GILROY
– The point of Mayor Al Pinheiro’s Downtown Information Forum
Thursday was to invite merchants and property owners to join in
developing plans for a thriving downtown.
GILROY – The point of Mayor Al Pinheiro’s Downtown Information Forum Thursday was to invite merchants and property owners to join in developing plans for a thriving downtown.
“We are here for one major reason,” Pinheiro said as he introduced the forum’s evening session to a packed room of 56 people, plus 10 city officials. “We need you to do the revitalization of our downtown. Without you, nothing will happen.”
The topic was clearly of interest to the community, judging by the strong attendance. A morning forum was at least as crowded as the evening session, according to people who attended both. Pinheiro said more than 100 attended the 7:30 a.m. session.
The forums were held inside an empty building at 7560 Monterey St., owned by Jeff and Pam Martin, which once housed an Elks lodge, Ford’s department store and, most recently, the Gilroy Resource Center.
It is far from the only vacant building in Gilroy’s historic downtown. Decades ago, downtown was the city’s shopping hub. As one forum audience member pointed out, all Gilroyans once went downtown regularly to buy needed goods at pharmacies, hardware stores and car dealers. In recent years, she said, First Street stores, the Gilroy Premium Outlets and big-box stores at highways 152 and 101 have capitalized on people’s changing shopping habits.
The languishing of downtown prompted some passionate emotions and sharp questioning from some merchants during a question-and-answer period. Lorin Wegand, a dealer in Garbos Antique Mall, and Mary Taulbee, who owns Garlic City Coffee and Tea, demanded a reason why no one promotes or advertises historic downtown Gilroy at the outlets, the 152-101 shopping centers or, most importantly, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Taulbee said traffic during the Garlic Festival is diverted from downtown to such an extent that merchants have had to prove they owned businesses there before police would let them onto Monterey Street.
Downtown developer Gary Walton challenged merchants to “pull the load” and rethink their business plans to offer more enticing products to consumers. Wegand countered, saying antique stores are anchoring downtown now, but merchants need a stronger customer base to survive.
“But don’t you think you need some more diversity?” Walton replied.
Ultimately, the mayor emphasized keeping a can-do attitude about downtown.
“Please don’t give up,” he said. “Get on board with what I call this positive energy downtown.
“I’m excited already because I’m seeing land owners … making something happen,” he said.
The city has temporarily lifted its impact fees, some project reviews and 25 percent of its parking requirement for downtown building projects, and this development incentive has “put an energy to our downtown,” the mayor said.
As evidence, Pinheiro said the owner of the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant on Monterey Street at Ninth is taking advantage of the incentive and planning to build a three-story building there, with retail on the ground floor, offices on the second and apartments on the third.
City Community Development Director Wendie Rooney also noted proposed retail/residential complexes at the corner of Lewis and Monterey streets, on Monterey between Fifth and Sixth and at the corner of Fourth and Monterey.
“This is the time, folks, if you want to redevelop,” Rooney said.
The city is doing its part, Pinheiro and Rooney said. Besides waiving impact fees, it is improving the Monterey streetscape with new pavement, curbs, medians and lamps. The streetscape is finished between Eighth and Sixth streets, and the city has just applied for a $3 million grant to do it between Sixth and Fourth.
The Downtown Task Force is working on a specific plan for downtown – which technically includes Monterey from Leavesley to Luchessa and the area a block or so to either side – and city officials urged the public to attend these meetings. The recommendations that result from this plan won’t come to fruition with public dollars alone, however.
Therefore, the mayor and city officials are encouraging merchants and property owners to form a Business Improvement District, in which businesses would pool money to spend on improving downtown. Gilroy had a BID years ago, but merchants backed out of it. Pinheiro said city officials were very impressed with the success of Pleasanton’s BID.
Pinheiro also urged merchants to take pride in keeping their business areas clean, invest in improving their facades, participate in the Downtown Association and abide by sign regulations.
Wegand left the session with mixed feelings.
“This was a good, informative meeting,” he said. He’s not sure how much people really care about downtown, he added, but he’s trying to be optimistic. He pointed to the streetscape improvements as a step in the right direction.
“It’s not Santa Cruz, but it looks pretty good,” he said. “We deserve Santa Cruz.”
