Gilroy
– City leaders have marked a bull’s eye on merchants who clutter
sidewalks, homeowners who shun sidewalk repairs and anyone who hogs
downtown parking spaces.
Gilroy – City leaders have marked a bull’s eye on merchants who clutter sidewalks, homeowners who shun sidewalk repairs and anyone who hogs downtown parking spaces.
Tough talk characterized the first day of city council’s annual policy summit, a weekend of informal discussions where city leaders kick back and hash out priorities for the upcoming year.
Headaches over cracked sidewalks, mushrooming signs and the downtown parking crunch are nothing new, but changing times have revived some controversial ideas.
Councilmen discussed enforcing two- or three-hour parking limits downtown, banning A-board signs and banners, and preventing the sale of homes when residents fail to repair cracked and uprooted sidewalks.
“I think the message is out – this council now means business,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “We’re going to get things done.”
That could mean dozens of downtown workers – many of them women who have complained about unsafe parking in alleys and on streets – could soon find themselves getting tickets for parking all day in premium spots along Monterey Street.
Outraged workers last fall convinced officials to stall on parking enforcement plans after the historic main drag emerged from a seven-month construction closure. Since then, a string of new businesses have brought new customers and employees to the area, including South County Gardner Health Center, which employs about a dozen workers and serves 80 patients each day.
“We’re getting a real parking problem downtown, especially between Fourth and Fifth streets,” City Councilman Dion Bracco said. “We have a couple employees down there that don’t care if merchants have a place for customers to park. I think it’s time we make a decision to start enforcing parking … I’m talking about chalking tires and writing tickets.”
Fears about scaring shoppers from the slowly reviving downtown left the mayor “torn” about the idea. He proposed adding an hour to the current two-hour time limit. The change, he hoped, would allow customers of Gilroy Bowl to avoid tickets without having to swap spaces.
Councilmen postponed the discussion for a Monday workshop devoted to downtown issues.
Parking wasn’t the only issue frustrating council.
A-board signs have ballooned in size along the length of the city’s sprawling new sidewalks, banners hang from building walls for months at a time, and entire storefront windows are covered in advertisements. Existing regulations limit the size of A-boards, cap the duration banners can remain on buildings, and allow sings to cover only a quarter of a window.
“It’s time for us to get tough and make the decision – no signs. It looks like crap,” Bracco said. “I think we ought to ban banners and A-frames altogether. We didn’t spend all the money on those sidewalks for them to clutter it up.”
Before instituting a citywide sign ban on public sidewalks, council agreed to give merchants a month to comply with existing laws. Enforcement will begin March 1, and in June council will discuss whether there’s need for stronger measures.
Downtown merchants are not the only people facing a crackdown. Under the latest cure-all for Gilroy’s fractured sidewalks, homeowners who drag their feet on repairs could find themselves indebted to the city for thousands of dollars and unable to sell their property.
On Friday, councilmen called for ordinances that would let the city fix cracked sidewalks and then recoup repair costs by placing a lien on property. They also plan to add sidewalks to a checklist of items that must meet city standards before a home can change hands.
“I think we wanted to get across to everybody that we all have a stake in the community and it takes all of us being proactive,” Pinheiro said of the latest policy proposals. “We need visitors to see we have pride of ownership in our community.
