Kudos to Bob Dillon and Cat Tucker who seem to have the only
common sense on the city council as well the ability to add and
subtract the costs.
Dear Editor,
Kudos to Bob Dillon and Cat Tucker who seem to have the only common sense on the city council as well the ability to add and subtract the costs.
I have never written a letter to the editor but quite frankly I can’t stand the snow job (a nicer word for lying) that is being thrown at the residents of Gilroy. The residents have no clue that (it’s not just those of us whose land and homes will be affected by this boondoggle), but it will affect all of you. It will ruin the small-town atmosphere that a lot of us moved here for many years ago. Do you really want 6,000 cars a day on Leasveley Avenue (if they pick the east U.S. 101 corridor). You think we have traffic jams now, just wait!!
I wonder how these same politicians would like 20 trains a day running 10 to 100 feet from their homes at 200-plus mph every 30 seconds (their figures not mine). All of the figures that they have given us are so skewed. Then, there’s the one that is mind boggling – “millions of jobs produced.” They failed to tell you that about 80 percent of those jobs will be so specialized that just the average day laborer would have a job. I don’t think that would solve the deficit in California by any means or the in the country for that matter.
Finally, I am so disgusted with some of our local politicians (who I will not name at this time). Number one – with my heart on my sleeve literally, I asked him “What can I do to save my house of 38 years?” Answer: “There is nothing you can do about it so just forget it!” Second example: same politician was asked eight months in a row where would the route east of U.S. 101 be. His answer: “Don’t worry it won’t be anywhere near your house; it will be closer to New Avenue.”
He never gave a straight answer as to his voting position on which route he favored. After the elections, he made his position perfectly clear. He voted for the Gilroy bypass instead of the Altamont route. We would also like you to know that we have the minutes from one of the transportation board meetings at which he appeared and he expressed the problems he was having with the people in Gilroy and they need to vote U.S. 101 through to get them off of his back.
When HSR published their two routes – downtown or in the east U.S. 101 corridor, the value of our home dropped to rock bottom and he was kind enough to offer us a whopping $200,000 for our home that had been appraised a year before while we were obtaining a reverse mortgage at $900,000. This was the final insult to us and he was supposed to be our friend.
Mr. Derry, we don’t need friends like this nor do the people of Gilroy. I just wish your paper would print more articles outlining the harm this train would do to the whole town of Gilroy and our small little valley. Sorry I took so long in writing this as you can see this has been weighing on our family for long time.
Mary Anne and Tony Giacalone,
38-year residents of Gilroy
