Local leaders look for solutions to the problem; will discuss
the issue at summer session
Gilroy – Miles of uncharted alleys filled with junk, weeds and pot holes are beginning to catch the notice of city leaders, who are calling for solutions big and small to one of Gilroy’s most neglected problems.
“There are mattresses in back alleys. There are all kinds of debris that people aren’t taking care of,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “Then in the rain season there are these puddles. … We need to find a plan of attack as to how we’re going to mitigate these circumstances. It’s not going to be done overnight, but we need to start having the conversation to address it.”
Pinheiro plans to take up the issue this summer during a day-long session of informal policy discussions. At a minimum, he plans to call for measures to force neighbors to keep alleys clean, repair broken fences and perform other basic upkeep.
Alan Ackerman said he would help clean the alley behind his home, at the corner of Eighth and Dowdy streets, if the city brought trash bins around once a month. But the city has its own share of work to do, he said.
“All the major pot holes are up there,” Ackerman said, pointing up the alley behind his home that runs north toward the new police station. “And then there’s the garbage around here and you see the weeds. The city doesn’t do anything to take care of it. There ain’t no reason for this place to look like this.”
Gilroy Operations Manager Carla Ruigh said maintenance workers respond based on complaints, and are often limited to minor patches of pot holes.
“In some cases, alleys need to be reconstructed and paved and have drainage installed,” she said. “Most of that work is beyond the scope of what our crews can do and, unfortunately, it can’t be done in small parts because anything we do on one property can cause a problem next door.”
Officials have no idea how many miles of alleys cut through the city’s core, bounded on the west and east by Miller Avenue and U.S. Highway 101. Alleys do not appear on city maps and engineers have never studied the costs of repairing the passageways, many of which date back to the 1880s.
But officials agree on one thing – modernizing Gilroy’s alleys would be a massive undertaking that would dwarf repair costs for other projects such as citywide sidewalk repairs. The city budget contemplates a combined $53 million for such “unfunded liabilities” – projects with no immediate source of funding. That figure could grow exponentially, officials say, if the city undertook alley repairs comparable to full-scale roadwork.
City Councilman Craig Gartman awoke to the alley problems three months ago, after he moved into his new home off Filice Drive. Gartman’s alley, north of City Hall, does not have as much garbage or as many potholes as other areas, but problems remain.
“During the rainy season, all of a sudden you have little lakes behind the houses,” he said. “As a city, we need to inventory where the problem areas are and work on improving the pavement and drainage in those areas.”
City Engineering Director Rick Smelser said that “just the assessment of what’s existing is pretty daunting,” pointing out that officials have historically directed funds to roads and sidewalks.
“It’s an unfunded liability,” he said, “and we have to spend those precious dollars in other places.”
