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Its immediate availability to businesses along segments of the Davis Street, Doolittle Drive, Williams <br />Street, Merced Street, and Wicks Boulevard corridors within the district is an advantage when other <br />communities are still simply talking and planning for this kind of improvement. At the time of writing, at <br />least 46 business properties (a number of them multi -tenant) city-wide are already connected and using <br />it. Proposed future expansions include a northern extension along Doolittle Drive to Adams Avenue and <br />the Whitney/Edison/McCormick Street loop, and a southwest expansion along Doolittle Drive to loop <br />along Marina Blvd, Monarch Bay Drive, Fairway Drive, Catalina Street, and Burroughs Avenue, Griffith <br />Street and Farallon Drive back to Wicks Boulevard. The connection cost for a first-time conduit link from <br />a property to the loop where none previously exists appears to vary, depending on individual site <br />conditions. <br />Nearby East Bay cities such as Emeryville already have equivalent speed fiber optic service available to <br />businesses there, as does Santa Clara in the Silicon Valley. San Leandro's window of market uniqueness <br />is limited, however, as the LitSanLeandro "brand" is reportedly slated to become the less place -focused <br />"LSL" as it expands to include neighboring cities. Within the next 3 to 5 years, Hayward, Oakland, Castro <br />Valley and other East Bay cities may sign on with LSL or soon install and offer their own similar fiber <br />optic service18. <br />2.1.4. Three clusters of high -value-added businesses and their skills base that have grown <br />from San Leandro"s industrial history and experience. <br />This is perhaps the most important and most overlooked aspect of the districts' strengths, as it is specific <br />and rooted in the place. In reviewing the inventory of district businesses and their profiles, and recalling <br />San Leandro's industrial heritage of the Best Manufacturing Company (Fig. 2), the Friden Calculating <br />Machine Company, the Dodge Plant (Fig. 3), and the Kellogg Plant (Fig. 20), three recognizable and <br />distinctive clusters of business/industry sector types emerge (Figs. 24 & 25). They arise from decades of <br />experience of the firms themselves and the "practice capital" amassed from their parent and <br />predecessor companies and divisions. A number of them exemplify increases in value-added activity in <br />shifting from commodity production to more niche -type manufacturing and an increased focus on <br />research and development. They also represent embedded workforce knowledge and skills in the <br />community — many which are not readily obtainable from high school through university -level schooling. <br />Furthermore, a significant proportion of employment in these firms requires technical training but not <br />necessarily a university degree19. They are companies that exemplify organization, innovation, survival, <br />and success: <br />• Food processing — including companies that have created nationally and internationally <br />recognized brands such as The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company and Otis Spunkmeyer, and <br />regional and local firms, of which many have a craft or locavore orientation such as Aidells <br />18 Parr, Rebecca, "Hayward could get high-speed fiber-optic network," The Daily Review. <br />http://www.insidebayarea.com/daily-review/ci 23755197 Denver: MediaNews Group, July 30, 2013. <br />19 Krieger, Lisa M., "'Hidden' economy in Silicon Valley built without advanced degrees," The San Jose Mercury <br />News. htto://www.mercurvnews.com/science/ci 23424656/hidden-economv-silicon-vallev-built-without- <br />advanced-degrees San Jose: San Jose Mercury News, June 10, 2013. <br />W <br />