Mayor Tubbs,

This email is to inform you that the roof on the Rizal Social Club at 138 E. Lafayette St. (one of the last three remaining buildings of the Little Manila Historic Site) has collapsed and has been slated for demolition. This building is very significant to the Filipino American community on a national level. Our three buildings were deemed one of the most endangered historic sites by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. And as you know, Stockton had the largest population of Filipinos in the world outside of the Philippines from the 1920’s to the 1960’s.

We were notified by the City of Stockton Planning Department on Thursday that the building was in danger and I and several of our board met with city officials on Friday morning. We found out that the roof had collapsed in February which triggered city inspectors to visit the building. The owner was informed and, we believe, was taking action to fix the issue. He unfortunately died in March. The city commissioned a 3rd party engineer to do a report on the building and their findings said that the building was a hazard and a threat to public safety and to the neighboring buildings which causes a liability issue for the city. The family trust who now owns the building filed to have the building demolished. We were notified on Thursday afternoon, July 23rd and we met with the city the next morning. We were then told at the meeting that demolition was imminent and I stated that we as a community would like try our best to save the building. We then understood that, in order to save the building, the owners would have to create an engineering plan to shore up the building so it would not collapse which would then buy more time to repair the building. City staff asked for us to have this plan by this Wednesday, July 29th.

Since then, I have been working non-stop to do whatever we can to save the building. I’ve sent emails and left voicemails to the owner's descendants and have not yet heard back from them. Internally we are mobilizing leaders in the national preservation community and Filipino American community. We will do whatever we possibly can, but I do feel our community has been put into a very avoidable and almost impossible situation.

Obviously, there is a very immediate need for our community, but I also want you and the current city staff to understand this overarching issue that has always existed in our dealings with the city.

At our meeting with city officials on Friday, we were told that staff became aware of the historical nature of 138 E. Lafayette through the 3rd party engineering report that the city commissioned. This is concerning because we are now celebrating our 20th year of our organization’s existence. There have been many documentaries (including one produced by PBS and aired nationally), news reports, magazine articles, books that have mentioned our historic site. Our co-founder, Dr. Dawn Mabalon’s book Little Manila Is In the Heart, is the main academic book used by universities throughout the United States and abroad to learn about the story of first generation Filipinos in America. In 2002, the city designated the Little Manila Historic Site and we put banners and signs that say “Little Manila Historic Site” in the area and literally in front of 138 E. Lafayette St. Oftentimes our banners and signs are one of the first things you’ll see as you exit the Crosstown Freeway, which destroyed Little Manila like many other communities of color due to racist urban redevelopment of the 1960’s. We have received awards from many organization like the California Preservation Foundation and our own Cultural Heritage Board. If you Google “Little Manila” our organization’s website comes up first, 2nd is the Wikipedia on Little Manila that chronicles our community's history. We even made a music video with the Black Eyed Peas that specifically uses the front facade of 138 E. Lafayette St. and takes place inside that building.

Why does it take a 3rd party engineer’s report to notify current city staff of the historical nature of this building? I know that legally it is only their responsibility to notify the owners (and maybe the Cultural Heritage Board?), but I just cannot imagine this happening to other historical buildings in this city. It is also important to note that the Filipino community has very little ownership in this community even though it was historically the largest population of Filipinos in the world outside of the Philippines because it was illegal for Filipinos to own property in America in the 1920’s to the 1940’s.

Mayor Tubbs, I am writing extensively about this because it addresses something that you have spoken about frequently when it comes to the situation of marginalized people in Stockton - nihilism. You see, the only thing that we got from all the hard work that we’ve done over the past 20 years, when it comes to the city, is five days (three work days) to do the almost impossible. Through this experience, I am hearing the voices of our ancestors who tried to fight the building of the Crosstown Freeway, “It doesn’t matter what you do. They’ll do what they want to do. Don’t waste your time.” Historically and today, it is the culture of city departments that creates and supports the nihilistic mindsets of marginalized communities in Stockton.

This creation of nihilistic feelings has been consistent in our dealing with the city. These are the two biggest experiences:

1. In 2003, seven months after we created the city designation “Little Manila Historic Site” the city included our newly designated historic site in a redevelopment plan to build a strip mall. To make a long story short, we moved mountains and stopped the development saving over 50 homes and businesses and our historic site.

2. In 2017, when we attempted to get state cap and trade funds to do urban greening in the Little Manila/Chinatown area (which is in the 99 percentile for asthma related issues according to CalEnviroscreen) the response from the City Manager’s office was “who is going to pay for tree maintenance in the years not covered by the $90,000 grant?” When I got a quote for annual tree maintenance (around $5,000 annually) our board offered to fundraise annually to cover the cost. When I left message notifying the city of our board’s decision, Public Works would not return our phone calls. We then turned in an extensive grant proposal without the partnership of the city who controlled the right-of-way. Of course it failed. The amplification of the effects of the inability for city staff to work with community would then be amplified by the death of our co-founder in 2018, Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon who died of an asthma attack. Dawn developed asthma at an early age as she grew up in a formerly redlined community, near I-5 in South Stockton where approximately 85% of industrial zoning is located. We know that children who live in historically redlined communities are twice as likely to have asthma than nonredlined communities.

Average life expectancies are shorter in South Stockton than in North Stockton. South Stockton families now expect their children to have asthma. Childhood asthma is now normalized. This the most extreme result of nihilism. And it is with disgust that I think about city staff who do not prioritize equitable solutions for South Stockton. In my mind, I believe that crooked cops are not the only city employees that won’t let our communities breathe.

There seems to be no accountability for the inequitable truths of our community. City departments exist in silos that provides infinite excuses for the continuing failure of holistic and equitable progress.

I’m sorry for this long email, but I think it explains how Little Manila Rising has grown as an organization over the past 20 years. We are now one of the leading community environmental justice organizations and helping to lead our community in the multi-million dollar investment of AB 617 funds for better air quality Stockton.

But today, I find myself back at the beginning. Two newly graduated college students in their 20’s standing in front of three buildings and figuring out how we could save them. Now I’m in my late 40’s, this time without Dawn, thinking about the exact same thing with the exact same hurdle - the city. The city we call "home."

How can we change the culture of our city’s departments to end the marginalization of our communities? This is the overarching question that rules over many other questions about our city, like (most immediately) how do we save the Rizal Social Club?

Please see the attached pictures. The Rizal Social Club (138 E. Lafayette St.) is the green building in the middle. One picture is a picture of our students who see our historic buildings as symbols of their ancestors and their resilience. The other picture was Dawn’s last visit to the historic site which she dedicated her life’s work.