Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Fremont, considered the “Gateway to Silicon Valley,” may be an expensive suburb, but it is also home to a hidden homeless population.
The cost of rental properties in Fremont is higher than San Francisco; the city also has a larger number of homeless children than the national average. And the recent economic downturn has caught these homeless in a painful squeeze.

Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Since the age of 14, when he first picked up a guitar, Michael McNevin knew he wanted to be a musician. During his career, this singer-songwriter has opened for artists such as Johnny Cash and Richie Havens and produced four albums. But McNevin’s music is not his only form of artistic expression. When he’s not busy writing songs, he’s drawing detailed scenes of the events he sings about on…an Etch-a-Sketch.

Multimedia by Tyler Sipe and Karen Weise
As the sun rises over Fremont’s hills each day, thousands of people come to Central Park for their morning rituals. On fields, in groves, and around the paths, visitors practice tai chi, play soccer, and walk the three-mile loop around Lake Elizabeth.
On a typical summer weekend, more than 10,000 visitors will use the park each day, according to Sue Nogare of Fremont Parks and Recreation Department. Nogare said each year, more than 1 million people visit the park’s 450 acres, almost half the size …

Story and photos by Tyler Sipe
The tradition of sending funds back home, called remittances, is a longstanding tradition among immigrants living abroad in the U.S. – including in Fremont.  
However, faced with a domestic and global economic downturn, foreign-born immigrants have been forced to tighten their wallets and decrease the amount of money they send back to friends and family in their native countries.

 
Story and photo by Tyler Sipe
The recent precipitous decline of the stock market is hitting Fremont seniors particularly hard.
In the past 15 months alone, Americans’ retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion – or about 20 percent overall, according to Congressional budget analysts and reported by the Associated Press.

Video by Tyler Sipe

Story and Photos by Tyler Sipe
Copper metal has become the new gold standard in the underground economy.
Fremont and other East Bay cities have seen a dramatic increase in copper theft, especially since the commodity has risen above $3 a pound.
Fremont Police Detective Bill Veteran said the theft of copper and other metals has reached epidemic proportions, and said he believes most of the offenders in the Tri-City area are drug addicts.

By Karen Weise
With little fanfare and no opposition, the Fremont City Council approved a $3 million loan for a once-controversial affordable housing project in Irvington. The loan will allow non-profit developer Allied Housing to purchase a 1.6-acre vacant site to build Main Street Village, with 55 to 63 affordable housing apartments and six to eight ground-floor commercial spaces.

By Karen Weise
While supporters hailed the government’s Federal bailout plan as an effort to benefit both Main Street and Wall Street, Fremont’s community banks, credit unions, and small business owners are not convinced.

Radio and print stories by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
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In the heart of Fremont’s historic Niles District, the Essanay Café is a go-to place for fine dining and good wine. But on the first Tuesday of each month, the café swaps out its china with paper plates, for what owner Bruce Cates has themed, the “Recession Dinner.”