Tag: al pinheiro

Calling it the “best turnout they've seen in years,” City Council members were delighted with the sheer number of applicants who showed up eager to serve on City committees during the regular meeting Monday.

In the midst of all the shoulder patting, thanking, well-wishing and congratulating that transpired at the City Council chambers Dec. 7 when the public officially welcomed Don Gage as their new mayor, retiring Councilman Bob Dillon’s parting words put it best.

Not sure what to make of the Gilroy Political Action Committee, an arm of the Chamber, which erected those borderline insulting campaign signs that scream, “It’s the Gilroy Economy, Genius” that endorse a slate of four candidates. Am darn sure the candidates didn’t give that slogan the stamp of approval even though, in theory, they might concur. The PAC’s motto is of the same political vein, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” What’s so odd is that for decades the Chamber has been unfailingly unwilling to offend. “Preserve and protect” could have been the motto. Case in point: Though it’s Government Review Committee staunchly opposed the binding arbitration clause in the city charter for public safety employees, the chamber politely refused to do public opinion battle and weakly presented the case without a recommended course of action to the City Council after much flapping of wings. Perhaps what we have emerging is the Chamber’s alter ego that has been bottled up for years and now, like a college teenager who’s left an ultra-strict household, it’s time for a new motto: “GilPAC, let the wild child out.”

City Council is preparing to change the dynamics of their open government commission – which was created in 2009 to promote transparency from Gilroy staff – as they move to allow members of the public apply for the commission.

During Monday's meeting, City Council voted 6-0 to demolish an unreinforced masonry building on Monterey Street in downtown in order to create a city-owned pedestrian paseo connecting Monterey Street to Gourmet Alley.

Mayor Al Pinheiro has written a response to the June 13 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report that highlighted seven recommendations to reduce Gilroy’s public employee benefits, noting that the City “shares the Grand Jury’s concerns.”

The dachshund laid in a pool of its own blood. Dazed and nearly passed out from an injury to her arm, Luann watched the pit bull’s owner strut away minutes before police arrived.

Despite the fact Gilroy City Council shot down a possible joint city-school sales tax that would help safeguard the Gilroy Unified School District from a possible $8.1 million cut in state funding next year, some school board trustees haven't dismissed the possibility of pushing for a re-vote on the measure. It could yield up to $11.5 million annually depending on a 0.25, 0.50 or 1 percent local sales tax increase.

A popular “gem” of a program that’s turned hundreds of elementary students into budding violinists for the past 13 years is threatened with a $17,000 budget cut that could slice the program in half.

Three developers, including the Glen-Loma Corporation, owned by Filice family members who are longtime residents and developers in Gilroy, have sued the City of Gilroy for more than $500,000 in relief for “unjustified and excessive development fees” as well as unspecified attorney fees, according to court documents.