Great turnout for Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero Day in downtown Gilroy on Saturday – quite a mix of music, cool old cars and booths featuring everything from Oakland Raiders gear to motorcycle parts to Christian reading materials. Through all the hubbub, Robert patiently signed autographs, stayed cheerful and chatted with fans as the long lines of people waited to meet and greet him. Good guy, hope there’s another marquee fight in his future. That would be good for “The Ghost” and good for Gilroy.
Good for Gilroy is what Mr. Gage is touting as he floats the idea for a city capital improvement bond measure that could do anything and/or everything from building a humongous water slide at Gilroy Gardens to building a new center for the arts to taking care of the unreinforced masonry buildings downtown. This forthcoming community discussion is going to be very interesting as the parties line up to be counted in on the cash which could be $35 million or more if the Council, then the voters, approve. From now on, though, we’ll have to call him “Bond” Gage, not Don Gage.
And, oh Mr. “Bond” Gage, could you and perhaps your cohort from Morgan Hill, Mr. Mayor Steve Tate, look into U.S. 101 between Morgan Hill and Gilroy which is quickly becoming a rattle-trap mess, especially in the truck lane. Isn’t that what we pay the huge gas taxes for? Our South County mayors need to make a few serious phone calls to get the pavement paved properly. Say that three times fast …
Fast is exactly what PG&E, America’s worst public utility disaster corporation, is not. But the organization is infuriating. Imagine the huge delay on signing off on the permit for John Fry’s Math Institute/Alhambra Castle building in east Morgan Hill because there’s an underground gas pipeline 40 feet or so away from the 170,000-square foot complex. Oh, yeah, don’t worry PG&E that there’s a PGA golf tournament hanging in the balance, a tournament that pours charity and visitor money into our South County communities. PG&E loves to put the public spin on everything, hide its operations from public scrutiny as much as gaseously possible and declare what they’re doing is all for the greater good of mankind. Bull puckey. Seven months to work out how to maintain a pipeline there are already easements for? Seriously? There are detailed building plans, look at them, walk the property, figure it out, get off your overcharging rear ends and come up with a reasonable solution.
Meanwhile, the solution is to hold the event at CordeValle for another year. It might be that the CordeValle contingent knows they are in a position to demand more cash for holding the Frys.com Golf Tournament. But, though the buck right now is in CordeValle’s court, it’s time for Santa Clara County District One Supervisor Mike Wasserman to step in and save the day. Remember when the county granted that use permit for CordeValle and all the fuss over the public play at the private club? All that got resolved due to the county’s good will, and it would be very good karma for CordeValle to reciprocate.
Reciprocating karma in the air at the annual Latino Family Fund Tequila Tasting event at the Willey House Saturday. Good food, good fellowship and a fair amount of cash raised for good causes through the auction event and the special tequila table set up by Ernesto Olivares. Ernie really brought the good stuff from his personal collection and patrons got a chance, for a $20 donation, to taste some of the finest. The Olivares Exclusive sub-event doubled the total from last year, taking in a smooth and well-aged $1,180. Now that’s worth a shout out.
Shout out, too, to Javier and Angie Aguirre who are moving their family back to Gilroy after a San Jose hiatus. Javier isn’t going to run for the school board again, though, but I’m sure the pair will be popping up all over the Gilroy grid soon. Welcome home …
Got this press release, “For Memorial Day Weekend, California’s Great America will be providing free admission to all current or retired military personnel, along with providing $19.99 tickets for attending family members (up to 6).” Now that’s a good promotional idea that Gilroy Gardens should take up.
It’s an upper when I hit Nob Hill in the morning for a cup of coffee and some snacks for an Editorial Board meeting and spot the creator of Gilroy Gardens, Michael Bonfante, sitting with store manager Vito “Corleone” Mercado mulling over the business of Gilroy. It reminds me that our town is still small, it’s still interconnected and that it’s filled with good people doing good things. It’s good to call Gilroy home, as the Aguirre family knows.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@ga****.com
