GILROY
– A Wal-Mart with a grocery store will make Gilroy supermarkets
offer better prices and service.
Spending 80 percent of each tax dollar on fire and police
protection is too much.
GILROY – A Wal-Mart with a grocery store will make Gilroy supermarkets offer better prices and service.
Spending 80 percent of each tax dollar on fire and police protection is too much.
And, at least two City Council candidates seem ready to accept the $687-per-month salary and full benefits package that comes with the job, rather than serve for free in these tight economic times.
These are a few responses to a long list of questions The Dispatch editorial board posed to City Council and mayoral candidates Tuesday night. The televised session was the last of an unprecedented five candidates debates held this campaign season and split from the traditional forum format by scrapping opening and closing statements but allowing candidates time to rebut one another’s answers.
The rebuttals pitted candidates squarely against one another on several campaign issues.
Regarding the annual cost of police and fire protection, City Council candidate Roland Velasco stated that 80 percent of each tax dollar was not too much to spend on something as important as public safety.
“We have to try to balance revenues we receive (between) public safety and other things such as parks and recreation,” Velasco said. “We want to make sure our firefighters and police officers have the tools and the training that they need to do their job.”
Candidate Mark Dover, who previously had said spending 80 cents on the dollar for public safety may be reasonable in some years but could not be justified every year, took an even harder stand Tuesday night.
“My personal view is that 80 percent of our general fund dollars is too much to spend,” Dover said. “Recreation is a big part of public safety, sidewalks are a big part of public safety, yet those things are often ignored.”
Dover said a redistribution of funds across all the city’s departments could enhance the quality of life for Gilroyans.
As for the public safety spending and the mayoral candidates, Lupe Arellano and Mary Hohenbrink were given the chance to go head-to-head.
Hohenbrink, who during the campaign has called for better customer service and quicker response times from police, did not object to current spending levels. However, the first-time candidate said the high level of spending makes it appropriate to ask, “Are they doing the best job they can for the community?”
Arellano told voters she would not get hung up on the 80 percent figure since police and fire funding covers a lot of other city services such as educational and intervention programs that affect residents.
“I’d rather look at the (whole)budget and say ‘Are we missing anything?’ ” Arellano said.
Whether candidates would support the relocation of the existing Wal-Mart at Arroyo Circle to the new Pacheco Pass Center – where the company would open a super-sized version of itself – was another issue that separated candidates.
Responding to calls for economic impact reports from Wal-Mart before the retail giant opens a new store, mayoral candidate Al Pinheiro said he was “not ready to be the protector for everyone else.”
Pinheiro said he is for free enterprise and that a Wal-Mart Supercenter would draw regional customers that would add to sales tax revenue as Wal-Mart shoppers would likely buy more than groceries when coming to town.
Wal-Mart critics have argued that relocating the store would not add city revenue since groceries are mostly nontaxable items.
Hohenbrink, who supports the Wal-Mart expansion, said it makes sense to ask the company for an economic impact report since businesses already study demographic and market share information before they open new stores.
“I don’t think (doing an economic impact report) is strapping them at all,” Hohenbrink said.
Arellano’s concerns over a Wal-Mart relocation have to do with both unfair pricing tactics that could wipe out east side supermarkets and impact traffic patterns especially in the residential section of Sixth Street that is often used by motorists avoiding busier peripheral routes.
Council candidate Dion Bracco, a local business owner, took perhaps the strongest stand against economic impact reports Tuesday.
“All the report’s going to do is bash Wal-Mart,” Bracco said. “Other businesses just have to learn how to compete.”
Bracco called the company an asset to the community as it supports nonprofit causes.
Tuesday’s debate was sponsored by Charter Communications, Community Media Access Partnership and The Dispatch. The debate was aired live on CMAP’s channel 20, questions were asked by the newspaper’s five-member editorial board which writes opinion pieces for The Dispatch and will make endorsements before Election Day.
Of the 11 candidates, only mayoral hopeful Ellyn Atkins declined to participate.
Council candidates are: Peter Arellano, Dion Bracco, Paul Correa, Mark Dover, Bruce Morasca, Russ Valiquette and Roland Velasco. Running for mayor is Lupe Arellano, Ellyn Atkins, Mary Hohenbrink and Al Pinheiro.
There are three open seats on City Council and one vacant mayoral seat.
Nearly every candidate Tuesday said the state’s economic woes and their impact on the city budget is Gilroy’s most pressing issue. Peter Arellano, a medical doctor, was asked if he would not accept the monthly compensation and benefits from the city in light of the money crunch.
Arellano quipped “I feel like I already work for free,” and said candidates should not be running for office for the money. The incumbent did not say exactly whether he would do the job at a reduced cost or for free, but said the current Council already took a step in that direction by freezing its annual raise for 2004.
Correa, who was also given the opportunity to respond, said he was not aware of the compensation deal. He said Gilroy’s package pales in comparison to the City of San Jose, which he said gives its councilmembers tens of thousands of dollars annually.
In other aspects of the debate, first-time candidate Morasca reiterated his call to hike the hotel tax from 9 to 10 percent and use the increase to start a fund for construction of the downtown arts and cultural center. Morasca also called for Gilroy to join the Open Space Authority to preserve agricultural land and earmark funding for park construction. He noted Gilroy was the only Santa Clara County city not to be in the agency.
Valiquette rebutted Morasca on both issues. He said the city needs to partner with private enterprise in order to generate funding for the arts and cultural center. Valiquette, who serves as chairperson of the Planning Commission, said Gilroy should join the Open Space Authority if Gilroyans want to. He said whether Morgan Hill or Hollister are members should not affect local decision making.
“If Morgan Hill jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge should we jump off it, too?” Valiquette quipped.
CMAP-Dispatch Debate
Channel 20
Friday, October 24 at 3 p.m.
Sunday, October 26 at noon
Wednesday, October 29 at 11 a.m.
Friday, October 31 at 3 p.m.
Channel 17
Schedule yet to be determined.
