The following organizations and individuals deserve either
CHEERS or JEERS this week:
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: For the City Council, which granted St. Mary School a $19,000 traffic fee waiver associated with the building of a new science lab. By eliminating a punitive fee, the Council struck a blow for fairness, common sense and responsive local government.
JEERS: For the Diocese of San Jose, which keeps surveying and talking about building a Catholic High School in South County but stalls when it comes to making concrete plans. It’s expensive, to be sure, but get it off the ground, start fundraising and the support will be amazing. A land donation would be helpful, but the diocese should remember that 305 Morgan Hill/San Martin, and 344 Gilroy students are attending private high schools, according to a recent survey. That, of course, doesn’t even address students in San Benito County. There’s a market, a need and an opportunity. The time to build the school is now.
CHEERS: For Melissa Mendoza and Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, the winners of the Healing Hearts and Helping Hands awards presented by Community Solutions. Mendoza, a single teen mother who is now 22, has shown remarkable tenacity and maturity in her drive to make a good life for herself and her son, Daniel. Gage steadfastly exhibits compassion while shaping public policy and he has lent a helping hand to so many worthy causes through the years it’s impossible to keep count. Both deserve a hearty thank you and good work from the community, as does Community Solutions.
JEERS: For DMB, the company that plans to build a new city just south of Gilroy across the San Benito County line. DMB flew folks from Hollister down to one of their cities in Arizona, an 8,800-acre town called Verrado, but local Gilroy officials were denied. Politically astute? Probably. The permits and approval will go through San Benito County. But the truth is, the town is much closer to Gilroy than Hollister, and if you think the 10th Street crossing to the new shopping centers is packed now, just wait. DMB needs to be more pro-active when it comes to Gilroy. It’s here where the real impacts will be felt.
CHEERS: For Santa Clara County Supervisors who rejected a joint tax proposal that would have funded general services and transportation projects. That pot is simply too diverse. Voters want and deserve specifics. What’s needed is a transportation measure without BART-to-San Jose that has building a new stretch of Highway 152 from the Don Pacheco Y to U.S. 101 near the top of the list.
THREE CHEERS
For the Gilroy High girls basketball team which captured its first league title in 11 years. Way to go! Now let’s get busy and make a solid run in the playoffs
