In July 2015, the City of Oakland was awarded a $456,275 grant from the Housing-Related Parks Program (HRPP) of the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to renovate St. Andrew's Plaza, located in Council District 3, at San Pablo Avenue, Filbert, and 32nd Street. This grant was matched by former West Oakland Redevelopment funds ($45,000) managed by the Project Implementation Division. The City of Oakland embarked on an 18-month process to deconstruct and renovate the space through a community-driven visioning process.
The Plaza -- an important gateway to West Oakland -- had become plagued with nuisance behavior, attracting drug dealing, illegal dumping and blight. The negative impact on the surrounding neighbors was extreme, and after ten years, several smaller efforts did not netted sustainable solutions.
An important part of this project was to make the space safe and welcoming to all members of the community.
In January 2016, Golden Associates, a landscape architectural firm, was hired by the Public Works Department to assist in the planning and re-design of St. Andrew's Plaza. The Plaza was temporarily closed and fenced off for renovations starting in February 2016. Community artwork was displayed along the fence during a period of the park closure.