I'm pretty sure gentrification is the primary driver. You also have Ikea and Four Seasons within the city boundaries, and Facebook HQ right next door.

Gentrification has a part, but so does the work of city & community leader. East Palo Alto became a city in 1983, before that the county handled the area's affairs...and given the smaller size/population it was not a primary focus.

A lot of credit goes towards the police relationship - https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/02/how-east-palo-alto-sh...

Yes, there was a specific gentrification plan that included the Ikea/Home Depot complex and separately the Four Seasons Complex, but they appeared due to quite a lot of prior work.

In the early 80s (82 or 84) they decided to incorporate on their own rather than join Menlo Park (they were just an unincorporated part of MP at the time, and still share a school district and, I believe, the fire district too). Calling the new town East Palo Alto (though Palo Alto itself is in a completely different county) was smart, despite earlier efforts to name the not yet incorporated place "Nairobi".

They had been county land so had had only had a sheriff; but before the Whisky Gulch (where four seasons complex now stands) was built they already had a municipal police department.

So yes you could say "gentrification" but it was a proactive policy by the city government.

IIRC the last active farm in the city limits was sold after 2000, lasting longer than Mountain View or (except for stock) Palo Alto.

The "murder capital" label was true only because the population wasn't high making the rate high. I personally never felt unsafe there though I only filled my car or got a coffee there.

Well Ikea plans to open a store in SF next year so I'm sure that will fix everything.