Sunday afternoon, I dropped Anne and Kelsey, ages 12 and 13, at
the corner of Sixth and Monterey to attend a performance of
American Ideal at Old City Hall, and picked them up three hours
later.
Sunday afternoon, I dropped Anne and Kelsey, ages 12 and 13, at the corner of Sixth and Monterey to attend a performance of American Ideal at Old City Hall, and picked them up three hours later. I had no trouble parking. Unlike Morgan Hill, there is parking. Unlike San Jose, there are no meters, no meter maids, and no for-pay parking lots.
The girls loved the show, partly on its own merits, partly because several of their friends are in it, and partly, perhaps, because of the excitement of being allowed to go by themselves.
Not that either girl is a stranger to downtown; oh, my, no. We live four blocks west of Monterey, Kelsey about the same distance east, and for years the girls have had the privilege of being allowed to walk or bike or skate or walk their dogs to each others’ houses. Indeed, Chester, Kelsey’s dog, has learned the way so well that whenever he escapes his yard, he high-tails it for our house, and whines on the front porch until we let him in to play with Zay.
The girls’ older brothers have held paper routes in this neighborhood. My best friend and I take our semi-weekly morning walks in this neighborhood, always ending up at Garlic City and Tea, where Karen Covington sings out, “Hi, girls!” as she begins making our usual.
I’ve always liked Gilroy’s downtown. Nigh on 15 years ago, when we first moved here, my husband and I were impressed by three things: the parks, the trees, and downtown. “It’s a real downtown,” we said to each other, approvingly.
Perhaps just because it is my neighborhood, I take offense at the Triple-D Gang’s repeated slams on downtown. Was it Doug or Dennis that wrote the first slam? And last Thursday Denise chimed in, hurling insults, all three mad as hornets because Gilroy has a real downtown, not a Disneyland downtown, and perhaps because they didn’t get the RDA they wanted.
Well, it’s beginning to look quite wonderful that Gilroy didn’t get an RDA last year. I opposed the RDA on Constitutional and ethical grounds, but with the current state budget crunch, RDAs are about to become huge economic liabilities.
Gov. Gray Davis’s revised budget will impound the portion of the RDA income that in boom years went to the city. Which is to say, after a city gives 20 percent of its RDA income to the school district, and 20 percent to affordable housing, the state will take the rest. No more “local money stays local.”
Moreover, remember that RDA money is acquired by a city assuming bond indebtedness. Now every city with an RDA will have to pay on those bonds, with no income stream to support said payments.
Mayor Gonzales of San Jose says that their RDA is in deep trouble, financially. I’ll say. They are on the hook for $110 million in bonds. Needless to say, they have ceased all RDA acquisitions.
It’s as Councilman Bob Dillon said during the RDA debates, you cannot trust the state or the county to keep its promises.
Another example of that truth can be seen in the current feeding frenzy over vehicle license fees. A few years ago, some property rights advocates won for us a smidgen of tax relief. You can see it on your vehicle registration card. The line that says VLF is what you would be paying, and the line that says VLF offset is the money they had to give you back. Nice, isn’t it? I’m happy every time I pay my registration.
When that tax relief was up for debate, the cities and counties were assured that their portion of the VLF offset would not be touched, that the moneys would be made up to them out of the General Fund. Now the state has reneged on that promise; it will be gobbling up all the VLF.
Firefighters and police officers and other city employees are writing furious letters in protest. And, by the way, the amount you pay is supposed to be tripled, soon.
Democracy is wonderful. We get the government we deserve so quickly.
Cynthia Anne Walker is a homeschooling mother of three and a former engineer. She is a published independent author. Her column is published in The Dispatch every Friday.
