CST 361 - Service Learners

Tracy Community Scan

Phillip Powell - Summer 2015
1.) Walk Through The Neighborhood
In the neighborhood of Tracy, there
is a wide variety of
housing options. There is everything from
large house gated
communities to mobile homes. There are
also many apartment
complexes, trailers and small homes.
Unfortunately, there is
also some homeless that live in the city.
The income level of the
community is mostly lower class with a
decent amount of
middle class and very small amount
considered upper class.
While Tracy might not be the most
upscale community,
there is plenty of access to technology in
the city. Near
downtown in the middle of the city, there is
an internet cafe called
RG Internet
Output. Satellite and
Dish television
also seem to be popular
in the city as many homes have dishes hanging on them. Almost all
of the residents seem to have cell phones as well. Finally security
systems seem to be very popular in the town as many homes have
ADT security signs in the front yard.
Most of the homes in the area did not have any type of lawn or
window signs, however there were many other signs that made it
easy to see what the residents ethnicities and culture were. There
were a few stores that had spanish writing on their window signs in
the town, and a quick google search showed 13 Taqueria's in a fairly small town. There was also
a large grocery store that was named "Mi Pueblo Food Center". Many of the local liquor stores
also had spanish names as well.

There are many churches in the community. There

and catholic churches, but there is also a large
well as a hall for Jehovah's Witnesses. Churches are
community though and there are many signs in front
advertise sunday services being held in the

are mostly christian

morman church as
very common in the
of schools that
cafeterias.

The three closest business in downtown

Tracy are three
stores that have been open for many years. One is
the local town
music store named Main Street Music. Main Street Music is a place to buy musical instruments
and they also offer lessons. Ken, the owner has owned the store for over 20 years. Another
business is right across the street named Tracy Awards and Embroidery. This store has been
open since 1990, but they moved to downtown in 2010. The store is known as the main place for
trophies in the town. Finally next door to them is Gerards Deli. Gerards Deli is a very popular
sandwich shop in Tracy and has won multiple awards for "Best of Tracy" for their food.

Public transportation through the city is not very popular. There is one bus that goes
through the city called the "Tracy Tracer", but there is not usually many people that use the bus.
One major form of public transportation in the city is the ACE train though.
The ACE train goes from Stockton all the way to San Jose and makes stops
in every city in between, including a stop in Tracy. Many people can be
seen using the ACE train since four trains leave in the morning and four
return in the evening and the station is always very busy when the trains are
there.
The neighborhood does seem to be very segregated in terms of the lower
class neighborhoods to the upper
class
neighborhoods. One side of the town is seen as the
older side of
town and has mostly smaller homes and apartments
with even a few
mobile home parks, while the other side of town has
very large
homes and brand new shopping centers that were build
within the past
couple of years. The picture to the right shows some
of the larger
homes that can be seen on the newer side of the town.

2.) Determine Invisible Boundaries

One good thing about the town is there is not a lot

of invisible boundaries. There are some parts of the town
that has been known to have gang activity, but it is not a
major problem that causes people to avoid certain parts of
the town. There are 2 freeways that go through Tracy, but
each freeway is on separate edges of the town so there is no
need to avoid or go around the freeways. One slight
boundary is how the town is spaced out. There is a little bit
of spacing throughout the town so it can be tough for people without reliable transportation to get
from one side of the town to the other. One big noticeable boundary is the couple of gated
communities on the newer side of town. There are three communities that are gated and only the
residents that live in that community have access to it.

3.) Interview Three Resident's Of The Community

Barbara LaMothe
Resident for over 30 years
Do you interact with technology?
She does interact with technology, she
an iphone, and a ipad that she uses daily.

has a MAC desktop,

Who has power over the neighborhood?

She does not feel like anyone has power over the neighborhood she lives in and she has
lived in the same neighborhood for over 20 years.
What are some important issues facing the community?
Barbara feels there is not enough activities or places for the youth to go so they can be
entertained. She does not feel this is a bad neighborhood, but feels that kids end up doing bad
things when they are bored and have nothing else to do.
How has the community changed?
When she first moved here, there was no community since the town was just being built
up then. Since the town has grown considerably from many new buildings and shopping centers
and she feels this town has become a commuter town.
What is your vision or dream for the community?
She would like to see the town grow big enough to offer more higher powered jobs to the
residents. If more jobs were available here, people would not feel the need to commute to other
towns.
Timothy Torres
Resident for 7-8 years
Do you interact with technology?

Timothy is very familiar with technology. He does not use the computer very often
because he feels his iphone has everything he needs and he usually just searches the internet on
his phone now.
Who has power over the neighborhood?
He feels no one has any real power over the others in this neighborhood, but he does feel
there is a big segregation between the different sides of the town.
What are some important issues facing the community?
He feels the town build up too much during the good times of the economy
so now there are too many empty business buildings that make the town look bad.
Most of these buildings have been built in the past 5 years or so, but they sit empty
which makes the town look poor.
How has the community changed?
Since he moved here, he feels the town has not changed much. He
says many business have come and gone, but the town itself has stayed the
same. He feels one big difference is the downtown atmosphere seems to be
disappearing.
What is your vision or dream for the community?
Timothy would like to see more of the strip mall and downtown stores filled again. He
feels a thriving downtown will help the town's economy as a whole and would love to spend
days walking through downtown, but currently there isn't enough businesses worth going to there
now.
John Ardon
Resident for over 10 years
Do you interact with technology?
John uses technology but would not consider himself an expert. He knows how to use
the computer but anytime something breaks he needs someone else to fix it
for him.
Who has power over the neighborhood?
He agrees with the others that power is not an issue in this town. He feels
everyone seems to be equal in the town and has never felt one group
attempting to overpower another.
What are some important issues facing the community?
John feels this community has issues making things happen. He said he has read there
have been plans for big things in Tracy like a water park and a race track but it always seems to
end up canceled. He thinks this town needs something big to attract people, but the town can't
seem to make it happen.
How has the community changed?

John feels the community has gone down hill over the years. He doesn't feel it is a bad
community and he said he isn't afraid to walk around after dark, but more and more residents
seem to be letting their yards go during the drought and this makes the community look bad.
What is your vision or dream for the community?
Build something big that will attract people even from other towns. He feels residents
outside of the community currently have no reason to come to Tracy and the community would
really benefit by having something that would drive people from other towns
into Tracy.

4.) Visit Two Community Organizations

Good Will Thrift Store
2626 N Tracy Blvd, Tracy, CA
The good will store in Tracy is very different from where I will be
volunteering. The good will store is a place for underprivileged people to find clothing or other
household items that have been donated by others in the community. One observation I noticed
while searching through the store was a large number of the people there were Hispanic. The
store seemed to be well stocked though and had a good assortment of items from furniture,
clothing, and other household items.
DARE Foundation (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)
Schools of Tracy, Manteca and Mountain House
The DARE organization is a 8 week program that travels through the school system of
the Tracy area year round. The main point of their program is to help keep the
youth away from drugs. I talked with Steve Abercrombie who runs all of the
programs and asked him if he feels there is a drug problem in the Tracy area. To
my surprise he said he feels there is a very big problem in the area and he feels
it is very important to teach students when they are young the dangers of
abusing drugs and alcohol. He hopes if he helps them to understand this
young, they will never think about turning to drugs when they get older.

5.) Visit 3 Local Businesses

Pete's Liquor
I spoke to a store employee named Bilal at Pete's Liquor and he provided me with his
thoughts on some of the stores assests and challenges. (Bilal did not want his face shown in the
photo)
Asset 1: Pete's Liquor is
in the middle of Tracy so the
from any part of the town.

centrally located right

store is easy to get to

Asset 2: Pete's Liquor has a very large selection of soda's and other drinks as well as snacks that
is larger than your normal convenience store which will drive more customers in
Challenge 1: Bilal's family owns and operates the store so they cannot stay open as late as they
would like since they do not trust anyone but family to work at the store.
Challenge 2: There are many, many convenience stores in Tracy, while this store is better than
most, it's hard to make people choose this store over the other stores that might be on the same
block that they live.
Carbona Food and Liquor
I spoke with Julio at Carbona Food and Liquor and he gave me his insight on his store
and how it fits into the community. (Julio did not want his face shown in the photo)
Asset 1: Carbona Food is one of the few
stores on the newer side of town. It is
street from two gated communities, they
from those homes.
Asset 2: Jose and his family have owned
opened so he and his family have built
community and the shoppers there feel
them.

convenience
right across the
get lots of traffic
the store since it
bonds with the
comfortable with

Challenge 1: While I was there I

noticed all of his
liquor and alcohol had been removed, the
store got their
license to sell alcohol temporarily suspended. Most of their traffic buys alcohol so
this could be a big blow to their store.
Challenge 2: Since the store is located on one far side of town they do not get as much traffic as
a store in the center of town would get.
Tracy Rifle and Pistol
I spoke with John and Steven at Tracy Rifle and Pistol and asked them how they felt their
store fits into the community.
Asset 1: Tracy Rifle and Pistol is the only locally owner gun
store in Tracy. They have a great reputation and are active in
the community.
Asset 2: They have a great assortment of new and used guns,
as well as a indoor shooting range. They also offer gun
safety courses making them a one stop shop.
Challenge 1: The gun stores are stores that only specific
people will go to and there is a growing concern with gun safety that is causing many people to
choose to avoid guns all together

Challenge 2: The store is located

and you would not know where to
specifically were headed to it.
pointing towards its direction

on the outskirts of town

find it unless you
There are no signs
from the main roads.