Not sure how we’re going to build two paseos downtown before the
end of MayorAl’s term when it’s taking a coon’s age to figure out
“dance regulations,” but I hope it happens.
Not sure how we’re going to build two paseos downtown before the end of MayorAl’s term when it’s taking a coon’s age to figure out “dance regulations,” but I hope it happens. Paseos could really enhance downtown, becoming both a community gathering place and a place to relax. It’s a quality of life addition that also would help incubate businesses – like a downtown deli.
Deli-licious addition to downtown: Desero’s. Enjoyed a peppery pasta meal with Miss Jenny and friends Sunday after Passport weekend and a tequila with the news staff Friday. Owners Renato and Denise Cusimano are working their tails off to make everything go smoothly, and they’ve managed a fine out-of-the-gate opening. Jose “Pepe” Ruiz behind the bar directed me to his favorite tequila, Don Julio 1942, which he serves in a brandy snifter with bite-sized slices of an orange and a strawberry which you dip in cinnamon before sipping the tequila. Fantastic. Who knew?
Note to Sal and Annie Tomasello and John and Leighan Perales: Knew after I sat down and looked around that Desero’s would either be the perfect place to hold the celebratory annual Tequila Tasting, a benefit event for the Latino Family Fund de Gilroy held in May, or to engage Renato and Denise as partners. The “tequila bible” they have at the restaurant is fascinating in scope and detail and the owners are community minded, so it could be a great partnership for a fun benefit that awards scholarships to deserving youth.
Good to see the youth and families from El Roble School participating in International Walk to School Day Wednesday. Pat on the back for organizer Cindi Torres and the El Roble Home and School Club. Gilroy’s school auto traffic snafus are a horrible testament to shortsighted planning and our city has the highest juvenile obesity rate in the county. So, anything we can do to encourage students to walk to school is definitely a good thing for Gilroy on numerous fronts.
Front of the line if you’re interested in a good cause sign up for the Tee Off for St. Joe’s which benefits St. Joseph’s Family Center, Gilroy’s super-efficient homegrown charitable organization. St. Joseph’s helps local families in need of temporary urgent assistance whether it’s baby food, help with an unpayable PG&E bill or funding the meals provided at the Lord’s Table. Players are needed. It’s a four-person, nine hole scramble on Friday, Oct 14 with lunch, BBQ dinner and all the on-course beverage trimmings for a mere $100. Tee off at 1 p.m. You can sign up directly on the website at http://stjosephsgilroy.org (find tourney below recent updates on the right side) or ring up Jimmy Habing at 408.710.1531 or St. Joe’s Director David Cox at 408.500.2161. It’s a guaranteed good time for one of the most worthy causes in town.
Worthy cause II is a right now today happening: Hello Gorgeous Salon’s Fourth Annual Fashion Show, organized by salon owner Kristen Soseman, is Friday at 2 p.m. It’s $35 at the door. Proceeds benefit victims of child abuse and neglect and at-risk children. Appetizers, music, fun, raffle, silent auction in the courtyard of the beautiful Piazza Building (where Snap Fitness is) at Santa Teresa and First St. Take the afternoon off for a good party …
Bad party: Gavilan College football players taking it way over the limit on Orchard Drive. Shots fired, cops called, alcohol prevalent, 19-year-old freshman wide receiver Jerry Landers arrested along with a 16-year-old girl. That’s right, a 16-year-old girl. Brilliant guys – wonder if there were more underage girls in the house boozing it up with the boys? Dumb and Dumber with a capital “D.” All this party after a stirring 56-0 loss to College of the Sequoias. Blowing off some steam, I get it. But this is way out of bounds. Nine players suspended, Saturday’s game against Contra Costa forfeited and the college embarrassed. Have to hand it to first-year head coach Spencer Gilford for following through with a hard lesson on the suspensions and forfeit, but Gavilan President Steve Kinsella and the Board have to take a hard look at the declining football program, the cost-benefit ratio associated with it and decide if it’s worth the commitments of time, energy and money. Hate to say it, but the glory gridiron days at Gavilan seem, unfortunately, long gone and inexorably headed for the history books.
Coach, father and mentor Bobby Garcia, a big part of Gavilan football lore, has been a regular at the bedside of now-retired longtime city recreation supervisor John “Big Heart” Garcia, who also coached alongside Bobby at Gavilan for many years. John is suffering from a years-long battle with melanoma, but his legacy is one of always lending a helping hand. For years, when a group of us ran the Tee off for Youth Golf Tournament to support the Gilroy Youth Center on Railroad Avenue, John would help out with literally “whatever needed to be done.” That’s a small example of his Big Heart, and he attributes that development back some 45 years ago to a Gavilan College football coach. In a 2008 Dispatch interview, Garcia, then a sophomore, said this of his Gavilan coach: “I think I would’ve gone in the wrong direction without Wayne Howard. He was like my father, and I owe my life to him.” Howard showed Garcia how empowering another person’s faith in him could be. “After I met (Howard), I promised I would always help people out and do anything I could to let individuals know that there are people who care for them,” Garcia said. That’s a promise he kept time and time again in this community, and one which is a tribute to what a good coach and a good program can do to mold a good man.
Many a community minded person on the Garlic Festival Board, but I have trouble understanding the decision not to sell a few things at Gilroy’s new Welcome Center at the outlets. The more exposure for the Garlic Festival, the better for the community groups which benefit. In fact, the more people at the Festival, the more benefit for the private merchants who sell products there. The Welcome Center’s not a Garlic Festival business venture, so there’s no financial risk. Far be it from me to peel back the layers in this “paint job.” The Garlic Festival is a non-profit that benefits the entire community. It also benefits specific merchants who pay a fee to sell on the Christmas Hill Park premises for three days the last full weekend in July. So, following the logic (or, more appropriate, the illogic), the Garlic Festival will “compete” with private businesses for three days in July at a huge money-making event with the Garlic Mercantile, but not “compete” selling a few things at the Gilroy Welcome Center which exists, in part, to promote the Festival? In my book, that’s as twisted as a garlic braid.
Twisted my neck and paused to catch at little Frys.com Open on the tube while walking through the newsroom Thursday and saw Tiger staring into the weed-choked creek looking for the mischievous white ball. “Been there,” I said, though I know the tees I played from were 125 yards in front of Tiger’s. Look forward to traipsing around CordeValle Friday and seeing him hit a few shots. An hour later, I caught the leader board and saw Briny Baird’s name atop the leader list. Geez, parents, if you were going to go that direction you might as well have named him Shakespeare. Four under fair fellow, play on …
