Stop, Drop and Roll

28 January 2008 | Alameda Community, Alameda Community Development Forum | John Knox White

The Habitat for Humanity (HFH) work day went really well. Despite the threat of bad weather, there was a great turn out (including Lena Tam, Doug deHaan, Debbie Kurita, Judge Bartalini, and a few board/commissioners and city staffers).

The project as been financed in part by the City of Alameda’s development services and the Alameda Development Corporation and is being run by Habitat for Humanity. It consists of 8 duplexes. The houses, about 1300-1400 sf share a common drive and are two stories.

As with all HFH projects, the families help in the construction (and buy the houses, contrary to public perception). One of the families was on site on Saturday. There were four work groups this weekend, we ended up framing out the second floor of one of the houses (always satisfying because it looks like things are going to fast). Other groups constructed and raised common walls. The 4 duplexes are in various states of completion with one just about ready to add a roof, and one that had only a concrete pad built.

Looking at the construction site, it’s incredible how much land is tied up in parking. The houses have a shared driveway that connects them to the 2-spaces-per-unit that are required by the city’s code. It’s immediately noticeable that you would never be able to construct many of the historic neighborhoods in Alameda the same way, because so much land is now dedicated to parking.

The Americorps employees were awesome. My hats off to all of them. Their enthusiasm and knowledge was fantastic, oh…and their patience commendable. Imagine 7 people, ½ of whom don’t really know how to use a hammer well, asking questions while trying to build and raise multiple walls! I’ve had a lot of dealings with various Americorps folks, they’ve always been great, but these folks really stood out.