A candidate for Council answers the Westfield question and
readers speculate about mailings and wonder about water rate
hikes
Clear Answer from a Candidate on Westfield Outdoor Mall Proposal
Dear Editor,
In answer to your editorial about City Council candidate’s feelings about Westfield Mall, the majority of us working on the General Plan voted not to bring in the 660 acres that the Westfield people want to build on.
At that time the argument was the city needed the land for Campus Industrial. The General Plan Committee knew that we already had a 50-year supply within the city limits, but the few people who wrote the Minority Report for the 660 acres insisted we would need that land 10 to 15 years down the road for Campus Industrial.
Now that the land is zoned for Campus Industrial I want to keep it that way so that we have future opportunity to bring mid-size business campus industrial that will bring higher paying jobs to Gilroy. Jobs for citizens was the plan and we need to stay on track with that plan.
Since their design is for an outdoor mall anyway, then Westfield Mall can be built downtown. They already have a downtown model in San Francisco that can be scaled down to fit our size.
I envision basement parking and anchor stores brought in to help bring life back to downtown! Otherwise, we can triple the nightmare of traffic that already exists on Leavesley Road and 10th Street in addition to the new 6th Street highway that will come into the neighborhoods of the east side families.
There are numerous additional reasons to vote against this project, and I don’t believe the damage to our downtown or the damage to our residents’ quality of life can be mitigated enough to accept this proposal.
I say bring it to downtown and I will support it, otherwise absolutely not!
Cat Tucker, City Council Candidate
Anonymous Mailings, Unscrupulous Tactics are a Big Concern
Dear Editor,
I wonder who sent that “anonymous mailing” about rubber stamping? Maybe the same person who wrote a letter to the editor about rubber stamping! It is political season in full swing. I would also be inclined to suspect that Mark Zappa (the source) also fed Councilman (and mayoral candidate) Craig Gartman the wrong information on diverting money from water user fees to complete the downtown streetscape. Let’s create issues, make a lot of accusations and see what sticks. Let’s not get down to real issues that citizens of Gilroy think are important.
You were on the right track when you were talking about sidewalks and personnel raises but you lost me at “Possibly illegal diverted $1.45 million.” What was the quote from that great detective on television, “Just the facts, just the facts.”
Mr. Zappa seems to think that when you are tearing up streets it is a bad idea to also include the underground pipes. I know the city could have left the water pipes alone and waited until the streetscape was complete and then decide we need to work on the water pipes. Not that smart! In Mr. Zappa’s letter “Mayor Al and the Rubber Stamps” he suggest that the streetscape be delayed to concentrate on other issues. Well, tell that to the downtown merchants who waited more than two years to see the completion. Good luck on asking the businesses that did not make it because of the streetscape delays and slow progress. Let’s keep these elections above water and out of the back rooms. Let’s be up front, and if you want to get information to the good people of Gilroy, don’t be afraid to put your name on it. Don’t hide behind “anonymous mailings” and other unscrupulous tactics.
The people of Gilroy are smarter than you think. It does not take a genius to figure out where all of this is coming from. If any candidates are smart they will distance themselves from these type of organizations and people. It would be a scary thought to think Craig Gartman gets elected mayor and relies on his information from people with vendettas. If you want to see what happens to a city when people with vendettas get political and send anonymous mailings look at Hollister. They are still trying to recover after all of the lawsuits brought on by those type of politics. My name is on the bottom of this editorial!
Arthur C. Barron Sr., Gilroy
No Help for Residents from Council, Mayor on Water Rate Hikes
Dear Editor,
A few quick thoughts on the recent articles in The Dispatch. On the subject of water rate increases, the city staff says only 190 households don’t want their water rates increased. That is absolutely asinine except for the fact that it originates from career bureaucrats. Even an idiot knows that of the 13,000 some odd households couldn’t possibly want to hike their own rates!
The problem is that the city had no incentive to get the word out and made no serious attempt therein. There were a couple of articles in The Dispatch and only bleary eyed insomniacs watch the government channel or go to City Council Meetings.
We elect councilman to watch our backs and what do we get? To quote one freshman councilman, “Sometimes you have to not listen to the people and make the tough decisions.” The city’s disingenuous attempt to notify the public and elicit a response was despicable. I say, “Mayor, send out a mail ballot. If a majority of citizens do not reply, drop the rate increase as the law requires”. Whether or not the city fulfilled their legal requirements, they clearly failed to impose the will of their residents.
Mark A. Zappa, Citizens’s Against of Waste and Fraud, Gilroy
