GILROY
– If Lupe Arellano were mayor four years ago, the City of Gilroy
would have many of the same goals for itself as it does now – a
revitalized downtown and more neighborhood parks to name a
couple.
GILROY – If Lupe Arellano were mayor four years ago, the City of Gilroy would have many of the same goals for itself as it does now – a revitalized downtown and more neighborhood parks to name a couple.
The former Councilwoman and former planning commissioner also believes those goals would be much closer to fruition, too.
“If I were elected mayor (four years ago), I think we’d be further along with the downtown and our general plan. I think that by not having the specific plans in the general plan done … (it) has been a real detriment because things keep coming up and we’re playing catch-up.”
If elected mayor, Arellano says she will use her inclusive style of leadership to move city projects along further and faster than they’ve been going at least over the last couple of years.
Arellano led a successful push to speed design and construction on three community parks by roughly five years before her City Council term ended in 2001. They are the type of “quality of life” projects Arellano says won’t be forgotten under her mayoral leadership. But they are only one side of the quality of life battles she is ready to fight.
A key objective for Arellano is bringing clean industrial companies that offer higher wage jobs to Gilroy. She believes there has been an overemphasis on bringing retail businesses in the effort to increase Gilroy’s sales tax revenue.
“What we have is tax dollars, a way to pay for things. I can see the frustration though because we’ve gone after … retail, and I think this administration has failed to see that we could go after industry at the same time,” Arellano said.
Arellano would use economic incentives to lure new businesses to Gilroy, but she’ll offer them selectively, she says, basing them on how many quality jobs they will bring to town.
“There was one company that was bringing in 50 jobs, but after some scrutinizing they were only bringing in two new jobs,” Arellano said, recalling a company looking for financial breaks a few years ago when she served on the dais. “They were bringing everyone else down from San Jose to here, yet they were asking for $140,000.
“(Economic incentives are) a form of corporate welfare that takes place all over the country and the region. I think it’s a tool we need to continue to use. I just think that we need to be more mindful of what kinds of jobs are coming in.”
So that projects such as the sports park and downtown revitalization don’t get put off indefinitely in tough budget times, Arellano would support earmarking a percentage of the general fund for capital projects.
“Perhaps it’s time to say a percentage … of the general fund should be directed toward … quality of life issues and bringing them further into the now, versus scheduling them out to the year 2020.”
Arellano believes her anti-sprawl principles would be appreciated regionally, which would serve Gilroy well as it competes for funding to improve its downtown streets and for industrial companies considering relocation.
A native Gilroyan, Arellano has seen the de-evolution of downtown Gilroy. She believes the degenerative process could have stopped if a plan for zoning the downtown were put in place years ago.
The business consultant and former business owner says the entire controversy over the medical clinic replacing the Garlic Festival Store, at Fifth and Monterey streets, could have been avoided if such a plan existed now.
“If all of that would have been in place, I don’t think we would have gone up against the questions of whether or not this could go in,” Arellano said. “To look at that building and say it’s going to be a medical center isn’t my idea of planning a central location for shopping.”
Arellano said she would base a downtown plan on the principles used by cities with vital downtown cores. And on that level, Gilroy should be able to make the medical clinic – with a front section dedicated to retail – work out fine.
“I tend to believe in principles. If everything (from libraries to professional offices) is in walking distance, it creates camaraderie among your employees and it creates a feeling of involvement by your community,” Arellano said.
As for the rest of Gilroy, Arellano is concerned that the town will grow beyond its means in the next decade since Council will have the ability to revisit, and potentially increase, the number of housing permits it will issue over the next 10 years.
“I think it’s a great time to take that breather and say let’s let our services catch up to our growth,” Arellano said.
Arellano supports commercial and residential development that is infill oriented and does not add to sprawl.
“We had this thing called the agricultural preserve that we stepped all over. As we kept asking for property to be included … I don’t think that we were being mindful that there was property around us and that we have a greenbelt,” Arellano said.
