Atchison Village, Richmond, California
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Atchison Village in Richmond, California was originally built as a demonstration project to convince the city of Richmond to allow the building of tens of thousands of housing units to house defense industry workers during World War II, and was built to much higher construction and density standards than the housing which followed it.
(Adjacent Liberty Village, previously Atchison Annex has 50 one story more lightly built renovated duplexes, which are now privately owned rental units, and are not part of the cooperative.)
Atchison Village includes 450 apartments of five styles (one, two and three bedroom, all one bath) in 97 one story buildings, of two two-bedroom, two three-bedroom or four one-bedroom, and 65 two story buildings with two or four two-bedroom bi-level units, on curved streets and landscaped grounds, which include a large park, visible in the aerial map, with separate soccer and baseball field with bleachers, and a very recently rebuilt small child playground.
All streets have sidewalks and street lighting, and are patrolled by the Richmond Police Department, with admirable response times. There is a large laundromat and small supermarket within a block.
Every unit has ground level access both front and back, and fenceable smallish back yards, with some quite large corner yards. Each unit has a dedicated parking space, and there is ample on-street parking near each unit either in front or in courts behind the units.
In 1956 the village was sold to its residents for $1.5 million and it remains a mutual housing cooperative (Atchison Village Mutual Homes Corporation 510.234.9054) to this day. It is currently valued circa $17 million. Today, January 2007, units generally cost from $60,000 to $130,000. Their low price is largely attributed to the fact that title to the property is not transferred, but only the interest in it, making it difficult to take out a loan to buy a unit. However, the Atchison Village Credit Union will loan a significant sum against the unit if the buyer has a co-signer with property in California.
The entire neighborhood is on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Homefront National Historic Monument.
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[edit] Location
Atchison Village is located in the Iron Triangle. Although this area is known as the highest crime area of Richmond, within Atchison Village the crime rate is actually fairly low, partly due to traffice control gates that separate it from the greater Iron Triangle community, with only one entrance/exit, and partly due to a very active citizenry, many of whom have lived in the village for fifty years.
[edit] Facilities
There is an administration building with a large assembly hall with commercial level cooking facilities, a stage, the Credit Union, the offices and the maintenance department, which handles the exterior and structural maintenance included in the ~$240 monthly assessment (which also covers garbage, water, insurance, taxes, which are shared equally, and sewage.)
Atchison Village is governed by an 11 member Board of Directors, elected at large from the membership, and is currently financially stable and is steadily building structural reserves. Member disputes are largely handled by private hearings and mediation. The Village is not under the Davis-Stirling Act of California, but is governed by California Corporation Codes.
[edit] Transit
Atchison Village is served by the 72M line, which goes directly down MacDonald to San Pablo, and then south to University Avenue and beyond. Transfer to the 52 line and go up to and around the University campus, making Atchison Village an excellent low-cost housing choice for University students.
[edit] Environmental Concerns
A Chevron oil refinery is about one mile west across Garrard Boulevard, the BNSF railway Intermodal switching and loading yard, and the Richmond Parkway. A recent accident at the refinery on January 15, 2007 revealed defects in the community notification system and several members of the community were affected by fumes. Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt has undertaken to make sure this does not happen again. [1]
Prevailing winds are from the SouthWest, off San Francisco bay, but air quality is not high, due to commercial activity nearby. Freeway access E+W I580 is excellent down one mile of parkway.
[edit] Crime
In November 2006, there were two outdoor drug-related shootings in Atchison Village on two consecutive weekends at the same location. Mayor-elect Gayle McLaughlin endorsed the idea of a "beat cop" to be assigned to the Village at a subsequent resident meeting about violence in the neighborhood, in line with new policies promulgated by the recently hired Richmond Police Chief Magnus, assigning beats throughout Richmond.
Nonetheless, Atchison Village still enjoys crime rates more in line with Point Richmond, a much more affluent community a half-mile southwest, which also holds an excellent beachfront park with San Francisco and Bay views, a soon to be renovated warm pool, the Natatorium, and a hilltop park, Nichols Knob, which sports a 360 degree view of the entire San Francisco Bay area. [2]
[edit] External links
- Wikimapia aerial view
- Atchison Village at the American Home Owners Resource Center website
- Wartime Housing
- Atchison Village Credit Union
- Atchison Village at the Online Archives of California
- Berkeley Daily Planet regarding Atchison Village
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