Summary
Changing Soledad Street's vacant storefronts and drug corners into an effervescent Salinas neighborhood with lofts alongside homeless services is quite a leap. To help bridge the gap between the neighborhood's present and future, stakeholders want to preserve Chinatown's past
CSUMB students are working with local Chinese, Japanese and Filipino organizations to create a cultural center. Ken Feske, CSUMB's Chinatown project manager, says film students will produce a virtual museum using stories and photos from Asian-American fami lies that toiled in Salinas Valley fields and owned restaurants and gambling halls in Chinatown. Protecting the isolated neighborhood's history and architecture has taken on more importance since few preserved Chinatowns remain in California.The gallery sits next to CSUMB's community center and across from the university's garden-the result of a $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CSUMB is in the planning stages of the application process for a second, three-year $600,000 grant, which would be used to implement the Chinatown renewal plan and develop alternative energy projects. Seniors at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will design a windmill, Feske says. Through a combination of solar and wind projects, Feske hopes to have the CSUMB garden and community center, [Dorothy]'s Place and the street lights off the grid. The grant, he says, would turn homeless people into a green-collar crew.See the full content of this document
Extract
Saving Chinatown
Changing Soledad Street's vacant storefronts and drug corners into an effervescent Salinas neighborhood with lofts alongside homeless services is quite a leap. To help bridge the gap between the neighborhood's present and future, stakeholders want to prese...
See the full content of this document
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