At a recent forum, District 4 City Council candidate Jason Lee repeated one of his campaign themes, that Stockton city government is guilty of immoral neglect of South Stockton.
“One of the biggest things that I noticed when I got back to Stockton, the apathy and the disbelief that you would find individuals that would fight for you and a better community,” Lee said. “South Stockton has been disrespected for decades.”
The belief that City Hall could care less about the economically disadvantaged south side is an article of faith among certain Stockton groups. To disagree is check-your-privilege heresy. But when beliefs are outdated, a little heresy is healthy. The idea that Stockton government neglects the city’s south side appears no longer true.
It did neglect the south side for years, leaving a legacy of under-investment, a hole the city will need years to dig out of. But research suggests the city is earnestly digging.
I don’t expect anyone to abandon their cherished disdain for City Hall without facts. To wit:
“The city spends hundreds of millions of dollars in projects, programs and services that benefit South Stockton,” city spokesperson Connie Cochran said.
“Projects are not developed to benefit individual Council Districts,” Cochran said. “However, many, if not most, of the funding for larger infrastructure projects benefits the older areas of the city, which include downtown and South Stockton.”
Let’s start with an instance in which city government lived down to the dimmest views of its detractors: the two municipal golf courses. The city poured money into northside’s Swenson Golf Course and left Van Buskirk Golf Course to rot.
But Stockton is investing $14 million in a Van Buskirk renovation. The design, largely driven by a community wish list, includes a skate park, basketball courts, bike trails, a community garden and multipurpose fields.
Here’s a partial list of other projects helping downtown or south Stockton. Just skim it.
- Miner Avenue Complete Street Project: $1.5 million in fiscal 2021-22: 117 street trees, 458 new shrubs, 58,785 square feet of sidewalk, 34 streetlights.
- The McKinley Park Project: $750,000, 150 trees throughout the park, turf installation at new softball field, decomposed granite walkways, demolition and installation of bioswale (to collect and filter polluted water) at the parking lot, pool and pool house improvements, and other general park amenities.
- Offering free energy and water efficiency upgrades to households throughout the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Project Area. FY 2021-FY 2024: Provided services to 246 households. FY 2024-FY 2028: Will provide services to 425 households.
- Stockton Energy for All: Single and Multi-Family Solar: offering free solar installations for income qualifying single-family households. Also installed larger systems for a few multi-family structures. FY 2021-24: Installed systems at 20+ single-family homes and 2 multi-family sites. FY 2024-28: Will install systems for 87 single-family homes and 1 multi-family site.
- Urban Forest Renovation Project: The Public Works Department and Little Manila Rising are working together to plant trees throughout the TCC Project Area to restore the urban forest and reduce or eliminate urban heat islands. FY 2021-24: 1,500+ trees planted and 250+ stumps removed. FY 2024-28: Will plant 1,500 trees and remove 500 stumps.
- Edible Education at Home: The Edible Schoolyard Project runs an urban farm in Boggs Tract. They host local field trips and distribute community-supported agriculture boxes every week. They encourage healthier lifestyles through education and the distribution of organic produce. FY 2021-24: Distributed over 5,240 Community Supported Agriculture boxes. FY 2024-28: Will distribute 19,200 Community Supported Agriculture boxes.
- Regional Transit District is purchasing a hybrid electric bus for more frequent buses on Route 576 in FY 2024-25.
- The Decreasing Asthma Within Neighborhoods (DAWN) Program will visit 250 homes and distribute air purifiers and asthma remediation kits to improve indoor air and reduce exposure to asthma triggers.
- The city has been granted $650,000 to create a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan and $1 million for climate pollution reduction
- The Stockton Mobility Collective is launching a $7.5 million pilot to try “e-carsharing” of 30 electric vehicles in 10 to 5 locations, as well as an e-bikeshare project with 100 bikes at around 12 stations.
- Grade Separation Project to Reduce Railway Congestion in South Stockton. Just south of downtown Stockton, two major railroads (BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad) intersect, at what is known as the Stockton Diamond. This intersection is the most congested rail bottleneck in California. This $237 million project is anticipated to result in long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of up to 3,220 tons per year.
- Southside parks are getting upgrades ranging from court resurfacings, fence repairs, hi-tech public toilets, new playgrounds, shade covers, and better pathways.
There’s more, but let’s end with a project that promises to benefit south Stockton in particular: the city’s switch from PG&E to a new kind of power provider, Ava Community Energy.
First off, Ava promises a 5% savings over PG&E. More to the point, unlike PG&E, Ava is nonprofit, so it need not pay shareholders dividends but can invest in its communities. The company’s CEO said in 2002 that might include solar incentives, e-bike programs and charging stations citywide, but favoring the economically disadvantaged areas. The switch is scheduled for April 2025.
Critics of city government point to south side food deserts and the need for markets offering healthy food. Leaders long responded that the private sector decides where retail goes.
That’s too complacent. The south side may not qualify for a Lululemon, but if grocers shun it, then the city owes it to South Stockton to incentivize healthy markets with “first-in” money, be it for buying land that goes into trust or nutrition classes or community gardens.
Get a bigger shovel and keep digging, in other words.
Mike Fitzgerald’s column runs on Wednesdays. On Twitter and Instagram as Stocktonopolis. Email: mfitzgeraldstockton@gmail.com