Politics

After nearly two years of reaching out to local municipalities and compiling a laundry list of transportation issues throughout the county, the 12-member VTA board voted unanimously to place a 30-year, countywide half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot.

Remodeling at a Gilroy low-income housing complex has left apartments with bathrooms inaccessible to handicapped residents, a violation of federal law according to one man.A city inspector signed off on upgrades at the Plum Tree West apartments on Montebello Drive, but the work does not comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) designed to ensure access indoors and outside for the handicapped, resident Tim Holliday alleged.Holliday, 41, has been wheelchair bound for 30 years because of an affliction that causes spasms that paralyze his legs.“They took away the showers and put in bathtubs and they put plates over emergency buttons so we can no longer use them,” Holliday said.“A young man in a wheelchair fell down in his tub and now he uses a neighbor’s shower, another man is 94,” said Sally Armendariz of the Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services, or CARAS, the Gilroy nonprofit assisting complex residents, some of whom have live-in caregivers.At least 15 residents whose apartments have been remodeled so far in the 70-unit complex met last week to compare notes, which mostly concern bathrooms but include other complaints, such as access to stoves.Violet Guliza is 90. She has severe arthritis in her legs and needs a walker to get around. Before the remodel, her one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit had a walk-in shower that made getting in and out easy despite her disability, she said.But showers were replaced by tubs with shower heads and Guliza cannot lift her legs high enough to step over and into the tub, she said.“I can’t even understand why they remodeled it,” Guliza said, noting her apartment was in good condition before the work.Residents were given checks for hotels and meals then moved out of their units during the initial two-week project, according to Holliday and Guliza. They stayed with relatives.Their units were remodeled in early May and others are under construction now, they said.At Gilroy City Hall, community development director Kristi Abrams said the city “absolutely” will revisit the apartment if residents request a re-inspection. She said none of the residents have called her about the issue.However, she said, “There is no code requirement that the city can enforce so the units are accessible. We have no legal remedy, the code has no requirement for all units to be accessible in any type of complex.”She said the city inspector who approved the remodels is its specialist on such matters, although she said he still is working at getting official certification as an access specialist.The complex is for income-qualified people age 62 and over. It’s insured and operated under rules administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is owned by Preservation Partners Management Group Inc. of Torrance, California.That development group specializes in the acquisition, rehabilitation and preservation of HUD and California Housing Finance Agency insured and assisted affordable housing developments, according to its website.“PPD provides the opportunity to rehabilitate and permanently preserve existing affordable housing assets by offering owners the opportunity to realize ‘market values’ upon sale. Since our formation in 1999, we have utilized low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bond financings to acquire and rehabilitate 29 properties representing 3,130 rental units in Washington, Virginia and throughout California,” the website reads.The firm did not return calls requesting comment on complaints by the Plum Tree West residents.To support his contention that the newly installed features do not comply with federal law, Holliday cited a top federal law enforcement agency on the matter of bathtub controls.“I found a 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design from the Department of Justice,” he wrote in an email. “According to section 607.5 it reads: ‘Controls, other than drain stoppers, shall be located on an end wall. Controls shall be between the bathtub rim and grab bar, and between the open side of the bathtub and the centerline of the width of the bathtub.”The newly installed tubs all have control knobs on the far back wall. They are unreachable by people with disabilities, according to Holliday and Guliza.Other problems involve shower heads that are mounted just over four feet off the floor, which Holliday says is too low; inaccessible garbage disposals and ovens whose design make it impossible for him to reach the racks from his wheelchair when the door is open.Abrams said she wants to review the Justice Department citation. She cautioned that such sections cannot be taken out of context and have to be considered along with other parts of the law.“I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. We cannot just take little abstract out, we have to look at the whole (ADA),” she said.

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The Gilroy Unified School District will receive $170 million from city property owners to build a new elementary school and update two middle schools.

In mailers to thousands to Gilroy homes, in speeches, in endorsements by politicians and wealthy businessmen and on signs all around town, voters have been told that passage of the $170 million Measure E bond proposal on Tuesday’s ballot will ensure Gilroy kids get a good education by building modern schools with state-of-the-art technology.But a Dispatch review of school rankings and research data suggest the jury is still out on whether new facilities make a significant difference in some measures of academic standards.In Gilroy, school rankings appear inconsistent on the question and suggest that factors such as poverty play a bigger role than facilities when it comes to classroom achievement.Christopher High School, the district’s $158 million showcase, was built with 2008 bond money and non-voter approved $33 million in Certificates of Participation, repaid from the general fund. Its state academic ratings are high, 8 out of 10 compared to all California high schools and 7 among schools with similar demographics.But Gilroy High School, an old facility with some recent modernization, ranks at 4 among all high schools and 5 among similar schools in the state.Glen View Elementary School was completely remodeled last year with about $7 million from 2008’s $150 million Measure P, money still being repaid by taxpayers.Glen View in the past has lagged in test scores and in recent tests that pattern continues. The school ranked 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 compared to schools statewide.Compared to schools with similar demographics it ranked 3. And in terms of how it serves low-income students, who make up most of its student body, it also ranked at 3.Gilroy Prep School, the only charter school in the Gilroy Unified School District, ranked at 10 among California schools, 9 in how it helps low-income kids and 6 compared to similar schools.At GPS, technology of the kind Measure E would pay for helps students. Personal computers allow students to interact immediately with teachers, and allow teachers to monitor in real time whether students understand what’s being taught.When it opened in 2011, GPS was put in a collection of old portables at South Valley Junior High School. And while the school has since had some upgrades paid for by bond money, its scores from the beginning have been among the state’s highest.GUSD officials, including assistant superintendent Alvaro Mesa, have said comparisons with a charter school aren’t fair and that differences between schools such as Glen View and Gilroy Prep have more to do with the percentage of low-income students than facility conditions.GPS has always focused on low-income, underserved families, with school officials sometimes knocking on doors in low-income neighborhoods to recruit students.About 55 percent of GPS students are on a free and reduced cost lunch program, an indication of those families’ low-income.The figure at Glen View is a lot higher, Meza said.Asked to comment on whether spending millions on school facilities and really matters in classroom achievement, schools superintendent Debbie Flores issued this statement:“The district has not stated that Measure E is needed to improve education, but rather to help maintain the high-quality of education currently provided to all local students. If Measure E does not pass, additional monies from the general fund would need to go to shoring up our older facilities and ensuring they continue to meet safety standards for students. This would take needed funds away from educational programs. Also, the district believes that equitable facilities should be provided to all students.”In the newest Yes on E mailer, Gilroy businessman and Chamber of Commerce 2016 Man of the Year for 2016 Joel Goldsmith put it this way: “Nothing in our community is more important than educating our young people, and that is best done in modern facilities.”Mayor Perry Woodward wrote in the mailing that passage “will help sustain the high quality of education provided to our children and allow us to modernize and build facilities to better support instruction needs.”When it comes to Gilroy’s oldest—South Valley and Brownell—and its newest—Solorsano—middle schools there is almost no difference in their state rankings.Here’s now the rankings show up on greatschools.org, which tracks state school standings nationwide.Brownell and Solorsano ranked 7 and South Valley 6 when compared to all California middle schools.Compared to middle schools with similar demographics, Brownell outranked Solorsano, 7 to 6, and South Valley was at 5.Compared to how well the schools meet the needs of low-income students, Solorsano ranked 6 while the others had 5.At the California Policy Center, a think-tank that digs into school bonding, researcher and author Kevin Dayton said Tuesday, “I am not aware of any peer-reviewed study, or any study for that matter, that has proven that a bond measure and facilities improvement results in better test scores. To think that a new building is going to make children be better mathematicians or thinkers is absurd.”However, in a 2010 study the 21st Century School Foundation (at http://bit.ly/24jfAVL) in Washington D.C. found that “Recent research continues to point to a small but steadily positive relationship between the quality of a public school facility and a range of academic and community outcomes.”Among its cited research one study found that, “In schools with poor facilities, students attended less days on average and therefore had lower grades in English Language Arts and Math standardized tests. Attendance was found to be a full mediator for grades in ELA and a partial mediator for grades in math.”Another cited study found a “4-9 percent difference between students in schools in worst/best condition; 5-9 percent difference between students in oldest/newest schools; 4 percent difference in graduation rates between students in schools in worst/best condition and between students in oldest/newest schools.”Dayton is critical of the political processes behind school bond sales.“At every stage of the process, interests that will benefit from bond sales can take advantage of a system that favors passage of a bond measure,” he wrote in 2015. “Some issues of concern include use of public funds to develop campaigns to pass bond measures, significant political contributions to campaigns from interests likely to benefit from construction, involvement of college foundations as intermediaries for campaign contributions, and conflicts of interest and alleged pay-to-play contracts.”He went on, “Few Californians realize how much debt they’ve imposed on future generations with their votes for bond measures meant to fund the construction of new and modernized school facilities.“From 2001 to 2014, California voters considered 1147 ballot measures proposed by K-12 school districts and community college districts to borrow money for construction via bond sales. Voters approved 911 of these bond measures, giving 642 school and college districts authority to borrow a total of $110.4 billion.”Dayton’s study can be found here: http://bit.ly/1TY7qAC.In its latest round of campaign finance disclosures, the Yes on E group, Friends of GUSD Supporting Measure E, listed more contributions from companies outside Gilroy that do business with the school district.They include Val’s Plumbing & Heating of Salinas, $2,500; Total Securities Concepts Division of TSCS, Inc., of Prunedale, $2,500; and Palace Business Solutions of Santa Cruz, $500.Those are in addition to more than $30,000 in contributions already received from a half-dozen of the school district’s biggest contractors, some of whom have worked on previous bond projects, including the Seward L. Schreder Construction of Redding. That firm did more than $14 million in bond-related projects with GUSD from 2011 through 2015 and is Measure E’s biggest financial supporter at $10,000.In its campaign filing report, the pro-E committee listed spending of $2,107 for 400 yard signs and $5,753 to print and mail flyers to 10,000 Gilroy homes.It also lists a $2,279 reimbursed to Jaime Rosso for money he spent out of his own pocket for campaign literature, banners and sign lumber before the committee had its own account, he said. Rosso is the spokesperson for the committee and a longtime GUSD school board member.

If you want to make America great again, there’s something you can do right away: Vote yes on Measure E and support Gilroy’s schools.With one swoop of your pen and a serious commitment of $60 for every $100,000 of property you own, you can build a new elementary school and fix up degrading middle schools. You can keep all of the district’s schools top notch, which is what we think makes America and our community great.For some reasons that make no sense to us, schools, teachers and taxes have become anathema in this country over the past 40 years. Everyone wants the best services but no one wants to pay for them.If you go back to a time a lot of people think America was great (and we think it’s still great, by the way), you might try the 1950s and 1960s when tax rates, particularly on the rich, were double and triple what they are now. Under Dwight D. Eisenhower, the rich paid 91 percent of their income. Under Richard M. Nixon, it was down to 77 percent. But then it kept dropping as rich people gained more power and convinced a large number of Americans that taxes were bad, particularly taxes on the rich. Back then, people didn’t mind the taxes as much because they knew they were making America great. They were proud of their country and still incredibly rich, despite the taxes.The earlier tax rates afforded us immeasurable greatness. We built a transcontinental highway system. We built the biggest buildings in the world. We went to the moon. We built great schools and free public university systems.But now schools have to raise money by holding their hats out like beggars. What’s happened to this country, where no one asks us to vote to spend trillions on wars both parties later realize were mistakes, but we act like the schools are criminals for wanting to give teachers a living wage and give kids modern buildings and educational systems?How do so many people--some of them wealthier people who send their children to private schools-- figure taxes to help schools are a bad thing? There are exceptions, like Don Christopher, a businessman who puts his funds where his heart is.  We aren’t saying the schools and their administrators are perfect. We’ve spent plenty of time dissecting their faults, poring over every document. We aren’t happy about some of the lack of transparency we’ve seen. We don’t like that they don’t live-stream school board meetings. We don’t like how they rushed this election without time to make a stronger case and can’t  or won’t even name who solicited the highest donations. The list of projects the money will be spent on is not detailed enough. We question some of the ties between contractors and the board. We don’t like the fact that Christopher High School came in so over budget that its promised theater was never built, the track and field needed private funding to be completed and seven years after the building was finished, it needs repairs.But after putting them through the investigative wringer, we see no reason not to put up another $170 million to keep our schools on the cutting edge. (For comparison’s sake, the Iraq War cost $720 million a day.) The bottom line is that we have to support our schools, whatever it takes. To do anything less is criminal. It’s the opposite of making America great.In Finland and China teachers are as valued as doctors and CEOs. Those countries haven’t forgotten the value of great education. Rather than criticizing teachers unions we’d like to see the schools pay the way private companies do. That would guarantee the best and the brightest get the jobs and hold them.If  you want to look at just the bottom line: this isn’t so much a tax as it is an investment. Nothing will make property value go up more than a great school system. Gilroy homes are already a bargain in Silicon Valley. Add more school buildings like Christopher High and more programs like Gilroy High’s biomedical training, and watch the values increase far more than the taxes.

More than 90 percent of the $37,696 in the Yes on Measure E campaign chest is from outside Gilroy—most from firms, including one in New York, whose business with the school district exceeds $33 million just since 2011.

At this time, we’re housing our children in school buildings where their own parents attended classes 30 or 40 years ago. The average age of schools in the Gilroy Unified School District is 30 years old and five schools are more than 50 years old. The District has taken great care of the schools but they need to be renovated and rebuilt.

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.                                                                                                                                                       # # #

The people who run Gilroy’s cold weather shelter are changing direction, making the center a refuge that provides services, rather than a place for quick stops. Jan Bernstein Chargin, who runs the Compassion Center, explains why this could help and what other new services will be available. 1. What is the new admittance policy at the Gilroy Armory Cold Weather Shelter? Why did that come about and what are the aims of the change?A: Through this winter, the Gilroy Armory Cold Weather Shelter has been "first come, first serve" each night. People would leave in the morning not knowing if they would have a place to sleep the following night. In order to ensure getting a space, therefore, people had to line up early, and carry all of their belongings with them, every day. This makes it hard to look for work, go to school, or work on long-term solutions. We have asked that, starting next year, the shelter be operated on a case management basis -- with associated day services and a referral process. Once admitted, individuals will know they have their spot assured for the season, and will be able to work towards their goals for stability, jobs, and housing. Another change we have requested is that homeless individuals from South County be given preference for the spaces at the shelter. This year, for the first time, the North County shelter was operated on a referral basis, only accepting referrals from North County agencies. That left the Gilroy shelter as the only one in the county operating as a first-come, first-serve countywide shelter. The police department believes this had detrimental impacts on the community.2. How could "tiny homes" be used to address home insecurity in Gilroy? What are the challenges in implementing such an initiative? What is the status of "tiny homes" in Gilroy?A: Communities around the nation are starting to consider and develop "tiny homes" as one of the ways of addressing homelessness. The benefits are that they can be used for short-term shelter or longer-term housing at a much lower cost than traditional construction. They can offer the privacy and autonomy that is impossible in a typical "shelter" configuration, as well as an attractive community setting. The challenge is to identify and get through all of the regulatory obstacles. Because this is such a new approach, our codes and ordinances have not yet caught up with it. The City of Fresno has recently adopted an ordinance addressing Tiny Homes that could be a starting point for Gilroy. We are planning an open house for our prototype Tiny Home (see photos on our Facebook page) [ https://www.facebook.com/gilroycompassioncenter/ ]Gilroy Compassion Center. (Date to be announced.) The Gilroy Housing Advisory Committee ( I am a member) has asked if we could bring the Tiny Home (currently located at Los Banos RV, where it was built) for the May 16 City Council meeting. I am working to see if this will be possible. This first Tiny Home is funded by Santa Clara County.3. Please provide a comment on the Compassion Center moving to a new location in June. Do you expect to provide similar services?A: We are hoping to be able to announce our new location very shortly. We are indebted to Jim Currier, owner of Flowstar, for his generosity in providing us a building to use rent-free for the first five years of our existence. Without Jim, there would be no Gilroy Compassion Center. However, now that he is selling the building, we are looking towards the future in a new location. We hope to be able to provide most of the current services: mail and message center, HMIS (County database), referrals, transportation assistance, clothing, hygiene supplies, bathrooms, daytime respite from the streets.4. We always hear that localities up north are "transporting" or "bussing" or in some way, migrating homeless folks to south county and Gilroy, especially. What do you say to this? How does closing a shelter in San Jose or clearing a homeless encampment in another jurisdiction impact homeless populations in Gilroy?A: The majority of people who are homeless in Gilroy at any point in time are long term residents, formerly HOUSED in Gilroy. Many of them grew up here, went to school here, had businesses here! The second-largest group is from Morgan Hill / San Martin. That being said, in the winter when the armory has been open, we have often seen many individuals who come to Gilroy to access the armory.However, it should also be remembered that homeless Gilroy residents also go to San Jose and Morgan Hill to access shelter, housing, transitional housing, and other services. There is no year-round shelter in Gilroy, no women's shelter, no year-round family shelter,-- for these services our residents must often go to other cities.5. I was told at Destination:Home that there are currently new housing projects underway in San Jose, as adding new housing units is critical in addressing homelessness in the region. Do you expect that new housing being constructed north of the county will impact homeless populations here in Gilroy? Do you know of any plans to construct new housing for the home insecure here in Gilroy?A: Disclosure - I am a board member for Destination: Home. Our Community Plan to End Homelessness calls for the construction of 5,000 additional units of affordable housing. We know that the best way to END homelessness is with permanent housing. In order to succeed, we need every community to participate. San Jose has made a strong commitment and is getting started on several new projects. Although Gilroy has several low-income projects in the pipeline, they will still be too expensive for most of the people who are homeless. We need a lot more housing that is affordable for people at the lowest end of the income scale -- what is called Extremely Low Income. These are households whose primary source of income is SSI, other benefits, or minimum wage. The need is so great that it will take years of construction before we "see" an impact -- however, we know how much it means to our clients when they get housing, and we have certainly seen people housed in San Jose when units have become available.6. What are the needs of the Compassion Center? I see that a golf tournament is coming up in June -- how do you stand in donations? How much support do you receive from the city of Gilroy?A: Money! We gratefully accept donations and encourage friends and supporters to support our first Golf tournament on June 24. Money is an ongoing need, so that we can keep the doors open. We have two grants from the City of Gilroy -- one from the Housing Trust Fund and one through CDBG ( Community Development Block Grant). Together these will provide roughly $48K for the Day Center next year. The Day Center operates with just one paid staff member, our Program Director Daleen Pearce -- all the rest are volunteers.We have also received grants from Santa Clara County  -- $10K for the Tiny Home, and roughly $90K this past winter to help 21 homeless families with motel vouchers and case management. We were also recently granted a contract to put together a proposal for Nontraditional Housing -- we will be really working through the plan to create a Tiny Homes Village in Gilroy (and also one farther north.)Needs include volunteers, both in the trenches and on the Board of Directors and Advisory Board, and donation of the supplies we use every day.7. I see a gofundme.com fundraising campaign for tents for the homeless in Gilroy. What are the merits in this type of activity? The county rejected a proposal last year to extend stays in county parks for the homeless, with supervisor Wasserman publicly saying the parks intended use was for recreation - not housing.A: The Almost Home Camping program began as a pilot project in 2014-- Due to the cost and logistics it is a very small program -- two to four campsites at a time (there are hundreds of campsites in the county park system so the impact is negligible.) Many people don't realize that staying in campgrounds is a strategy often used by homeless people whether or not the Compassion Center is involved. Our campers have provided referrals for help to many of the homeless they have met at the campgrounds. Because there is no year-round shelter in South County, and it is illegal to camp outside of the campgrounds, there really are not many better options yet.Although the request for extended stays was rejected, we are still able to help people use the campgrounds under the same criteria and cost as any other camper -- no more than 14 days at any one park within a 45 day period, and no more than 14 days at any one park between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The moves are frequent, and the situation is far from ideal, but it provides access to showers and sanitation, a safe and legal place to sleep, and transportation to jobs and appointments in town. Through this program, children have been able to attend school, people have been able to seek and maintain employment, and make other progress towards self-sufficiency. Some of our campers have moved on to permanent housing while others have upgraded to RV's and private campground memberships. The program is funded privately by individuals and churches, and the money, (many thousands of dollars), has gone to the County Parks in the form of camping fees. We continue to seek land to develop a dedicated campground  -- if that happens, we will no longer need to use the park campgrounds.8. Anything else you'd like to add.A: As we move forward, looking at alternatives, like campgrounds, Tiny Homes, shelter operations, I am hoping that we can keep the conversation compassionate and respectful. When we talk about homeless people we are talking about mothers, fathers, children, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons. People who are homeless have family members and friends who are not homeless.  Children who are homeless attend local schools. In any gathering, at any meeting, and certainly on any social media page, there are people who have been homeless, or who have loved ones who are or who have been homeless.  Hateful language makes it difficult for people to speak from their experience, and to work together on solutions.