Guest view: Who’s exempt from parcel taxes in Santa Clara County?
If you’re a homeowner, you’re about to pay your second installment of property taxes on your home. These taxes need to be paid by April 10. This assessment continues to grow longer, costlier and more confusing every year. This year my assessment has 18...
Guest View: State, Congress should act now to protect youth online
It’s heartbreaking that in today’s world, every time a child picks up a phone or tablet, parents feel a wave of panic. Not long ago, electronic devices were simple tools for curiosity and creativity.
Kids played 2048, battled friends on slither.io, filled their camera rolls...
Guest View: SRO funds should be invested to better serve students
As communities across the country grapple with racial injustice and a broken criminal justice system that is fed by a school-to-prison pipeline, leaders are taking a closer look at the impact of school police or resource officers. More and more school districts are taking...
Guest View: Don’t expand city limits for single-family homes
On Aug. 2, joined by my daughter, I spoke at the Santa Clara County LAFCO public hearing in support of LAFCO's staff recommendation to deny an application to expand the city limits in order to build more single-family homes.
What has Gilroy been doing over...
Mayor’s Update: Sharks ice rinks making progress
The long-awaited draft Term Sheet to bring Sharks Ice to the Gilroy Sports Park is ready to be presented to the Gilroy City Council at our meeting on Monday, June 20. To participate, you may either attend the meeting which will include public comment...
Guest View: Gilroy advances mobility options
In Gilroy, we have many examples of properties where we used to not require vehicle parking many decades ago, before a majority of zoning codes have been adopted that require more land to be developed for parking. With the recent implementation of Vehicles Mile...
Rabbi Mendel Liberow: Caring for every person—A Passover message
In the foothills of Midian, a shepherd watches over his flock. He is responsible for the well-being and safety of every sheep there. Suddenly, he notices a lamb wandering away from the flock. The shepherd gives chase and finally catches up with the sheep—when...
Guest view: Honoring South County’s ‘unconventional hero’
I rise today to adjourn in the memory of Marty Cheek—a beautiful soul, the publisher of Morgan Hill and Gilroy Life, an arts and science advocate, a man who loved his community, and his community loved him.
Marty was born in Hollister and was a...
Guest View, Marie Blankley: Considering the future of the transit center
With my support, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority held two community meetings in Gilroy to introduce the possibility of and receive feedback on an affordable housing project at the Gilroy Transit Center. However, the project described in their request for approval to authorize...
Guest View: The other side of the trigger
We are the members of Zach Hilton’s Student City Council Internship Program. We represent different genders, cultures and backgrounds. We are the first generation. Most importantly, we represent a demographic of the crippingly underserved.
We have come to let our written words lay bare, so...






















