Most people meet my city at freeway speed: a green sign on 880 between Fremont and Hayward, gone in two seconds. I live under that sign. Union City is not an old name for an old place — it is a decision two small towns made together in 1959, and the decision is still working.
大多數人認識我的城市，是在高速公路的速度裡：880上一塊綠牌，在Fremont和Hayward之間，兩秒就過。我住在那塊牌子底下。Union City不是老地方的老名字——它是兩個小鎮在1959年一起做的一個決定，而那個決定，到今天還在運作。
Two Towns
兩座老鎮
Alvarado came first: a landing on Alameda Creek in the early 1850s, shipping farm produce to San Francisco. When Alameda County was created in 1853, this creek town became its first county seat — until the creek’s floods helped argue the seat away to San Leandro. In 1870, E.H. Dyer built a beet sugar mill here: the first commercially successful one in America. Sugar paid the town’s bills for almost a century.
Alvarado先來：1850年代初，Alameda溪上的一個碼頭，把農產品運往舊金山。1853年阿拉米達郡成立，這個溪邊小鎮成了第一任縣府——直到溪水氾濫幫忙把縣府勸去了San Leandro。1870年，E.H. Dyer在這裡建了甜菜糖廠：全美第一家商業上成功的甜菜糖廠。糖，養了這個鎮將近一百年。
Decoto came with the railroad: a depot town on the transcontinental line in the 1870s, with canneries by the tracks and, from 1938, Pacific States Steel. Where Alvarado smelled of sugar, Decoto smelled of steam and tomatoes; both towns were farming towns, and both were largely Mexican-American.
Decoto是跟著鐵路來的：1870年代橫貫大陸鐵路上的一個車站鎮，鐵道旁有罐頭工廠，1938年起有Pacific States Steel。Alvarado聞起來是糖味，Decoto聞起來是蒸汽和番茄味；兩個鎮都是農業鎮，也都以墨西哥裔居民為主。
The Union
聯合
By the 1950s the map was closing in: Fremont and Newark had incorporated, and Hayward was reaching south. Be absorbed, or become a city. On January 13, 1959, the two towns voted — about four to one — to incorporate together rather than be divided between neighbors. The name was waiting for them: a century earlier, the Horner family’s creek landing had already been called Union City.
到了1950年代，地圖正在合攏：Fremont和Newark已經建市，Hayward正往南伸手。被併吞，還是自己成為一座城市。1959年1月13日，兩鎮投票——大約四比一——決定一起建市，不被鄰居瓜分。名字早就等在那裡：一個世紀前，Horner家族的溪邊碼頭，就已經叫Union City了。
The first mayor was Tom Kitayama, a 35-year-old Alvarado nurseryman — said to be the first Japanese American mayor in the United States. A flower grower, elected by sugar workers and steelworkers, to run a city invented overnight. It is the most Union City fact I know.
第一任市長是Tom Kitayama，35歲，Alvarado的花農——據說是全美第一位日裔市長。一個種花的人，被糖廠工人和鋼鐵工人選出來，治理一座一夜之間發明的城市。這是我所知最Union City的一件事。
On Its Own: The Bargain
自己當家：這筆交易
Why not simply join Hayward or Fremont? Because the edge of somebody else’s city gets what is left over. On their own, the two towns kept their names, their council, and their say — police, parks, and planning decided by people who live with the results.
為什麼不乾脆加入Hayward或Fremont？因為當別人大城市邊緣的一個區，只能分到剩下的。自己當家，兩鎮保住了名字、市議會和發言權——警察、公園和都市計畫，由住在這裡、要承擔結果的人決定。
The price is a thin wallet. Property tax is capped and grows slowly, so a small, mostly residential city leans hard on sales tax — Union Landing is not just a mall, it is a pillar of the city budget. And some things were never separate at all: the schools also serve part of south Hayward, and the firefighters are the county’s.
代價是錢包很薄。房屋稅被封頂、成長緩慢，所以一座小而以住宅為主的城市，特別依賴銷售稅——Union Landing不只是購物中心，它是市府預算的一根柱子。而且有些事從來就不是分開的：學區也服務南Hayward的一部分，消防員是郡裡的。
Did it work? Judge it by the founders’ goal: they did not vote to become rich — they voted not to disappear. Sixty-some years on, Union City is still itself, while towns that waited became exits on somebody else’s map. Independence costs more per person; the two towns decided it was worth it.
成功嗎？用創市者的目標來量：他們投票，不是為了變有錢——是為了不消失。六十多年後，Union City還是它自己，而當年等待的小鎮，成了別人地圖上的一個出口。獨立，每個人要付的錢更多；兩鎮當年決定：值得。
The City Today
今日聯合市
The 2020 census counted 70,143 of us. Nearly half — 48.7% — were born in another country; more than half are Asian, a fifth are Latino, and on any market day the line at the bakery runs in half a dozen languages. The two old towns are still in there: Decoto’s grid by the tracks, Old Alvarado along the creek, and freight trains still stop traffic, the way they always have — locals don’t even look up.
2020年普查數到70,143個我們。將近一半——48.7%——出生在另一個國家；超過一半是亞裔，五分之一是拉丁裔，任何一個市集日，麵包店前的隊伍裡有六、七種語言。兩座老鎮還在裡面：鐵道旁Decoto的格子，和溪邊的Old Alvarado；貨運火車還是會擋住交通，跟從前一樣——本地人連頭都不抬。
Here is everyone, counted once — the Census counts Hispanic or Latino as its own group, so nobody is counted twice.
這是每一個人，只算一次——普查把拉丁裔獨立成一組，所以沒有人被算兩次。
| Group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Asian | 40,270 | 57.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 15,080 | 21.5% |
| White | 7,693 | 11.0% |
| Black | 3,006 | 4.3% |
| Two or More Races | 2,931 | 4.2% |
| Native American, Pacific Islander & Other | 1,163 | 1.7% |
| Total | 70,143 | 100% |
People ask why a man would keep a whole website and fill it with his own small city. Because it is not an exit on the way to somewhere else. It is two towns that refused to disappear, and voted. Home is a place that chose to exist.
有人問，一個人為什麼要為自己住的小城市做一整個網站。因為它不是通往別處的一個出口。它是兩個拒絕消失的小鎮，而它們投了票。家，是一個選擇了要存在的地方。
Good to Know
認識聯合市
City birthday: January 13, 1959. The sugar mill that bankrolled Alvarado closed in 1968, 99 years after Dyer’s first mill — the town outlived its own payroll.
城市生日：1959年1月13日。養活Alvarado的糖廠1968年關門，就在Dyer第一家糖廠的99年之後——鎮活得比自己的薪水來源還久。
Old Alvarado and Decoto still answer to their old names. Give a local directions by district, and you sound like you live here.
Old Alvarado和Decoto至今仍用老名字。用老區名給本地人指路，你聽起來就像住在這裡的人。
Union Landing, the big shopping center by the freeway, stands where a drive-in movie theater stood. In Union City, even the mall has a past life.
高速公路旁的大型購物中心Union Landing，蓋在以前汽車電影院的原址上。在Union City，連購物中心都有前世。
Let’s Talk About It
來聊一聊
Two neighbors out for a walk, stopped in front of one of the city’s murals.
兩個鄰居出門散步，停在一幅城市壁畫前面。
Amy: You know, I’ve lived here six years and never really looked at this mural.
艾咪：你知道嗎，我住這裡六年了，從來沒好好看過這幅壁畫。
Carlos: Right? We drive past it every day. You miss what’s right in front of you.
卡洛斯：對吧？我們每天開車經過。在眼前的東西，最容易錯過。
Amy: This city’s like that — quiet on the outside, a lot going on underneath.
艾咪：這城市就是這樣——外面安靜，底下很多故事。
Carlos: It was two towns once, you know. Alvarado and Decoto voted to team up in ’59.
卡洛斯：以前是兩個鎮，知道嗎？Alvarado 和 Decoto 在 1959 年投票合併成一市。
Amy: And it worked out! Great food, good parks, BART right there.
艾咪：而且合得很好！好吃的多、公園不錯，BART 就在旁邊。
Carlos: Plus rent that doesn’t make you cry. Well — cry less.
卡洛斯：加上房租不會讓你哭。嗯——少哭一點。
Amy: Ha! Fair enough. Same walk tomorrow?
艾咪：哈！有道理。明天同一條散步路線？
Carlos: You bet. And this time, let’s actually read the plaque.
卡洛斯：當然。而且這次我們真的要讀一讀那塊說明牌。
