Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head, but what’s the deal with that
in August in Gilroy?
Raindrops keep fallin’ on my head, but what’s the deal with that in August in Gilroy? Low 70s and light rain. It’s been a weird-weather summer and here in newsroom central we’ve been getting a steady stream of earthquake reports from New Zealand from the United States Geological Survey folks, and I hope it doesn’t mean anything. Just in case, remember it’s never too late to set up that home quake preparedness kit …
Reminder #2: Online, there’s the handy dandy Dispatch reference for contacting your elected representatives. All the info is in “Contact Your Officials” under the Opinion section drop-down menu in case, for example, you want to tell your legislator in Sacratomato what a great job she’s been doing … can you feel the sarcasm dripping off the page? Imagine putting together a budget that deals with a $26 billion state deficit and failing to make a single systemic change. This fits the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Yes, it appears clear that there were some bad results related to some of the peppersteak sandwiches at the Garlic Festival – though my whole family devoured what we found to be tasty peppersteak morsels and all were, thankfully, fine. A few others were not so fortunate. It’s befuddling post-fest, of course, to try and figure out exactly what went wrong. The good news is that it wasn’t more widespread and that Fest Direct Brian Bowe and those responsible at Gourmet Alley have been very attentive to and up front about the concerns. That bodes well for what’s sure to be increased sandwich scrutiny next year, though it’s worth noting the county health department has year in and year out heaped praise on the Garlic Fest.
Next school year almost here. Classes start on Aug. 20, a Thursday, and I can never understand why school doesn’t start on a Monday. But I digress … it’s strange to think that two Gilroy high schools will square off against one another on a football field even though it’s only a JV game. Big crowd likely for the first-ever Gilroy High School Mustangs vs. Christopher High School Panthers under the Friday night lights … at least I hope it’s under the lights.
Lights are certainly not needed for the garish (short for disturbingly vivid) paint job on the SuperSave Market at the corner of First Street and Church Avenue. Aren’t there some enforceable standards in the “sign” ordinance that have been violated? Hope so. That paint job is bad enough to cause an auto accident.
And who in the world, for Gilroy’s sake, forgot that Santa Teresa Boulevard was supposed to be an expressway, for garlic’s sake? Geez, one single car – making a right hand turn no less – on Santa Teresa out of Eagle Ridge on Ballybunion Drive trips the light to stop “expressway” traffic. Same story on Club Drive and ditto on the street coming out of Village Green. Heck, it’s like running a stoplight gauntlet. Halting traffic like that isn’t only poor planning that frustrates motorists, it’s about as “Brown” as you can get with multiple cars stopping and starting and waiting because of one lone vehicle …
Wonder how those traffic patrols MayorAl adamantly insisted upon for Eagle Ridge are going with all the cuts to the police department budget and the rancor between the PD and MayorAl? Not so frequent, I imagine.
Not to difficult too imagine that the vaunted GHS wrestling team will likely get a decent, instead of bacteria infested, practice room now that a former Olympic wrestler and CCS champion is the new principal at Gilroy High. Spotted Marco Sanchez having lunch with a friend and mentor at Carnitas Michoacan downtown, so it’s clear he already knows where some of the best food in Gilroy is, not to mention the friendliest staff. The wrestling room at GHS is despicable and hopefully Sanchez can wrestle away a few bucks for clean, new digs.
BTW, dig the new process for hiring a principal that Superintendent Debbie Flores and the Board instituted. Flores and a small committee did the work, and she made the call. That’s so much better than a
42-member community group … know why they call them stakeholders? ‘Cause they’re all ready to drive a stake through the heart of the process. OK, that may be a little harsh …
But I’m a softie for a good idea that helps people become self sufficient and taps into creativity as well. Such is the case with the Art of Possibility Studios. It’s the only art brand exclusively representing physically disabled artists in a for-profit model. The sample, hand-crafted notepad by painter Ketra Oberlander that came in the mail is beautifully done. I’d suggest browsing for a beautiful gift at aopstudios.com. And, ahem … to incoming Garlic Festival President Mr. Greg Bozzo, it would also be a wonderful community gesture to strongly consider a couple of these talented disabled artists for a booth at next year’s festival.
Mark Derry is the editor of the Dispatch. Reach him at ed****@****ic.com
