Dear Editor,
Earth receives as much energy from the sun in one hour as
humanity consumes over an entire year. A mathematical reality the
universe’s Creator may wish for us to consider before further
destruction to a fragile ecosystem.
Dear Editor,
Earth receives as much energy from the sun in one hour as humanity consumes over an entire year. A mathematical reality the universe’s Creator may wish for us to consider before further destruction to a fragile ecosystem.
Gilroy’s City Council is now considering the approval of 500 new additional homes out on Hecker Pass, one of the most beautiful little valleys on any planet. In both a private poll conducted for city government last month and a recent Dispatch poll, overwhelming majorities of Gilroy voters objected to this development.
The Hecker Pass Environmental Impact Report requires our elected leaders to ask area developers, ask not require, that they consider environmental remediations for the valley, for our people, and for the world. The official request to the Hecker Pass developers may or may not come just before the City Council votes to approve something called a Certification of Overriding Necessity, which says that state and federal clean air laws can be set aside in favor of the interest that the city apparently has – and a handful of landowners definitely has – to build 500 new homes.
Hundreds of homes in the narrow Hecker Valley will violate clean air laws that must once again be overridden to complete the build-out. Many may recall last year that the City Council passed another Certification of Overriding Necessity making way then for a new store. Super Wal-Mart also violates state and federal clean air laws which had to be overridden before it could start construction. Both necessity overrides of clean air laws are ironic in the city that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared has the most polluted air in the nine-county region.
Yes, it’s Gilroy. Smog is blown here from San Jose and trapped by our mountains most days. A few hundred fair-minded free market capitalist Gilroyans, that also wish to honor the creation that our planet represents and protect its inhabitants, signed a petition last year asking that the richest corporation in world history agree voluntarily to help our air quality. So far Wal-Mart still hasn’t decided to install a single solar cell here to clean our air and capture all the energy being imported for free from the sun each hour.
Meanwhile, Gilroy’s elected leaders and maybe even some local developers now have the chance out on Hecker Pass to show Wal-Mart how its done and give back to the community that is giving them so much. What a Christmas gift back to everyone that would be.
Chris Coté, Gilroy
