Reader Claims His One True Alameda Is the One True One True Alameda

Roger:

I took great distress in hearing Jess Trumbell's letter in yesterday's edition of the ADN. She is sadly mistaken in her belief that Harbor Bay Isle is not part of Alameda. In fact, I would like to proffer evidence to the contrary, i.e., that Harbor Bay Isle is actually the One True Alameda.

First off, let me dispel the notion that there are multiple names for our fair Isle, and that we are liars. If you look us up in the County Registry, you will see the official name for our lovely community is Harbor Bay Isle. Not island. We are under no illusions that we live on any kind of island. If you look up Isle in the American Horticultural Dictionary, you will find:

Isle (iy-ul) : A peninsula that used to be an island, doubled in size by bringing in landfill harvested from nearby hills and dredged from a newly-formed estuary from a nearby island that used to be a peninsula.

Do you see how this matches the definition of Harbor Bay Isle perfectly?

Now onto the other points. Let me point out that the current and previous four Alameda Mayors all lived on Harbor Bay Isle. (The one before that apparently lived in Cleveland, surprisingly.) Is it possible that this is just a coincidence? City Hall is just a building. What is important is where your mayor actually lives so you can drive across the street to borrow a cup of sugar or give your mayor an earful about the latest annoyances from Squirrels, Bagpipes, teenagers, and so forth.

And now let's look at what is taking up most of the actual land mass in 94501: Alameda Point. Yes, that Developer's Dream, and the undoing of Measure Acorn if we aren't careful. Unlike Harbor Bay Isle, which was developed entirely by a 501(c)3 non-profit, woman/minority-owned cooperative that used green building techniques and operated entirely under volunteer labor using indigenous materials. I take pride in our community!

Therefore, I challenge Ms. Trumbell to take back her divisive language and recognize the Alamedaness of Harbor Bay Isle, also known as 94502. Although I remain steadfast in my stance that Harbor Bay Isle is the real Alameda, I will keep my arms open and welcome all residents of 94501 to drive across the beautiful blue bridge connecting our two zip codes and come shop at our Harbor Bay Landing, where they can find things they can't find on the Island — at unique neighborhood stores like Safeway and Longs Drugs.

Sincerely,
Is'nali Warard