Community parades through downtown streetscape to celebrate
awaited rebirth
Gilroy – More than 100 business owners, civic leaders and residents paraded down Monterey Street Friday, shouting and blaring car horns as they celebrated a milestone in the downtown’s rebirth.
The street re-opened to motorists Friday evening after a six-month construction closure, but only after the ecstatic crowd strolled up and down the expansive new boulevard between Sixth and Fourth streets.
Gone are the winding medians that made the two block stretch an obstacle course for drivers. Gone are the narrow sidewalks that pooled with rain. Gone are the dim lights that left much of the street in darkness.
Even with a month of work left on sidewalks, Mayor Al Pinheiro was bubbling over at the transformation.
“The downtown six months ago was a depressed, dark, no-energy type of place,” he said. “Today, even with just half the lights on, half the sidewalks finished, the energy is there. You can feel it. Today in going around downtown, people are commenting on how great it looks.
The energy it’s giving off – we need to continue cultivating that.”
City officials weren’t the only ones excited about the opening.
“Downtown before was a screwed up mess,” said Marilyn Cameron, a Morgan Hill resident who was shopping in the area. “I have no idea what it’s going to be like (when it’s all done), but it couldn’t be worse than before. It’s going to help the businesses tremendously. This is long overdue.”
Downtown business owners who originally expected Monterey Street to re-open in July have suffered through months of delays due to bad weather and technical problems. Many have reported revenue losses of 50 to 70 percent.
“I’m very optimistic that things will turn around,” said Gracie Garcia, owner of Gilroy Antiques at 7445 Monterey St. “I’ve been here since 1989 and in the long run, it’s going to be lovely. It’s a vast improvement over the old situation.”
Though his business only suffered through four days of road closure, Bruce Williams, branch manager of Heritage Bank of Commerce, was relieved to see the street re-open. The branch, which offers the first money machine in downtown Gilroy at the corner of Lewis and Monterey streets, is expecting to finally get some new customers.
Williams said the company spent more than $250,000 relocating from its previous home in a First Street shopping plaza.
“We really spent a lot of money coming down here on a move we didn’t necessarily have to do,” Williams said. “But we believe in downtown and we wanted to be a part of this.”
Though construction work is far from over, the vision of a stately historic main street is already taking shape. Towering antique street lamps now reach as high as some rooftops, each with a pair of frosted lights showering walkways in light. Sprawling new sidewalks are taking shape along both sides of the street, with just half a block of walkway left to install north of Sixth Street. In the next two weeks, work crews expect to install bricks between the walkways and curbs, offering ample space for sidewalk cafes and other destinations.
That work is expected to be complete by Nov. 22, followed by tree plantings and other landscaping work expected to last into January.
“I’m very pleased it’s finally coming together,” said Linda Graham, owner of Collective Past antique store at 7495 Monterey St. “I wish it hadn’t taken so long, but we survived.”
Business owners and city leaders agree that drawing people to the area will require more than a new road. Business owners must fix up their storefronts, landowners must be pressured to fix or replace run-down buildings, and city officials must design policies to attract a mix of businesses to the area and plan for new parking structures.
City leaders ultimately hope to see a mixed community of new stores and thousands of new residents, a vision already taking root in the form of numerous development proposals. A project to build 40,000 square feet of retail space and 201 town homes and condominiums at the old cannery, one block east of Monterey Street, is already under way.
The project is regarded as the northern linchpin of revitalization efforts. The southern linchpin is new arts center, planned for construction on the corner of Seventh and Monterey streets by 2010.
“All I hope is that we can recoup some those losses as our downtown returns to what it used to be – the heart of the community,” Mayor Pinheiro said to the crowd Friday afternoon, just before the crowd embarked up the street. “I hope that we can look back some day and say that this was worth it. And that this is only the beginning.”
