Dear Editor:
In regards to the April 20 editorial titled
”
Gilroy’s downtown needs a champion
– here’s the man,
”
I feel that I need to address a few points. First, I want to
make it clear that this is not an attack on Mayor Al Pinheiro.
Dear Editor:
In regards to the April 20 editorial titled “Gilroy’s downtown needs a champion – here’s the man,” I feel that I need to address a few points. First, I want to make it clear that this is not an attack on Mayor Al Pinheiro.
In the editorial, it was mentioned that “The city has lowered the number of parkings spaces required per business.” Is the city actually doing the downtown a favor or did this come out of the reality that when they “revitalized” Monterey Street between Sixth and Seventh, 50 percent of the parking on the east side had been taken away.
Another point that was mentioned was, “Pinheiro can begin to walk the talk by embracing the common-sense suggestions submitted by RRM Design Group, the latest downtown consultants hired by the city, beginning with the notion of scrapping the median-line streetscape planned for Third to Sixth streets.” If the city had been listening to the “resistance” of downtown, they would have come to the same conclusion at a far cheaper price tag.
Who is the downtown resistance? It is the merchants. We have the most to lose. The revitalization of Monterey between Sixth and Seventh streets has cost the merchants dearly. We were told it would be a six-week project with little interference in our day-to-day business activities. One year later, I still see the parking lot reduced by 50 percent for the construction material, the other 50 percent is being encroached by the construction crew’s vehicles and road closures are still occurring.
This revitalization has impacted my business greatly. For nine years straight, Predator’s has had an increase in sales and patrons. Last year, we had increased sales up to the month that construction began. We lost 15 percent of walk-in customer sales for the year. One customer had driven over 70 miles to visit our shop and ended up turning around when he could not find parking. Later, he had told me the story and told me that he thought the shop was out of business. I have had many customers stay away because for the construction hassle.
Another point mentioned was, “He’ll (Pinheiro) have to hold businesses accountable for clearing downtown alleyways, for conforming to a uniform design for store shop signs and for complying with minimum store facade standards.”
All of this takes money, but who’s money? Once again, this revitalization is going to cost the merchants – and for what? Accountability and standards? Will these be decided on by the merchants or enforced upon us by the special interest Gestapo who are looking for personal gain, no matter what it will cost the merchants.
If the city is so concerned about revitalizing downtown, they need to start with the essence of downtown, the merchants. It is the downtown business activities and revenue that will generate the hum of revitalization. No cosmetic facade will generate downtown strength. The strength must come from within the merchants. Creating plans that disrupt the merchants livelihood is nothing but destructive.
At no point of the revitalization fiasco were any of the merchants offered real help that would bring in customers or financial aid. The city was able to spend $10,000 for a specialist to apply for a grant to do the project, but no form of support was offered to the merchants to meet their financial obligations, obligations that became hard to meet do to the loss of business as the direct result of the revitalization.
Is the city really concerned about a downtown with successful merchants, or do they just want something that looks pretty? By the way, any downtown merchants need arrows for the resistance?
Curtis Campisi and Mike Pierce, Gilroy
Predator’s Archery
Submitted Wednesday, April 21 to ed****@ga****.com
