Solving the Shopping Cart Dilemma in Gilroy With a Simple Contraption

Dear Editor, I am responding to the story
”
City Corrals Carts.
”
I guess this is one of the things that upsets me while
shopping.
 
Solving the Shopping Cart Dilemma in Gilroy With a Simple Contraption

Dear Editor,

I am responding to the story “City Corrals Carts.” I guess this is one of the things that upsets me while shopping.  Shopping carts deposited in flower beds, empty parking spots and a few times hitting my car. I am glad you brought this subject up in our hometown paper. 

It is really surprising how “lazy” people have become that they can’t return shopping carts to the designated areas in our shopping centers. 

Anyone who has ever shopped at a supermarket in Germany can tell you that you have to pay a “deposit” to get a shopping cart. Shopping carts are hooked together, to release the cart you place a coin in the amount equivalent to $1 in a drop box, which releases the shopping cart. When the cart gets returned to the designated area it will be hooked back up, which will release the coin. 

This mechanism works surprisingly well, and there are no shopping carts on the loose there. Once it will cost shoppers some money they will get a little more disciplined.  

Ute W. Nichols, Gilroy

‘If Cheerleading Was Easier, It Would be Called Football’ … How True, How True

Dear Editor,

Congratulations to the Gilroy Pop Warner Pee Wee Cheer Team going to Nationals! Any parent of a competitive cheerleader knows just how much hard work, dedication and long hours goes into this amazing sport! Unlike many other sports, competitive cheer requires skills and long hours of practice in many areas. These girls and boys are part gymnasts, dancers, choreographers and all-around athletes! They are spirit and athletic leaders.

I loved the, “If cheerleading was easier, it would be called football” comment. How true. I remember my own daughter and her competitive teams on the field just as long (and frequently longer) than the football team, every day, beginning in the middle of the summer, when all the other teenagers were at the beach. And, I remember the weekly (if not daily), strains, sprains, bumps, bruises and bloody scrapes on her arms, legs and hips … this is not a passive sport!

One correction to Inga Alonzo’s comment, “Gilroy has never had a team at nationals.” Not true. The Gilroy High School Competitive Cheer Team made Nationals in 2004. They took first place at Sacramento State University, which won them an automatic bid to the Nationals in Florida. I drove the girls to Sacramento State and to the airport when they flew to Nationals (and yes, by the end of both trips I knew exactly who was dating who!). It was an amazing time for all, and a memory that I will treasure forever.

I’m confident we will see our Gilroy Pee Wee Cheer Team at Nationals again next year, so please let me know how I can make a donation to help fund their trip. The Erin Kinkel Memorial Scholarship Fund will find some available funds for this wonderful program.

Way to go team!

Scott Kinkel, Gilroy

Police and SV Disposal Could Help to Take These Thieves Off of Our Streets

Dear Editor,

We continue to have issue with recycling theft on our street each Thursday morning.

We have been trying to get resolution on this for months. Part of the problem is that frequently these people come to our street during the Gilroy Police Department “shift change.”

We even have one elderly man who watches our home to make sure we’ve departed for the day! We’ve reported him probably a dozen times, and he still frequents our street!

This past Thursday new faces came to our street. We put a call in to the non-emergency number and took a picture.

To our knowledge these people were neither apprehended nor sited. With our home having been robbed last October, allowing these strangers to wander through our neighborhood unchecked is unacceptable.

It is our hope that, while recognized emergency situations take highest priority, that some new plan of action be put into place to remove these law breakers from our streets. These wandering recycle thieves should not be “above the law” simply due to their type of crime being a low priority, and a better way to discourage them needs to be put into place.

Perhaps the City of Gilroy could work with South Valley Disposal to introduce the multi-gallon gray and blue covered recycle carts that the city of San Jose converted to three or four years ago. When this conversion took place, we observed a SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION in wandering collectors because they could not quickly nor effectively sift through the multi-gallon covered bins. When the covered multi-gallon bins were introduced, these people stopped coming to our home in San Jose. Now that we live in Gilroy, and until such time as a solution is found, we will continue to call the non-emergency police number and report these people to the friendly dispatcher. In the meantime, we hope the city and South Valley Disposal can get together and minimize this problem on behalf of all of Gilroy’s residents.

C.L. Taylor, Gilroy

‘Enough is Enough’ … It’s High Time for a New Gilroy City Administrator

Dear Editor,

It looks to me City Administrator Jay Baksa needs a reality check. Yes, Mr. Baksa you gave them a sweetheart deal, and now you say you are sorry. The only problem is you did it in secret, why was this?

You said you will save the city more than a $100,000 a year, now that’s hard to believe.

The secret backroom deal is one thing, but 22 years on the job and he don’t know better? That’s also hard to believe, and the apology was fake, that’s easy to believe.

So enough is enough, Jay. You messed up, you blew it bad. Time for a new administrator, and by the look of things it’s long overdue. It’s nice, Mr. Baksa, that you show an interest in the sports at school, but what about the rest of the town, man? After what you and the mayor have done to this town, “Enough is enough” all right.

Daniel Garcia, Gilroy