An emergency Alum Rock Union School Board meeting followed a three-alarm blaze that destroyed the longtime Mexican American Social Services Agency community center. Community organizers accused the board of ignoring months of pleas to remodel and reopen the vacant, deteriorating building that once served as a popular youth center. The facility had been closed for over a decade and was fenced off; it previously faced major financial scandals, including the IRS revoking nonprofit status in 2012 over misuse of teacher pension funds. Community members expressed anger and grief, calling the loss avoidable and blaming board inaction.
Organizers with SOMOS Mayfair and the Si Se Puede Collective say for months they had been pleading with the board to remodel and reopen the vacant and deteriorating building that was once a cherished and popular youth center. The site had been at the center of major financial scandals, which included the Internal Revenue Service revoking the facility's nonprofit status in 2012 over misuse of teacher pension funds.
In her comments to the board, Gonzalez claimed board members don't "give a damn about us" and have shown residents "disrespect" by not repurposing the building before it burned down. "This moment could have been avoided and it is your failure to act. Don't come here today talking about urgency when the people have been waiting for years for this building that no one got to step into, that people now will never get to know," Gonzalez said. "We are tired of the disrespect."
#community-center-fire #alum-rock-union-school-district #macsa #community-activism #historic-preservation
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