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by Lisa
Fernandez
San Jose Mercury News
January 23, 2006
Typically,
when a group celebrates an anniversary,
organizers throw a party and guests show up
to eat cake.
Well, Fremont
-- the fourth-largest city in the Bay Area
-- turns 50 today, and organizers are intent
on not having a typical affair. They
want the milestone to better connect people
to their neighbors.
Sure, at
tonight's celebration there will be cake and
music and old-timers waxing nostalgic about
the past. But that's just the beginning.
"We
didn't just want to have an event,'' said
Irene Koehler, chair of Celebrate Fremont, a
non-profit organization of hundreds of
volunteers. "We wanted to change the
community.''
Specifically,
organizers want Fremont residents to look
beyond the soccer teams, churches and
restaurants they already know, and introduce
themselves to their 212,000 neighbors, who
hail from 155 countries and speak 137
languages.
Already,
change is afoot.
Bernard
Stewart, a dentist in his early 60s who has
lived in town for 37 years, has never eaten
at Burrito Loco & Tacqueria. Now he plans to
dine there after having met owner Gaby
Machuca, a 39-year-old Mexican-American,
while working on the anniversary project.
For her part,
Machuca had never met Moina Shaiq, an active
member of the Islamic Society of the East
Bay, a Fremont mosque, who is on the
project's steering committee. The two have
brainstormed together on how to get more
people from the schools to participate in
the citywide celebration.
Machuca also
reached out to members of the Afghan
community to volunteer, and became friends
with the owner of Mission Coffee, a place
she visited while recruiting business
leaders for the project.
"Now, if I
have a craving for a vanilla latte, I drive
all the way to the Mission,'' Machuca said.
And there are
connections among groups with like-minded
goals.
United effort
Thirty or so
historical groups are working on a united
project instead of focusing on their
individual goals such as saving an old tree
or house. On Saturday, they will begin
offering tours of the city. And the
"Heritage Team'' began collecting oral
histories from Fremont residents, which they
plan to present at Fremont's big 50th bash
Sept. 9-10, the culmination of the
anniversary project's efforts. Organizers
estimate it will take about $750,000 in
private funds to put on the yearlong series
of activities.
"I've never
seen anything like it,'' City Manager Fred
Diaz said. "In my career, over about 23
years, I've seen a lot of communities
pulling together to celebrate or for a
tragedy. But I have never seen anyone
pulling together so effectively at a
grass-roots level.''
Diaz said he
is also surprised by the community's
generosity. Not only has the corporate
community donated money and services, but
Diaz was especially pleased at a recent
planning session held at Center Theater.
More than 200 people showed up, and a dozen
restaurateurs donated food. At tonight's
celebration, members of the Sikh gurdwara
are donating 1,000 bottles of water.
Many people
who live in Fremont say they love the place
because schools are good and the crime rate
is low. But the city, to much of the rest of
the Bay Area, has the reputation of being a
boring bedroom community, a place that
people notice off Interstate 880 because of
the sprawling NUMMI car manufacturing plant
-- and keep on driving.
City leaders
have tried to change that image, dubbing it
the Gateway to Silicon Valley during the
dot-com heyday. Today, many play up the
city's cultural diversity, advertising that
Fremont is home to many immigrants from
Taiwan, India and Afghanistan.
Because the
anniversary celebration is lasting almost a
year, the planning process has created new
attitudes about the city that many say will
probably continue long after the cake is
eaten.
"I used to sit
at the coffee shop very concerned about how
the city might be wasting money, and about
all the potholes,'' said Bob Creveling, a
retired bank executive. "But I jumped at the
chance at being on the steering committee,
and I've gotten a better chance to see how
the inside of city hall works, and I'm much
more confident now that the city is being
run well.''
Connections
The simple act
of baking cakes has turned Brian Bacher,
owner of Vienna Bakery and Cafe, into a
nascent activist and major Fremont
cheerleader.
While baking
for the project, Bacher realized he needed a
large wood frame to hold the base of his
nearly 6-foot-tall cake. Folks at Dale
Hardware donated the lumber. The owner of
Angel's Flowers helped him with some floral
arrangements to drape over his edible
masterpieces. Now, he's happy he's met his
neighbors, and hopes he can help them in the
future.
"The people
are great,'' Bacher said. ``I'm glad I got
involved. I wanted to stretch myself.''
IF YOU'RE
INTERESTED
Fremont
residents are invited to a free
community party today from 6:30 to 8
p.m. at Central Park. To find out more
about the year's events, visit
www.celebratefremont.org or call the
Celebrate Fremont office at (510)
790-9352.
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