Going Back In Time

My last bike ride was a conscious effort to go back in time. Several years ago my teaching journey took me to George Mayne Elementary School in Alviso. The town of Alviso had always had a soft spot in my heart. It is just one of those pockets in the bay area that has somehow retained its original identity. Horrible things have happened to that town because of some very poor planning by the water district. The years I was teaching there, they were just starting to pick themselves up and start over. I had heard that changes had been made so I was anxious to see the little town. In once upon a time time, you would drive down Lafayette Street out of Santa Clara past the golf course and once the street sign changed to Gold Street you knew you were someplace else. You were surrounded by wooden structures, wider streets, the bay on your left and what was left of the town on your right. There is a long history to Alviso. It was once a bustling entrance to the San Francisco Bay. All that was left to time and weather so in my time here it was never a pretty town but you always had the feeling that there was an incredible spirit that had been left behind by its residents. Imagine my surprise when as I crossed that imaginary line into town I saw some kind of residence inn on my left and an educational center on my right. The water looked good and they have made it possible to launch your boat once again but it all looked wrong. So very wrong. They are building high density housing where those pink and yellow houses used to be. So sad to lose the identity that this town used to have. Even the parks looked wrong. As I left town it hit me, it just looks like more San Jose. Why is it that today's architects and city planners make everything look the same? The signs are an ugly brown and concrete walls are everywhere. Are they keeping people in or out? What on earth are we afraid of? But on the bright side, when I arrived in town, I got out of my car and was greeted with the smell of skunk. I can't tell you how many mornings I started teaching with that odor in my nostrils. And as I came out of the Guadalupe Trail, I heard roosters crowing. HAH! They haven't booted out the roosters yet. I know their time will come but I only pray that some young Alvisan will rise up and say NO, this is not who we are. And the building will stop. No more condos. No more walls. The skunks and roosters can remind us of so much that once was.