East Palo Alto City Council Approves Ravenswood Business District Specific Plan
On Tuesday, Sept. 4, the East Palo Alto City Council approved the Ravenswood Business District Specific Plan (the Plan) after hundreds of hours of community meetings, workshops, public hearings and informational meetings.
For more than three years, the Envision-Transform-Build East Palo Alto Coalition, consisting of Community Development Institute (CDI), Peninsula Interfaith Action (PIA) , Youth United for Community (YUCA) , and Urban Habitat (through the Great Communities Collaborative), has been engaging East Palo Alto residents to work on the Plan process.
The stretch of land in the northeastern portion of East Palo Alto is mostly industrial with various vacant parcels strewn throughout the area. It is the last large swath of land that can be developed in a community that is already built out.
The land, along with the passage of the Plan, are essential components in the creation of much-needed job and housing opportunities for a community with a significant number of unemployed residents and overcrowded homes.
Though the Plan has been approved, there is still work to be done to ensure that the policies, goals, and vision of the Plan are implemented and lead to real jobs and actual affordable homes for East Palo Alto residents.
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