The color of recovery is green

Let us be clear about what is at stake. A Green New Deal for East Palo Alto is not just about the right to a future full of flora and fauna; it is about the right for our children to enjoy the same opportunities for safe recreation as their peers  who live in the ZIP codes next door.

The myth of California, and in particular Silicon Valley, is that in this land lies the future. Imagine then that in the heartland of boundless possibility, there is an entire community lagging behind in virtually every single metric.  

Since decades before its inception, EPA has endured one crisis after another: a white flight that resulted in the depletion of its tax base, a freeway expansion that displaced dozens of small businesses, a drug epidemic that drove crime rates to national notoriety, an economic recession that devastated homeowners, and consequently, outside investors acquired properties for pennies on the dollar. 

To rectify these historic inequities, parks and recreation will be a crucial component in promoting the health and well-being of our community.

All across the San Francisco Bay Area and country, cities are currently witnessing spikes in crime; ours is no exception. In a comparison of May 2021’s crime rates with last year, East Palo Alto experienced a 150%, 400% and 60% spikes in robbery, aggravated assaults and burglary respectively. Couple these statistics with the fact that parents in East Palo Alto, working multiple full-time jobs, and lacking funds for daycare, are often forced to leave their children unattended. This places minors in an even more vulnerable position to be out in the streets. Now more than ever, they need spaces built for them. 

East Palo Alto has not committed the coffers necessary to invest in this demographic. The city has no parks and recreation department. Nor do we have a community services department; we dissolved it in 2012 as part of a wave of furloughs.

According to a 2018 assessment report from Canopy, East Palo Alto’s average tree density is 13.5%. This is in stark contrast to Menlo Park’s 26.8% and Palo Alto’s 37.6%. But this is more about planting trees. What we are seeing and living with are entire neighborhoods east of Highway 101 starved of canopy coverage. 

There is a school of thought in city governance that in times of deficit, it is prudent, even necessary, to tighten one’s fiscal belt. Instead, one should follow the practice of other cities, and establish a fee-based system. But we are not other cities, nor is the ethos of our leadership. In a recent budgetary meeting, councilwoman Lisa Gauthier stated, “I know it is a deficit year, but we are looking for things for our youth to do. How do we create a service for the residents who are paying taxes for this city, and want to utilize their parks?” 

As ambassador for the Magical Bridge project at Bell Street Park, as well as member of the steering committee for the city’s first-ever Urban Forest Master Plan, I call for increased tree canopy from 13.5% to 25% by 2041, with a long-term goal of achieving 40% coverage by 2121, community education to provide stewardship of urban forestry. And to implement this, I finally call for full departmentalization of parks and recreation for the city.

I lean on my seasoned councilmembers and the wider community to join me in this historic fight for environmental justice. I call on nonprofits and environmental rights groups to look beyond the Baylands Trail, and ask themselves, “How can my advocacy preserve not only the birds and trouts, but the other 31,000 living beings, the residents, struggling to call East Palo Alto home?” 

This is about dealing with the bitter remnants of redlining in San Mateo County, the accumulation of decades of systemic segregation, in a word, the disparity between the white and well-to-do and communities of color in their capacity to breathe. 

Antonio López (@barrioscribe) is the author of the poetry collection, "Gentefication." He is a doctoral student at Stanford University and an East Palo Alto councilmember.