Community

Gilroy High School seniors who decorate their parking stalls with elaborately cool art work will soon have a new canvas for their teenage self-expression.The school’s sprawling parking lot off Princevalle Street and adjoining the football stadium is right now undergoing a complete facelift that school officials say is worth about $1 million but will end up costing the district not a dime.That’s because the parking lot—and its counterpart at Christopher High School across town in north Gilroy — will be resurrected next month as state of the art, solar power generating plants.Work at GHS is quite a sight for anyone familiar with the old parking lot—it’s gone, replaced for the time being by heaps of rubble and a bustle of equipment and construction workers.It’s the district’s inaugural foray into solar power generating and it’s estimated the installation of the solar arrays at the schools will save millions of dollars in electric bills in the decades to come.The parking lot at the Gilroy Unified School District’s Christopher High School, which is less than 10 years old, is not being repaved, only the GHS lot will is being torn up and replaced as part of the project.James Bombaci, GUSD’s facilities manager is overseeing the project.He said this week that everything is on schedule for completion by the time the 2017-18 school year starts on Aug. 17, and that the scheduled might even be “tightened a bit.”That the GHS re-paving project was necessary is no secret. Originally scheduled to be done last summer, the bankruptcy of one of the solar power companies involved in the project delayed its start by a year.“The parking lot was in 100 percent failure,” Bombaci said. The pavement of the pothole flecked lot was also experiencing extreme “alligatoring,” according to Bombaci, a situation where the asphalt develops a deeply rippled surface.Granite Construction Company is the contractor for the paving work at GHS and Borrego Solar will erect and install the solar arrays that will splay out over the two high school lots.The adjoining tennis and basketball courts at GHS will not be impacted by the project and the parking lot will be the same size when the work is completed.However, because space is taken up by the solar installation, the lot will lose several parking stalls, according to Bombaci.One of the improvements that will come with the project involves the single entrance and exit on Princevalle Street.The new lot will boast two exit lanes, one that will be left-hand only and the other right-hand-only, and two entrance lanes, Bombaci said.The paving at GHS and the two high school solar installations will be done at no cost to GUSD, under a solar power-funding plan called a PPA, or Power Purchase Agreement, Assistant Superintendent Alvaro Meza said this week.According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, or SEIA, a PPA “is a financial agreement where a developer arranges for the design, permitting, financing and installation of a solar energy system on a customer’s property at little to no cost.”It works like this, according to SEIA: “The developer sells the power generated to the host customer at a fixed rate that is typically lower than the local utility’s retail rate. This lower electricity price serves to offset the customer’s purchase of electricity from the grid while the developer receives the income from these sales of electricity as well as any tax credits and other incentives generated from the system.”As is true with most PPAs, Gilroy’s will go on for decades, during which time the developer, Borrego Solar, is responsible for running and maintaining the system, according to district officials.“At the end of the PPA contract term, a customer may be able to extend the PPA, have the developer remove the system or choose to buy the solar energy system from the developer,” according to SEIA.The installation of solar arrays over the parking lots will result in a lot more than just savings on energy bills, according to school officials.The installations will provide more shelter, lighting and security for students, staff and anyone visiting the schools, they say.

GILROY—More than a dozen African families that came together for mutual support held an inaugural celebration July 18 in Gilroy for their newly formed organization.

Gilroy might be renowned for it's stinking rose, but there's more to the city than its cash crop.

GILROY

Shop local, local, local. That’s the message Gilroy retailers from the Outlets to downtown want shoppers to know before they head out for this year’s Black Friday and Shop Local Saturday sales.“Shopping local should be on people’s minds when they go out on Black Friday,” Gilroy Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Turner. “The money that people invest in our town really recycles itself in our community, going back into other businesses, restaurants or organizations.”Before the dishes have been washed and put away on Thursday, thousands of shoppers will already be at the Gilroy Premium Outlets for the annual Black Friday sales.Opening at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, most of the 145 retailers including 7 For All Mankind, Banana Republic, Columbia Sportswear, Kate Spade New York, Nike will remain open until 10 p.m. Friday, reopening on Saturday at 8 a.m.Jane Howard, executive director of The Gilroy Welcome Center, which is located at the Outlets, said opening on Thursday creates a family atmosphere. This will be her sixth Black Friday experience at the Outlets. The Welcome Center has coupon books for the Outlets and, Gilroy logo merchandise, including a heavily discounted Gilroy logo jacket.“It has become a social event for families, I see those multigenerational families out shopping with the mom, child and grandmother and they are just in the zone and so excited,” she said. “They have exactly in mind where they want to go, they’ve usually done some homework on their own, going on the Outlet website.”For those who would rather skip the large crowds, shops in downtown Gilroy offer unique finds just in time for the holidays. From antiques, bikes and crossbows to handmade jewelry, furniture imports and homemade quilts, downtown shops cannot be beat.“We have over 20 local artists in here,” said Kim Rossi, owner of Leedo Art & Framing at 7436 Monterey Street.Walking through the store’s various rooms adorned with original works of art, photography and sculpture, Rossi listed the many different items, at various price points, available, “We got note cards, art cards, handmade jewelry, sports memorabilia, something that is affordable for everybody.”Over at specialty retailer Garlic City Mercantile, Dave Peoples sells “gourmet garlic goodies, gadgets and gifts.” While he carries a range of garlic-infused items by locals like Christopher Ranch, Gilroy Hot Stuff, Pepper Plants, and others, it’s not just “garlicky things” you will find on the shelves.There are ceramics by local artists, kitchen gadgets, greeting cards, “as seen on TV” gizmos and european imports. At the back of the store is the Embroidery Studio where Carol and Al Gutierrez can stitch a garlic design or any other custom design on an item of your choice, from kitchen aprons to reusable cloth shopping totes. “We are a fun place and know the specialty items people are looking for,” said Peoples.Over at the Arts Center, the Artisan's Corner features artwork by local artists including handblown glass, watercolor paintings, handmade tree ornaments and more. The center will be open on Black Friday and throughout the weekend.“These are very unique items—perfect for the person that has everything,” said Kevin Heath at the Art Center. “And it’s a way to support downtown, restaurants. Everything is walkable and friendly downtown.”On Friday, Amoretto Boutique will be offering 20 to 50 percent off the entire store of stylish home furnishings and select fashions.The following day, on Shop Local Saturday, Amoretto will offer customers a free tote bag with every purchase and there will be hot chocolate from Fifth Street Coffee.“It’s just so much fun to see the energy and enthusiasm for this experience which has become quite a family tradition,” said Howard, and “from a revenue perspective, what the sales bring into the city’s general fund is pretty significant. We certainly want to celebrate we got that here.”   

The day of Dec. 22, 2012 will go down in the millennia-long history of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Ohlone/Costanoan Indians as a day of healing.

At the Little League Softball World Series Saturday afternoon,