Dear Editor, I’m a senior citizen who walks the beautiful
streets of Gilroy regularly in order to keep fit. Therefore, I’m
intimately acquainted with the terrible condition of the city’s
deteriorating sidewalks, especially those being uprooted by trees
inappropriately planted by the city years ago.
Buy Bonfante Gardens When We Can’t Afford to Fix Our City Sidewalks?
Dear Editor,
I’m a senior citizen who walks the beautiful streets of Gilroy regularly in order to keep fit. Therefore, I’m intimately acquainted with the terrible condition of the city’s deteriorating sidewalks, especially those being uprooted by trees inappropriately planted by the city years ago.
On Saturday morning, March 24, 2007, at 6:40 a.m., as I was walking past a residence, I tripped and fell on the dangerously upraised section of sidewalk directly beneath a pine tree near the northwest corner of Miller Avenue and Sixth Street.
As a result of this fall, I suffered a fractured left elbow, torn muscles in my right shoulder, a bloodied, scraped left knee, a bloodied nose and twisted my glasses on impact. Needless to say, I also have suffered a great amount of physical pain. I will be in physical therapy for at least six weeks, hoping to recover from this injury with no lasting after effects.
I am incensed by the fact that the city fathers are considering buying Bonfante Gardens, or whatever it’s being called this week, to the tune of $13.5 million while, although they have a policy in place to replace the horrendous sidewalks in the older parts of Gilroy, the plan apparently has no “teeth” to force property owners to comply in seriously dangerous cases, and apparently no clear method exists to prioritize which sidewalks are truly “public menaces” and must be replaced for public safety.
Tom Dunham, Gilroy
Pinnacles Superintendent Seeking Your Comments
Dear Editor,
On behalf of the planning team at Pinnacles National Monument, I would like to express my thanks to everybody who attended the monument’s General Management Plan public meetings. If you have not yet seen the Pinnacles GMP Newsletter, please visit the park web site at www.nps.gov/pinn, where you can provide comments and include your name and address on our mailing list.
Your ideas about the park’s GMP are welcome throughout the comment period, which will extend through May 31. Based on comments, alternatives will be compiled and a preferred alternative will be selected that will guide NPS managers as they decide how best to protect, preserve, and interpret this magnificent part of central California. For additional questions, the phone is (831) 389-4485
Eric Brunnemann, Superintendent, Pinnacles
