On Wednesday, July 29, the Eden Area Livability Initiative (EALI) Joint Leadership met to give the community an update on the progress of each working group. Each update was followed by a chance for Q&A with the attendees. There were also updates on a few of the Phase I EALI projects.

Phase I EALI Projects

Cherryland Community Center
The Cherryland Community Center is a project from Phase I of EALI. Originally a redevelopment project, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors chose to continue the project with a mix of General Fund money and money that the State of California returned to the County after redevelopment dissolution. There has been steady involvement with the Cherryland community in the planning of this facility, with the hope that it will become a “heart and center for the community”. As it is located in a residential area, there was also opportunity for input from its immediate neighbors.

The building will be a 17,000 square foot facility with room configurations to handle a variety of services and programs. It is adjacent to Meek Estate; the community center will have access to Meek Estate and they will share a parking lot. The Hayward Area Recreational District (HARD) will be operating the facility once it has opened. Construction is slated to begin in Summer 2015, with the Community Center opening in 2016.

Community Health and Wellness Element
The Community Health and Wellness Element (CHWE) is part of a Phase I EALI project that is focused on Ashland and Cherryland. The CHWE shares AshlandCherryland.org with the Ashland Cherryland Business District Specific Plan, with the intention of increasing coordination between these two Alameda County initiatives. An attendee asked why only Ashland and Cherryland were participating in the program. Supervisor Nate Miley noted that he had approached the Castro Valley MAC about this, and they declined to participate.

Phase II EALI Projects

Agriculture and Environment
Supervisor Miley’s office reached out to a number of local public and private agencies, including school districts, recycling advocates, and urban farming advocates, calling the collaboration One-Table. These are the agencies that are working on similar issues in the community, and will be the ones implementing the projects voted on by the Ag/Enviro Working Group. A coordination group works with both the Working Group and One-Table in this process. This working group will be prioritizing their projects after their next meeting; a full run-down of the potential projects can be found in our last post about the June 2014 EALI Environment and Agriculture Working Group meeting.

Economic Development
The top two priorities from the EALI Economic Development Working Group were:

• Support business creation, retention, and entrepreneurship by providing technical assistance and financial incentives to local business via the use of small business development center, mentoring, employment links, and small incubator program.
• Pursue site development of vacant, underutilized and/or blighted sites by attracting good quality businesses based on standards and guidelines developed by the community.

Bill Mulgrew, who presented on behalf of the working group, noted that there is a bit of a chicken and egg problem with the two priorities — do you attract good businesses and chase away blight, or chase away blight so you can attract good businesses? He also praised the mixed-use residential/light industrial project that was brought before the Castro Valley MAC at the July 28, 2014 Castro Valley MAC Land Use Meeting, suggesting that it could be used as a tech incubator.

Education
The Education Working Group has not yet set priorities for moving forward. The school districts are looking to collaborate with Alameda County around issues of youth crime.

Governance
The Governance Working Group is still discussing the results of the voting on priorities from the June 2014 EALI Governance Working Group meeting. The two top vote-getters were one municipal advisory council (MAC) for the entire Eden Area, and an elected Castro Valley MAC. The working group is trying to incorporate (no pun intended) these two priorities with other suggestions, such as a Planning Commission that covers only the Eden Area.

Public Safety and Realignment
The Public Safety and Realignment Working Group voted to prioritize a center that will support formerly incarcerated residents and their families. This center will provide job training, recovery services, and legal resources, with the goal of reducing recidivism.

It’s not too late to get involved in EALI! See our blog Town Calendar for the list of upcoming EALI Working Group Meetings.