Politics

The landmine-like potholes on First Street are on the way to being fixed, years ahead of schedule and after years of complaints.Mayor Perry Woodward, with support from Councilman Dan Harney and former city traffic engineer Henry Servin worked out a clever system to have license registration fees that go to the state shifted quickly to Gilroy’s street of most need.Without their efforts, the work might not have begun until 2021, but it will now be finished—if the last hurdle is cleared—by the middle of next year.“It’s the worst street in town,” said Woodward. “This needs to happen. It should have never gotten this bad. It’s been neglected by Caltrans for so long, we have a crisis. I’m glad we will get this addressed when the rain stops.”The potholes on First Street are one of the biggest complaints by the city’s residents. The trouble is, the street—which is also known as Highway 152—is maintained not by the city, but by the state, and it isn’t as big a priority for them as it is for the locals.Caltrans didn’t even include the street on its current list of repairs and it couldn’t be added until 2020-2021. The three Gilroyans, led by Woodward, who sits on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority board, are in the process of getting the board to front $5.5 million for the repairs, which will then be repaid by license fees, speeding up the process.The roadway will be worked on into the spring, as the state adds water, sewer and electric lines under it. Then, beginning in April, new pavement will be added.“It’s fantastic news,” said Harney, who is running for council in Nov. 8. “It s a big deal. If Perry and I hadn’t done that, we’d still be stuck where we were. The way it is now, we can’t even repave the potholes.”While the proposal has been approved by the VTA, it still needs Caltrans approval, which Woodward is working on. He is optimistic about that final step.The city also set aside $2.5 million to fix some of the other worst streets in town at last week’s council meeting. Those streets are being decided by a computer model that ranks streets most in need of repair.

Local Scene

A candidate has dropped out of the race for three seats on the Gilroy school board but missed the deadline for removal, so his name will be on the ballot.

“The need for affordable housing in this county and Gilroy in particular is tremendous,” began Jennifer Loving, the director of Destination: Home, the San Jose-based nonprofit that has successfully championed housing-first solutions for the region’s homeless and is one of nearly 100 organizations across the county that have endorsed Measure A.The $950 million bond would fund affordable housing in the county, and was unanimously placed on the ballot by the county Board of Supervisors as a way to mitigate the region’s housing crisis by freeing up money for the acquisition or improvement of real property and first-time homebuyer programs.A countywide poll conducted earlier this year found two-thirds of likely voters would support a measure that built affordable and supportive housing for homeless, seniors, low-income families and other vulnerable populations.At last count in 2015, there were 439 homeless residents in Gilroy, up from 379 two years earlier.Gilroy Mayor Perry Woodward, who endorses the measure and is one of more than 130 individuals across the county to do so, said the way Measure A funds are used is largely up to the community.“It allows flexibility for cities to devise their own course on how they spend the money,” he said, adding that the money toward supportive housing for the city’s homeless would help address public safety issues as well, resulting in fewer quality-of-life calls fielded by Gilroy police.“We can focus a lot more on community policing,” he said.The $950 million in general obligation bonds would result in $700 million to be spent on the county’s most vulnerable populations, including supportive housing for the homeless; $100 million for low-income families; and $150 million for working families and first-time homebuyer programs.The annual cost over 30 years to property owners would be about $12.60 per $100,000 in assessed property value, according to the San JoseMercury News this summer.Thanks in large part to the advocacy work done by Loving and support from county representatives who spearheaded a housing task force that spurred the measure, there has been momentum in recent years to find lasting solutions to chronic homelessness and home insecurity in a region with rising home prices and a housing supply that cannot keep pace with increasing demand.At Monday’s City Council meeting, a five-member council (Cat Tucker and Roland Velasco were absent) voiced its support for the measure, with Councilman Peter Leroe-Muñoz saying the monies set aside for first time homebuyer programs would help the young workers who flock to Silicon Valley technology companies, many of whom he is in direct contact with during his day job as Vice-President of Technology & Innovation Policy for the industry lobby group, Silicon Valley Leadership Group.“We are in a housing crisis,” said Loving. “Here is a solution.”Measure A needs a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

Two candidates are vying for one contested seat on the Gavilan Joint Community College District Board of Trustees in the Nov. 8 election, the first district election in the school’s nearly 100-year history.

The city’s streets are set to get a lot less bumpy, as Gilroy City Council on Monday approved $500,000 to purchase new pavement maintenance equipment to improve the shoddy condition of the city’s streets.

What began as a way to draw attention to a flagging downtown district, a virtual group on social media has become a bit player in Gilroy’s local elections this year, securing a community award in the process.

Over and out

Voters will weigh in on whether they like the state of education and local schools when they choose in November from four candidates for three seats on the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees.