Buena Vista worth saving in Palo Alto

Only in Palo Alto would it make sense for the city, county and the housing authority to team up and possibly use eminent domain to save a rundown mobile home park so that 400 low-income residents — including more than 100 kids — can keep living in one of the most expensive places in the country.

But the Buena Vista park is in Palo Alto. And if someone tried to build new housing for low- or very low-income residents there, Palo Alto voters likely would skewer it.

So we’re glad Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian hasn’t given up on saving and improving the shabby enclave on El Camino Real, that the Palo Alto City Council is still in as a partner and that the Santa Clara County Housing Authority is stepping up with financing, housing management skills and a toolbox that includes eminent domain.

The county supervisors voted unanimously to move ahead Tuesday, committing $14.5 million in affordable housing fees to the plan. Next week Palo Alto will vote on matching it, and the new partner, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, will vote on pursuing the purchase and management of the property.

The Jisser family that owns the park has not wanted to deal with the county or city, even though the commitment all along was to pay market value for the land. Because the owners have been trying to close the park since 2012 to redevelop the site, they have not been making repairs. At this point the place doesn’t look worth saving.

Until you see the families.

These are people who sweep the floors in tech offices and wash the dishes in restaurants where, for the price of a dinner, they could feed their kids for weeks. There is no place else for them to live in Palo Alto, and moving where housing is affordable — maybe Los Banos? — would mean abandoning their jobs. They are the classic hard workers struggling to survive, one paycheck away from camping in a creek bed.

And then you see the kids.

Benefiting from a Palo Alto public education, 100 percent of Buena Vista children graduate from high school — a tremendous leg up out of poverty — compared to 29 percent of the same demographic graduating from high school across Silicon Valley. This according to the local PTA, whose leaders and members argue eloquently to keep these children and their families in their community. Their advocacy and the support of many city officials and residents has been heartening.

The struggle is not over, of course. The owners seem as unmoved as ever and more than happy to litigate.

But Buena Vista has become a symbol of the struggle of low-wage working people to survive here. Saving these homes in Palo Alto is important. We hope Simitian and what’s become an impressive partnership can pull it off.