Redrawing the Ethnic Map
Blacks moving out of urban Bay Area, while Latinos are flowing in
Rick DelVecchio / SF Chronicle 2nov00
School enrollments reflect two
population shifts changing Northern California -- the multiethnic
migration to a relatively low-cost suburbia south of Sacramento
and the influx of blue-collar Latinos to East Oakland, a
neighborhood that was predominantly black. |
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| Enrollment and percentage of change... | ||
| ...In six public elementary schools nearest the Bennetts' new suburban home near Elk Grove south of Sacramento | ...In six Oakland public elementary schools nearest the Navarros' new home in the Elmhurst district of East Okland | |
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Anthony Bennett and Monea Berry-Bennett -- young, recently married and black -- are pulling up family roots in the Bay Area and resettling in Sacramento.
Pedro and Olga Navarro -- young, newly married and Mexican American -- are putting down roots in the flatlands of East Oakland, where Berry-Bennett grew up as a grandchild of blacks' postwar migration from the South.
Their moves reflect two demographic trends that state population experts say will change the mosaic of Northern California during the next four decades.
One is creating a booming, multiethnic suburb on the once rural, historically white valley floor south of Sacramento, as blacks like the Berry-Bennetts migrate farther from the urban Bay Area in search of housing they can afford. The other is bringing a stronger Latino presence to predominantly black, aging parts of East Oakland and similar Bay Area neighborhoods in Richmond and Hayward.
As new wealth and the rising cost of homes put the California dream of homeownership out of reach for many people, less well-heeled households such as the Bennetts and the Navarros are finding ways to balance their modest jobs, their budgets and their sense of what makes a desirable community -- and redefining the region's ethnic map in the process.
Berry-Bennett, 34, had a chance to inherit her recently deceased mother's home on 76th Avenue in East Oakland. Instead, she elected to go where the couple's limited resources could buy space, quiet, good schools and the chance to be part of a close-knit community.
``She's sometimes sad we needed to leave the area,'' said Anthony Bennett, who is 30, has a master's degree in counseling and has easily picked up a new job working with foster children in Sacramento. ``But for me, I realized that there are other places to enjoy life than the Bay Area. It's beautiful, but there's a quality of life you can get somewhere else.''
The black population in Sacramento County will double during the next 40 years, while Asians and Latinos will triple, state Department of Finance projections show. The number of whites will grow slowly.
In Alameda County during the coming four decades, Latinos and Asians will more than double, while the number of blacks will grow slowly and whites will decline. Asians and Latinos each passed blacks in total population in Alameda County in the late 1990s, and will outnumber whites between 2020 and 2030, according to state projections.
The Bennetts, settling into their new suburban home behind an apron of grass near the Sacramento County community of Elk Grove, and the Navarros, new owners of a refurbished cottage in East Oakland, represent a major factor in the trend in both counties: migration.
A traditionally black community of pre-World War II factory worker bungalows, East Oakland is becoming integrated with Latinos while keeping its blue-collar character.
Many newcomers are pooling family money to be able to buy homes. They work in service industries close to where they live, re-creating the link between home, job and school that Berry-Bennett's grandparents' generation made in the postwar migration more than 50 years ago.
``If they're not the first ones that came into this country, they're the first generation of Mexican Americans,'' said Carmen Sanchez, a real estate agent who has sold a number of homes to Latinos in East Oakland.
In the early 1990s, blacks outnumbered Latinos 3 to 1 in the public elementary schools in the East Oakland flatlands from 73rd Avenue to the San Leandro border, where Berry-Bennett attended Webster Elementary School. But since 1995, the number of Latino students has jumped by almost half, while the number of blacks has dropped by 10 percent.
State birth records also show the trend. Mexican-born mothers living in East Oakland's two easternmost flatlands ZIP codes had more than 500 babies in 1998, compared with fewer than 200 in 1989. In contrast, black mothers bore fewer than 600 babies in 1998, a drop from more than 1,000 in 1989.
``I've been living in this neighborhood for 17 years, and this is the first time I've seen this many Mexicans,'' said James Evans, a 26-year-old father of two who lives with his mother across the street from their new neighbors, the Navarros. ``They're buying up all the houses.
Elk Grove, by contrast, is a former Gold Rush railroad stop that is rapidly transforming into a suburb that reflects the new California. With 70 languages spoken in the schools, it is as diverse as any community in the Bay Area.
Migrants from more-established communities in Sacramento County, from the Bay Area and from as far away as Los Angeles and San Diego are streaming via Highway 99 to the Central Valley plains, where the occasional horse tugs dry grass. Subdivisions are sprouting up and 32 new schools are planned by 2010.
``You're looking at Main Street America -- all the way from agriculture to high-tech,'' said Jackie Andersen-McAuley, who owns the Elk Grove Brewery Restaurant.
If its growth trend continues, the city of Elk Grove, incorporated in July, will double in population by 2015, to 150,000. About 1,500 to 2,000 people move there from the Bay Area every year.
The draws are universal: many and varied jobs, schools with tough academic standards and a wide price range of new housing.
In the public elementary schools in the Bennetts' neighborhood, blacks, Asians and Hispanics have grown by about a third during the past four years and now share a four-part balance with whites.
Of the 30 fifth- and sixth-graders who recently showed up for the season's first football practice at brand- new Raymond Case Elementary School, 10 each were white and black and the rest Asian and Hispanic.
In Elk Grove, no group can claim to be the traditional majority, said the coach, Jeff Freeland, whose sixth-grade class of 34 includes two students newly arrived from the East Bay.
Jasbir Buphal, a mother of three who works as a secretary at the school, moved recently from Milpitas with her husband, who installs air conditioners. Determined to achieve homeownership, they switched from a $1,200-a-month rental to a $164,000 place of their own with a $1,500-a-month mortgage.
A surge of Bay Area migrants began late last year and has not let up, said Steve Kokines, a salesman for the Centex Homes subdivision that rims the school grounds. When the project is done, former Bay Area residents are expected to make up one-third of the new residents, he said.
``A couple of weeks ago, I got four calls from people in San Jose alone,'' said Samantha Bauer, who works in the communications office at the Elk Grove Unified School District. ``The cost of living was the No. 1 issue.''
Ranking close behind are high school academic standards, which Elk Grove officials boast are among the state's toughest.
``One coach requires football players to write an essay,'' said Mayor Jim Cooper, who is black and works as a lieutenant in the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
The Bennetts' new four-bedroom 1980s subdivision house on a shady cul-de-sac swallows up their few items of furniture. Anthony cuts the grass with his new power mower and cleans up after the neighbor's cat, while Monea plans to set up a day care business in the back rooms.
Although they are adjusting to having to pay a mortgage, they got a lot for their money by Bay Area standards. Their home cost just $159,000, one-third of what a similar-size house would go for these days on the slopes of Oakland.
A MEETING IN SACRAMENTO
Repeatedly aced out of the Bay Area housing market by buyers bearing more cash or bigger incomes, the couple met last spring with a Sacramento broker, Zoritha Thompson, who gave them a list of 26 homes in their price range.
Thompson said buyers are coming from all over the Bay Area and most hold on to their jobs by way of a 90-minute commute.
``What I'm telling people now is they need to run ahead of the crowd,'' said Ken Session, a real estate agent who specializes in East Oakland. ``It's going from Oakland to Sacramento. All (the Bennetts) did was run out ahead of the crowd and got a $159,000 house that will be worth $300,000 very soon.''
Blacks have long been on the move from major cities such as Oakland, seeking space, quiet, newer homes and better schools in smaller communities such as San Leandro and more recently in newer suburbs such as Antioch.
But with increasingly crowded roads and the unprecedented high demand for Bay Area homes, the migration is spreading out.
In the spring of 1999, the price for an entry-level tract home in Antioch and Brentwood surpassed $200,000, said Richard Pontes, who has sold real estate in the area for more than 30 years. ``Happened so quick you wouldn't believe it,'' he said, adding that the region's new technology wealth has been the prime force behind the demand.
TRAFFIC IN ANTIOCH A FACTOR
Antioch was within the Bennetts' means, but the traffic had gotten so bad that they decided that they would rather give up their jobs than spend so much time on the road. When they looked at houses closer to their jobs, the young couple saw in a minute that they would find nothing to fit their dreams of raising a family and saving some money.
They reflected on how much has changed since their parents struck roots in the Bay Area. Monea's mom was a little girl when her grandparents arrived from Arkansas. ``Everyone was excited to move to California during that era,'' she said.
Anthony's dad, a truck driver, and mom, a teacher, bought their Foster City home in 1970, when the balance between housing costs and income was closer to what it is in Sacramento today.
Monea's mom died last year, closing the chapter of her elders' California quest. The next chapter is hers.
``It's elemental growth -- mentally, physically, spiritually and financially,'' said Monea, who hopes to raise a child or two in her new home. ``We were kind of scared for a moment, but I think it's going to be OK.''
EAST OAKLAND OPPORTUNITY
For the Navarros, East Oakland represents a similar opportunity. A heart-shape garlic wreath, fashioned for good luck by one of Olga's cousins, hangs at the threshold of the kitchen of their gleaming bungalow on 106th Avenue.
Pedro and Olga, whose families come from Mexico's Michoacan and Jalisco states, saved up $7,900 and used the cash to pay transaction fees to qualify for a 3 percent-down loan. The price: $172,000, a shade under their limit of $178,000.
Pedro, 23, works in a shop that dismantles transmissions. Olga, 26, checks inventory in a warehouse that stores the goods retailed at Sony's Metreon complex in San Francisco.
Despite their low incomes and the region's record housing prices, the Navarros were able to move from renting to homeownership. Their secrets: disciplined savings, having a 200-member-strong family network in the Bay Area to help out, a willingness to start small and to build toward a larger home later in life and the recent trend toward readily available credit for buyers with steady, if low, incomes.
Olga noted that her mom, at a time when credit was tighter, had to save $32,000 to buy her first home and the process took 15 years.
The Navarros are already saving up to buy their next home, a three- bedroom place that Olga has her eye on in nearby San Leandro. And Pedro's twin brother, Pablo Navarro, who rents one of the couple's two bedrooms for $300 a month, is also looking ahead.
``I'm saving money to buy my own home,'' Pablo said recently after his shift at a local warehouse, dressed in his inventory checker's work uniform with five pens of various colors arrayed in one vest pocket. ``That's my life.''
ETHNIC SHIFTS IN TWO COMMUNITIES
School enrollments reflect two population shifts changing Northern
California the multiethnic migration to a relatively low-cost suburbia
south of Sacramento and the influx of blue-collar Latinos to East Oakland, a
neighborhood that was predominantly black.
Enrollment and percentage of change(x) . . .
. . . in six public elementary schools nearest the Bennetts' new suburban home near Elk Grove, south of Sacramento
Asian +30% Black +27% Hispanic +35% White -16%
. . . in six Oakland public elementary schools nearest the Navarros' new home in the Elmhurst district of East Oakland
Asian -29% Black -10% Hispanic -47% White -78%
(x) Percent change from 1995-96 to 1999-00
Source: California Department of Education
Chronicle Graphic
