Health of the Hood: Merritt/Cleveland Heights

By Sabirah Mustafa - I began my journey through my family’s neighborhood in the Lake Merritt area of East Oakland. My starting point was on Lester Avenue. This diverse, working-to-middle class, ethnically mixed neighborhood, is what I’d like to call the “Oakland Riviera”. The name might seem misleading, because depending on which direction you walk, you might also find blight as well. Located within a three-block area of Lake Merritt, there is plenty of contrast - so much so that at times my journey felt like I crossed city limits into an entirely different town.