Tag: mayor

Integrity to do what is right As a lifelong resident of Gilroy, public safety has always been one of the most important city services to...

I have been a resident of Gilroy for more than 44 years and known Marie Blankley for more than 35 years. Marie does not...

Glad we voted correctly As a former member of the Gilroy City Council and a columnist for the Dispatch on local issues for many years,...

The Gilroy City Council voted unanimously to appoint a new council person to replace Paul Kloecker, who died last month.  People who want the...

A mess, the rains down in South Valley Rains of biblical fury descended on Gilroy in January, dumping close to two inches of rainwater on...

Roland Velasco has been on the right side of campaign finance, economic development funding and sensible, balanced development; Woodward has been on the wrong end of all three.

Mayor Don Gage shocked a packed city council chambers Monday evening by resigning his office at the beginning of the meeting.

Drives me crazy to hear something like I did this morning – that the stands for the fans are uninhabitable at Gilroy High’s Garcia-Elder Stadium – this, just before the start of football season for GHS, Christopher High and Gavilan College. This, after the school district had to move graduation ceremonies – those are in June by the way – because of these same “unsafe” bleachers. What got done in between? This is yet another example of why I strongly believe that school district’s need to hire an on-staff project management director that has a background in construction – someone who can tell b.s. from reality and can come up with solutions. The person would be independent from, but wori with the facilities manager who is in charge of maintaining and operating facilities. What school districts need to do is: 1. Form an advisory facility committee composed of members from the business and construction world; 2. Hire a staff administrative-level project construction management person to oversee all facilities projects. That person would negotiate contracts and have, as clients, the taxpayers and the school district. If districts would make those changes, a lot of money would be saved and a lot of battles avoided. And, really, when you’re talking about spending millions of dollars in bond money and getting the best bang for the buck, doesn’t it make perfect sense?

It’s working. The owners of the long-vacant unreinforced masonry buildings downtown are coming to City Hall for the proverbial “come to Jesus” meeting with city staff.