1998_05 Insight May 1998

              Insight
InStep
Lowell area of Fresno coming back after years of avoidance
the area and sells to responsible    area and that's where they want to    couch, and dialed. No one answered    neighborhood's decay is the result of    the code enforcement la
Mpyb 1998
7
- LOWELL, continued from page 5
a and sells to responsible
homeowners who plan on living
the neighborhood.
Macias, who also lives in the
neighborhood, is currently building
two new houses on Poplar street. He
said since only percent of the neighborhood residents own their property, there is no sense of ownership
or stake in the community.
"This neighborhood has been
really neglected for a long time and
the decline has been allowed because
no one has stood up and said, 'Stop!
No more,'" Macias said. "And that's
the reason why we're here. We're
here to help the neighbors, to empower the neighbors to be able to say,
'Hey. you know what? This is our
neighborhood. It's got to stop.'"
Slowly, but surely, there are
signs of hope.
Steve and Shiela Skibbee recently paid $55,000 for a 100-year-
old home on San Pablo, a street
known for drugs and prostitution.
They currently live a few blocks
south, at a facility known as The Pink
House. The complex, which sits on
the parking lot of First Presbyterian
Church, houses eight Intervarsity
students who agree to live there for
one year and participate in urban
ministry.
The Skibbees have lived in the
house for one-and-a-half years, shy
of the maximum allotment of two.
But they said their hearts are in the
live.
"What would be a better witness,
for us to live in northwest Fresno and
come in and do Bible clubs and reading clubs, tutoring and this kind of
stuff, the 'white savior' mentality, and
live in our safe, secluded north Fresno
place," Steve, a Fresno State graduate and producer at KJEO-TV, said.
Or would it be better for us to take a
risk and move down and live among
the poor?"
And poor the area is. At last
count, 88 percent of the students at
Lowell qualify for a free or reduced
lunch. Sixty-sixty percent of the
student's parents receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children money.
Twenty-seven percent of the area's
residents are unemployed.
For the Skibbees. the reality of
the area's poverty shows up on their
doorstep almost daily.
During the interview, a man they
know as "Junior" showed up at their
door. They said he lives across the
street with his mother at a convalescent home and wanders the streets
most of the day. o
Junior explained to Shiela that he
needed to make a phone call. He entered the house. His hair was coated
with hair grease. He was wearing
white pants, a gray shirt and a black
jacket, all stained.
He was barely intelligible as he
asked to use the phone. He sat on the
couch, and dialed. No one answered
on the other end. He got up and asked
for another favor, but Shiela reminded him that they're in the middle
of an interview.
Junior left, but his black hair-
grease residue on the white couch and
phone remained. Shiela wiped off the
phone, and returned to the couch,
next to her husband.
Such an incident would normally
provoke a call to the police had this
been north Fresno or Clovis. But to
the Skibbees, it's an opportunity to
live out their faith.
"That's part of the reason we
moved down here," Shiela said. "We
need to be here for people like that,
because that's who Jesus would be
here for."
But for a long time few have
cared about the neighborhood, and
those who did, didn't know how to
speak out.
When the Fulton Mall was developed, the area became more commercialized and people started to
move away. In an effort to lure residents back, the city allowed the development of several apartment
buildings. But they couldn't be filled,
so rent dropped, attracting either the
very poor or the criminal element.
The whole process snowballed to
what it is today, a neighborhood with
high transiency.
Is the city to blame?
Many   residents  argue  the
neighborhood's decay is the result of    the code enforcement laws," Macias    programs, help them with basic skills
irresponsible urban planning by the    said. "And so illegal wiring, illegal    and train for and find jobs,
city. fences, cars parked on lawns, all the "By getting the social behavior
Sunchi Koo, a planner for the things that are against code enforce- and the health issues stabilized at
city of Fresno for 25 years, said the ment laws are not enforced in this home, we're stabilizing the academic
city allowed too many apartments to neighborhood. Unfortunately, I think issue by getting them the necessary
be developed in the area, but ulti-    that is because the neighborhood isn't
represented politically, it doesn't
have a voice. If you don't have a
voice, you're not a squeaky wheel,
and you don't get the grease."
things that may be hurting them at
home stabilized." George Martinez,
the center's director, said.
:r does everything from
teach English and nutrition classes to
Gerald Todd, division manager    hosting neighborhood groups.
of the city's neighborhoods standard Martinez said many residents in
division, said that's not the case. For   the neighborhood are immigrants and
Ex-convicts hope for a better tomorrow      cwm*. continued from p^e 3
have much contact with her family anymore, saying that they are the
underlying problem in regards to her
criminal past. Released from prison
on Jan. 16, Karen has been clean and
sober for three years.
Unlike Karen, though in many
ways the same, Leila Scoleri has a
loving, drug-free relationship with
her only family—her father. However, it wasn't always that way.
The daughter of a jazz musician
and a blues singer, Scoleri grew up
in Houston, Texas. By the time she
was 12-years-old, Scoleri was addicted to heroine and hallucinogcnics
and kicked out of junior high school.
She would never enter another educational facility.
To look at Scoleri, one wouldn't
know that she comes from a family
where the father was an alcoholic and
drug abuser, now recovering, and that
her mother died from an overdose of
drugs when Scoleri was 18. One also
wouldn't know that in the same year
her mother died, Scoleri landed he.-
self in prison for selling drugs.
"The first time I was arrested, I
was setup by an undercover police
officer who wanted drags," Scoleri
said. "I was so scared." But not
scared enough to stop what she was
doing.
Scoleri was released with felony
probation. However, she never met
with her parole officer. Instead,
Scoleri stole a car and drove to New
York City. While in New York, she
prostituted herself to get money for
her drug habit. But the law soon
caught up with her.
"I was crossing a bridge to get
to New Jersey when I was picked up
in my stolen car," Scoleri said.
Scoleri laughed as she said, "...my
stolen car."
Scoleri was extradited back to
Texas where she entered prison. She
was charged with grand theft auto and
evading the police.
y"l was 18 and what scared me die
most in prison was the bigger ladies,"
Scoleri said. "I just tried to keep to
myself and mind my own business."
After Scolcri's first jaunt in
prison, she came to California where
she entered prison twice for several
charges including prostitution, grand
theft auto, possession of drags and
accessory to assault. Scoleri also lost
all parental rights to her daughter
when Child Protective Services took
custody of her.
Scolcri's life, en total, has been
one on the ran. constantly looking
over her shoulder.
"Once, a cop pulled me over for
stealing a track," Scoleri said. "He
handcuffed me to the steering wheel
and when he went back to his car to
call in (to the police station], I rolled
up the window, put the car in drive
and took off with my hands still handcuffed to the wheel."
Scoleri's last prison sentence was
the one that turned her life around.
Instead of serving all her time in
prison, she went through Fire Camp,
the training program that teaches
people how to be firefighters.
"I was so tired of running and
doing drags," Scoleri said;, "I knew
something had to give."   '
Fire Camp taught Scoleri how to
handle the high pressures she would
face upon release from prison. No one
believed she could do it. When she
was finished. Scoleri had spent an entire summer fighting fires for $1 per
day—the same wages an inmate
makes scrubbing floors in prison.
Scoleri has been out of prison
since November 1997. Like Karen,
Scoleri lives in the YWCA. More
than a life of drags or crime, Karen
and Scoleri said their biggest battle
is with unemployment.
"I hate dropping applications off
at places and when they ask you if
you have ever been arrested, and you
say 'yes,' they say, 'We'll keep your
application in our files.'" Scoleri said.
In the last month, though, Scoleri
has found a job and is working in a
thrift store in Fresno.
What the Future Holds
It's too soon to say what else the
cards hold for Scoleri and Karen. The j
same holds true for Fresno. But j
Fresno is making attempts to remedy
its crime problems, too.
In February, community leaders
in "Henry and Ida" tried to weed out
its criminal'activity. More than 100
volunteers showed up on a Saturday
morning for an area wide cleanup
project. Volunteers helped pickup
trash and painted over graffiti and
began the uneasy task of beautifying
the area.
mately the citizens are responsible
because they control the government.
"All projects are ran through the
political process," Koo said. "Citizens have an opportunity to speak for
or against the project."
Currently, the city's action involves a plan entitled the "Fulton/ example, his department has only 19 are unfamiliar with social services.
Lowell Specific Plan," which in- field inspectors to handle Fresno's About seven out of every ten residents
eludes the Lowell area and the Fulton average of 10.000 calls per service, are Hispanics and two out of every
Mall area, just south of Divisadero. every year. 10 are Asian.
The plan came about through lobby- "We try to allocate our resources He recalled when a woman re-
ing of community residents. as effectively as we can to address cently walked into the Resource Cen-
Every Monday, a group of five the community's needs," Todd said, ter to find a ride to Manchester Cen-
citizens review city plans and give The Lowell area has kept the city ter. She thought the city buses were
their views and recommendations. busy, leading Fresno in the number private and couldn't be used by the
Koo said he sees progress, but of calls for service. But Todd said a public. So he explained to her how
residents need to be patient. lot of progress has been made in the the system worked.
"We're taking one step at a time. Lowell area. He said many of the resi- "Basic stuff that you and I take
But cumulatively, maybe five, 10 dents are frustrated, just as he is, by for granted, it's a major hurdle to
years you'll see some change. But the due process that the city is re- them," Martinez said,
you're not going to see a whole lot quired to follow. His next project is to get a com-
of change in a short period of time." /So educating the residents about puter mat links to the EDD office so
One thing many residents have calling code enforcement, and other residents can come in and look for
said needs to change is the city's code city services, is the goal of the Lowell jobs.
enforcement. Many argue the city is Resource Center, a brown bungalow Martinez said his goal is to get
neglecting the inner city areas, like across the street from Lowell school, community leaders to develop a vi-
Lowell, and only enforcing codes in The center is one of five set up sion for the community. He said he's
the more affluent neighborhoods. by the Fresno Unified School District excited and believes the community
-The city has not stood behind to teach residents about government is on the way to recovery.
Education may be failing Fresno students—touonoN, continued from page *.
many cases they don't know
where their next meal will come
from."
Leal said many families are
forced to move from area to area often to look for work, which further
disrupts a student's education.
"If they move around from
school to school they're never going
to get settled and make friends." Leal
said.
However, there are some voices
within the district who think that despite the low test scores and poverty,
Fresno Unified is still getting through
to the majority of its students.
At Hidalgo, a strong emphasis is
placed upon the child learning and
improving, even if that docs not always translate into better test scores.
Currently, test scores are the
most relied upon method to determine achievement in the state's
schools.
Mary Ann Larsen, a professor of
graduate studies in education at
Fresno Pacific College, said the state
needs to rethink how it evaluates its
students.
"Our review of standardized
tests may not be telling us what we
think they're telling us," Larsen said.
Larsen said the failure rate for
the state's CBEST test was 92 per
cent for foreign-born students, of
which Fresno has many. Larsen said
we must focus our teachers on caring about the children's education as
a whole and not be consumed with
the importance of test scores.
The reality in Fresno Unified is
that the students arc often not learning what they need to know to compete in the technologically advanced
world of today.
Carlos Garcia, Fresno Unified's
new superintendent of schools, said
he plans to challenge everyone from
students to teachers to administrators
to make Fresno Unified a better and
more effective school district. But
Garcia said the district will not use
poverty as an excuse.
"All the problems are legitimate
but the reality is that you can't control all the outside variables." Garcia
said. "You have the kids for six hours
a day and while we have them, we
have to make them successful.
Garcia has developed an accountability model in which each
school will analyze data and deter
minations will be made to fix any
problem with a case-specific solution.
All school administrators and teachers will be held accountable for their
school's performance.
Schools will be required to monitor their problems periodically and if
goals aren't being met the school
must try new approaches.
Garcia said he hopes this model,
in conjunction with reduced class size
and more one-on-one instruction, will
produce the desired results.
Maria Gonzalez is also hopeful
that the new superintendent can improve Stephanie's chances of getting
an education.
"I met him once you know,"
Gonzalez said proudly.
But even with the odds stacked
against her. Stephanie is trying to
make her grandmother proud. She
recently made the softball team at
Hidalgo and she has been doing better with her studies. Stephanie, like
most children, has dreams that she
wants to see come true.
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