Opinion

The summer of 2020 will always be remembered as the season of the largest, most destructive wildfires in the history of California. Our Golden State lost over 4 million acres that were ravaged by more than 8,200 fires. Thirty-one lives were lost, along with...

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...

A fundamental foundation for Christian believers is commemorated on Easter Sunday (John 11:24-26). Jesus Christ’s resurrection follows 40 days of reflection, atonement, sacrifices and fasting that began on Ash Wednesday.  As I mentioned in the first “From My Perspective” column, I was raised Jewish, so...

There was an opinion piece in the March 19 Dispatch that led the reader to believe that the Gilroy City Council is ignoring a plan that could end homelessness. That is a misleading statement. What the opinion leaves out is that the Gilroy City Council...

Last year at this time our nation was just coming to grips with a pandemic that would forever change our lives. Since then the global pandemic has kept its grip on our nation and the world.  Fortunately its grip is loosening! A holiday like Memorial...

By Mattie Scariot The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival will take place virtually from Wednesday, April 7 to Tuesday, April 20 this year. This longtime, internationally acclaimed, local festival in Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista will feature fantastic films, panels,...

We read in horror of the proposals for Gilroy Gardens. It was a sanctuary for us and our now 10-year-old. She learned about trees and about the natural world that surrounds her. She got to ride a mushroom, twirl in a strawberry and wait...

I am writing as a parent of two middle schoolers in the Gilroy Unified School District. Like many families in our town, we embraced distance learning (DL) wholeheartedly in the beginning of the pandemic when there was very little information about the Covid-19 virus...

To my council colleagues, city staff and the public, I am very excited to be a part of the many changes coming to Gilroy this year. I will continue to bring to these meetings not just the views of myself but those of my...

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,...