”
When you’re alone and life is making you lonely you can always
go
– downtown.
”
– words from the song
”
Downtown
”
by Tony Hatch.
“When you’re alone and life is making you lonely you can always go – downtown.” – words from the song “Downtown” by Tony Hatch.
Generally speaking, the words to this famous song certainly don’t apply to downtown Gilroy, unless of course, you’re into billiards or antiques. If you ‘ve lived in Gilroy for any length of time, you know that downtown Gilroy is an area that has been standing out as our local sore thumb for many years. But there’s good news – because change for downtown is on the way. Finally. And this coming change is not just a pipe-dream, but is actually tangible and specific with plans in process to make it happen (yes, within our lifetime).
I attended a meeting on Sept. 23 hosted by Bill Lindsteadt of the Gilroy Economic Development Corporation and Gilroy’s Mayor Al Pinheiro. The meeting’s purpose was to review the current plans for new downtown development and future plans for the historic downtown district.
I came away with the feeling that Mayor Al Pinheiro is a visionary when it comes to downtown’s redevelopment, and has a genuine personal commitment to the revitalization of this area. In fact, I’d see it at the top of his goals for Gilroy. I also got the feeling that the mayor has, because of his own background, a deep sense of community, and is persuaded that until Gilroy has a revitalized downtown area, a true sense of Gilroy community is lacking. And I agree.
It seems to me that Gilroy is drifting more and more towards a “Balkanization” of neighborhood interests. Hopefully, a revitalized downtown will provide a “hub” for the city that ties all of these areas together into a sense of community, and gives all Gilroy residents something to really be proud of.
I found it interesting that the mayor’s vision for Gilroy’s downtown is not a duplication of Los Gatos’ charming downtown or even a duplication of Santana Row in San Jose, but rather something different that includes the cultural history of Gilroy, as well as a true Gilroy theme. What that theme is going to be is still undecided, so if you have any ideas, I suggest you call the mayor. Remember, downtown Gilroy is defined as the area along Monterey Road between First Street running south to Tenth Street, while “historic” downtown is the area along Monterey Road running between Third Street to Eighth Street.
On the matter of revitalization, as you may recall, Gilroy has no Redevelopment Agency to provide funding for the revitalization of downtown, so approaching this task is kind of like trying to dig a hole with a shovel having one hand tied behind you. Therefore for progress to take place, there must be a team-effort between four groups that the mayor highlighted: (1) the city of Gilroy, (2) the Downtown Association, (3) the merchants, and (4) the property owners.
To recap the key points that each of these four groups must contribute, I’ll include the following highlights from the mayor’s handout notes.
First, the city of Gilroy must reduce or eliminate impact fees. This will provide the economic incentive to do business in a revitalized downtown. Next, the Downtown Association must promote and market the downtown area. A positive image is vital for the sense of local community spirit. The merchants must take a pride of ownership in their storefront areas, and support the Downtown Association. And finally, the property owners must improve storefronts and facades in order to set the stage to attract people to come to downtown. One good thing coming is the driving maze on Monterey Road between Third street to Sixth street will be eliminated.
Now all of this effort will not come without some major challenges. As The Dispatch indicated in a front-page article recently, retrofitting of downtown buildings is far from complete, and more than three-fourths of these buildings would not be safe if a major earthquake hit the area. Therefore, until such time comes that this is fixed, it’s unlikely that any new businesses will have an incentive to move into an old building in downtown.
The city might therefore have to exercise playing hardball with those property owners who won’t comply, and force them to retrofit, or tear down the building. Another issue will be parking and if parking structures will be needed for a revitalized downtown.
Bottom line message: you can get involved. The Downtown Task Force meets the second Tuesday of each month in the Senior Center, from 6 to 8pm . Next meeting Oct. 12. Come out and be part of the new Gilroy downtown effort.
