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The biggest sporting event of the year is finally here and Gilroy businesses hope it will bring visitors 30 miles south.

After dealing with a handful of intoxicated individuals at the

Worried about sprawl and impacts to the city due to unmitigated growth, a group of Gilroy community members ranging from longtime residents to recent arrivals are in the process of drafting what they call a “smarter growth” ballot initiative that would give voters control over how much the city can grow.“The complete language of the initiative is still being authored as we speak,” explained Sandie Silva of the new advocacy group, Gilroy Growing Smarter, via text message.“We are making it so that the voters will be the decision-makers for the overall limits to Gilroy's growth and leave the responsibility for smart use of limited land within our boundaries to the elected officials.”Forged out of the controversy surrounding the 721-acre Rancho Los Olivos housing project proposed for an area north of Gilroy, Gilroy Growing Smarter includes the same folks that created the online petition in December that generated more than 2,200 signatures from people opposed to the 4,000-home development.Silva, who is part of a Gilroy farming family, said she has never been political before, but was dismayed watching people go to City Council meetings and voice their opinions, only to be rebuffed and have their concerns ignored by elected officials. So she decided to get involved.“We started because of the 721 acres and I started the petition,” Silva recalled. “And [the City Council] decided to vote against what the people wanted anyway.”She said the council’s actions raised “a lot of flags” with people who were left wondering what was going on at the council and why they were not being heard.Overwhelmed by public criticism and two lawsuits, the developers behind the large-scale development rescinded their application in January, deciding to take more time to sell the project to the public.  But for those who understand it is too late to complain about new construction when the tractors have already rolled in, the battle to save Gilroy from being another bedroom community for Silicon Valley has just begun.“We are a very diverse group,” said Silva. “We come from downtown and unincorporated areas; we are business owners, parents, and we feel we speak for the vast majority of Gilroy who want the city to grow in a compact and responsible way. We are not anti-growth.”In addition to working on the initiative and gathering enough signatures of registered Gilroy voters to make the November ballot, the group plans on forming sub-committees to tackle other pressing issues relating to Gilroy’s growth, including the state of downtown and infrastructure.“Downtown has been a thorn in everyone’s side for years, so we would want that area revitalized,” said Silva.“It is very complicated today to do something innovative downtown,” said David Lima, a member of Gilroy Growing Smarter. Gilroy resident, Lima has written on development issues for the Dispatch before. “There are a lot of rules and adversarial relationships that developed since 1989 when the buildings were damaged—a lot of factors have made it difficult to do clever things downtown.”“Existing infrastructure is another thing we want to look at,” said Silva. “Schools are already overcrowded and there are the poor street conditions.”On its website,www.gilroygrowingsmarter.org, the group lays out its aims: elect a responsive city council that will honor the wishes of the citizens; combat suburban sprawl through careful redevelopment of downtown, with gradual residential infill; preserve agricultural and open space land and encourage the creation of high-quality jobs in Gilroy for Gilroy residents.Asked if it was all the current construction underway which has made folks in Gilroy jittery (some projects were approved more than 10 or 15 years ago and delayed due to the 2008 economic downturn), Lima replied yes, that was part of it, but it was more to do with the potential impacts to the city and its residents that got people concerned.“All of the projects that have been approved, are in the planning process or under construction have the potential to add 15,000 people to Gilroy (about a 30 percent increase to its current population of 53,000),” he said. “That is a huge increase.”And with all that growth, he added, there will be impacts to traffic, water and air quality that have not yet been felt.Lima said he’s probably spoken to hundreds of people over the last couple years about why they live in Gilroy and what it is about living in a “small town” that people love.He said that overall people wanted a definite boundary, a green boundary of farmland or open space around their city. They also wanted a “clearly identified center in downtown” where you can find grocery stores and restaurants. Traffic should also manageable with motorists usually being able to get through the traffic lights with one change.“And you know quite a few of the faces you see at the store,” he said.“People are really concerned that if we grow beyond our 53,000 all of those lovely, small town characteristics will simply disappear, which will make people very unhappy.”

With an improved dropout rate but a decreased graduation rate, Gilroy Unified School District’s 2012-13 cohort class showed mixed results in statistics released April 28 by the California Department of Education.

Gilroy’s newest animal rescue outfit will host a fundraising painting party at Fortino Winery on Tuesday to support work that’s already making a difference for lost and needy canines.Called South County Tail Waggers, it was created last November by Karen Oneto and Marguerite Murphy of Gilroy.They are not your typical rescuers.They envision a robust animal sanctuary headquartered in Gilroy for homeless hounds and other critters and have started putting aside money from fundraisers including a t-shirt sale.The need is great, according to Oneto, citing the case of an eight-week-old puppy found on Tuesday. The pup has no eyes, she said.Gilroy police, whose facilities to house and care for them are minimal, pick up about 800 dogs a year, Oneto said.If the owner of a lost dog in police care doesn’t find it there fast, it will end up at the county’s San Martin shelter or one in San Jose, where its future is uncertain, said Oneto, 55, a former teacher.According to Oneto, the group envisons a private, “no-kill” animal sanctuary in Gilroy to serve South County, a haven for needy and abandoned animals, with the emphasis on dogs, at least initially.It would be a place where animals could receive lifetime care if they are not adopted by a loving family. Some would go out into the community and do the magic only animals can—at senior citizens homes and in libraries with children, according to Murphy, 37, who works in finance at the Stanford University School of Business.The unique nature of the dog-human bond is what inspired the group’s motto, “Saving Each Other.” It appears on the logo, the silhouette of a dog being hugged by a pair of hands.“We feel that when you save a dog they turn around and do things to help save humans, assistance dogs, therapy dogs, they just become your best friend, they give us back more than what we have given them,” Oneto said.The group has 15 core members, 10 others who help and more than 230 Facebook followers. It had its start last November when Murphy found a puppy and called police for help.They asked her to keep it overnight because the department’s modest dog shelter has no heating. The next morning wasn’t any warmer.The once homeless pooch is now Mickey Murphy.The chance encounter brought Murphy to the realization that there are no facilities in Gilroy where such dogs can be cared for, fostered and adopted out.“The next day I went on Facebook. I was just enraged and impassioned; I am a huge animal lover and advocate,” she said.“I had it in my head that there was actually a shelter with heat and basic amenities for these animals but that wasn’t the case. I thought to myself, if I don’t do this no one will. So I wrote a post. In the first few hours I probably got 200 responses.”One was from Oneto, a complete stranger. They met, then met again and have not looked back.Oneto threw herself into the effort with Murphy. They operate under the nonprofit umbrella of the Gilroy Foundation and soon will have their own nonprofit status.Oneto said the shelters run by the Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments are inadequate, but South County Tail Waggers are helping out in that regard, too.They have donated blankets, towels and toys and even do the Gilroy shelter’s laundry.Ariana Stauble of Gilroy joined the group in March. Why?“I just have an incredible passion for animals and how they are treated and cared for,” said Stauble, 44. She and her husband run a consulting company and she is an office manager for a speech therapy firm. She has a degree in psychology.A lifelong Gilroy resident, she said the city has never had an animal shelter and a sanctuary is “badly needed.”Tail Waggers is small, she said, “but that is OK, that is how everybody starts out. But there are tons of animal lovers between Morgan Hill and San Martin and Gilroy. I think (the sanctuary) is attainable.”The group’s board of directors is made up of Oneto as president, Murphy as treasurer, Meredith Newton, vice president, Stauble as secretary, and Cindy Reed.It has about 15 core members but needs more, Oneto said. She invited people to visit the Facebook page, Southcountytailwaggers, and attend the Tuesday “paintnite” that starts at 5:30 pm at Fortino Winery. The cost is $45, which does not include the wine. Already 40 people have signed up to attend, she said. For more information on the event, visit paintnite.com/events/1099978.html.