What began as a way to draw attention to a flagging downtown district, a virtual group on social media has become a bit player in Gilroy’s local elections this year, securing a community award in the process.
The Facebook group Gilroy Community for a Better Downtown, started by Gilroyan Joe Lovecchio, has over 3,200 members, a mix of residents and people intrigued by the goings-on of the South County community, and is this year’s group recipient of Gavilan College’s Community Spirit Awards.
“It started as a forum to look for answers,” said Lovecchio, who got the idea for the group after noticing some of the vacant shop fronts one morning during breakfast at Scotty’s Ohana Family Restaurant at Gilroy Bowl in downtown Gilroy. “It grew slowly, from 50-60 people. Then I started volunteering with the Gilroy Downtown Business Association and Moveable Feast happened.”
The introduction of the Silicon Valley-based food truck caravan with its variety of gourmet-inspired street food reinvigorated the annual summer concert series, Fifth Street Live, and brought thousands to the district each Friday it was held.
“We grew to 1,600 practically overnight,” said Lovecchio. Now, there are a total of 3,269 members, with 41 on the waitlist. Lovecchio put a cap on the group, because like a ball rolling downhill, momentum has launched this virtual community into the political realm. After holding a local election forum, the group will be endorsing their chosen candidates for City Council and mayor via an online poll.
“Membership requests are frozen until after the poll,” he said. The poll will run for 72 hours, ending on Friday, Oct. 7.
Local production company CMAP filmed the candidate forum at Old City Hall Restaurant on September 25 and Lovecchio wanted members of the group to have an opportunity to view it for at least 24 hours on YouTube before making their decision.
The three council candidates and mayoral candidate receiving the most online votes will win the Facebook group’s endorsement.
“I think it’s great,” said councilman, Daniel Harney, who is running for re-election in November after being appointed to the council in January following the surprise resignation of former mayor Don Gage in December.
Harney was one of five council candidates to appear at the group’s election forum at the historic downtown restaurant. He showed up along with former GUSD school board president Fred Tovar, planning commissioner Tom Fischer, former city councilman and community volunteer Paul Kloecker, and former councilman Craig Gartman.
Neither architect Reid Lerner, corporate auditor J Brennan, nor current councilwoman Cat Tucker, who are also running for council, appeared or responded to the group’s list of questions, said Lovecchio.
Because of this, he added, Lerner, Brennan and Tucker are disqualified from the group’s endorsement process.
So is Gartman, because of his previous conviction for misdemeanor grand theft stemming from a two-year investigation by the county district attorney that found he misused over $8,000 from a Gilroy Memorial Day parade fund.
Both mayoral candidates, councilmember Roland Velasco and current mayor Perry Woodward appeared and will also be considered for endorsement. Since the forum, write-in candidate Robert Martinez has qualified to be in the running, but he is considered an unknown to the group.
The poll and voluntary participation of most of the candidates for local office are testament to the Facebook group’s clout in this year’s election.
Originally named something far more provocative—Gilroy Downtown Sucks and I’m Tired of It!—the group and its ebullient founder have ruffled feathers, stirred the pot and gotten Gilroyans talking.
“People want to get things done around here. We want to eliminate red tape and shake things up a bit,” said Lovecchio, who referred to the power structure in Gilroy as an “old boys network.”
Over the last couple months Lovecchio has received flak from some in the community, due, he says, to his vocal support of Measure H, the urban growth boundary initiative.
Lovecchio even donated to Velasco’s campaign (see our staff report on page A1) when he thought the mayoral candidate supported it (Velasco has since come out publicly against the measure).
Calling out the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce and its CEO, Mark Turner, for their opposition to Measure H, Lovecchio said it was this rancour that probably led to the switch in venue for the upcoming Community Spirit Awards, which is normally held at the Chamber.
However, according to Gavilan’s public information officer, the switch came about because new president Kathleen Rose was going to be out of town the day of the Chamber breakfast where the award ceremony has traditionally been held. As it will be her first appearance at the ceremony as president, Rose wanted to attend, so the date and venue were changed.
Started in 1999, the annual Community Spirit Awards are a way for Gavilan College to recognize the contributions of individuals, organizations and businesses making a positive impact in the three regions that make up the community college’s service area: Gilroy, San Benito County and Morgan Hill/San Martin.
Gilroy Community for a Better Downtown took the group award, the first time that the award series will recognize a Facebook group.
In its press release, Gavilan touts the group’s work in bringing Moveable Feast to downtown Gilroy, volunteering to help the downtown’s new bookstore, BookBuyers, and volunteering to beautify downtown, as well as encouraging the community “to discuss, and more importantly, take action to improve Gilroy’s downtown.”
Community Spirit Awards will be presented at the Gavilan College Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. in the TJ Owens Multipurpose Room at Gavilan College. The public is welcome to attend.
