A Voice of the Community

October 2020

45 Stories for 45 Years

Contributor: Korin Crawford, EBALDC Board Member

Working as a consultant on the Lake Merritt Specific Plan around 2008, my team and I entered our first community meeting confident and ready. I grew up in the Bay Area, spent 15 years working in the real estate development field and had guided extensive research on the economy around Oakland’s Chinatown to inform the plan.

But at that first community meeting, a number of incredibly brilliant and dedicated EBALDC staff members voiced deep concerns they had about our research. It was clear from their depth of knowledge and level of sophistication that they had read the initial findings more deeply perhaps than some of the people on the consulting team. They demanded that the scope of the study we had conducted expand to adequately address the economic issues and the history of Chinatown. Their passion for and expertise in the priorities and needs of the community made an immediate impression on me about EBALDC as an organization and how they use engagement, cooperation and advocacy to further their mission.

EBALDC’s influence on the Lake Merritt Specific Plan, and the changes we made to it based on their feedback, codified the beginnings of EBALDC’s proposal for the redevelopment of the Lake Merritt Bart Station. The resulting plan for the redevelopment of the area surrounding the station takes into account historic forces of gentrification in Chinatown, affordability across age ranges and incomes, and so many other factors to shape a development that was ultimately not only acceptable to BART, but, most importantly, acceptable to the community.

That early experience of the Chinatown community and neighborhood from the organization’s perspective informed my now 10 year tenure on the Board and deepened my commitment to service its full diversity. Together with leaders from the neighborhood, we will keep striving for community development that takes into account what Chinatown means to the residents of the historic neighborhood.

As EBALDC marks our 45th anniversary, we will be gathering more stories like this one from our friends, family, community members, partners and more stakeholders that have made our impact possible. We would be honored for you to join us:

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