Voices: Fremont’s Housing Developments are Destroying More Than They’re Building

By Journalism 1 Staff Writers 

Fremont has been the target of numerous housing developers looking to make quick profit by introducing economic developments that will destroy the city’s historical landmarks and community recreation areas. During the week of September 20 to 27, the Smoke Signal gathered MSJ perspectives on these issues.

To read the full opinion piece, click here. 

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How do you feel about the affordable housing crisis in the Bay Area? What do you think are the underlying impacts on Fremont specifically?

“I think that prices are too high. People aren’t able to afford it. Recently, my family moved back from Taiwan to the Bay Area. Originally, we lived here six years ago, and our house was around affordable at that time. But then after six years in time, the house that we originally owned has jumped to a level that we can’t even afford. It’s double the price of the original. It’s not a good sign of the future of the Bay Area because more people will not be able to afford homes.” — Justin Yang, 11

“There are so many booming businesses here and the housing market is basically taking advantage of the fact that people are moving here for jobs and forcing them to pay higher prices for houses. I completely disagree with that. It’s not a choice given to people if they want to pay for that or not. I think that’s really unfortunate because the only people who can afford to live here are wealthy people, and those who are looking for the opportunity to build a better life in this area are not able to do so.” — Surabhi Haniyur, 11

How do you feel about open spaces in Fremont being demolished for housing and economic developments?

“Near my old house, there used to be a corn field. Me and my friends would walk there every single Saturday, and we’d get corn and watermelon. It was our tradition. But now we can’t, because it’s gone and being replaced by apartments. It’s sad because I grew up with that corn field.” — Navya Ravavarapu, 12

“Fremont’s just becoming one of those towns that just has lots of really tightly packed houses … If they get rid of all these places, we won’t have anything to do anymore, we’d just have lots of neighbors. It’s not gonna be one of those cute towns where you can go places and hang out with your friends — it’ll just be lots of traffic.” — Nabiya Haider, 10

“I don’t appreciate the advance of additional housing without improvement of roads or traffic plans. The traffic in Fremont is actually gruesome. What should normally take fifteen minutes, can take an hour because of poor traffic routing … Niles Canyon and 680 are two of the only ways to get to Pleasanton or Livermore, where a lot of the Bay Area workforce live due to monetary restraints, but every day I see the huge lines on Mission and Washington, and feel disappointed in whoever drew up the roads here.” — Katricia Dakin, 12

“Personally, I feel the rapid expansion in terms of housing in Fremont has an overall negative effect on the community. Just looking down Mission Boulevard, I can see the houses and apartment complexes crowding the sides of the streets. The houses are also $1 million and above in value, and that is not a realistic price for many of the families currently living in Fremont.” — Jason Vu, 10

Photo by indycc.com

Graphic by Web Editor Shiantel Chiang