Poor Community Amidst Silicon Valley Wealth Struggles to Improve Itself.

WASHINGTON--September 22, 1999--

Architect-supported effort will bring

community members together in October to find solutions

While much of the region known as Silicon Valley has reveled in prosperity and growth during the 1990s economic boom, the city of East Palo Alto, Calif., has not yet tasted the fruits of success enjoyed by its Palo Alto and Menlo Park neighbors. Plummeting property values, dwindling resources, and a deteriorating public infrastructure have all contributed to the suffering experienced by East Palo Alto's mostly minority and ethnically diverse residents.

That could all change, however, beginning on October 2 when six teams of architects and urban planners conduct an intense, nine-hour design "charrette", an event expected to spur an economic and development revival in the community.

"The inherent challenge facing the citizens of East Palo Alto is how to develop better housing, improve the local transportation networks, and raise property values without driving prices up and displacing the very residents who live there," said Michael Kastrop, AIA, chairman of the East Palo Alto Charrette committee. "History has proven that charrettes like this--and the solutions that are created--can help do just that."

A "charrette," Kastrop explained, can be described as a "concentrated effort by a group of architectural professionals to create--through careful planning, innovative design, and creative problem-solving--a viable solution to a community's development challenges." In addition to a final, documented plan, said Kastrop, successful architectural charrettes require study, research, and input from community leaders and citizens.

Funded jointly by The American Architectural Foundation, The Peninsula Community Foundation, and Rhone-Poulenc, Inc., and supported by local members of The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the East Palo Alto charrette concept is similar to others that have stimulated positive changes and tangible projects around the country. In northern California alone, charrettes organized by the AIA San Mateo County Chapter (AIASMC) have inspired the transformation of an abandoned Greyhound bus depot into a city-run community center, a government-funded gateway and pedestrian link from a busy commercial artery to a neighboring business district, a new town hall and civic center, a mixed-use building complex combining low-to-moderate-income housing with ground floor retail services, and the replacement of an aging municipal automobile parking structure with a regional mass transit center.

Kastrop said the East Palo Alto charrette--proposed and organized by the AIASMC--entails two phases.

"In order to be successful, an event of this nature must be driven and supported by the local citizens it will affect," said Kastrop. Accordingly, a series of city-sponsored town meetings have been conducted in an effort to communicate the event's objectives, discuss the proposed areas of study, and establish an open dialogue between committee members and citizens.

The second phase of the event will be the actual design charrette on Saturday, October 2. Six teams made up of architects, urban designers, civil engineers, traffic consultants, and local architecture students will all take part, complete with pens, paper, notepads, and a variety of other visual media. Each team will focus on a specific area of urban improvements, including a `vision' for a new downtown to replace Whiskey Gulch (soon to be displaced by the University Circle development); a plan for housing and commercial mixed-use development along Bay Road at University Avenue; and revitalized retail shops along Donohoe Street between University Avenue and Cooley Avenue.

Citizens of East Palo Alto will be invited to critique the teams' solutions

and add their own suggestions, and a final presentation will conclude the charrette as each team presents its architectural solution and documented vision of East Palo Alto.

The work, Kastrop explained, does not stop there. The design teams' presentation sketches and drawings will be publicly displayed following the charrette and formally presented for future implementation to the East Palo Alto City Council and Redevelopment Agency.

While the East Palo Alto Design Charrette is considered one of the most ambitious efforts to date, the concept is not new to the AIA or its San Mateo County Chapter. The AIASMC has conducted community-based workshops in San Mateo, San Bruno, Half Moon Bay, and many other communities in northern California, while other AIA offices around the country have spearheaded similar efforts.

The AIA's role in developing design charrettes underscores the organization's commitment to quality of life issues around the country. Through the AIA's Center for Livable Communities, architects contribute to making safe, attractive, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable communities that offer choices in housing and recreation, transportation alternatives, open spaces, and a shared identity and sense of pride in our communities.

Note: Members of the media are invited to observe the East Palo Alto design charrette. For a complete schedule or to arrange interviews, contact Mike Janes at The American Institute of Architects, [phone].