Opinion

For 23 years the Central Coast Sax Quartet has been an essential piece of the Gilroy Garlic Festival experience.  Each year, without fail, they stroll through the festival grounds, delighting visitors and providing local flavor to the festival’s music scene.  This year, the Garlic Festival is looking to end its nearly quarter century history with the group by “going in a new direction” for their musical lineup.

On June 1, 2015, the Mayor of Gilroy admitted contritely that he had not done his budget homework before suggesting big cuts in city funding to the Gilroy Welcome Center. He then reversed his position, which magically changed the votes of his three well-leashed city council allies. Mayor Don Gage did the right thing, but not before causing unnecessary grief and anger that brought to the surface pent up frustration with the mayor and the City Hall minions that appear too often to snap to his heel. A few days earlier, the mayor told Dispatch Reporter Chris Foy that his idea to cut Welcome Center funds was a“mistake;” that after meeting with center director, Jane Howard, and a local hotelier, he’d seen the light and reversed his position, he told Foy.When the budget was adopted on Monday, $300,000 a year for two years remained intact for the Welcome Center, which works hard and efficiently to promote Gilroy to the world and by doing so brings tax dollars to the city and other immeasurables that contribute to the general welfare.That unanimous vote to continue funding deserves a job-well-done to the council. The fact is, three members never wanted the funds cut. They are Dion Bracco, Cat Tucker and Roland Velasco. They deserve credit for seeing the right path. It takes guts to stand up to bullying and a wrecking crew. But when a mayor who has drawn a huge cumulative paycheck from taxpayers for years as an elected county official, and has sat though more hours of budget hearings than Christopher has garlic, does not do his fiscal homework and then, shooting from the hip, angers many by suggesting drastic cuts to a community asset, it kind of makes you wonder, what’s going on in Gilroy?The mayor wanted to take money from the Welcome Center and help at-risk youth, even though the city shares $2 million in grants to help youth. His explanation did not ring true. His critics are convinced it was mayoral revenge for the defeat of Measure F, a city sales tax increase whose biggest booster was the mayor. He denied it.Auto dealers ponied up big bucks to pass F, now the mayor is pushing for improved roads for easier driving to the dealerships. Friends and family of the mayor voted against F but never told him for fear of retaliation, according to several.During the F campaign, a merchant who was the face of the anti-F opposition and who had a makeshift storage unit at his shop for years without incident, suddenly received a citation for the unit.The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce opposed Measure F. After it failed, the mayor abruptly ended his practice of attending chamber breakfasts. He also cut off long-time friends and allies who opposed the measure, to their dismay and frustration. When the mayor demanded cuts in Welcome Center funding, just about everyone figured it was because the center director is related to the merchant who was cited but continued his vocal opposition to F. It’s a coincidence that kind of makes you wonder, what’s going on in Gilroy?Here is the other thing. When Mayor Gage originally suggested cuts in Welcome Center funding, three  council members, Terri Aulman, Perry Woodward and Peter Leroe-Munoz, agreed and voted with him to direct staff to rework the budget to include the cuts. A week later, when Gage explained his unpopular action by saying he didn’t understand the center’s operation and didn’t do his homework, those same three council members flip-flopped, too. The Welcome Center has been the most visible of many issues that have people unhappy with City Hall and this administration and what some describe as its arrogance. They ask why the mayor and City Hall are so anti-business, why it takes years to get permits, why some departments seem to badger and not help customers, why the mayor and his council allies are so unwilling to compromise, and how one person’s vision and petty likes and dislikes seem so easily to blind or dismiss the views and visions of others.The very real hope that swelled Gilroy’s collective community pride when local-boy-makes-good Don Gage gave up  his comfortable Santa Clara Valley Water District director position to come home and be the mayor again now is sadly deflated. It kind of makes you wonder, what’s going on in Gilroy?*With a nod to William Allen White, 1868-1944.

According to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday May 12th the number of Americans calling themselves Christian has dropped off sharply in recent years while the "none" classification has sharply increased especially among young people. One third of millennials say they have no faith affiliation. This was the result of a survey of 35,000 American adults.

 "FRAUDSTER" LABEL UNFAIRA few weeks ago you ran a headline and article calling people who want their children to go to Christopher High School “fraudsters”.  I think that is unfair.A very rich local man has built a palace of a school with every amenity that could be thought of including “legacy seating.”  This is wonderful for the rich kids who get to go there, but for the rest of Gilroy it’s not so great.  I know this man also donated some money to Gilroy High School, but there are a lot of us Gilroy citizens who do not think that the donation was equitable to what Christopher High School has become. The City Council should have made sure that both high schools had similar attributes and were on a par.  I have talked to quite a few people about this and so far everyone agrees with me.  Who can blame people for wanting their kids to have the best? Marjorie ApelGilroy“IRRESPONSIBLE”I am a labor and delivery nurse at St. Louise Hospital. I was also co-owner and founder of The Loft Family Enrichment Center in Morgan Hill. I am writing this letter in response to the recent announcement of the closing of the labor and delivery unit. The hospital claims it plans to provide some training to its ER staff to handle pregnant patients who come to the ER for treatment. Years of maternal health specialty training is needed to know how to identify emergent situations correctly. How can you recognize something if you don’t know what it looks like?I’m not afraid for the mothers who come to the ER and deliver normally as birth is a natural process and nature knows what to do without assistance over 90 percent of the time. But what about the rare obstetrical emergency that may have subtle outward signs that only maternal health trained professionals would recognize and which requires immediate recognition and an immediate life-saving mad dash to the OR to save the life of either baby or mother or both.Not one single life lost is worth this incredibly irresponsible decision made by a charity hospital which runs the ONLY labor and delivery unit in an area with a population of 100,000 people!Christine Newberg AromasIGNORE VOTERS?Why did the General Plan Advisory members largely ignore the results of the highly participated Community Workshop held at Eliot School in February?  The plan a large majority favored, to preserve agriculture and open space around our City Limits, would have been more economical to implement and provided the benefits of less air pollution and water conservation.All three alternatives presented by the consultant to the GPAC would provide enough room for population and job growth, but Alternative 3 for compact growth was clearly superior in several ways.  I refer readers to the gilroy20/40.com website  to look at the summary from Workshop #4.  See what YOU think, then attend the special Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, April 30th to let the commissioners know.  If enough people speak up, the Planning Commission will feel supported in making its own recommendations to the city council.Connie RogersFormer Gilroy City Council memberIT’S NOT POLITICSMayor Don Gage said they are outraged about the $483 million deal with the Prime (Healthcare) company. First of all, attorney general Kamala Harris is not playing politics! The only one talking politics is Mayor Gage. This deal has nothing to do with Harris running for higher office, nothing, period. Second, the mayor and the city council are out of touch, they don’t know the difference between a non-profit hospital and a for-profit hospital! All I can figure is they don’t care about ripping off the pubic, including poor people, veterans and the handicapped. For-profit means for-profit. Third, I don’t trust the mayor or city council. They have tried to rip us off before. Remember the elections! I would love to see another non-profit hospital here in Gilroy, but to use politics and the future of our families as a talking point is ludicrous and petty! Three hundred conditions, really Mayor Gage? Is that a fact or is this Prime talking? Let the public see the Prime contract, if this mayor and city council are open and very transparent, then let’s see the facts. Come on guys, show us why you’re so outraged—if not, why should we trust you?Daniel GarciaGilroy

It’s a wonder every member of the city council isn’t sent packing by recall elections, since it appears all won their seats under a city ordinance that’s flat-out unconstitutional.

It was a call from Pat Vickroy of Gilroy that brought attention to the problem of trash in and along Gilroy’s waterways and just who’s responsible for gathering and hauling it away.

The move by the Daughters of Charity Health System to sell Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and De Paul Medical Center in Morgan Hill might be the Roman Catholic religious order's best decision since it was founded in France in 1633 by St. Vincent de Paul to care for the poor.

It’s part of the American compact that citizens expect those sent to law-making bodies to represent their wishes.

New Dispatch hooks readers

Poets celebrate