Editing East Palo Alto, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Cooley_Landing_at_high_tide_-_Nov_2010_(5197304115).jpg|left|thumb|Cooley Landing, the location of Isaiah Churchill Woods' failed city of Ravenswood]]
[[File:East Palo Alto PA Airport Moffett Field P1190059.jpg|thumb|An aerial image of East Palo Alto, looking southeast towards [[Mountain View, California]]]]

The [[Ohlone]] tribe of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] inhabited this area at least by 1500 to 1000 BC. One [[tumulus]] was discovered in 1951 during development of the University Village subdivision near today's Costaño School. After a year-long excavation of 60 graves and 3,000 artifacts, researchers concluded Native Americans had utilized the area as a [[cemetery]] and camp, rather than as a permanent settlement. In later years another mound was found near Willow Road and the railroad [[Right-of-way (railroad)|right-of-way]].<ref name=Romic>{{cite web |first=Rhonda |last=Rigenhagen |url=http://www.romic.com/epahistory/frame.htm |title=History of East Palo Alto |publisher=Romic Environmental Technologies Corp.|orig-year=1993 |date=1997 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630013952/http://www.romic.com/epahistory/frame.htm |archive-date=June 30, 2008 }}</ref>

[[File:Route of the Pacific and Atlantic Rail Road between San Francisco, & San Jose, as located by Wm. J. Lewis, Chief Engineer, in Sept. Oct. & Nov. 1851. LOC 98688756.jpg|thumb|alt=A map of the San Francisco Bay coastline including hills, streams, and roads and showing the communities from left to right of San Jose, Santa Clara, Alviso, Mezesville, San Francisco|1851 map of a planned  railroad between San Francisco and San Jose.  Note Ravenswood, an earlier name of the Cooley Landing part of East Palo Alto, about midway on the coast.]]
From the 1850s through the 1940s, the area which was to become East Palo Alto went through many changes. In 1849, Isaiah Churchill Woods (1825–1880) attempted to make the area around what is now ''Cooley Landing'' in the northeast of the current city a major shipping town and named the area ''Ravenswood''. In 1868, after Woods' investments failed he sold the wharf to Lester Phillip Cooley (1837–1882), who leased the land to the brick factory ''Hunter and Schakleford''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last1=Baxter|first1=R. Scott|last2=Allen|first2=Rebecca|last3=Hylkema|first3=Mark G.|date=August 2007|title=Cooley Landing Cultural Resource Inventory and Assessment|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/media/reports/1301329696.pdf|url-status=live|website=Palo Alto Online|publisher=Past Forward, Inc.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422173957/https://www.paloaltoonline.com/media/reports/1301329696.pdf |archive-date=April 22, 2021 }}</ref> When the brick factory left the landing in 1884, the land around the landing was reverted to a ranch.<ref name=":0" />

With the outbreak of [[World War I]], the north side of East Palo Alto became a military training ground, of which only the [[Veterans Health Administration|Veterans Administration Hospital]] in Menlo Park still exists (now as part of the [[List of Veterans Affairs medical facilities#VISN 21: VA Sierra Pacific Network|VA Sierra Pacific Network]]). In the 1940s, East Palo Alto was a farming community with many Japanese residents. During the war, the Japanese were forced out, many to [[Internment of Japanese Americans|relocation centers]], and did not return after the war.

In the 1950s the farms were built over with cheap housing and many African-American families moved in, the result of [[redlining]] housing policies.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Equity Ripples: East Palo Alto Continues to Struggle Amidst Neighboring Tech Boom|url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-palo-struggle-amidst-neighboring-tech-boom/1960199/|access-date=April 24, 2021|website=NBC Bay Area|date=September 10, 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref> In particular, in 1954 the then-president of the California Real Estate Association, Floyd Lowe, implemented a strategy that turned a neighborhood on the East side of Palo Alto from predominantly white to predominantly black in a very short amount of time.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cutler|first=Kim-Mai|date=January 10, 2015|title=East Of Palo Alto's Eden: Race And The Formation Of Silicon Valley|url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/10/east-of-palo-altos-eden/|access-date=April 24, 2021|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref> He did this by "[[blockbusting]]," which is a strategy that was employed all over the country to similar results.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|last1=Russo|first1=Charles|date=June 28, 2020|title=Un-forgetting the segregationist history of Palo Alto (and Daly City, and San Francisco, and…)|url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/06/28/un-forgetting-the-segregationist-history-of-palo-alto-and-daly-city-and-san-francisco-and|url-status=live|website=PaloAltoOnline.com|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630014133/https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2020/06/28/un-forgetting-the-segregationist-history-of-palo-alto-and-daly-city-and-san-francisco-and |archive-date=June 30, 2020 }}</ref> Blockbusting involves instilling panic in white neighborhoods by warning of a "Negro invasion" when a black family considers purchasing a house in an area, in order to produce [[white flight]] and an ensuing drop in property values, which can then be purchased at a heavy discount and sold or rented to African Americans for a profit. In 1954, Lowe alerted the neighborhood that a "Negro invasion" was imminent, and as intended, white flight ensued. Lowe profited due to the low prices at which the white families fleeing were willing to sell their homes, and within a few years, the demographics of the area had flipped. As white-owned businesses fled the area, it became poorer and overcrowded – a legacy that has persisted. This segregationist act was never questioned by the government, and it led to many of the demographic and socioeconomic differences that exist between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto today.<ref name=":1" />

These differences in demographics and wealth perversely accelerated with the introduction of the  [[Community Reinvestment Act]] of 1977, which banned redlining.<ref name=Cutler2015>{{cite web |last1=Cutler |first1=Kim-Mai |title=East Of Palo Alto's Eden: Race And The Formation Of Silicon Valley |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/10/east-of-palo-altos-eden/ |website=[[TechCrunch]] |access-date=April 23, 2021 |date=January 10, 2015}}</ref> Home prices doubled by 1979, and many of the more educated and upwardly mobile African Americans took advantage of their newfound freedom to move into wealthier communities with more amenities, leaving the remaining community even poorer and with less access to home ownership than had been the case before the Act.<ref name=Cutler2015/>

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s there was a renewed interest in African history, one expression of which was a fad for [[Swahili language|Swahili]]. In 1968 the area was almost renamed [[Nairobi]], after the center of the [[Swahili language|Swahili]]-speaking area, to reflect the population's African roots.<ref name=Romic/><ref name=History/> Critics of the change pointed out that Nairobi was the capital of [[Kenya]], in East Africa, and had little to do with the cultural roots of most black Americans. In the end, the change was not made.[[File:East Palo Alto Muni Blg.jpg|thumb|The East Palo Alto Municipal Building (2017), contains City Hall and the library.]]
Historically East Palo Alto had relatively little shopping and business compared to surrounding areas, and most of it constituted an unincorporated "island" (until 1983) within San Mateo County, depending on county government for services and on the San Mateo County Sheriff for police protection and ineligible for many revenue benefits requiring city status. 

After several years of pro-incorporation campaigning by local community groups, a 1982 ballot measure that was stopped by a lawsuit, and a subsequent election the next year, East Palo Alto became a city on July 1, 1983.<ref name="anniversary" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Grieve|first1=Tim|title=Incorporation starts for East Palo Alto|url=https://stanforddailyarchive.com/cgi-bin/stanford?a=d&d=stanford19830624-01.2.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------|access-date=June 2, 2017|work=The Stanford Daily|date=June 24, 1983}}</ref> The final tally for incorporation was 1,777 for and 1,764 against, a margin of 13 votes and a majority of 50.2%.<ref name="History" /> The main proponents of incorporation included Barbara A. Mouton, East Palo Alto's Senior Citizen Center president Ruth I. Myers, and the East Palo Alto Citizen’s Committee on Incorporation (EPACCI).<ref>Rachel Gordon, “Barbara Mouton – First May of East Palo Alto, Whose “Heart and Soul”

was Serving Community,” SFGate, March 19, 2007.</ref> The main opposition to incorporation was spearheaded by a group called Citizens Coalition Against Incorporation Now (CCAIN),<ref>Jeff Biddulph, “Court Approves EPA’s Cityhood Election,” Stanford Daily, May 23, 1984.</ref> along with three members of the pre-existing and powerless Municipal Council — Gertrude Wilks, Henry Anthony and Pat Johnson.<ref>Jeff Biddulph, “McCloskey Urges East PA Vote Delay,” Stanford Daily, January 28, 1983a</ref>

Barbara A. Mouton was East Palo Alto's first Mayor, with Omowale Satterwhite, Ruben Abrica, and James Blakey as initial council — all of whom were involved in efforts to incorporate the city. <ref>Tim Grieve, “Incorporation Starts for East Palo Alto,” Stanford Daily, June 24, 1983.</ref>

Because of subsequent legal challenges to the last ballot measure, it was not until 1987 that the city was officially recognized as such. The legal challenges were led by former U.S. Congress member [[Pete McCloskey]], who represented one of the real-estate brokers whose original [[blockbusting]] campaign had turned EPA into a mostly black town.<ref>{{Cite web |title=McCloskey Hired to Fight East Palo Alto Cityhood - Peninsula Times Tribune - EPA Community Archive |url=https://catalog.epacommunityarchive.org/document/9z902z84b |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=catalog.epacommunityarchive.org}}</ref> The lawsuit alleged that voter fraud through absentee ballots contributed to the success of the vote for incorporation; However, the California Supreme Court unanimously denied this claim on August 22 1986, and upheld the incorporation of the city.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The EPA Progress, Vol. 4 No. 5 - EPA Community Archive |url=https://catalog.epacommunityarchive.org/newspaper/7w62f821k |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=catalog.epacommunityarchive.org}}</ref> 

In the 1980s, large numbers of [[Hispanic Americans|Hispanics]] moved into East Palo Alto and by 1990, the city had lost its Black majority population which declined from 60 percent in 1980 to 41.5 percent in 1990 while the Hispanic population increased from 14 percent to 36 percent.<ref>{{Cite news|first= Michael |last= McCabe |authorlink=   |title= TOWN'S ETHNIC MAKEUP SHIFTS / Historically Black East Palo Alto Moving Toward Latino Majority |newspaper=[[San Francisco Gate]]|date= |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/TOWN-S-ETHNIC-MAKEUP-SHIFTS-Historically-Black-2982533.php  |via=}}</ref>

Significant [[gentrification]] occurred in East Palo Alto from around the founding of [[Facebook]], with the construction of a large [[shopping center]] named Ravenswood 101 and several upscale housing communities intended for high-earning Silicon Valley workers.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} This development faced opposition from some residents, who charged that it priced locals out of one of the region's only affordable communities while providing only low-paying retail jobs and consuming disproportionate land area (2.2 square miles). Supporters pointed to an increased tax base.

In 2008, after twenty years without a supermarket, East Palo Alto individuals and organizations established the East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market.<ref>[https://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/story.php?story_id=8272 Palo Alto Online Palo Alto Weekly: An oasis in a food desert (April 16, 2008)]. Paloaltoonline.com. Retrieved on July 21, 2013.</ref> In November 2009, the Mi Pueblo Food Center grocery store opened in the Ravenswood 101 shopping center in the location of the former Circuit City store. Mi Pueblo was the city's first full-service supermarket in 23 years.<ref>{{cite news |last=Himmel |first=Sheila |title=Filling Shopping Carts and a Community Need |date=January 14, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times |url =https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/dining/15sfdine.html?_r=0Filling}}</ref>

Starting in 2006, a large real estate investor, Page Mill Properties, purchased almost the entire west side of East Palo Alto and contested most of the city's rent control laws in what some claimed was a 'predatory equity scheme'.<ref>"[https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=10449 EPA Calls Page Mill Properties 'predatory']", ''Palo Alto Online News'', December 17, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2011.</ref>  Page Mill left East Palo Alto in the fall of 2009 after defaulting on a $240-million bank loan.<ref>"[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126039480378184249 Firm Takes Heat over East Palo Alto Crime]", ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', December 10, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2011.</ref>

In 1992, the city had the country's highest per-capita murder rate, with 42 murders for 25,000 residents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mejia |first=Brittny |date=January 8, 2024 |title=A California city's transformation from 'murder capital' of the U.S. to zero homicides |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-01-08/a-california-citys-transformation-from-murder-capital-of-u-s-to-zero-homicides |access-date=January 9, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> This led to East Palo Alto being dubbed the "Murder Capital" of the United States during this time in the 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fonseca |first=Ryan |last2= |last3= |last4= |date=2024-01-10 |title=How East Palo Alto went from U.S. ‘murder capital’ to murder-free |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2024-01-10/how-east-palo-alto-went-from-u-s-murder-capital-to-murder-free-essential-california#:~:text=From%20U.S.%20'murder%20capital'%20to%20zero%20homicides,had%20a%20population%20of%2024,000. |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2023, the city had no murders, the first time in its history.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cull • • |first=Ian |date=January 3, 2024 |title=Once the murder capital of the US, East Palo Alto sees zero homicides in 2023 |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/peninsula/zero-homicides-in-east-palo-alto-2023/3411442/ |access-date=January 4, 2024 |website=NBC Bay Area |language=en-US}}</ref>