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MY: And there was another group called Arc Ecology, which was involved in military base closures and redevelopment issues, and a woman named Eve Bach who was part of that organization, they participated as an organizational partner in the efforts that we had going on. And it was through their efforts that they entered, we entered, both Renewed Hope and Arc Ecology entered litigation with the city challenging the environmental impacts of the development, which halted it, and we ended up going to court with it. The judge knew what was up with it, and we had city representatives, the representatives of Atellus Corporation which was the developer that was going to do the project in the room, and said, "Okay, let's come up with some compromises out of here, and we won't have to have a hearing on this," because I could see what was going on here. And so we had a meeting there in a courtroom building, and Atellus really wanted to push this thing forward, and they pushed the city to agree to increase their affordable housing units mandate, the state mandate was fifteen percent at the time. We were pushing to increasing it to twenty-five percent on all new developments at the naval base, and Atellus really pushed for it and the city ended up agreeing to that. And Atellus also did a set aside of 3 acres for affordable housing at the Bayport so that there would be some kind of (compromise) on this, so to speak. And so they went ahead with that and they went ahead with the Bay Ports. The city adopted this twenty-five percent affordability. And it took them, I think, some twenty years from that time when they actually had their first development at the naval base. And Renewed Hope still exists, Lynette's still involved in it.

There's an interesting story I love to share about, there was a city staff in community development, Tom Matthews, who came to one of our vigils and rallies. And he had been working internally on developing affordable housing policies, but he was so frustrated because there was just no political will in the city to do it. He came to one of our rallies, and then somehow he contacted me because he heard we were organizing, and he said, "I want to join you guys." And not too long after that, he retired from the city and he joined Renewed Hope, he became the president of Renewed Hope. And we had the value of him having this experience and knowing what goes on internally within the city in terms of the politics and the policy and so forth. So he became the driving force to push the agenda for Renewed Hope, and along with Eve Bach as well from Arc Ecology, and then the plethora of people who became involved because of their own interests. But the problem was, things were moving so slowly that a lot of the folks who were involved ended up moving out of town, and then we started seeing demographic shifts and things taking place. It was a very, very challenging times, very heart wrenching time to see people leaving the community. But Tom stayed with it, and Tom stayed with it to the very end, even 'til the time he got sick and passed away. Another kind of interesting development when we're working from a faith-based perspective, that we just never know who's going to show up and become part of the effort, and actually become the leader of the effort that goes on.

And so we have always paid homage to Tom and to Eve, Eve passed away as well during our time, and a woman named Laura Thomas chairs the group now to this day, and they continue to be at the table. And civic leaders will tell you Renewed Hope is the group that is continuing to push the edge on the affordable housing policies. And I think in the last effort of the housing element, there's been a real shift forward in terms of the planning throughout the community around affordable housing developments in the community. So it's been a long effort, one that I wasn't involved in during all that time personally because I helped in the very beginnings, and Cynthia as our staff was there. But we've seen the continued vigilance and dedication, particularly on the part of Lynette Lee, who's still a big leader at the church. And still, even in her retirement, still volunteers to do a lot of things around these issues, and she's still involved there.

PW: Did she actually make update reports to the church? Because it is such an issue here in Alameda now, and now the public is allowed onto parts of the Alameda Naval Base, the former base, we can see it. We can see those condos growing up and understand, like there's no way that's low income housing. I mean, now I'm speaking just on a personal...

MY: Yeah, as a citizen.

PW: ...citizen, and understanding that impact, and then where Buena Vista got involved with that, but now we can really see how much change is happening to Alameda?

MY: Yeah.

PW: Is this something that she would regularly get?

MY: You know, I've been retired for almost three years now, so I don't know what she's doing in terms of reports by the congregation, but I assume she is checking in with things. But I do still get Renewed Hope emails and updates and things. They are still very vigilant, very active.

PW: I can just imagine, though, that families at Buena Vista might have been here for three, going four generations now, but they can't buy a house in Alameda.

MY: Yeah.

PW: And what does that mean?

MY: Yeah, absolutely. And when you think about it, there's been a lot of commemorations of Japanese American history, the one that Densho's been involved with with Alameda Japantown. And think about Japanese Americans here, when the first Isseis were here, there were housing codes where they couldn't live in certain places, and it was a big deal for people to live in the Gold Coast, or a big deal for people to live in the, what was called the Fernside area. And even Bay Farm out here that just got developed for the old-timers, perceived as, like, wow, that's an untouchable place to go. So housing has always been an issue for Japanese Americans as well, even housing after the war, and resettlement, all that. So, to me, I've noticed that there is that thread of history kind of looping back around were advocacy for people to have safe places to live, it's part of the narrative of our stories as well. So it makes sense how the congregation can support that.

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