Couple sums up what they thought after viewing election
forum
First Impression from Forum – Disappointed in Gilroy Candidates
Dear Editor,
My wife and I attended the candidate forum sponsored by the Dispatch and the local AAUW Thursday evening and I wanted to send you our first impressions of the candidates. This is truly our first impression of them as we had not heard any of them speak before. We have only seen their comments in print.
First, we were disappointed. All of the candidates mentioned public safety as a top priority, but none of them gave ideas for how to improve the safety of our streets after three people, two of them children, have been killed by motorists in the past 15 months.
All of the candidates talked about improving Gilroy so people want to make it their home, but none of them talked about making adequate school facilities a top priority for the city in partnership with the Gilroy Unified School District. Without adequate schools, families will not move here.
This is our impression of the individual candidates. Cat Tucker shared some good ideas. She was not afraid to take a stand on the mega-mall issue. She also appeared intimidated by the live camera and it affected her ability to be heard. Tim Day sounded much like the current Council on many issues and seems like he would not add anything new. He was openly pro-business and seemingly would further sell off our city to developers each time they offered more money. Perry Woodward was organized and clear in his answers to questions. He was the only candidate who actually answered each question posed to him. He also presented specific ideas – another rarity from the candidate pool.
Roland Velasco and Russ Valiquette mostly defended the current Council and are running on their past efforts rather than any future vision. Bob Dillon made a couple good points. Most particularly that when the current Council wants to find money for something, it does. Unfortunately, he poised himself as a one- issue candidate – sidewalks – with the solution being to borrow money through a bond.
The mayoral candidates were equally disappointing. Neither candidate displayed leadership qualities. Neither candidate offered specific ideas for the truly high priority issues of public safety and managing growth.
Certainly, sidewalks and pay raises are hot-button issues, but they pale in comparison to the safety of our children as they walk to school or the sexual assaults that go unsolved. A pay raise for a public official is miniscule when compared to the continued practice of chasing the developer dollar at the cost of our quality of life.
We hope Gilroy residents will raise their expectations and demand specific ideas and then listen to them to make a choice for the truly best candidate rather than the least worst candidate.
Phil and Claudia Johnson, Gilroy
