High speed politics have just started. The Gilroy City Council
approved $150,000 to fund rail experts and grant applications for
the highly-criticized project. A task force comprised of Gilroy and
Morgan Hill brass met with the CHSRA CEO for answers and
funding.
For the Top 10 Faces of Gilroy in 2010, click here.
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High Speed Rail
High speed politics have just started. The Gilroy City Council approved $150,000 to fund rail experts and grant applications for the highly-criticized project. A task force comprised of Gilroy and Morgan Hill brass met with the CHSRA CEO for answers and funding. In the summer of 2011, Gilroy should expect an environmental impact report that could provide answers to a project that could split downtown and has divided the Council in the past.
MediLeaf Legal Battle
As of September 2010, Berliner Cohen, the firm representing Gilroy, has billed the city a total of $175,529 for MediLeaf litigation. With the pot shop filing a Nov. 10 appeal to begin the appeals process – on a prohibitory injunction resulting from a lawsuit brought against it by Gilroy, the total can only get higher. How much higher and how the cost affects Gilroy remains to be seen.
Charter school approval, Eliot’s ongoing success
With lack of funding and scholastic guidelines stronger than ever under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Gilroy has taken steps
to improve education for its
students. School board trustees have approved the “Whole Brain Teaching” method for elementary schools. The teaching strategy has been a success at Eliot Elementary School resulting in skyrocketing test scores. Charter school Gilroy Prep will also adopt the method and is scheduled to open in 2011.
New library, temporary library downtown
Gilroy’s ongoing major civic project, a new
community library, is well under construction. The $18.18 million project has been 12 years in the making. It was first proposed in 1997. The project – a two-story 53,500 square foot building – should be complete within the next seven months, Gilroy Librarian Lani Yoshimura said.
New contracts for police and fire unions
Against a backdrop of a tough economy and public outrage over fat salaries and pensions for public
employees, the unions associated with the Gilroy Fire Department and Gilroy Police backed off contract demands and accepted reductions. Future negotiations are just around the corner and whether the trend will continue will either ease or, perhaps, put the squeeze on city finances.
