I commend The Dispatch for the recent article on the subject of
boom cars (‘Boom cars’ rattle nerves, get ticketed).
I commend The Dispatch for the recent article on the subject of boom cars (‘Boom cars’ rattle nerves, get ticketed). While it’s nice to know in theory that these environmental noise pollution disasters can be ticketed for violation of section 27007 of the California Vehicle Code, the fact is that very few, if any of these cars are ticketed here in town because the police and the boomers never seem to be at the same place where the police can take action to shut the boomers down.
And even if such a stop is made and a citation is issued, the $94 fine for first or repeat offenders does not have enough sting to keep the boomer from driving off and cranking up the horrific noise again. To the boomers, the public be damned, along with the issues of safety.
Therefore, I strongly urge our city council to copy what the City of Richmond did recently, and pass a Gilroy ordinance that gives GPD the ability to impound the boom car for up to one month. Word will get out fast in the boom car community that Gilroy is not the place to blast their noise. Come on, councilmen, get tough on this issue!
Speaking of the city council, a “nice-try” award to Gilroy’s “Three Musketeers” city councilmen (Dillon, Gartman, Valiquette) who recently voted “no” against endorsement of SB 680, the state senate bill that would add $5 annual surcharge to vehicles registered in Santa Clara County.
Leave it to county government to bleed taxpayers one drop at a time, while claiming that each drop is insignificant. The problem is that the bleed never stops, and the multitude of drops become a major blood loss to many a taxpayer’s fiscal health.
While Councilman Charles Morales first made a monumentally correct statement in discussion on SB 680 saying “sometimes you reach a point of saturation of being taxed” apparently he was not personally too saturated in his own convictions. After voting “no,” he did a flip-flop, switching his vote, and re-agendizing the item for further discussion and another vote.
So thanks to the “gang of four,” (Morales, Velasco, Correa, and mayor Pinheiro) all of whom apparently have ample monetary blood to spare, it appears that us Gilroy residents can look forward to being stuck to bleed another drop of tax dollars, one more time – of course.
Speaking of SB 680 legislation, a Dispatch article indicated that $4 million would be spent on a project to purchase new “bullet train” cars and for other improvements to the Caltrain system. The bullet train seems to be like a monetary “ghost” that just won’t go away, repeatedly coming back to haunt the halls of sound reason and fiscal responsibility.
I think about transportation attorney Joe Thompson’s words when he told me recently “the UP’s top commerce counsel on the West Coast [says] that UP’s eminent domain power trumps [local government]. So, assuming they bring bullet train to Gilroy, and cannot go over, under or on UP’s tracks (the systems are incompatible anyhow), where will it go? If it comes to Gilroy, wherever we put it, if it is financed the same way that LA’s subway system is financed, then what will be the increased tax/fee burdens on downtown Gilroy business owners?
So, what will fares be if they plan to cover their operating costs with fares? Will it be more expensive than tickets on the Concorde Supersonic Transport? The Space Shuttle? If they follow the VTA, Caltrain, Amtrak funding model, then fares will only cover about 1 percent of fully amortized costs. Then, they must get the other 99 percent somewhere, and hold on to your wallet, kiss your bank account good-bye, and start lining up at the bankruptcy court.
How many small business owners in downtown Gilroy can afford the extra taxes/fees from the Bullet Train? Ask them.” Good question, Joe.
But maybe it’s more appropriate to ask the downtown business owners first about the storm clouds of business loss that are forming even before the likes of extra taxes/fees from a proposed bullet train arrive. The major street renovation project that will begin in 2006, and take most of the year to complete, could well indeed be the death blow for most of the existing downtown businesses between Fourth and Sixth streets on Monterey Road.
It would be sad indeed to see long time icons like Garlic City Coffee and the Gilroy Bowl close. How unfortunate that in the march of progress, someone always seems to have to suffer, usually in the pocketbook.
