poor lighting: “When my daughter came home from the railroad station the other night, her whole knee was ripped on her pants where she fell. They have the lighting there so very badly, they can hardly see when they get off the train. She cut her knee as well as ruined her $41 pair of pants. I wish they would be able to get some better lighting down there. She’s been taking that train for a long time, so I know she knows where everything is. But she fell in the dark and it’s just lighted very badly. Thank you.”
The Red Phone found out that the Gilroy station is maintained by Caltrain, but owned by the Valley Transportation Authority. VTA spokeswoman Brandi Hall said that the agency has not had any other complaints about poor lighting at the station, and that all lighting is up to code. She suggests that you, or anyone else with lighting concerns, call her at 321-7575.
construction chaos: “I was wondering if you guys knew anything about the construction on Monterey Street near Lewis and Fourth. The stoplight has been down there and they’ve got temporary stop signs in an area that seems there’s been no progress. Could you get a little investigative reporting going and find out when that’s going to be fixed?”
Red Phone got in touch with Gilroy’s Traffic Engineer Don Dey, who said the completion date on that area, unfortunately, is up in the air due to problems with an electrical component.
“We’re trying to get the work done as much as possible,” he said. “Right now we are waiting for an electrical connection to be done. We’re hoping that electrical connection is done within the next couple of weeks, weather permitting obviously. The weather has had a big impact on trying to get all that work done. I do hope that it gets up and running in a couple of weeks.”
In the meantime, caller, if nothing’s done in the next “couple of weeks,” the Red Phone will keep it on it’s agenda and stay in contact with Dey to keep everyone posted on any progress – or lack thereof.
in need of help: “This is a concerned veteran. We’ve been trying to raise money for our flagpole monument for our veterans for the last 3 1/2 years. Most veterans are disappointed with the businesses in Gilroy. Now we read that Christopher Ranch has donated $1.25 million to the Arts Center, but do you think they would donate to our veterans? Same thing with the Garlic Festival, which we help every year with the honorguard. And we helped the Chamber of Commerce with their flag for downtown, but have they supported us? No. Please put in the paper that we’re very disappointed. Thank you.”
You got it, caller. For anyone interested in helping out our veterans, contact Wayne Cegelske at 842-4903 or send donations to Gilroy Veterans Flagpole Fund, P.O. Box 1588, Gilroy, CA 95021.
bad traffic signal: “The signal light at Monterey and Masten needs to be reprogrammed. Often the wait is two, three, four lights for people exiting the freeway onto westbound Masten during the evening commute. The traffic light for Monterey Road goes far too long for far less traffic. The traffic backs up onto the highway offramp. Someone needs to go out there, check it and change it.”
The Red Phone left a message with the County of Santa Clara Transportation Department and it’s call was returned the following day by Nester, with the county’s Traffic Signal and Lighting.
“One of our technicians went out to the area yesterday (Tuesday), found something wrong with the detection and he fixed it,” he said. “So it should be working now.”
Nester suggested that if any Red Phone readers notice any further problems, to contact the county at 299-3604 so that they may address the issue promptly. Or, call the Red Phone and it’ll get on the trail for you.
