Dear Editor:
This is a follow up letter to clarify a point or two in my
letter of July 11. The cultural center controversy cannot be
understood unless viewed as part of an ongoing city problem.
Dear Editor:
This is a follow up letter to clarify a point or two in my letter of July 11. The cultural center controversy cannot be understood unless viewed as part of an ongoing city problem.
The major problem is the rundown, non-profitable section of lower downtown. This is due to lack of foresight by past planners and the past city councils.
The development of three large outlet or discount shopping areas east of U.S. 101 siphoned off business from downtown; compound this with the large box stores such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and Lowes along Highway 152 which have further aggravated the business drain. Tell me! What else would you expect?
Putting a cultural center on Seventh and Eigleberry to revitalize downtown is like whipping a dead horse to get him up and running.
There is another problem the city council and administration refuse to face. There is an attractive alternative to placing the cultural center downtown. Readily available for the cultural center is a 4.25-acre site located in the southwest corner of Hecker Pass and Santa Teresa. That parcel offers adequate space for a large building, abundant parking, a park-like surrounding and access from all directions. It would be only a few blocks from the new Gilroy middle school and lies in the northwest quadrant of the city, where most coming growth will develop. The parcel has been offered to the city for a cultural center on the most reasonable terms – far less than the cost of the Seventh and Eigleberry lots.
Here is the unpleasant catch. Three or four of the city councilmen knew of this offer – a far superior cultural center site – yet they voted for that dumpy downtown site, abandoning all reason, logic and principle for the expediency of getting some votes in the coming election. If recall of Governor Davis is justified, then even more so is a recall of the five councilmen that knowingly voted for the Seventh and Eigleberry site in preference to the 4.25 acres at Hecker Pass and Santa Theresa.
Joseph G. McCormack, Gilroy
Submitted Monday, July 14
