Dear Editor,
Olivia Soza-Mendiola was correct in her letter to the editor:
the recent news about administrative questions about MACSA should
not detract from the very good work MACSA has done and continue to
do in this community.
What happened at MACSA could ‘easily’ have happened elsewhere
Dear Editor,
Olivia Soza-Mendiola was correct in her letter to the editor: the recent news about administrative questions about MACSA should not detract from the very good work MACSA has done and continue to do in this community.
As a leader in the South County Collaborative, I have been very fortunate to work with MACSA employees who have demonstrated a genuine passion for working with all to serve all in the South County community.
I have always been able to count on them to willingly lend their expertise, their resources, their counsel, their support and their friendship whenever I needed it, personally or professionally. They are an incredible resource. I know I am among many who feel the same way.
I also had the great fortune to work with and have my life graced by the students at El Portal Leadership Academy and their top staff, Noemi Reyes and Tom Hernandez. The students made me hopeful for the future and Mrs. Reyes and Mr. Hernandez extraordinary commitment to the kids deeply inspired me. Many of those from the public writing comments on The Dispatch’s Web site display an appalling ignorance of both El Portal and MACSA.
They do not serve only Latinos, they serve everyone. There were Anglo students at El Portal, just as anyone is able to take advantage of MACSA’s other services. To take this opportunity to denigrate the organization for trying to fill a gap created by our mainstream institutions in failing to meet the needs of Latinos demonstrates the nasty bigotry that still exists in Gilroy, apparently needing little to unmask it, as many have jumped on Ms. Soza-Mendiola and MACSA as an organization, referring to the Mexican Klan (?) and making other disappointingly off-topic comments.
What happened at MACSA is a result of a combination of a number of factors exacerbated by questionable decisions by its management. There are things that need to be addressed, and do not doubt they will be by the employees, the board and donors. However, what has happened is not at all limited to a particular ethnicity.
Additionally, despite claims in the paper to the contrary, this situation could very easily have been experienced by the school district, a private business, a city department or another organization. To think otherwise and imply that recent events are related to MACSA’s mission to help improve the quality of life for underserved Latinos among others in the community is simply wrong.
Dina Campeau, Morgan Hill
No legally required oversight for the millions in school bonds
Dear Editor,
Where is Citizens Oversight Committee?
Four months after the Nov. 4, 2008 election in which the $150 Million Measure P school bond passed (indebting Gilroy tax payers until 2048) there is still no Measure P Citizens Oversight Committee .
Where is it? In late November, 2008, there was a brief back pages Dispatch article claiming the Gilroy Unified School District and its board of Untrustables were considering a COC for Measure P.
Four months later, where is it?
California state law requires a voter approved bond measure to have a COC. Its education code regulates the Untrustables to a secondary level to the COC.
Is this why Measure P has no COC?
When Measure I passed in 2002, it had a COC. It made noises but never fulfilled its primary accountability to Gilroy’s taxpayers to assure all Measure I money was spent responsibly.
That wasn’t enough for the Untrustables. As soon as possible, they “asked” the COC to oversee 13 in-progress projects (a violation of state law). The result – no more Measure I only COC and definitely no accountability, which there never had been.
Now the current board of Untrustables is even more blatant in violating state law. They not only have not formed a Measure P COC, they’re already spending Measure P money on items never discussed in pre-election campaign materials. ($50 million quickly spent to resolve a “certificates of participation” crisis – an undisclosed amount to help resolve a cash flow problem.)
Despite having no legally required COC, the Untrustables are allocating millions of Measure P dollars to specific GUSD schools, the district office and the immediate “construction of the Las Animas wing and the district’s bid announcement for the project” (The Dispatch – $121 million in school projects” – Feb. 16, 2009). Bids announced. Projects planned and finances with Measure P money. But no COC and definitely no accountability!
Gilroy taxpayers deserve much more than the GUSD administration and its board of Untrustables now deliver – arrogance and contempt toward all Gilroy residents. What is sorely needed is honesty, ethics, principle, integrity, transparency and accountability.
It will take an outside force to get past the “smoke and mirrors” duplicity. A letter detailing the law breaking and corruption of Measure I and the illegality in the abuse of Measure P has been sent to California’s attorney general seeking a full review and where needed harsh penalties. It must be done!
James Brescoll, Gilroy
