I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Years ago when Carolyn Johnson worked in private commercial real estate, she attended a workshop about the future of Oakland.
Carolyn Johnson: You know I went in that room and I was like, I was the only person of color, let alone Black person in the room. And the speaker gets up and he says, “How many of you have seen Hunger Games?” I’m saying, “Yeah, that sounds a little weird.” He literally said with his mouth, “Oakland’s going to be District 1.”
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: The speaker, Johnson says, then turned his focus to Deep East Oakland, where Johnson grew up. He talked about the area known as the ’80s, nicknamed The Killing Zone and how the goal was to take everything there now and make it disappear.
Carolyn Johnson: And people applauded. They don’t anticipate that we will be in this city.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Deep East Oakland, really the southernmost part of The Town, has experienced decades of disinvestment and was hit hard by the crack cocaine epidemic. Now, $100 million in investments are coming to this part of the city. And longtime residents from Deep East Oakland, people like Carolyn Johnson, are calling the shots on what happens with this money.
Carolyn Johnson: And our goal is to really improve sort of how we live and thrive in East Oakland. So again, bringing back some of those things but being able to own those spaces so that we can hold them in a community sort of trust and stewardship by folks who used to live in East Oakland and who live there now and who do business in East Oakland.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Today, Reporter Olivia Cruz Mayeda talks with us about her docu-series ‘Deep Down,’ exploring what this historic investment could mean for Deep East Oakland and the longtime residents determined to see meaningful change.
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Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Olivia, I wonder if we can just talk first about what we mean when we say Deep East Oakland.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Yeah, that’s a really great question and it does vary depending on who you ask. But for the purposes of where this money is going, Deep East Oakland is a 40 by 40 block radius.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: This is Olivia Cruz Mayeda, who reported and produced the docu-series ‘Deep Down’ for KQED on Deep East Oakland.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Its northernmost point is Seminary, and then Seminary basically to San Leandro and then between those two freeways. So up to the freeway and then down to where the Coliseum is. Deep East Oakland really is just South Oakland, but we don’t call anything South Oakland really, but it is.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: But when we think of East Oakland, when you hear East Oakland, there is a sort of history that is so tied up into that. Right?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I think it’s understood by folks that live there, but also folks who are experts in studying different like economic factors in the Bay Area, that Deep East Oakland is a place that is particularly neglected.
Tony Green: You have to look at where you’ve been to understand where you can go.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Tony Green is a long time local historian and he’s also a teacher of social studies at Bishop O’Dowd High School, which is in Deep East Oakland. And he developed a curriculum about Black history and Black culture for students there, which was pretty revolutionary.
Where we first began was the second Great Migration of Black folks.
Tony Green: We traveled along this this southern route. It was called the Sunset Line. Right from New Orleans through San Francisco to West Oakland.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: West Oakland was called the Harlem of the West back in that time because it was such a lively place. That migration of folks, a lot of them came from the South. And in Tony’s words, were like very hard working people who wanted to create a better life and community for themselves out here.
Tony Green: It was actually sort of a forced migration because of the way the Black folks were treated after slavery in the South. You know, from the lynchings to the burning some towns, etc. So you had this really driven, hard-working group of people who were viewing coming to the Bay, you know, as sort of the, the second great chance.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: And that West Oakland community expanded out to East Oakland and Deep East Oakland as well. And there was just like a lot of community events. It was a very lively place.
Tony Green: You had the, I think it was called the Grand Prix, but then you had like little, you know, little motor speedway down there.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I heard that kids could get like, they had little permits that they could get to drive on the speedway.
Tony Green:Yeah. Yeah.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: And then Tony kind of walked me through the crack cocaine epidemic, which he saw in real time.
Tony Green: So it would take over entire communities and people would act abnormally. Itcaused everything around it to sort of shrivel up and die. Right. Because because of the addictive nature of that drug.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: We are talking about Deep East Oakland now because we’re also sort of in another moment of change for this corner of the city, which is there is this investment that’s coming, a sort of turning of the page in a way. What is this money, Olivia, and where is it coming from and why is it going to Deep East Oakland?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: So the money comes from this philanthropic venture called Blue Meridian Partners. People might have heard them before because they’re attached to a lot of other institutions and philanthropic projects. Specifically, they chose Deep East Oakland to set up this match of $50 million. So they basically said, if you can find $50 million through other partners, organizations, individuals, private institutions, we will match that $50 million. So that total pot is $100 million.
But the people who are really making the decisions on the ground is called, this collective of organizations called Rise East, which is housed under the 40 x 40 Council. So that’s a couple of different Deep East Oakland organizations.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: But has there ever been investment like this in Deep East Oakland?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Yeah, in my conversations with some of these folks who are now in these positions of power over this money, they’ve said that in the past there have been like philanthropic ventures out in Deep East Oakland and Oakland, but not in the same way and not in a way that feels like the decision making power is going to people who are from there. And I think in the Bay Area in general, a lot of communities are skeptical when this kind of money comes in.
Carolyn Johnson:Everybody who comes in, all these nonprofits, what are you doing with the money? So we’re as skeptical as them.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: One of the people that we talked to in this series, Carolyn Johnson, she’s the CEO of the Black Cultural Zone. So for her and for other people that are part of this council, it’s really important that so many of them are born and raised there.
Carolyn Johnson : True Oakland natives or folks who are.,who have lived here for a really long time and know the history. And we’ve seen what hasn’t worked.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: That’s what this money is all about, is making sure that people who are there now can stay there.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: So it seems like we’re in this sort of pivotal moment in Deep East Oakland Olivia, and I know you spent time talking with residents there about what they want to see done with this money. What did you hear?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Number one that comes to mind is the houseless community there. When I talk to a lot of people and ask them, you know, if they had access to $100 million, what would they do with it? That was often like the first thing out of people’s mouths. was to like house and support houseless people out there.
But in general, just more investment, buying up real estate, giving loans to small business owners, creating education programs for local youth to be connected to jobs and sources of income. And they want to see more investment in the arts and culture scene there, for sure.
Drew Banga: There is nothing to do in this Oakland.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I talked to Drew Banga, who is an artist and DJ and music producer who’s from East Oakland.
Drew Banga: My mom used to talk about how it used to be a bowling alley in East Oakland. Used to be a roller skating rink in East Oakland. Used to be a movie theater in East Oakland. We don’t have any of those things.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: A lot of people were saying that they have to leave Deep East Oakland to have fun, to go to parties, to, you know, go to a movie theater. They have to leave their own neighborhood, which is not true for a lot of people in the Bay Area.
Drew Banga: If I was able to put a club right next to the Coliseum and that be the place to be at every weekend, that would be lit.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Drew wants to see venues where, you know, he can spend a whole night and basically a whole weekend in Deep East Oakland. But as it stands now, he goes to, you know, downtown Oakland or he goes to the city or Berkeley or other places. But they would like to see, yeah, more investment in the enjoyment that people have.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: And that’s a big element of it, too for Carolyn right? What did she tell you about what she and other community members actually are planning to do with the money as of now?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: One of the places that they’ve already invested some of the money is Liberation Park, where they would like to see like a revitalized market place and renovated public housing also. And in general, I think they’re still planning this part, like their whole kind of real estate plan. But there’s a number of properties all across Deep East Oakland that they have their eye on. And one really big goal for them is to have a cultural hub every ten blocks.
Carolyn Johnson: So imagine roller skating over here, movies over there, tracks over here, places to go, clubs, food.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: The way that, you know, in other parts of Oakland, other parts of the Bay, every neighborhood kind of has an area that people go for events and things like that. And that’s going to require them to acquire real estate to put these these hubs.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: But now she’s sort of in a position where she can make some big decisions about what actually happens in in Deep East Oakland, is it fair to say that she’s excited about this opportunity and about this money and what it means?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I would say she’s excited, but I think the word that comes more to mind is motivated.
Carolyn Johnson: That $100 million is a drop in the bucket and we appreciate it.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: While $100 million is a great start, for her it’s a start. She says, well, we’re already thinking about the next $100 million, really the next $500 million because $100 million sounds like a lot at face value. But in the Bay Area, it’s really not. And I think they’re already finding in this project that the money goes really fast, especially when we’re talking about real estate and competing with other developers who have so many more resources than community organizations do.
Carolyn Johnson: The real estate needs that we have, ten hubs costs about $1.75 billion to do because you’re not just doing the hub, you’re doing the ten blocks around it.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I think she feels a deep sense of responsibility.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: So it sounds like there’s sort of a lot of things that people are envisioning for this this money, housing, arts and culture, education. How would you, I guess, describe what people have told you, that the sort of overarching themes here and their hopes ultimately for this money?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: That’s a great question. I think people’s hopes for this money is to live a safe and fun life. That sounds so simple, but I think that’s true. And I think that’s what everyone wants and what everyone deserves.
Tony Green: Deep East Oakland can get back to where it used to be.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Tony Green talked about this idea of rootedness in Deep East Oakland so beautifully.
Tony Green :This investment of all of this money, it has to start in the roots. So you got to create a foundation and it might take you a full generation to realize the full potential of that investment. Right. But you have to start with the roots.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: His hope is that young people who grow up in Deep East Oakland know the history of this place, know that Oakland has been a very thriving, beautiful place for Black folks in the past. Not that it was perfect by any means. But he wants them to be empowered to create the community that they would like to have.
Tony Green: I hope to see the next generation having an extreme sense of pride in Oakland. If the new generation works towards benefiting Oakland. Everyone in Oakland rises at the same pace.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: What is the timeline, Olivia, and the current status of, of things with this hundred million dollars as of now?
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: I just spoke to someone from Rise East and they’re still fundraising the last $5 million of this money. They seem pretty confident that they’re going to get there since they’ve already raised that $45 million, which will then be matched to $100 million once it reaches 50. So that’s kind of where they are in the timeline.
They’re still fundraising, but they’ve already invested some of this money at Liberation Park and that renovation of that marketplace and housing and in educational programs. But it’s my understanding that people on this council are thinking a lot more long term than that because they feel like they have to.
We should always be highlighting these people who are making art and economic opportunities for their community.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: Well, thank you so much, Olivia, for sharing your reporting with us. I appreciate it.
Olivia Cruz Mayeda: Thank you so much for having me.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra: That was Olivia Cruz Mayeda, a reporter and producer for ‘Deep Down,’ a social video series for KQED. You can find ‘Deep Down’ on the KQED Arts Instagram page. I highly recommend checking it out. It’s got some really, really beautiful visuals, including some really beautiful film photos by photographer Pablo Circa. And they’re in film, which just makes it that much better.
This 35 minute conversation with Olivia was cut down and edited by senior editor Alan Montecillo. Jessica Kariisa is our producer. She scored this episode and added all the tape.
