County to Seek Federal Aid for Renewal of Russell City
Oakland Tribune, Mar. 15, 1961
Full Text:
Russell City, considered a plight on the map of Alameda County, may be removed by an urban redevelopment program.
The Board of Supervisors yesterday voted unanimously to develop a plan by which federal aid can be obtained to relocate some 1,500 people and develop the area for industrial use.
The board assigned to the District Attorney, the Planing Director and the County Administrator the task of compiling the data necessary to qualify for federal aid.
When the data is available the board will appoint an Urban Redevelopment Authority to relocate the residents of the 92-acre area south of the Hayward Airport and to start condemnation proceedngs.
The action came after the board heard reports from Bengt Torssell, field representitive of the Urban Renewal Administration, San Franisco, who outlined requirenents of the Federal Governnent to qualify for federal aid, and Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lewis, who outlined the state requirements.
Present at the hearing also were J. A. Quinn, foreman of the Alameda County Grand Jury, who urged immediate action by the board, and Irvin Alkus, Joseph Blankenstein, Mrs. Juanita Patterson and Mrs. Betsy Stroble, members of the Russell City committee of the grand jury.
Torssell told the board that prerequisites of federal aid are ability to relocate the people of the blighted area in decent, safe and sanitary housing, a master plan for development of the land, ability and willingness to share one-third of the net cost of the project, and public support in the undertaking.
The Russell City area, described by recent grand juries as a "squalid mess" without a water system, sanitary or storm sewers, has been under study by the county planning staff for nearly a decade. In July, 1958, they recommended that the County clear the area and convert it to industrial use.
The plan calls for condemnation of the property, compensation of the owners at the fair market value, and transfer of the residents, whether property owners or not, to suitable housing elsewhere, and sale of the land for industrial development.
Councilman Dan Cooper of Hayward said that city will cooperate in development of the plan so far as legally possible. The area is at this time unincorporated and is the responsibility of the county.
There is every expectation that it will be annexed by the City of Hayward after it is Welfare Director Harold Kehoe said that of the 1,500 to 1,600 population of Russell City only 72 are getting welfare assistance. Three of these are blind, one is totally disabled, 10 get general assistance, 28 get aid to needy children, and 30 are on old age security.
There was no estimate of the total cost of the redevelopment program but Surveyor Olof E. Anderson reported that if the area were developed to subdivision standards with streets, water, sewers and fire protection the cost would be around $1 million, exclusive of the cost of relocating the residents.
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