Roughly 200 concerned residents attended Wednesday night’s Community Safety Meeting at Eliot Elementary School in Gilroy.
The forum was held in response to last week’s double shooting on Chestnut Street that left 30-year-old Jesse Emmanuel Silos dead and another 37-year-old victim seriously wounded.
Mayor Don Gage was first to speak, and with the help of an interpreter he implored the east side community to join in the fight to make the streets safer.
“Let the police do their job,” Gage said. “Call 911.”
Superintendent Debbie Flores with the Gilroy Unified School District and Gilroy Police Sgt. Pedro Espinoza also addressed the community. Both echoed the mayor by encouraging everyone to find way to work together to create a “safe community.”
To the left of the lectern was a four-member panel consisting of officials from City, school and community agencies.
Alex Dorado, president of the Gilroy Gang Task Force and member of Victory Outreach Church, spoke directly to worried parents in the audience.
“If your son is in a gang, we can help,” Dorado said.
The microphone then made its way along the rest of the panel, which included Maria De Leon, director of Parks and Recreation for the City; Saul Gonzalez of Community Solutions (a leading South County social services agency); and Rigo Jimenez, Eliot Elementary Power School coordinator.
All offered suggestions on how the community could get youth off the streets and, alternately, into a variety of locally available programs that instill confidence, self respect, learning and community involvement.
When it came time for audience input regarding concerns about their neighborhoods, however, the meeting veered off in an unexpected direction.
For 30 minutes, audience members directed at the panel a slew of grievances related to garbage and dangerous drivers.
“There are too many wrecks at the intersection of Sixth and Rogers,” shouted one woman. “No one slows down around the schools.”
The woman’s comment ignited a firestorm of accusations from the crowd about perceived injustice to residents on the east side of Gilroy.
“People don’t even stop for pedestrians on the east side,” shouted another woman. “My family wants to move out.”
Gage explained to the audience that different people were needed to answer those questions and that the City would address those issues later.
The shouting continued as technical glitches continued to render a hastily procured microphone useless. When the speaker system was finally brought under control and people began to be heard over the sound of tired babies crying, the conversation turned to concerns over drugs and crime.
A stream of community members told the assembled dignitaries, law enforcement officers and community advocates just what it’s like living on the east side. Speaking in Spanish, many women and a few men talked of being too afraid to even go outside.
“You have no idea what is going to happen to you,” one woman said.
Sgt. Espinoza explained how it was up to the community to pick up the phone and call 911.
“Give the information,” Espinoza said. “If you don’t report, then we can’t help.”
Resident Vicky Farmer was seated in the audience and has lived on Gilroy’s east side for 10 years. She knows that making a meaningful impact on neighborhood safety is going to take more than just telling people to dial in their concerns.
“These people don’t trust,” Farmer said. “They see it (crime on the streets) every day.”
Farmer recalled telling her neighbors to stop smoking pot outside her house and coming away from the encounter unscathed.
“Don’t be afraid,” was Farmer’s advice to her neighbors.
At the end of the meeting, Gage took to the stage once more to reiterate how important the east side community members are to the rest of Gilroy.
“We don’t want anyone hurt,” Gage said. “We’ll solve this together.”
Gage’s last comment elicited the loudest round of applause of the evening.
As the crowd streamed out into the night, Flores was pleased that the opening round of dialogue about tackling the complicated issues on the east side had taken place.
“It was a great way to hear their concerns,” Flores added.
