I've lived in these neighborhoods in this order:
- East Oakland, right on Foothill Boulevard
- North Oakland, on San Pablo Avenue
- Vallejo, in a pocket going through urban decay
I feel like I dodged a series of bullets growing where I did, but I also believe that it was the support of my family that kept me from the path too often walked by young Mexican men, jail, death, and general low expectations. It was this support that really nullified any negative factors inherent in these neighborhoods, the sad fact of the matter is the lack of a present and supportive father is all it takes for young men growing up in the places I grew up in to start on that slippery downward slope.
I was shielded from any negative influence in my childhood and teens thanks to my parents, and thanks to them, to me all my neighborhoods were just the place we lived. Now as an adult, I can really take a critical stance on my current neighborhood and the real and measurable ways it has influenced me.
On the whole, I feel Vallejo is a city in decline. Maybe it's because I wasn't raised here, and I don't plan on staying, but I can stand back and look at the goings on in this town through the eyes of a critical outsider, and not the hopeful eyes a genuinely concerned long term resident. Aside from the standard retail jobs and small businesses, there is no beating heart of economy in this town. The most prosperous in town job I can think of is probably 'store manager', or maybe 'car lot owner', yet the city insists on renovation and renewal, while closing down high schools and killing a planned new school. They overlook serious social problems in favor of luxuries the real working class population aren't asking for.
Vallejo has influenced me. I can't go outside without thinking to myself I can do better than a place like this.
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