Guest View: High-impact measures headed for 2024 California ballot
Recently, the secretary of state’s office announced that a referendum aimed at overturning California’s landmark law to regulate wages and working conditions for fast food restaurants had qualified for the November 2024 ballot.
While it’s the first measure to qualify for an election more than...
Guest View: Gilroy’s commute problems
A person that lives in Gilroy and works in San Jose has to invest around $9,282 and 480 hours a year just to be able to go to work. Santa Clara County could reduce cost and time of travel by optimizing the current train...
Guest View: Amazon’s Gilroy Data Center: your top questions, answered
When Amazon chose Gilroy for a $2 billion data center investment, we made a commitment to this community. We’ve heard your questions about what our project means for Gilroy’s residents, farmers and families. Here are answers to your most frequent questions.
How much water will...
Guest View: The heartwarming return of O.D.’s in Gilroy
In the heart of Gilroy, a culinary gem has stood the test of time, serving as a beloved gathering place for locals and visitors alike. For 35 years, Mike and Rocio's family-owned restaurant, O.D.’s Kitchen, has been an integral part of the community, and...
Guest View, Gary Walton: Ways to celebrate National Preservation Month in Gilroy
Established in 1973 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Month brings attention to historical places to instill pride, promote heritage conservation and encourage tourism. We know our historic buildings are important, but May is a great time to give them a...
Buyers, be open-minded
The ever-continuous magic question: “Is now the right time to buy?” Is it?
My response has always stayed the same: “if the time is right for you.” How do you determine that in an ever-changing and evolving market? Many considerations, economics, interest rates and of...
Facts wrong and perspective skewed in Israeli-Palestinian column
The timing of Marty Cheek's column published in The Dispatch on
From My Perspective: Fear, faith and fire
Where do you spend most of your time...in fear or faith? You have a “natural” faith of things: awakening each morning knowing the sun will shine or putting your foot on the brake trusting the car will stop. You have faith when you board...
Guest View: We must work toward housing equity
Gilroy has a housing shortage and our low and middle-income households face historic rent burden. Undersupply of “Missing Middle” housing, or medium density housing near jobs and transit, is one of the key factors contributing to the displacement and rent burden of our residents.
In...
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...






















