‘The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
”
So said writer Elie Wiesel back in 1986. To that, I’m going to
add the following statement for Gilroy:
”
The opposite of community pride is not blight, it’s
indifference.
”
And it appears that there’s still a lot of indifference in
Gilroy when it comes to blight.
‘The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.” So said writer Elie Wiesel back in 1986. To that, I’m going to add the following statement for Gilroy: “The opposite of community pride is not blight, it’s indifference.” And it appears that there’s still a lot of indifference in Gilroy when it comes to blight.
Now I’m not talking about graffiti, because Gilroy does a good proactive job to get rid of graffiti as soon as it appears, and that’s commendable. If you don’t think so, go look at downtown Salinas sometime soon.
While the dictionary has a number of definitions for blight, I’ll define it as: “a sustained predominant display of junk or trash on private property over time, that offends the aesthetic senses of most reasonable people but not enough to shake their indifference to it.”
But let’s now hope that “reasonable” people will be shaken out of their indifference, and start to do something proactively to aid in the clean up of blight in this of community just as we do with graffiti.
Here’s what The Dispatch had to say last September about Gilroy’s new blight ordinance: “Gilroy residents who let rundown vehicles, overgrown weeds or excessive trash pile up on their front yards now face $1,000 fines by the city if they don’t clean up their mess. … The so-called blight ordinance, for the first time in Gilroy’s history, gives residents a new tool to keep their neighborhoods clean. … Specifically, the new ordinance bans parking any motor vehicle on any portion of an unpaved front yard. … [It] bans parking, keeping or storing any boat or motor vehicle, including RVs, whether operable or inoperable, on any portion of the front yard of a property except on a paved area for more than 72 consecutive hours.”
I commend The Dispatch’s “Red Phone” July 16 write-up regarding Gilroy possibly becoming the “junk car capital of the world.” While I recognize that statement might be stretching it, the fact is that Gilroy does have way too many trashy things cluttering up the community in addition to cars, boats, and RVs parked on driveways or unpaved areas. Some of this blight can be dealt with immediately, others will take longer.
As an example of the “longer” category, what about the majority of downtown buildings? Who can deny that the old cannery building on Lewis Street is the epitome of blight? Hopefully the South County Housing will be doing something soon with the property, but in the meantime, it still wins my first-place dishonor award in Gilroy.
And not to beat a dead horse to death, but the only aesthetic buildings in downtown right now are Old City Hall, the remodeled property adjacent to it, the train depot, and the new building on the north side of Fifth Street between Monterey Road Eigleberry Street. Everything else needs to be torn down or have major revamping.
While these buildings don’t fall under the blight ordinance and apparently still pass the building and safety codes, Gilroy residents need to keep letting the city council members know their feelings about revitalizing downtown. I still think there are way too many used car lots and auto repair shops within the downtown limits on Monterey Road between First and Tenth streets that do not, and will not contribute to a revitalized downtown.
Council needs to pass stricter zoning laws that will insure that this portion of Monterey Road conforms to better retail use. Morgan Hill’s downtown along Monterey Road does not have any used car lots, or auto repair businesses. And that should be true of Gilroy as well.
For the more “immediate” fix category not mentioned before, I’ve noticed an abundance of so-called “temporary” carport tents around town that appear to have become permanent fixtures on those driveways. These tents need to go.
And while I’m at it, I resent all of the “portable” basketball backboards with sand or water-filled plastic bases that reside unlawfully on a sidewalk or in the street. I’m surprised the city has not been sued by someone who’s fallen over one of these props. Parents, these things belong on your property, not on the city’s property.
So people of Gilroy, shake off your indifference to blight. Pick-up your phone and call the appropriate city employee (Gary Muraoka, Scott Barron, Rodger Maggio or Gregg Polubinsky) listed in the July 16 Red Phone article.
If you don’t call, don’t think somebody else will do it for you. Let’s all trash our indifference, and strive together for a blight-free Gilroy.
