Monday, Jul. 28, 2008

Swehla doing his bit for a better community in Modesto

Ryan Swehla spends a lot of time in Modesto City Hall these days.

Many of those hours downtown are meant to advocate for a Bay Area nonprofit that wants to build a 150-unit affordable housing project on Ninth Street. He's the Modesto liaison for the company, EAH.

He's a regular at a mix of city advisory commissions that shape proposals that go to the City Council. He helped write Modesto's new entertainment law, and he sits on the city's Board of Zoning Adjustment.

Swehla, 29, recently stepped into Modesto's move to district elections for next year's council races when he designed a map that showed how the city could make that switch. About two dozen people offered plans. Swehla's was one of two that are considered finalists.

He spoke with The Bee last week about each of his projects. Here are excerpts from that conversation. The full audio interview is available with this story at modbee.com.

Q: Why did EAH choose Ninth Street for its affordable housing proposal?

A: We really wanted to do a project that was consistent with what the city was looking for, which is revitalization of the redevelopment area.

We looked at several sites near the downtown, and we kept coming back to that site because it was large, it was available ... and it really fit well into something that revitalizes the downtown, while at the same time taking an area that is blighted and taking it up to a newer standard.

Q: You started this project when housing prices were much higher. Why should the city spend redevelopment money building new housing instead of buying existing buildings?

A: In terms of what's the best way to use redevelopment dollars, really you have to look at what the purpose of redevelopment is. It is a twofold purpose.

Part of it is the housing component, which is providing affordable housing. The state mandates that 20 percent of redevelopment dollars go to affordable housing. But ultimately the goal of redevelopment is to redevelop an area, to make it better, to increase the property values there to make it a revitalized area.

So when looking at that, you can't simply look at what's the most I can get out of my dollars in terms of housing units. You have to also look at what's going to provide that redevelopment effort, and I think with a project like this, you're accomplishing both of those goals really well.

Q: You were a part of the committee that wrote a new entertainment law for Modesto. It called for a new entertainment commission to govern nightclubs instead of the Police Department. What would you say to club owners who are worried about who will sit on this commission?

A: I think that's a valid concern. It's like the analogy I keep going back to at the Planning Commission. If the Planning Commission were comprised of a bunch of developers, that might not be in the best interest of the community, and it certainly wouldn't provide the best environment for other developers.

So in crafting the commission, you have to have a balance, because you also want people who are informed, people who understand and can ask the questions that the average layman can't answer. You want a mix because you want your average citizen who wants to get involved in the process, and you don't want it to be all club owners making decisions for other club owners.

Q: Tell me about the map you drew for the committee that's drawing boundaries for next year's council elections.

A: I really only submitted a map because I wasn't sure how many people were going to get involved in the process, so I went on the Web site, downloaded the materials and gave it my best shot. I chose the boundaries around what seemed to make logical sense.

Regarding south and west Modesto, it's really up to those residents to decide how they want to be represented. There are positives and negatives to being separated, to being together. Other than that, I really tried to go on logical boundaries, like Briggsmore Avenue. It was more of a fun thing to do on the side than something with a conscious purpose, except to get involved in this process.

Q: Why do you choose to get involved with these different projects?

A: I'm thoughtful in what I get involved in, but it also happens to be if you're in a place in a time and you see there's a need for volunteers, being ready and willing to do that. My overall goal is to make our community better, so if I'm doing something that contributes to that, then I'm happy.

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.