Like it’s 1999

There’s a thread on Alameda Peeps about Sila Nanotechnologies and the City proudly (with a good reason) announcing the arrival of this new business to Alameda.   I wrote about Sila Nanotechnologies coming to Alameda a few months ago after their application was submitted to build holding tanks for silane and nitrogen.   Just in case you were wondering where Sila Nanotechnologies would be located, they are going to occupy one of the buildings in the really odd parcel that site between the two tubes (for lack of a better marker).

Anyway, something came in the comments about Alameda as Silicon Island.  While this designation may be new to some folks, it has been around in the Alameda vocabulary  for a while as far back as 1999.   Here’s a bit of a flashback from an old SF Chronicle article about Alameda, highlights:

[T]he island city known as a sleepy, even stodgy, bedroom community of Victorian homes and tree-lined streets now bills itself as “Silicon Island.”

…

As in so many California cities, Alameda leaders have staked their future on the high-tech industry and an influx of well-paid workers.

Although many residents welcome what they believe will be an improvement, others worry that the city’s longtime working class will be squeezed out. They say the island’s heritage as home to generations of families will be lost, since young people no longer will be able to succeed their parents and grandparents as Alameda homeowners.

“When they talk about Silicon Island, does that mean we’re going to become an exclusive community, the next Piedmont or Montclair?” asked Mariano Jauco, who helps run the newAlameda Multi-Cultural Community Center. “Do we want a balanced community or just a community for the wealthy?”

The issues of the type of community that Alameda should become is definitely an issue that Alameda is struggling with today.   Affordability is still a problem, compounded by the craziness of the San Francisco market itself.

Also here’s a little nod at to how long it has actually taken for Alameda Landing to come to fruition.  Remember this article is from 1999:

Next spring, Alameda officials expect the Navy to turn over the deed to 200-plus acres for the base’s first major redevelopment project, worth $375 million.

Catellus Development Corp. is slated to raze nearly 600 units of empty, multifamily military housing. In its place, it will develop more than a million square feet of office and research space for high-tech and other firms, an elementary school and 475 market-rate, single family homes that would likely sell from $350,000 to $400,000, Berger said.

While the 475 homes have been built (Bayport), the million square feet of office and research space was supposed to go where Target etc is all going up now.  Once the downturn in the economy happened that office focused Alameda Landing was no longer deemed viable and now we have what we have. But it’s taken more than 15 years to actually see anything take shape even though some people believe that development is happening “too fast.”