Since the idea of a Castro Valley town square was born I have been talking town squares, researching town squares, and generally extolling the benefits that a town square could add to our community. However, in that time I have been so busy reading and talking that I haven’t paused to consider the changes a town square has helped foster right underneath my nose.

I am talking about the community of Niles in Fremont. Just so you know, everything that I’m going to say is based on personal observation. I don’t know the political maneuverings, or the funding sources, or anything else, all I see are the results.  If you’re an anti-town square evangelizer you can save yourself some time, discount everything I’m about to say, and accuse me of wearing emerald colored glasses. Seriously, go eat a cookie, you’ll enjoy it more.

I have worked in Fremont for almost 14 years. Many of you are familiar with Fremont, it is a sprawling amalgamation of five smaller cities that got squashed together to create Fremont in 1956. Of those five communities my favorite by far is Niles. It is a small area that is home to beautiful architecture and has views of the Fremont hills and the Alameda Creek.  Niles has a rich history, not the least of which is that it was home to the pre-Hollywood film studio Essanay-West Studios. You may be familiar with Essanay, they filmed Broncho Billy westerns and a little film called The Tramp with Charlie Chaplin in Niles.

Despite its  history, when I was growing up Niles was kind of a sketchy area, it was known for bikers, tweekers, the Secret Sidewalk and The Devil’s Workshop headshop on Niles Boulevard. When I first started working in Fremont, Niles had somewhat cleaned up, but the downtown was an uneasy alliance of antiques stores and biker bars. A good portion of the downtown was dominated by a moldering old train depot that was pressed right up against Niles Boulevard, (there was also an old train station across the railroad tracks on Mission Boulevard.) The open spaces hidden from public view, the train tracks, the creek, etc. all seemed to encourage a large ever-present  homeless population in Niles.

A few years ago, Fremont overhauled the train station and the train depot. They moved the depot back about fifty yards off  the street and they moved the train  station from Mission Boulevard to Niles Boulevard, by moving these buildings they created a green space known as Niles Plaza, which for all practical purposes serves as a town square.

Since the completion of the town square, something is happening in Niles, new businesses are starting to pop up, not just antique stores and biker bars, something different- an Italian restaurant, a wine bar with a great menu, a high end coffee shop, a wedding dress shop, even a toy store. These changes didn’t take place right away, it is a slow process. But the Niles Plaza helped transform the area and then business people began to take a chance on Niles.

I mentioned the Niles homeless population purposely, primarily because the Castro Valley Town Square detractors are so vociferous in their assertions that a town square will draw undesirables, and this is my favorite part: the Niles Plaza has a very low homeless presence. The homeless by and large stay away from the open plaza. Instead they seem to stick to the more secluded areas near the creeks and railroad tracks, or they congregate near the liquor stores.

The Niles Plaza in and of itself refutes the claims of the dinosaurs that think urban planning is a farce. Planning and design have revitalized an area that always held promise.  Desirability is key to unlocking a downtown and you don’t create desirability by simply layering in another retail establishment.