"On (July 13) there was some police action in Gilroy. We haven't heard or seen anything in the paper. What's going on? I think people should be aware of incidents like this."

Dear Wondering,

It took us some time to hear back from Palo Alto police, who were in town searching three homes for a suspect in a Palo Also fatal shooting. We were unable to get it into Tuesday's print edition, but did post something a story about the police action July 15. A story also ran in the Friday, July 18 edition. At a Wednesday press conference, city officials asked residents to look out for 22-year-old Otto Emil Koloto, also known as Otto Mil Huhane.

Graffiti sends the wrong message

"I'm writing because I've seen instances of graffiti on the sidewalk in front of the South Valley Cardiovascular Group and on the sidewalk between El Roble Park and El Roble school. I've left a message on the Graffiti Hotline, but I don't know if this is something the city can't do anything about because it's on private property. The one between the two schools appears more difficult to remove, because apparently when the portion of the sidewalk was installed or repaired, some half-wit scrawled the graffiti into the wet concrete. It's bad enough that there are gangs in this town; why do they have to be permitted to deface property?

Dear Worked Up,

Red Phone contacted the Gilroy Police Department and Steve Ashford, property manager for the Gilroy Medical Center complex at 700 W. Sixth Street. Ashford said that graffiti at SVCG has been there a little more than a year and that it was much worse before most of it was cleaned.

The vandals got seven offices at the complex and it took four people five hours to paint over the graffiti, Ashford said. As far as the sidewalk, Ashford said the insurance company won't let him sandblast it because that will leave pits in the concrete.

They first tried scrubbing it off with thinner, but that didn't work. So they tried to power wash the black paint off, but that cleaned the sidewalk, leaving the paint to stand out even more. Then they tried a special chemical, and that didn't work, he said.

Ashford said there are plans to replace the portion of the sidewalk marred with graffiti with a ramp this winter.

"Leaving it there was never the plan," he said. "We try to get rid of graffiti as soon as we can. This particular spot is just not cleaning up."

As far as the graffiti on the sidewalk between the schools, Sgt. Jim Gillio said the site is a city sidewalk.

"I talked to Todd Barreras, operations supervisor for streets, and he said they will try and put some mortar on it and smooth it out to cover it up," Gillio said. That should be done by now. So good caller, if that graffiti has not been removed, let Red Phone know. And this winter, expect to see a ramp at the medical office complex.

Keep city hall open all week

"I'm calling about the proposal to close City Hall one day a week. First of all, people that need to use the service are going to be inconvenienced. Why don't they require employees to live in Gilroy? Secondly, why don't they just get rid of one employee and it's going to save a lot more than $35,000 a year, that they say it would save by cutting the one day."

Dear How to Save,

See our story online. The city council voted 5-2 to keep the five-day week schedule for city hall employees. As for requiring employees to live in the city, Red Phone isn't sure that's even legal. Not everyone can afford to live here, and some may choose to live in other areas for reasons not associated with work. And, you are right, the city could save more than $35,000 by laying off one employee. But, in the budget passed last month, City Administrator Tom Haglund called for all 24 of the city's vacant full-time positions remain frozen through at least 2009. In addition to the hiring freeze, 30 forecasted positions have been "defunded" through 2013 and will remain so unless needed to fulfill basic operations or until the council orders a specific position to be filled, according to Haglund.

So as much as the city wants to save money, cutting positions is the likely last alternative to balance the budget. Though, if things get worse, the city may not have another choice.