Politics

The Gilroy Downtown Business Association announced the launch of

City officials are pushing to place electric utilities

An unsafe chunk of downtown buildings is one step closer to

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a stack of bills Aug. 16 aimed at curtailing organized retail, property and auto theft in California. Newsom appeared at a Home Depot in San Jose with state, business and law enforcement officials, signing 10 bills that he said go “to...

Eligible Santa Clara County residents who have not registered to vote in the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election can take advantage of special extended hours today to ensure that they will be able to cast a ballot. The Registrar of Voters’ Office will remain open until 8:00 p.m. today for those who wish to complete their voter registration forms or vote early. Today is the last day to register to vote or to re-register with a different party preference in order to vote for a presidential candidate of the voter’s choosing.  Voters who do not wish to travel can register online using the California Online Voter Registration website. Online registration must be completed before midnight in order to meet the deadline. Alternatively, voters can sign and return paper registration forms by mail; paper registration forms that are postmarked today will be accepted. Paper registration forms are available at post offices, public libraries, fire stations, city halls, and most local government offices. The Registrar of Voters’ Office encourages early voting. Voters who prefer to cast their ballot in person can vote early at the Registrar of Voters’ Office every weekday and on the two weekends prior to the election, or at an Early Voting Center on the two weekends prior to the election. Vote by Mail voters can vote early by mailing their ballots or dropping them off at one of 52 drop-off, drive-thru, and early voting sites before the election. No postage is necessary for voters returning their ballots using a postage-paid return envelope that is included with every Vote by Mail ballot. In previous elections, voters had to pay the cost of return postage, which frequently exceeded a single first-class stamp. Notably, Santa Clara is only the second county in the state to feature prepaid postage for Vote by Mail ballots. Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey stated, “There is no more important action in a democracy than voting. The Registrar of Voters’ Office is passionate about increasing voter turnout. We hope that we will make it easier to vote by providing prepaid postage for all Vote by Mail ballots, and by providing Early Voting Centers for all voters in the county. “No Party Preference” VotersThe Registrar of Voters’ Office mailed over 150,000 postcards to “No Party Preference” (Decline to State or Non-Partisan) voters on March 24 to inform them about voting for a presidential candidate in the primary election. Voters who registered with no party preference may request a ballot to vote for a candidate of the Democratic, American Independent, or Libertarian parties. The postcard sent by the Registrar of Voters’ Office advises “No Party Preference” voters of their option to choose a party ballot – Democratic, American Independent, or Libertarian – that they would like to vote. This postcard does not change voters’ party affiliation, but does allow voters to vote for the presidential candidate listed on their chosen party ballot. Voters who registered with no party preference and who would like to vote for the presidential candidate of the Republican, Green, or Peace & Freedom parties must re-register to vote with that party by today, Monday, May 23. The Republican, Green, and Peace & Freedom parties do not allow “No Party Preference” voters to vote their party ballot. A voter should complete a new registration form if he or she has moved, changed a name(s), or would like to change his or her political party preference. To register to vote in Santa Clara County, a voter must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old on or before Election Day, a Santa Clara County resident and not imprisoned or on parole for a felony. Today is the last day to register to vote in the June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election. Registration can be done online at Register to Vote. Voters who would like to check their registration status may do so at Check Your Registration Status. Voters may also request to vote by mail for this election at Request a Vote by Mail Ballot, or they may request to become permanent Vote by Mail voters at Permanent Vote by Mail. First In, First CountedVoters are encouraged to mail their ballots as soon as possible. Completed ballots that are received prior to Election Day are included in the results released at 8 p.m. on Election Night. Early VotingAny voter in Santa Clara County can vote early at the Registrar of Voters' Office, which is located at 1555 Berger Drive, Building 2, San Jose, CA 95112. Day(s)                                        Date(s)                                                Hours                                    Monday – Friday                        May 9 – June 6                                   8 a.m. to 5 p.m.Saturday                        May 28                                                9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Sunday                                       May 29                                                9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Saturday                                    June 4                                                 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.Sunday                                       June 5                                                 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday                                     June 7 (Election Day)                         7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Early Voting CentersDuring the two weekends prior to Election Day, voters have the option of casting their ballot at any one of five convenient Early Voting Centers or at the Registrar of Voters’ Office. Once voters arrive at the Early Voting Center of their choice or at the Registrar of Voters’ Office, they can obtain a ballot and cast it in person, or they can take it home to complete later. Voters can also drop off their completed Vote by Mail ballot, receive a replacement for a lost or damaged Vote by Mail ballot, or use a touch screen voting machine. The touch screen voting machines are accessible to blind and visually impaired voters. A ballot that is cast at an Early Voting Center or at the Registrar of Voters’ Office must be sealed inside a signed envelope and the voter’s signature must be verified before the ballot can be counted. Day(s)                                        Date(s)                                                Hours                                             Saturday - Sunday                     May 28 – May 29                                12 p.m. to 5 p.m.         Saturday - Sunday                     June 4  – June 5                                 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Early Voting Centers will be located at: Gilroy Library – 350 W. Sixth Street, Gilroy, CA 95020San Jose Public Library – Joyce Ellington Branch – 491 E. Empire Street, San Jose, CA 95112Los Altos Library – 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022Santa Clara City Library –  2635 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, CA 95051San Jose Public Library – Educational Park Branch – 1772 Educational Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95133 Ballot Drop-Off SitesBeginning May 9 and continuing through Election Day, Vote by Mail voters have the option of dropping off their completed ballots at the following locations: Open during normal business hoursSanta Clara County Government Center – 1st Floor, 70 W. Hedding Street, San Jose, CA 95110 Monte Sereno City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 18041 Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, Monte Sereno, CA 95030Campbell City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 70 N. First Street, Campbell, CA 95008  Morgan Hill City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 17575 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037Cupertino City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014       Mountain View City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041Gilroy City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 7351 Rosanna Street, Gilroy, CA 95020      Palo Alto City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301Los Altos City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 1 N. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022     San Jose City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 200 E. Santa Clara Street, Wing 2, San Jose, CA 95113Los Altos Hills Town Hall – Town Clerk’s Office, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022       Santa Clara City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 1500 Warburton Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95050Los Gatos Town Hall – Town Clerk’s Office, 110 E. Main Street, Los Gatos, CA 95030    Saratoga City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 13777 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070Milpitas City Hall – City Clerk’s Office, 455 E. Calaveras Boulevard, Milpitas, CA 95035  Sunnyvale City Hall – City Finance Office, 650 W. Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086Martin Luther King Library – Inside drop-box, 150 E. San Fernando Street, San Jose, CA 95112 Mitchell Park Library – Inside drop-box, 3700 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303      Rose Garden Library – Inside drop-box, 1580 Naglee Avenue, San Jose, CA 95126          Open 24 hours a daySan Jose State University – at Clark Hall Bldg. & The Villages, 1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95112          West Valley College – at Admissions near the flag pole, 14000 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070De Anza College – at Main Quad near the flag pole, 21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino, CA 95014          Gavilan College – at Student Center, 5055 Santa Teresa Boulevard, Gilroy, CA 95020Evergreen Valley College – at Cafeteria located in Gullo 1, 3095 Yerba Buena Road, San Jose, CA 95135          Mission College – at Drop off/Pick-up Loop, 3000 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA 95054Foothill College – at Building 1900-Administration near the flag pole, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022San Jose City College – at Student Center, 2100 Moorpark Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128Berryessa Library – Outside drop-box, 3355 Noble Avenue, San Jose, CA 95132 Milpitas Library – Outside drop-box, 160 N. Main Street, Milpitas, CA 95035Campbell Library – Outside drop-box, 77 Harrison Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008 Mountain View Public Library – Outside drop-box, 585 Franklin Street, Mountain View, CA 94041Central Park Library – Outside drop-box, 2635 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, CA 95051Morgan Hill Library – Outside drop-box, 660 W. Main Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037Cupertino Library – Outside drop-box, 10800 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014Pearl Avenue Library – Outside drop-box, 4270 Pearl Avenue, San Jose, CA  95136Gilroy Library – Outside drop-box, 350 W. Sixth Street, Gilroy, CA 95020  Saratoga Library – Outside drop-box, 13650 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA 95070Los Altos Library – Outside drop-box, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022        Tully Community Library – Outside drop-box,  880 Tully Road, San Jose, CA 95111Los Gatos Library – Outside drop-box, 100 Villa Avenue, Los Gatos, CA 95030    Woodland Branch Library – Outside drop-box, 1975 Grant Road, Los Altos, CA 94024 Drive-Thru Ballot Drop-Off SitesOn Saturdays, May 28 & 29 and June 4 & 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Vote by Mail voters will have the option of dropping off their ballots without getting out of their vehicles at convenient Drive-Thru Ballot Drop-Off Sites. The sites will be located at: Curtner Light Rail Station – Canoas Garden Avenue at Curtner Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125     Morgan Hill Transit Center – Main Avenue at Hale Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037Hostetter Light Rail Station – Capitol Avenue at Camino del Rey, San Jose, CA 95132     Westgate Shopping Center –back lot near Hamilton Avenue, 1600 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, CA 95129Mayfield Soccer Complex –  Page Mill Road at El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94304       For more information, contact the Registrar of Voters’ Office at 1-408-299-VOTE (8683) or toll-free at 1-866-430-VOTE (8683), or visit www.sccvote.org.                                                                                                                                                       # # #

Slow retail sales cost the city nearly $400,000 last fiscal

Mark Good has served on the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees for nearly 12 years and wants to continue to work on education issues with what he believes has been a good and effective team of board colleagues.An attorney and retired Gilroy police sergeant, the incumbent served one four-year term after being first elected in 1996 and did not run in 2000. He ran and won re-election in 2008 and 2012.Good is one of a trio of candidates actively seeking three seats on the GUSD board. A fourth, Paul Nadeau, withdrew from the contest but his name is on the ballot.Nadeau has said he will resign if he is one of the top three vote getters. If that happens, the board will appoint an interim member who may run for election in 2018. It does not have to be the fourth-place finisher.The election comes at a time when trustees are poised to begin $170 million in Measure E building projects, are struggling with somewhat improved but still lackluster test scores and are battling a lawsuit over the districtís decision in 2014 to not fire a teacher now accused of sexual misconduct that targeted students.Good’s and Pace’s profiles are in today’s edition. Candidate BC Doyle’s profile was published last week.Each candidate was asked to respond to three questions. Each was given a 700-word limit but could submit less.Good, 58, is the father and stepfather of five children who went to Gilroy schools. He is a former GUSD board president and supported Measure E.He is a partner and member of the intellectual property, commercial law and real estate litigation practice groups at Terra Law LLP in San Jose.Asked why he is running, he said, “Essentially I think we have turned the district around in a lot of ways. A lot of good things are happening. The board I was on in the ’90s did not work nearly as well as the current board.”Here are the questions posed to each candidate and Good’s responses: DISPATCH: What are some of your specific goals if elected and how would you achieve them? Please discuss your three top priority goals.GOOD: My top three goals are 1) reducing the achievement gap; 2) further reducing the dropout rate; and 3) ensuring the safety of our students and staff.In GUSD, English Language Learners (ELL) represent almost 30 percent of the student population. We have a variety of initiatives in place to help ELLs and are currently in the third year of a master plan for services to English learners. It starts with identification, assessment and proper program placement followed up with appropriate instruction in English language development appropriate to the student. We have made significant improvements in this area and need to continue our forward momentum until the gap is closed.Since my election to the board in 2008, the dropout rate has been reduced from a high point of 26 percent in 2008 to 7.5 percent in 2015. For the first time, we also now have a program administrator who is responsible for school climate and district attendance. Students who do not attend school regularly are much more prone to drop out. This is an area which has to be constantly monitored.When I first ran for the board in 1996, I ran on a platform of increasing school safety. I was compelled to run after a student was fatally stabbed at Gilroy High School. Since that time, the high school campus was closed and security fences have been erected at all schools. Safe school locks have been installed at all secondary schools and additional locking devices were purchased for our elementary schools. We have worked closely with the police department while implementing all of these changes, and for the first time this year, we now have two full-time school resource officers assigned to the district. While some are at or near state averages and others show some improvement, in almost all categories Gilroy’s state test scores are below minimum state standards. This was true in recent and past rounds of tests. What will you do to improve test scores? Fundamentally, the assertion that our test scores “are below minimum state standards” is incorrect. Based on the overall CAASPP data, the district is actually at or above the state average depending on the area.In this second year of the new Smarter Balanced assessment system, scores across the state, and across the country are significantly lower than on previous (paper and pencil) assessments.In 2016, GUSD made growth in both English language arts and math, as compared to 2015 (6 percent point increase in ELA, and a 3 percent point increase in math). The district matched the overall state performance in ELA (49 percent met or exceeded standard) and continues to rank above the state in mathematics (In GUSD 40 percent met or exceeded standard).Santa Clara county tends to score much higher than the state in most academic areas, but much of this is due to the fact that Santa Clara County has very different demographics than much of the state of California.While GUSD’s overall CAASPP scores are below the county average, when looking at subgroup data, Gilroy was at or above the county average in many significant subgroups on the 2016 CAASPP results. In particular, Hispanic students in both ELA and math, and socio-economically disadvantaged students in math. GUSD made growth at all seven grade levels in ELA. GUSD made growth at six of the seven grade levels in mathematics.GUSD compared favorably to neighboring school districts in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz. Gilroy’s public charter school, Gilroy Prep, has consistently been one of the highest scoring schools in the state in key categories and grades tested. Should GP’s methods be mandatory in all GUSD elementary schools and why or why not?Many of GP’s methods are not permitted under the Education Code and/or collective bargaining agreements. We have implemented some of the same instructional practices, for example use of the MOBI, grouping students for small group reading instruction and using some of the same texts. However, there are many differences as we cannot replicate due to inadequate funding and the Education Code. Some major differences that we cannot implement include iPads and other technology in every classroom at a 1:1 ratio for students, highly trained para-professionals that teach in place of teachers which we are not permitted to do (effectively reducing the class size ratio), and a longer school day. There are also two or three instructional coaches just at GP (which is what we have for eight elementary schools). The bottom line is that they receive more funding than we do and do not have to abide by union contracts, providing more flexibility in how they offer programs and services.   

After nine years of service to the Gilroy community, City Administrator Jimmy Forbis today announced his retirement.  His retirement is effective as of July 31, says a statement from the city.  During his tenure in Gilroy—previously as the city’s finance director—Forbis “played a key role” in...