Alameda

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on a small island of the same name next to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. An additional part of the city is Bay Farm Island, which is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. The city has a small-town feel with its Victorian homes and tree-lined neighborhoods. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 72,259. Alameda is a charter city, rather than a general law city, meaning that the city can provide for any form of government. Alameda became a charter city in 1916, and adopted a council-manager government then, which it retains to the present. The island that Alameda occupies was originally a peninsula connected to Oakland. Much of the peninsula was low-lying and marshy, but on higher ground the peninsula and adjacent parts of what is now downtown Oakland were home to one of the largest coastal oak forests in the world. The area was therefore called "Encinal," Spanish for "oak... full article at wikipedia