A few thoughts on what to do with city’s surplus cash

So Gilroy has a great reserve of money, where most cities are panicking about their deficits. Well done, Gilroy! Let’s keep some of that money on reserve in the thought that harder times may be coming … but I have some ideas of how we could spend a small portion of it and maybe make things better.
n 1. Fix up the unreinforced masonry buildings downtown. Create some kind of contract so that it’s done with city money but the business owners agree to pay back a portion of it over the next 10 years. Then we can welcome new businesses with open arms and without looking up at the ceiling and worrying about the next Big One.
n 2. Hire someone to actively recruit businesses for downtown. That Starbucks I mentioned last time, and a three gift shops, two clothing retailers, and a partridge in a pear tree. Let’s beg and plead for Booksmart Kids to return (free rent for a year, paid for with the surplus funds), and get the following restaurants I really need: a good Indian restaurant, an Italian deli with all the aromatic foccacias and little-known pasta shapes, an artisan pizzeria, sushi (I love our sushi places but we need more), and a Mediterranean place that will make savory and sweet stuffed filo. That should do it. Brushing off my hands, I’m thrilled downtown is now thriving and awesome.
There’s still some money left over, though, in our small portion so let’s keep going:
n 3. In every Gilroy resident’s water bill, include a coupon for The New Federated Downtown. Ten dollars off for spending $10, and the certificate works at every store for a limited time. Once people go downtown, they will see the marvelous assortment of new restaurants and retailers and vow to return. It doesn’t hurt that TNFD has a policy once the coupon expires, that if you can prove Gilroy residency (drivers license or a piece of mail), you get 5 percent off every purchase into perpetuity. Property owners have agreed to this because they got a break on the URM rehab.
n 4. Get rid of the piped-in music. This is free, so we continue on.
n 5. Plant flowers in the medians and around the tree trunks. Maybe Syngenta can donate the flowers, since they no longer let us bring our kids to the koi fish pond and bridge for photos. Hire someone part-time to tend to the flowers.
n 6. Close down vehicle traffic on Fifth Street between Monterey and Eigleberry (or maybe just Gourmet Alley). Tear out the asphalt and put in a brick courtyard. In the center, erect a sold gold statue of a garlic bulb. This should be gigantic, at least seven feet tall, unlike the microstatues recently put up on Monterey. Come to think of it, gold is pretty expensive so let’s get that great local artist Roy Guist to make it out of Manzanita.
n 7. Finally, at one end of this courtyard, in a quiet corner under a tree, let’s create a small memorial to the Gilroy soldiers who lost their lives in the Iraq war. It makes me sad when I see old historical photos of Armistice Day (the end of World War I) or VE and VJ Day (respectively, Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan, which ended World War II). Those photos of celebrations marking the end of the war show crowds, parades, confetti streaming through the air and patriotic bunting everywhere. It’s sad that this war ended so quietly. These soldiers deserve fanfare, too. And certainly we should somehow mark the tragic deaths of those young men who gave their lives all the way across the world, while the majority of us carried on life as usual. No victory gardens, no huge rallies to get people to buy war bonds, no scrapping of metal or collecting rationing coupons to buy simple things like sugar, butter or meat. A very different war, indeed.
As I put away my calculator, I’m satisfied that we carefully spent a small percentage of our city’s reserves in a way that enhances all of our lives. The rest shall stay in the bank (Occupy Gilroy would suggest a credit union, no?) as insurance for worse years to come … which we hope won’t be the case.
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Joyous Kwanzaa … and to all, a Happy New Year.
Erika Mailman is hoarding sugar coupons at www.erikamailman.com.