The holiday is over, but the three-day weekend has the Red Phone
energized for a short week. And speaking of energy, one of our
callers this week called to complain about how it is being wasted
at two Gilroy schools …
The holiday is over, but the three-day weekend has the Red Phone energized for a short week. And speaking of energy, one of our callers this week called to complain about how it is being wasted at two Gilroy schools …
“Two schools have electronic bulletin boards and they say the same two things all summer,” our Red Phone caller pointed out last week. “That’s a lot of energy, and why don’t they just turn them off for the summer. They can save taxpayers more than a couple hundred bucks in energy bills.”
Those two schools are Ascencion Solorsano and Gilroy High School. When we called Steve Brinkman, who is the assistant superintendent of administrative services for the Gilroy Unified School District (long title, huh?), he said turning the bulletin boards off is a smart plan.
“You drive by them enough times and you actually stop noticing that they’re even there,” he admited. “We thank the person who called in. It’s a good idea.”
Brinkman said that barring any complications, the lights should be turned off this week and won’t be turned back on until August, just before school resumes.
“You’ll probably see them turned off within the next couple of days,” he said. “I want to make sure there’s no compelling reason to keep them on.”
* * *
Last week, the Red Phone asked readers to let us know whether A2 columnist Robert Mitchell should be moved to the opinion page, and one caller let us know what she felt while ragging on another one of our columnists.
“I am of the opinion that Robert Mitchell should be on the editorial page,” she said. “I’d much prefer him to Cynthia Walker any day.”
So now what will we do with Cynthia Walker?
* * *
One caller’s route home must have changed this week due to one intersection upgrade.
“I was wondering what genius put together the intersection at Santa Teresa and First Street,” the angry caller said. “I’m just wondering if they’re encouraging speeding past people and causing accidents.”
The caller went on to explain exactly what he was griping about: merging lanes.
“If you’re coming south on Santa Teresa there’s two straight lanes and they turn into one right after you get through the intersection. If you’re turning left, there’s two turning lanes that turn right into one lane after the intersection,” he said. “I think that’s very dangerous.”
We’re certainly not taking any credit for that design, and there have been too many close calls at that intersection. Some might call it planning ahead for the future to have the extra lanes at the intersection, but merging them so quickly makes it dangerous as well.
To call the Red Phone: 408-842-9070
