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High School Students ‘Redevelop’ Piedmont-Teams Study Urban Planning, Compete at Mock City Council Meeting

Artists want affordable studio space, while a church clamors for land to build a homeless shelter. Piedmont officials want to redevelop a neighborhood in decline, and all the while try to make every stakeholder happy.

The Oakland Tribune

By Laura Casey, STAFF WRITER

Inside Piedmont City Hall Thursday morning, three groups presented plans to accomplish a diverse, large-scale development that encompasses all those elements.

But they were not high-powered builders.

Instead, they were teenage Millennium High School students in a civics/law class, presenting their plans for a new neighborhood at a mock city council meeting. Their work was the result of 15 hours of intensive study of urban planning led by Paula Blasier, director of special projects at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Fifteen hours ago, they thought a footprint came from a (tennis shoe) and now they are talking about density," Blasier said. "It is extraordinary the demands that have been made on them."

More than a dozen students separated into three teams to create three proposals. The project was to redevelop a 51/2-block section of the fictional Yorktown. Their goal is to win a contract from the city to redevelop the site.

But, like any urban projects, they have several roadblocks. The city wants affordable housing and open space and investors want a return for their money. The group must consider traffic flow and parking, the significance of historic buildings, the viability of stores in specific locations, and the interests of neighbors.

Millennium student Sara Anooshfar introduced her group’s project to mock city council members under bright lights and the watchful eye of video cameras. Her group created a project intended to be the gateway to the city.

"It will create a strong bond of unity," throughout the neighborhood she said. It would also provide housing and a homeless shelter, businesses and recreation, while turning a multimillion dollar profit.

Students’ designs were challenged by the mock council members, who are working professionals in the planning and design fields.

Barry Elbasani of ELS Architects challenged Anooshfar to explain how residents of market-rate housing would accept a homeless shelter nearby.

"That’s part of our vision," she said confidently, "of bringing everyone in the neighborhood together."

Millennium High School principal Ken Yale sat quietly in the back of the room as each of the students presented their proposals and fielded the tough questions hurled at them.

"I think it’s really exciting to see learning where students take control of their education and have a personal investment in it," he said.

Millennium High School is Piedmont’s alternative high school where students are given more individual attention than in traditional high school settings. Students work at their own pace and often participate in exercises like the redevelopment project.

For example, when one of the council members asked a student how the city could avoid getting sued if someone got injured in the group’s proposed skate park, student Grayce Mulvihill sat at the edge of her seat dying to answer.

"I got so frustrated sitting here in the audience because I had an answer to the skateboarding question," she said. Skateboarding has been ruled by the state to be an inherently dangerous sport, relieving the city of liability.

UC Berkeley’s Blasier said the program is training and educating students about urban planning. If deemed successful, it could be taught in schools nationwide.

http://www.research.uli.org/DK/SpPer/re_SpPer_Housing_01_fst.html

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