With about 30,000 feet of deteriorating real estate in the center of downtown, the Daughtrey’s building is a focal point of blight and home to Castro Valley’s seasonal Halloween accessories headquarters.   

It’s time to tear down Daughtrey’s.

Here’s a quick summary of the building’s recent history (stay with me please):

• Alameda County’s Redevelopment Agency took control of the Daughtrey’s building back in 2011, spending about $3 million through a process called “redevelopment.“
• In February 2012, as the State of California was bleeding revenue and facing multi-billion dollar deficits, the agencies that managed redevelopment were dissolved in an effort to reallocate some of funds “to preserve core public services.“
• The Alameda County Community Development Agency took over management of the Daughtrey’s building when the State of California shut down redevelopment agencies.

Alameda County’s interest in simply getting the building sold may undermine the vitality we are looking for in our central business district.

Because of pressures to finalize the redevelopment projects that were started before the redevelopment agencies were shut down, Castro Valley might end up with no substantial improvement to the site, despite previous community input requesting that buyers of the site be compelled to seek “redevelopment options that go beyond a façade  improvement only.”

Instead of trying to create incentives to get someone to buy the building, it’s time to concede that the Daughtrey’s building is not worth saving.   The goal of any redevelopment effort should be transformative, to lay the ground work for new and expanded economic activity in areas that need a little TLC.

How about a town square instead?  An open space in downtown where Castro Valley can meet.

The Castro Valley Boulevard Streetscape Project promised  a “beautiful and inviting pedestrian environment that will encourage the community to access Castro Valley Boulevard for shopping, dining and entertainment by providing widened sidewalks with ample seating areas, a canopy of street trees and planter beds, landscaped bulb-outs, street furnishings and gateway markers.”  The streetscape project has done a lot for central Castro Valley, but some imaginative thinking where Santa Maria meets the Boulevard could truly transform the physical landscape in the heart of our community.

As  Castro Valley has grown and the Boulevard has evolved from a highway to our town’s main street, the infrastructure and the design of our main  thoroughfare has not evolved much.  A town square at the Daughtrey’s site would help in the Boulevard’s evolution and advance the idea of a pedestrian environment that was started in the streetscape project.  It would encourage people to hang out in Castro Valley, shop and eat here, maybe encourage some  new businesses to open up here.

If you want to see Daughtrey’s torn down and replaced with a public space in the heart of Castro Valley, be at the Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meeting on February 4, 2014 at 6:00 PM at the Castro Valley Library, when the idea of a town square will be discussed.  If we can get the MAC behind this idea, then we might be able to compel the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to remember that redevelopment was meant to be more than serving as a real estate broker.

Make sure you sign the petition too.

We’ll be following the town square project here and at our Castro Valley Matters and Let’s tear down Daughtrey’s and build a town square for Castro Valley Facebook pages.