1998_05 Insight May 1998

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77ie Lowell neighborhood is
not a new tract in north
Fresno. In fact, it's a place
most people move from or
avoid altogether. But those
who do actually call it home
are fighting the odds to make
it a place they're proud of.
By Derek Waiter
f one wanted to find a Fresno
neighborhood that exhibited
nearly every sign of urban de-
■cay, the search would end at the
area surrounding Lowell elementary school.
It is an area where hope and despair collide. Where gang members live on the same
street as white-collar workers. Children walk
to and from school on the same streets and
sidewalks where transients wander, gang
members hang out and prostitutes do business.
The community, bordered roughly by "H"
street on the west, Belmont avenue on the north,
Blackstone avenue on the east and Divisadero
street on the south, is the target of massive revi-
talization efforts by civic and religious groups,
along with the city of
Fresno.
But despite the effort,
and the positive changes
that have been made)1
Lowell's problems run so
knife at this window,  deeD that £ w»',ake
7 years, possibly decades,
to fully revitalize the
area.
Those involved in
the project said that
change will be slow,
measured one person,
household, street and
block at a time.
The problems are
formidable:
• The Lowell area
has the highest number of calls for service to
Fresno Police.
• The neighborhood has the worst drug
problem in Fresno
• Nearly nine out of 10 residents rent their
property
• The rate of transiency is routinely around
60 percent
• Nearly three out of every 10 residents are
unemployed
But that's not all.
The neighborhood suffers from a serious
case of urban blight
On Calaveras street, a blue, two-story house
sits next to a restored, two-story brick house. In
the garage of the blue house are four or five
young Hispanics with shaved heads dressed in
baggy Fresno State Bulldog sweatshirts, the "uni-
HI ELS EM /D1VI34I
"We were living in
fear. I would keep a
one over there and
carry a gun."
CECILIA VEGA
Lowell neighborhood resident
General Population and Population Below Poverty Figures
for Fulton/Lowell Area
Census Data from 1979 and 1989
* Most Recent Census Data Available
forms" of the Bulldogs, a local street gang.
At an apartment complex on the corner of
Belmont and Glenn, the paint is so faded that it
barely resembles its original light blue. A six-foot
barbed wire fence, which violates city code, guards
the complex. The parking lot is filled with old,
beat-up cars. During a recent visit, a man is seen
.urinating on the wall in plain view of the street.
It is a battle facing many urban areas across
i the nation: saving the core of the city from decay.
The city is like an apple many argue. If it rots
from the core, the rest of the city goes bad.
So fleeing as far north as possible, which many
residents have done to evade the decay, only furthers the problem.
Some involved in the effort have (lone just
the opposite. They've moved out of their comfortable surroundings in north Fresno and Clovis and
have moved into the Lowell neighborhood.
Randy White, director of the Fresno Institute
for Urban Leadership, moved to Van Ness about
four years ago from Clovis, where he had lived
for 13 years. He, along with his wife, Tina, sons
Joseph and Jamison, moved "out of a theological
conviction to try and make a difference."
"I wanted the problems of the Lowell neighborhood to be my problems," White said. "Face
it, if 1 were in my living room in Clovis and I read
about the problems of the neighborhood I'd say,
'Well, that's too bad,' and I'd turn to the sports
page." ."*-
While many don't understand his decision to
move into the neighborhood. White's glad he
made that choice.
"On the outside you look at that and say,
"Geesh, why would anybody want to live there?'"
[the neighborhood has] the highest crime, highest poverty and on the outside it looks bad. But
on the inside, there's a lot of beauty here. Not
necessarily physical beauty, but human beauty."
The beginning
Among the pothole-filled roads, vacant lots
and run-down houses sits a school. This school is
where the recovery effort began. Seven years ago,
Terry Simerly was promoted to principal at Lowell.
At the time, Lowell was on a list of "at risk" schools
in the Fresno Unified School District.
Simerly said the school "couldn't get any
worse," so it was time to take action. He began
meetings with parents and neighbors to try and
develop a vision for the neighborhood.
"I think everybody was pretty fed up,"
Simerly, now an administrator with the Fresno
Unified School District, said. "It just needed to be
organized. People wanted the right direction and
to work together."
And there has been progress. Lowell is no
longer an "at risk" school. The school's appearance, which many once described as unfit for
education, has a new paint job and many new
bungalows.
But despite these successes, problems still persist. Transiency, suspensions and the number of
at-risk students have all risen over the last three
years, while test scores have dropped. Much of
the effort is beyond the control of the school.
"It's a little different world when you're trying to feed four or five mouths and you're all by
yourself and you got a language barrier and you
don't know how the system works," Simerly said.
"You're out of food and you don't have money loirj
the rent."
By all accounts, the recovery effort is in its
infancy. Getting the community involved is the
most
crucial
step to recovery, according to Jonathan
Villalobos, home
school  liaison   for
Lowell and pastor of
Bethany     Inner     City
Church.
Villalobos joined Lowell
four years ago and left his former
church to start one for the Lowell
community. He said if the area is going to change, the people must change.
"You can paint houses, you can pave streets,
you can change the lights, but unless the people
can't change from inside out. the changes are
going to be temporal." he said.
Villalobos said the variety of problems need
a variety of solutions. As a pastor, his desire is to
see spiritual renewal. But, he said law enforcement, community development, education and
government are all needed for change.
Law enforcement has had its successes and
setbacks.
Clay Conrad, an officer with the central
branch of the Problem Oriented Policing, or POP
Team, said the police department's work with the
community has reduced crime. Violent crimes
are down by 17
percent, robberies by
nearly 30 percent and vehicle thefts by
25 percent
from last year.
But not all
news is good.
Lowell still has
the worst drug
problem in
Fresno, and ar-
This b the Fulton/Lowell area
where crime and urban blight
run rampant. Located near
downtown Fresno, Lowell
community members are
strenuously trying to
rejuvenate the area.
Face it, if I were in my living
room in Clovis and I read
about the problems of the
neighborhood Vd say, 'Well,
that's too bad,' and Vd turn
to the sports page.M
up   33
WHITE
last
year.
But Conrad
said the team
has worked
with the community to help battle the drug problem by identifying known drug houses and busting the dealers, Conrad said.
Conrad said the police can only do so much,
and it's up to the community to change the neighborhood. He said leaders are stepping up.
Working for change
One resident who's ready for change is Cecilia
Vega. She's lived in the neighborhood for about
30 years, and has seen it go from bad to worse.
"We were living in fear." Vega said. "1 would
keep a knife al this window, one over there and
carry a gun."
Vega is a member of the Lowell-Jefferson
Consortium, a group of about 20 citizens who
meet regularly to share their vision for the neighborhood and how to make changes.
Getting people to move into the neighborhood and care for it is the goal of Bob Macias,
director of Fresno Urban Neighborhood Development. Inc. The organization buys property in
 see LOWELL, paae 7
endership
Insight Special §   May 6,1998