Well, I was going to write a Grinch column and complain about all the pins and fasteners in men’s dress shirts, the cyclists wearing invisible king’s crowns who ride three and four abreast in the roadway and sneer if you honk after waiting for a couple of minutes, or those who fumble at the grocery checkout counter pulling out one coin at a time to get the exact change while six people are in line … but enough, I’m not really in the mood and that’s a good thing.
Good thing that the fate of the Old Red Barn that ain’t what she used to be located on the ranch side of Christmas Hill Park is coming back before the City Council in February. Councilman Perry Woodward deserves a holiday hooray for that one. Not sure if the Red Barn will be spared a death sentence, but I hope the historical folks will offer an alternative. Perhaps a local architect will offer to donate their time and draw renovation plans. Maybe the city could bring in a clean-up crew, or at least stop the feeding of the feral cats by those well-intentioned but misguided souls who assist in the explosion of the poor cat population. Wonder if there’s a historical building grant out there that could help bring the barn back to life.
Ah, life … have always liked the Jewish toast “L’Chayim” literally “to life” in Hebrew. It’s a good one from the holidays and has more substance than the vanilla variety, “Cheers!”
No “Cheers” for no rain in sight. It’s getting a little freaky.
It’s still freaky when I think about how “they” sold us on passing the state lottery initiative many years ago. “The schools will never need another dime,” was the pitch. The Dispatch opposed it. The schools need more dimes than ever before it seems, but hey someone who bought a mega lotto ticket from Jenny’s Gift Shop on Tully Road in San Jose will win $324 million. That’s $173.8 million after taxes. Maybe we should have passed a law that says all the tax money from any lottery win over $100,000 goes to the schools. Or we could make the lotto even more “sexy” and put that tax money into a lottery drawing between school districts. Winning district gets to keep all “tax lotto drawing” cash.
On that note, it’s good to know that Gilroy Unified School District is back on very solid financial footing after a bump in the cash flow road. The hiring of a competent and hard-working man as the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services has been key to the turnaround. Alvaro Meza because he lives with his family here is truly invested in Gilroy. When that’s coupled with competency, the commitment to the community makes a big difference. GUSD’s reserves are solid and secure and Superintendent Debbie Flores can re-focus on academic progress.
Little progress on transparency at City Hall. The city has fought the newspapers’ Public Records Act requests tooth and nail for the most part. In an ongoing effort, The Dispatch is seeking the names of those city employees who have retired on disability. No medical information has been requested, just names. Those retirees do not have to pay taxes on half their income, so the issue is whether the system is being gamed for personal benefit. The city has spent nearly $3,000 with the contracted city attorney firm of Berliner-Cohen concocting legal reasons to deny this simple request. No change in culture, unfortunately, is evident.
Evidently, it’s the thing to publish an Amazon Kindle ebook, and our wonderful outdoor columnist, Ron Erskine, has done just that. “Measureless Mountain Days: A Father and Son on the John Muir Trail” is in journal style recounting a three-week trip Ron took with his son Drew on the 221-mile John Muir Trail 10 years ago. Writes Ron,“Drew came along very reluctantly, it rained and/or hailed almost every day and key equipment failed, so there was plenty to spice up the situation. It was the worst and the best. Certainly, a most special and important time in my life.” It’s experiences like that which lead to insight.
Insight is arrived at through self awareness and honest assessment, a process that hopefully the Gilroy Elks Club is going through now related to its food service and Chef Dave Bozzo. If the Elks do not get this ship righted, I fear what took place recently in Los Gatos could happen here. The headline in the Silicon Valley business Journal: “Los Gatos Elks Lodge sells to housing developer.” The story: “The Los Gatos Elks Lodge at 105 Newall Ave. adjacent to Bay Club Courtside has sold to a local investor, who is planning a small home development on the site. Los Gatos resident Tom Grant closed on the property last week, according to county records. The 8,000-square-foot building, which sits on about 60,000 square feet of land, hit the market this summer for $3 million after the Los Gatos fraternal order closed down in 2012.” Let’s save the Lodge on the Hill and take the first step by working out a new and fair deal with Chef Dave Bozzo.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@ga****.com
