With land values going through the roof and affordable housing becoming increasingly scarce, Alviso has been "rediscovered". However, it has become a double-edged  sword. While the eyesore lots along Gold Street were removed and new Research and Development sprang up in their place, we seem to be losing more of our character.  The good that has come of the new developments are a new library and a new Community Center. North First Street is finally being paved after years of neglect.

The Old Bayside Cannery and the fading murals remind of days gone

  

But you pause to wonder about those days

Hidden gardens for peaceful reflection

  

And the historical Laine house quietly reminisces.
Houses are being painted and cleaned up, and the town as a whole is being spruced up. There are plans in the works to clean up the marina, create a park and generally make Alviso more of draw for the public and those that love to stroll around the levees. The downside, I suppose, is that we are losing our individuality.

Still, the Marina refuses to give up despite the passage of time.

Fewer craft moor here, but no less hardy sailors.

Masts rise above the wild marsh grasses,

boats ride placidly on the slowly passing slough.

The City of San Jose can't even manage downtown properly, how are they going  to manage us? We have seen wetlands disappear and wildlife displaced. A gray  fox that hunted around the juncture where Layfette becomes Gold Street has not been seen in a couple of years. The areas that harbored hundreds of fowl have  dried up or have been plowed under. In the spring the croaking of thousands  of frogs is no longer heard. The burrowing owls have been displaced several  times as their habitat is plowed and scraped away. I think sometimes people forget the wildlife doesn't KNOW it is supposed

Onward