FLASHBACK TO LAST BLOCK PARTY

Neighborhood Takes Back Their Streets

Posted: May 10, 2008 10:38 PM PDT


By: Nicole Garcia and Kyra Jenkins



One man is leading the way to take back his downtown Fresno Street from gang members and drug dealers. On Saturday, neighbors living on Calaveras Street reclaimed their street for their families and kids.

It's something residents and kids in this part of Fresno aren't used to; a block party celebrating their neighborhood.

A single man has been working for the past year to change that mind-set, by re-teaching kids that they can make better choices and have better lives.

"I must be thick as a brick because I don't understand how you can live peacefully and co-exist next to someone selling poison," said resident Rob DeFrees.

DeFrees has led the campaign to instill civic pride in the area around his Calaveras Street home for nearly a year now.

"We live in a country where we believe one person can't make a difference, but one person gives the courage to another person to stand next to him, then another person," said DeFrees.

Now DeFrees sees many of his neighbors standing by his side in the crusade to take their street back.

"I've been optimistic for a while, seen a lot of changes in this neighborhood, a lot of good things here," said neighbor Steve Skibbie.

One of the dozens of children there says he stands for a drug-free, gang-free lifestyle. Little Joe Perez says he's staying away from that bad example and believes in a better life, at the age of 9-years-old.

Kids and their parents celebrated the re-birth of their road with clowns, balloons, face painting, music, marching bands, and camaraderie.

And for the future leader of this street, it's a message they don't usually hear.

"I want them to know that they're brilliant. If people tell you your whole life that you're nothing, then you believe it. If you hear you are brilliant, maybe you start to think that you are," said DeFrees.

DeFrees moved to Fresno from London one year ago, and plans to keep pushing his civic pride campaign for as long as he's here.