stories, and proclaim its Black heritage. The BLWT can also be experienced as a self-guided smart phone based audio tour.

the California Hotel, Oakland’s first integrated hotel.

SELF GUIDED MURAL TOUR

Black Liberation Walking Tours started as a self-guided tour using an app, written text from archival research, and audio collected from elders and historians in the community. After witnessing people around the neighborhood doing the tour online, we decided to upgrade this offering by offering public and private guided tours. Now, it can be experienced as a guided tour with essential stops at places including the former St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, where Rev. Earl Neil was the spiritual advisor of the Black Panther Party, and

Left: David Peters, founder of the West Oakland Cultural Action Network, leading the Black Liberation Walking Tour on Juneteenth 2021. Right: David Peters with Gene Anderson.