Gilroy needs some major changes

The elections are coming up soon and most likely Marie Blankley will become mayor. That means nothing will change. Our last mayor, even though a good family man and a nice guy, never brought our town into the 21st century and never took a stand when Gilroy Police killed a Gilroy citizen!

Downtown is still a graveyard. Our sidewalks are the worst in the county! We still don’t have a real community center. The police and city let people have huge parties downtown that are not safe, and the police let homeless criminals and mentally ill citizens get away with crimes because they are always afraid they will get sued! We need more parking, too.

So far, all we have is talk but no action! We need change. We are still losing money at Gilroy Gardens but I guess the evangelicals run that too.

Recently Steve Ashford died. Steve had a big heart and helped this city for many, many years. He should get a tribute concert in his name!

Steve Ashford was a tireless good man and volunteer for the city of Gilroy. We owe Steve a tribute—a big tribute. I would like to do a big tribute concert for Steve. I myself wasn’t able to do one for my brother John Garcia Jr., but he was remembered. Steve loved Gilroy and did a lot for us. Let’s get this done!

Covid-19 won’t last forever, thank God. We need to raise money to help the town. We have a huge homeless problem.

Most likely this mayor won’t change anything. We need a big change for the Garlic Festival. We need more revenue for schools and the parks.

I’m tired of the conservatives in this town keeping us in the dark ages. This is 2020. We need to be up to date. Money needs to be moved around in a more responsible way, and they should not raise taxes again, which I fear they will do.

Daniel Garcia, 

Gilroy

Help students stay connected

Children in the Gilroy Unified School District have reverted to distance education. Due to the rising threat of the coronavirus, students from K-12 are required to have working internet at home while some students are at a disadvantage. 

According to the Census Bureau, less than 10 percent of households in Gilroy do not have internet access. We live in an age of digital inequality. Parents are struggling to reserve internet hotspots provided by the school district that have become limited. As many students are placed on a waitlist, they feel unmotivated and frustrated by not learning digitally. Many of the students come from low-income households that struggle to perform their daily academic tasks. 

During this Covid-19 crisis, we need to give students free internet access and find solutions to help our kids become more engaged through online learning. Imagine a world, having digital equality for all students to successfully complete their work. We must not leave our students behind as their education matters and we must do everything we can to help them stay connected.

Christopher Mukai, 

Gilroy

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