East Palo Alto officials crack down on building code violations. Longtime businesses, including a building supply recycler and a gym that helped troubled youth, couldn’t afford repairs and had to close or relocate.
The salt marsh harvest mouse and the California clapper rail are both endangered species living near East Palo Alto’s Cooley Landing. Their presence may slow plans to turn the vacant property into a park.
Congress and President Obama have vowed to end earmarks in 2011, but those funds have been helping East Palo Alto re-create itself. Will the ban put EPA downtown renovation and other projects on hold?
East Palo Alto is home to the largest per capita homeless population in San Mateo County, with roughly 230 people living on the streets. Project We HOPE runs the city’s only warming shelter.
The Peninsula Press interviewed a number of homeless at the event and visited the “Field of Dreams,” where East Palo Alto’s homeless once camped out in large numbers. Signs of the encampment still exist, and at least one makeshift shelter appears to be in use.
The East Palo Alto Police Department will use automatic license plate readers to identify law breakers. The devices record license plate numbers within a certain radius and can run them through crime databases.
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East Palo Alto’s only homeless shelter is scheduled to open in time for the cold-weather season due in part to a $30,000 city grant. The city has the highest per capita rate of homelessness in San Mateo County.
East Palo Alto was known as a “food desert” for over 20 years, but that ended when the Mi Pueblo supermarket opened last year. Owners of smaller markets are concerned about the competition.
Proposition 21 would have added an $18 surcharge to the annual vehicle license fee, while eliminating current day-use fees of $5 to $15 at all 278 state parks for registered California drivers.
East Palo Alto, once the nation’s murder capital, has seen a drastic reduction in crime during Ronald Davis’s tenure as police chief. The city’s top cop is known for progressive strategies and resourcefulness.