Thread: A PARTIAL HISTORY OF THE ESCONDIDO RENTAL BAN

City on a Mission: Escondido looks for ways to create community bonds in central neighborhood

By: DAVID FRIED - Staff Writer

July 1, 2006

ESCONDIDO ---- It doesn't take more than a short stroll through the streets of the Mission Park neighborhood to gather a feel for the challenges facing this central Escondido community and the city leaders trying to improve living conditions.

Dense rows of aging apartment buildings, many defaced by graffiti, line much of Mission Avenue and the surrounding side streets.

Small groups of women of varying ages walk with their children and push strollers down the sidewalk, hoisting umbrellas against the scorching summer sun. The conversations are nearly all in Spanish.



In all, 16,500 people ---- nearly 12 percent of the city's total population ---- are squeezed into the 1 1/2-square-mile area bordered by Lincoln Avenue, Ash Street and Valley and Centre City parkways. Most of the families are poor, earning less than half the citywide median income of $42,500.

A city-commissioned survey of Mission Park residents released last week found that many who live in the area worry about safety and struggle with the language barrier. Moreover, 44 percent said they feel disconnected from their community and city.

"A lot of people here need more resources and information," said Benny Herrera, who has lived in the Mission Park area for 40 years and is president of Park Place Neighborhood Group. "I know, for example, that some of our neighbors want to get more involved, but they don't know where to go."


The marque in front of Mission Middle School still bears the name Grant Middle School. The sign displays information in English and Spanish due to the large Latino population that lives in the area.

Connecting the disconnected

Not that the city hasn't spent considerable time and money on improving the neighborhood.

Over the last seven years, Escondido has funneled nearly $9.2 million into housing assistance, language, child care and other programs in the neighborhood.

That includes $1.7 million for the 4.5-acre Grove Park under construction at Mission Avenue and Ash Street. The facility is expected to be completed this fall, and would give the area what city officials hope will become a center for socializing and strengthening community bonds.

But Jerry Van Leeuwen, director of neighborhood services, said that he and other city officials recognize they need to do more to address the intangibles of a community.

"Physical capital is actually easier to address," Van Leeuwen said. "You spend money, build a park or pave a street. Creating social structures is much harder."

Adding to that challenge is the fact that the majority of Mission Park residents were born in other countries, especially Mexico, according to census data. Most area residents, 66 percent, primarily speak Spanish, according to the city's survey.

Van Leeuwen said the city is considering providing televised English classes, a program that could reach many people in the community at little cost.

Paula Cruz, who has lived in the Mission Park area for nine years and speaks little English, said easily accessible classes would be especially helpful in improving residents' relations with the city, from participating in volunteer programs to reporting crimes.

"Sometimes we want to express ourselves or help, but we don't know how to say anything," Cruz, 47, said in Spanish.

A community park

Van Leeuwen also said the city anticipates Grove Park will become something of a community center, an area where families can meet their neighbors, and hopefully start building their own sense of community.

Every new opportunity, however, also presents challenges of its own.

The city survey found that 67 percent of residents were "very concerned" about crime in their neighborhood, where an average of 65 robberies, assaults and other crimes were reported each month between June 2003 and June 2005.

Cruz and others said they welcome the addition of Grove Park as a place for their children to play. But realistically, it will also be a place to watch carefully.

"On the one hand, it's a good thing," Cruz said. "On the other, it's another place for trouble to gather."

Herrera, the president of the Park Place group, said he is trying to spur a similar organization with the residents near the corner of Mission and Ash to help keep the park clean and free of graffiti and other problems.

But stirring community involvement in a neighborhood where most people rent their homes and have lived for less than six years can prove difficult.

"It's hard, because a lot of people don't stay that long (in their apartment buildings)," Herrera said. "It (the population) is always changing."

Costs and controversies

In addition to English classes and the park, Van Leeuwen said the city will also try to attract more participation from outside groups, such as the Girl Scouts, churches and other nonprofits that can help foment more community involvement without tapping the city's coffers.

Keeping costs down is key, according to the City Council, whose members said last week that, while they would be willing to expand English programs and beef up policing efforts, they would not support building facilities or creating services.

Moreover, spending more money on an area populated predominantly by foreign-born Spanish speakers is sure to encounter some resistance in a city where the topic of illegal immigration has sparked heated reactions on the council dais.

Last year, Councilwoman Marie Waldron criticized the participation of the Mexican Consulate at the city's annual civic fair at a school in Mission Park. The consulate had set up a mobile unit where Mexican nationals could apply for an identification card known as a matricula consular. Waldron said the program only benefited illegal immigrants and violated the city's sovereignty.

And in the fall, a council majority voted to support a controversial ---- but ultimately unsuccessful ---- state border police initiative, citing overcrowded apartments and other problems in communities such as Mission Park.

"Our goal has been to revitalize (Mission Park)," Waldron said in response to the city survey, adding that she agrees with providing English classes and other services for legal residents.

But Waldron said she would only support expanding such programs if they were deemed off-limits to any undocumented immigrants in the area who tried to enroll.

"I don't think taxpayer dollars should be funding programs for illegal immigrants," she said.

Parallel steps

No matter what decisions city leaders make, there is plenty of opportunity to improve connections between Mission Park residents and the community at large, said Leticia Rodriguez, 35, as she waited for a bus along Washington Avenue, her infant daughter in her arms.

Community forums to discuss the immigration issue would possibly help mend attitudes about the residents of her neighborhood, she said.

And like many who responded to the city's survey, Rodriguez said she would like to see the city provide more English classes, as well as a parent center that offers child care while adults are studying.

Such efforts, she said, would provide a valuable thread in creating the community connections she, and city leaders, insist are needed.

"But it's not just the city," Rodriguez said. "It's us."

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 740-5416 or dfried@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07 ... 7_1_06.txt

Councilman disputes author's claim ordinance based on Mission Park study

By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 18, 2006

ESCONDIDO, CALIFORNIA – The lead researcher and author of a neighborhood study – used by City Council members as partial justification for an illegal-immigrant housing ordinance – says her work has been misinterpreted and used for conclusions not supported by the facts.


Juarez (front) and her sister Marla Juarez walked yesterday with their children on Washington Avenue in Mission Park.

Council members have referred to a study about Mission Park when talking about an illegal-immigrant housing ordinance
Arcela Núñez-Ã

Needs of migrants ignored in North County

By: ARCELA NUNEZ-ALVAREZ - Commentary

NORTH COUNTY TIMES : RIVERSIDE / SAN DIEGO COUNTY
DECEMBER 28, 2007

International Migrants Day, observed on Dec. 18, was forgotten in North County. Aiming to recognize the contribution that millions of migrants make to the economies of their host and home countries, that day rallies everyone across the world who is concerned with the protection and respect for basic human rights.

Globalization and the growing disparities in living conditions within and among nation-states are combining to increase the scale of cross-border migration worldwide. According to the United Nations, an estimated 200 million people are currently living outside their countries of origin. They work far from home and live precariously in between political borders.

Escaping poverty, civil conflict, insecurity or persecution, they contribute to our economy working predominantly in the domestic, industrial, agricultural and service sectors, many earning less than minimum or livable wages. They provide essential services to the economies and societies of the countries they live in while supporting their families and communities back home, where remittances boost the national economy.


Unfortunately, migrants continue to be portrayed as a burden to their host society rather than a global asset. Despite their countless contributions to our economy and community, thousands of migrants in San Diego County are dehumanized instead of thanked for their daily hard work. Migrants are a particularly vulnerable group who see their rights routinely violated, not only as workers, but as human beings.

Women migrants are even more vulnerable to gender-based violence and abuse, often becoming victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Migrants commonly face rampant discrimination, xenophobia, substandard and severely overcrowded housing, a paucity of appropriate health information and services, and untenable labor conditions.

Addressing these conditions internationally, nationally and locally continues to be a challenge. Although 37 countries have already ratified the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, it still needs the commitment of governments and individuals to enter into force to bring the protective regime to bear upon the million of migrant workers in different parts of the world.

The coming year represents an opportunity to increase our efforts in the promotion of the rights of migrants and redesign of immigration policies. Through sharing and recognizing the contributions migrants provide in our community we observe human rights and preserve fundamental freedoms.

Arcela Nunez-Alvarez is a resident of San Marcos and interim director of the National Latino Research Center at Cal State San Marcos.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12 ... _28_07.txt

Comments On This Story
Needs of migrants ignored in North County


The Mission Park Survey wrote on Jan 2, 2008 9:06 PM:
" A section of escondido that is severely overcrowded with poor people, many of whom do not speak Englsh. Dense rows of aging apartment buildings, many defaced by graffiti, line much of Mission Avenue and the surrounding side streets. In all, 16,500 people ---- nearly 12 percent of the city's total population ---- are squeezed into the 1 1/2-square-mile area. Most of the families are poor, earning less than half the citywide median income of $42,500. Guess who was part of this survey. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07 ... 7_1_06.txt

Skip wrote on Jan 2, 2008 9:12 PM:
" Arcela Núñez-Ã

MISSION PARK COMMUNITY SURVEY

http://www.csusm.edu/nlrc/publications/ ... y_2006.pdf