East Palo Alto residents begin to see hope of recovery

Construction, surrounding growth create positive signs

By Randy Lilleston/CNN

April 17, 2000
Web posted at: 2:19 p.m. EDT (1819 GMT)

EAST PALO ALTO, California (CNN) -- Forty-five years of drug abuse and alcohol dependency came to an end for Bishop Wethington in 1995. Now, he wants to help his neighbors.

Wethington, owner of a small construction company in this northern California community, knows better than most that it has not yet joined in the prosperity that surrounds its neighbors. Adjacent Palo Alto has America's most expensive commercial real estate, according to a report in Monday's San Jose Mercury News, and one of the nation's best colleges in Stanford University. And nearby San Jose and Silicon Valley are among the nation's top high-tech centers, with miniscule unemployment and high wages.

But East Palo Alto has struggled. The contrast in the two cultures -- one high-tech and high-pay, one with struggling residents working for comparatively low wages -- could not be sharper. It is one reason why President Bill Clinton chose East Palo Alto to kick off a two-day trip spotlighting the "digital divide"-- the split between those who have computers and Internet access, and those who do not.

East Palo Alto "is on the verge of redevelopment right now. Jobs are opening up. I think education plays a big part in that and we just need to have that," Wethington said.

Wethington was in the audience Monday when Clinton came to East Palo Alto. Oddly, the beginnings of a recovery here have affected him adversely -- the city has put a temporary moratorium on excavation and some types of construction to assure it can adequately oversee new projects.

"I was on my way out, you know," Wethington said in reference to his addiction. After a brush with the law, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, then worked to get his contractor's license and build a business.

"I'd just say it was an act of God," Wethington said.

Nine-year-old Alex Johnson hopes one day to join in the community's growth. He is a student at "Plugged In," a local program spotlighted by Clinton on Monday. Plugged In trains youths in computer and Internet skills.

"One day, we made play volcanos and exploded them and made pictures of them and put them on the Internet," Johnson said Monday. And this program is not for play -- Web pages constructed by Plugged In students are used on the Sun Microsystems and Pacific Bell sites.

"I wanted to begin here in East Palo Alto, because even here in Silicon Valley, there are many people who could be left behind and because you're doing so much to make sure you're not left behind," Clinton told the assembled business and political leaders who gathered here Monday.

"The commitments of governments and corporations are only part of the equation. The rest requires cooperation," he said.

Area residents left little doubt concerning how they felt about the federal programs and business grants that Clinton has pushed. Organizers referred to the president as an "angel investor" -- the term often used by start-up high-tech businesses when they receive a large infusion of capital to help them launch or expand.

Because of its location, East Palo Alto may find it easier to benefit from the nation's economic growth, Clinton noted Monday. The challenge is greater at his other planned stop Monday -- at a Navajo reservation in New Mexico.

Native American reservations have proven to be among the most resistant to economic growth over time -- with Clinton noting Monday that the reservation he will visit late in the day has telephones in only 22.5 percent of its homes. "You don't get the Internet if you don't have a line," the president noted.

Senior Editor Randy Lilleston is traveling with the president.