Barrack Obama’s election did not seem to surprise anybody here,
but many residents found it hard to believe that voters passed $187
million dollars in bonds for a new library and high school given
the city’s vast economic downturn.
Barrack Obama’s election did not seem to surprise anybody here, but many residents found it hard to believe that voters passed $187 million dollars in bonds for a new library and high school given the city’s vast economic downturn.
Like many others, Garry Stutheit, a 30-year resident of the city, said Obama’s election boiled down to frustration with President George Bush and the economy. And again, like so many others, he was “very surprised” the school and library bonds passed. While he voted for the former and against the latter, he said did not expect an increasingly frugal electorate to pass so many bonds.
“Who the hell do these people think is going to pay for all this?” Stutheit said. “We are.”
As for Prop 8, Stutheit said he expected the divisive issue to win out given the demographics of the entire state.
Lynne Guerra moved here from Los Gatos three weeks ago, but she said she voted for the school and library bonds despite the city’s, state’s and country’s financial troubles because “they’re needed” – a mentality shared by many residents who seemed to think they were the only ones voting for the bonds.
“It’s such a tiny amount of taxes for each person,” Guerra said.
As for Prop 8’s narrow success, Guerra said she was “very disappointed it passed, but other than that, I love the outcomes,” especially the presidential election, she said.
“I’m very happy (Obama) won,” Guerra said.
Nationwide, Obama collected 44 percent of the white vote, more than John Kerry, Al Gore or even Bill Clinton, exit polls show. While the Illinois senator will become the nation’s first black president, Guerra, who is white, said his race “is not really an issue. He’s just a man.”
America also once debated whether John F. Kennedy could become the first Catholic president. Now that’s a historical footnote.
Gordon Lepper was “ecstatic” about Obama’s election and “surprised and really pleased” that the school and library bonds passed, as well.
As for Prop 8, Lepper – a 47-year Gilroy resident and retired school teacher – was also disappointed, saying “one form of discrimination is as bad as any other.”
Deborah Towers, who said she was homeless, called Prop 8’s passage an indication of “old fashion thinking.”
But on the other side of the aisle, Elvin and Rosemary Threadgill disagreed.
“I was raised with Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” Elvin Threadgill said.
Both said they were surprised with the passages of the library and school bonds.
As for Obama’s election, the two saw it as an inevitability.
“It was eventually going to happen,” Rosemary Threadgill said.
