Former President Jimmy Carter coming to Oakland, San Jose for Habitat for Humanity projects

Source: San Jose Mercury News

OAKLAND -- When former U.S. President Jimmy Carter travels down Edes Avenue on Monday to help build new homes for Habitat for Humanity, Mohamed Saleh hopes he witnesses the heaps of illegally dumped trash that regularly line the East Oakland street.

Not just unsightly trash, but armed robberies, pistol-whippings and burglaries have been troubling residents of Habitat for Humanity's biggest housing development in California. Now, as the nonprofit organization constructs another 12 townhomes on the same street, some neighborhood residents are hoping the celebrated Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project will bring a jolt of long-sought attention to their daily problems with crime and blight.

The 89-year-old ex-president and first lady are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their city-hopping community service project by hammering nails in new Oakland homes on Monday and helping East San Jose elders and veterans repair older homes on Tuesday.

Saleh is hoping that when the Carters arrive with country music stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood and a legion of Bay Area volunteers in tow, they don't steer away from the unvarnished truth about his neighborhood.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24240049/