Having Gilroy police officers go door-to-door into businesses
asking to put up posters which indirectly flog the mayor and
thereby tacitly support the recall effort is very uncomfortable for
business owners.
Another roaring, flaming success for the Great Gilroy Garlic Festival. Down economy? Got garlic? We do. Attendance up 1 percent to 108,519 from a year ago. Amazing … and that reflects what happened at the Gilroy Foundation wine cooler booth, where my wife Jenny and I worked Saturday. The booth took in $500 or so more bucks than last year.
Jenny, ever the trooper, exited the hospital three days before the Fest and worked as the best bar back ever from her wheelchair while daughter Cayla very ably took over sales duties at the front counter. Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello and wish her a speedy recovery from her bout with Guillian-Barre Syndrome. All those good wishes have helped so much …
Good and best wishes to our summer reporting intern from San Martin, Katie Helland, who’s off to UC Davis this fall. A smart, curious young woman of grace and manners who is going to go far …
Going too far is the recall effort aimed at Mayor Al Pinheiro. Having Gilroy police officers go door-to-door into businesses asking to put up posters which indirectly flog the mayor and thereby tacitly support the recall effort is very uncomfortable for business owners. Many may simply put the poster up since they depend on the police for response to criminal activity regardless of whether they support the mayor or the recall, so it’s hardly a political barometer …
Barometers measure atmospheric pressure and the atmosphere around City Hall is poisonous. Take, for example, Mitch Madruga’s letter on behalf of the Gilroy Police Officers Association which skewered the mayor for leading the charge to spend $13 million to buy Bonfante Gardens. Now, try squaring that up with no mention in Madruga’s letter of the astronomical sum of $30 million spent on Gilroy’s new police palace …
Fact is, Gilroy existed in fat, dumb and happy land financially for a long time. Fact is, we can’t afford to do business as usual. Fact is, police and firefighters would do well to give up significant pay and benefits to keep jobs, and drop any argument for furlough days. How about a four-year deal that reduces pay and benefits by at least 10 percent and caps health care costs for the city? A four-year deal like that would take the cost and angst of incessant negotiations off the table and allow the hiring back of four officers. In tandem with the $1.1 million federal grant Gilroy just received to hire three police officers, that would put seven officers back on the streets and get the POA-touted ratio of 1.5 officers per thousand residents back on solid ground. Everyone is having to take a hit in this very tough economy and the hit for local government just got worse with the state budget passage. Gilroy’s firefighters and police officers are going to have to make additional significant concessions. That’s reality, and it’s time to get serious about it and stop the blame game with the mayor (even if it is fun to get him all riled up every once in a while.)
Riled up is what I get when I buy fruit in the grocery store or from a stand that tastes like painted cardboard. Not the case at one of my favorite summer stops, the LJB Farms stand at Fitzgerald and Santa Teresa. Note to all paisans: The Italian tomatoes are in, ripe and just waiting to be sliced, salted, peppered and paired with a little mayo on crusty bread. Besides a tomato sandwich, it’s a treat to have good fruit that’s flavorful, sweet and juicy just like in the proverbial good ol’ days. LJB has a section inside with plums, peaches and more from South County farmer Andy Mariani’s orchards and, if you want to remember what really good fruit tastes like, make it a point to visit LJB.
Chris Giminez is making the most of his hopefully permanent stop in the big leagues. His extended family tribe spent the early part of the week in SoCal watching the Gilroy High graduate now playing for the Cleveland Indians take on the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, er, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim … anyway, there’s some great video of Chris taking a home run away and belting a round tripper at http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com. BTW, the Indians are in Oakland for a four-game set Sept. 17-20. Get your tickets now.
Columnist Cynthia Walker has a ticket to Livermore, where her husband’s employer moved, after 21 years here. Agree or disagree, she always made you think and took a stand. That’s the job of a community opinion columnist, a job she took seriously, and did well, besides always making deadline. Farewell Ms. Walker and a 21-year Gilroy salute …
A final salute to the U.S. Census Bureau which proclaimed in its daily “Profile America” feature on July 23, … “Legend has it that garlic will ward off vampires. More realistically, there’s some evidence that garlic can help avoid mosquito bites and even lower cholesterol levels. But the three million people who are expected to flock to the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California …” If 3 million came, we could rebuild downtown and hire all the police officers we wanted.
Mark Derry is the editor of the Dispatch. Reach him at ed****@****ic.com
