Opinion

I disagree with Mayor Roland Velasco's claim that Gilroy should have conducted a nationwide search for a new city administrator instead of appointing Jimmy Forbis, who has been the Gilroy Finance Director since 2016 and is the current interim administrator.  Full disclosure, I live in...

Gilroyans? What should we call people who live in Gilroy? Not a week goes by that someone doesn’t complain about our use of the word Gilroyans to describe the people who live in Gilroy. Yeah, it’s not a word that most people would use in conversation,...

District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s conspiracy case against political supporters of Sheriff Laurie Smith has not gone smoothly. An appeals court in May removed the DA’s office from prosecuting one case, and then the state Supreme Court declined to hear the DA’s appeal. In August, Attorney...

I would like to advocate for banning leaf blowers during school hours while the shelter-in-place requirement is in effect.  Many Gilroy homes have schoolchildren and college students relying on distance learning, and the noise of leaf blowers operating outdoors within a few hundred feet makes...

Thank you for joining me for Gilroy’s 2021 State of the City address, and as we celebrate Gilroy’s 150th anniversary year. I’m Mayor Marie Blankley, and I’m honored to be giving my first State of the City, albeit during an historic pandemic. Vaccinations are in progress,...

By Marie Blankley Measure B was passed in 2016 on the promise that it would provide an estimated $1.2 billion for the improvement of local streets and roads in all of the 15 cities of Santa Clara County. Elected officials from all cities in our...

As a young journalist, I was invited to a meeting with Sheriff Bob Winter at an insurance office. At one point, one of the attendees asked the folksy Gilroyan if there was anything he could do to help. I remember Winter saying he needed...

On April 21, the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association (GGFA) released a statement that the Garlic Festival was postponed indefinitely due to prohibitive insurance required by the City of Gilroy. We stand by that statement. Some of the talk online against the city and council is...

‘This means that you, Fido, and your prize petunia now have equal rights …’

Smith believes the county’s actual infected population as of Tuesday is closer to 10,000, rather than the official count of 459 announced earlier this week.