Airport Corridor Action Team - ACT

Revitalization set
Council votes to clean up neighborhood near airport

By Audrey Cooper
Record Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Ask 20-year-old Melissa Rabbon what needs to be changed in her south Stockton neighborhood, and she'll give you a more complete list than any city bureaucrat.

Sidewalks should be built. Residents need jobs. Buses need to run through the neighborhood and to job sites. There are few places to shop and no good places to buy fresh vegetables. Graffiti should be painted over, and litter needs to be removed from alongside roads.

Based on a neighborhood revitalization plan approved Tuesday night by the City Council, Rabbon soon might get all the things on her wish list.

The plan outlines millions of dollars in improvements city officials hope to make in a 48-acre south Stockton area centered around Airport Way. The neighborhood -- one long held as one of Stockton's most blighted and most unsafe -- is getting some tender loving care after years of neglect.

The plan calls for 52 specific community-improvement goals, from building sidewalks and beautifying street edians to cracking down on illegal ambling in parks and towing abandoned cars.

And most of the improvements should be under way in less than three years, said Assistant Police Chief Wayne Hose, who co-chaired the Airport Corridor Action Team. The team was founded last year and charged with coming up with ways to improve the region.

These sort of things are really needed out there. Little fixes won't mean permanent change. We need to look at everything that's going on there," Hose said.

Already, police officers have stepped up patrols in the neighborhood, and city code enforcers have been targeting blighted homes and businesses. Adding other changes that make a neighborhood successful -- like building a community center and helping residents find good-paying jobs -- is the only way to make sure the improvements are more than just cosmetic, Hose said.

"Police can have a zero-tolerance policy, but if there's no housing or commercial development, it's hard to change the area, both the perception and the reality. Code enforcers can fix visual problems, but that, too, will come back if the area as a whole isn't changed," he said.

"North Stockton has all the nice things. It would be nice if we could have good streets and sidewalks that you can walk on," Rabbon said.

The area being studied by the revitalization team is bordered by Charter Way, Carpenter Road, the railroad tracks on the east and Bieghle Street. More than 11,000 people live in the area.

In all, the city is talking about spending millions on south Stockton. It's too early to say how much money the revitalization will take, but officials already have applied for a $15 million federal grant that will help repair streets and sidewalks and pay for building the planned community center.

Each year, the revitalization effort will cost Stockton about $200,000, Hose said.

The City Council approved the revitalization plan unanimously. Councilman Larry Ruhstaller said it was one of the most complete plans he's seen while serving on the council.

"I think this is our best change of getting something done in south Stockton in a very, very short period of time," he said.

Mae Hill, a south Stockton resident and retired Madison Elementary School principal, said a cleaner, safer neighborhood would help children growing up in the area.

"They need to know there is a future for them and their community," she said.

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* To reach reporter Audrey Cooper, phone (209) 546-8298 or e-mail acooper@recordnet.com