The BOS(ses)
Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors
Stanislaus County
Stanislaus County
City Council
City of Modesto
Paradise South
City of Modesto
Contributed by Marge Leopold
Friday, 22 October 2004
In 1948 the University of Denver published a study on the fringe areas of Modesto. At that time the City itself had a population of 19,000 and the surrounding fringe areas had a population of about 25,000. The total area of Modesto was 3.5 square miles an area which has grown to approximately 36 square miles in 2004.
The University of Denver studied all of the existing fringe areas, area 5a encompassed the Riverview tract (Robertson Road Area) and the county pockets surrounding Sutter Ave.
Middle-class families, many of who were former Oklahomans, populated this area. Most of the residents were employed in clerical and skilled trades.
Area 5a was close to downtown Modesto and had markets and other businesses. Downtown Modesto was the center of activity in Modesto.
Since that time most of Modesto’s grocery stores, hardware, furniture and clothing stores have moved to the north end of the city leaving residents of the west side without access to shopping.
Without stores and other businesses, the economic deficits in the neighborhood tend to let the city and county to dismiss the area for development.
The 1948 University of Denver study reads as if it were written today. It speaks of the lack of law enforcement, fire protection, sewer service and infrastructure.
It points out that crime in the fringe areas was higher than in the city due to lack of police protection, the study cautions that if the lack of law enforcement persisted the crime in the area would grow to epidemic proportions.
I’m not aware if the area received county welfare housing recipients in 1948 or not but this and the lack of supervision by the probation department and parole office of probationers and parolees has added to the problems of crime in the neighborhood.
Lack of lighting, it was noted was also part of the crime problem, between the lack of law enforcement and the lack of lighting the fringe areas were a haven for criminal activity.
What has changed?
Many of the streets in this area are still unlit, and crime has grown to alarming proportions. Lack of sewer service and lack of infrastructure persists in 2004.
Children still walk in mud or in the street in the winter rains due to lack of sidewalks and proper drainage. The Burbank/Paradise volunteer fire department still answers fire calls, just as written in 1948. Since the 1948 study the fringe areas to the north and east have been annexed (with a few exceptions) but the areas to the west and southwest have mostly been ignored.
Neighborhoods have deteriorated, housing values have not kept up with the rest of the Modesto “community” and most of what was cautioned by the study has come to pass.
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