GILROY
– As housing developers build new Gilroy streets, they may also
honor hometown heroes if City Councilman Bob Dillon has his
say.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – As housing developers build new Gilroy streets, they may also honor hometown heroes if City Councilman Bob Dillon has his say.
Dillon wants to see Gilroy streets named after hometown veterans killed in action.
“It’s a small gesture for those who didn’t come home and deserve to be remembered,” Dillon said. “I don’t think we need any more ‘flower’ or ‘tree’ names until we can say that these men have been remembered.”
Dillon, who belongs to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, started thinking about the idea last Veteran’s Day, November 11, following a trip to Gilroy’s Veteran’s Building VFW Post 6309 at Sixth and Eigleberry streets. A plaque at the building lists the names of 11 Gilroy veterans who were killed in action.
While the city does have a street naming committee, it is only responsible for naming arterial streets. Housing developers choose names for the smaller streets and courts within their projects, which the naming committee later approves.
Dillon approached developer James Suner, of The James Group, with his plan.
“I thought it was a great idea,” Suner said.
Suner is planning to dedicate a street in a small in-fill housing development on Monterey Street to James W. Ervin, who was killed in the Korean War.
“I think that all the small projects … should get a list of prominent Gilroyans and draw from that list,” Suner said.
Suner will include the street name in his project submittal to the city.
City Council discussed Dillon’s vision during a recent Friday retreat and members liked the idea, he said.
“I think it’s an idea that’s an easy one for people to agree on,” Dillon said.
Gilroy Historical Society President Connie Rogers said the project would make city street names more meaningful.
“With the advent of tract developments, we have names … which are OK, but I’m very much in favor of names that have historic meaning to the community, and I certainly think veterans are part of that,” she said.
Gilroy has many streets named after prominent citizens, Rogers said, including Goudy, Eigleberry, Hannah and Princevalle.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, tree-related street names are the most popular in America after numbered streets. Some of the top 20 include Oak, Pine, Maple, Elm, Cherry and an assortment of other arboreal names.
