Building Demolished, Clearing the Way for "The Center"
On Tuesday morning, a bulldozer continued to demolish a school that was shut down by the state in 2004. But while demolitions often foretell upcoming condos, this lot has something better in store.
With funding from Measure J, "The Center" will be built at the corner of West St. and 28th St. A project based around rethinking school lunch, The Center will be a central kitchen, instructional farm, and education center for the Oakland Unified School District.
Sharon Robinson, Project Manager, explains:
"The kitchen will serve our kids food and provide bulk ingredients that will go out to finishing kitchens at our schools throughout the district. In conjunction with that, the kids will come here to augment and supplement their curriculum, whether it's in the science and garden programs, and then also their career pathways. So there will be opportunities for the kids to learn about different career opportunities that exist within either the culinary arts or ecology or other things like that."
The hope is that by providing nutritional, freshly prepared food, The Center will create a positive effect district wide for each child, nutritionally and academically.
Katherine Rae Mondo