Binding arbitration, affordable housing are hot buttons for
council hopefuls
Gilroy – Campaign filings for the November election are trickling into City Hall, and candidates for the three available seats are already positioning themselves on hot-button issues.
This fall, City Council hopefuls could live or die based on the single issue of binding arbitration.
Mayor Al Pinheiro, who is not facing re-election, is pushing fellow councilmen to approve a ballot measure that could end binding arbitration. The effort, which has mixed support among council members, comes amidst continued contractual disagreements with Fire Local 2805. Pinheiro and other councilmen have decried the use of a third-party mediator as handing over the fate of the city budget to an non-elected official.
Councilmen Bob Dillon, Craig Gartman, and Charlie Morales – whose seats are up for grabs in November – could find themselves on the same ballot as the arbitration issue.
Dillon has backed Pinheiro’s decision to end binding arbitration, while Morales said he opposes such a move. Gartman has taken a more careful tack on the issue, which drew support from thousands of friends and family of firefighters and police officers when it first passed in the late ’80s.
“If it was brought up and the desire was to bring it before the voters, I’d be willing to support bringing it to the voters,” he said. “But I believe binding arbitration has been very beneficial for the city and the unions. There’s been a lot of positives, there’s been a few negatives. It’s a tool that I don’t know I want to see it removed.”
Council hopeful Dion Bracco, now chairman of the Planning Commission, has expressed support for public safety workers but said he would like to see binding arbitration rescinded. Former Councilman Peter Arellano, who has declared his intention to run, could not be reached for comment.
Regardless of position on the issue, council members and hopefuls have drawn a clear connection between binding arbitration and the city’s financial health, an issue that draws perennial lip service from candidates. But an equally critical issue facing the city in coming years is the management of growth.
The need to provide additional services as Gilroy grows outward has stretched the city budget, and councilmen are headed toward a major debate on how to encourage growth that creates affordable housing and avoids sprawl.
“I think the whole development issue is ongoing,” said Joel Goldsmith, president of his family’s seed business and a central figure in crafting development plans for the Hecker Pass area. “The management of that is going to be critical to the growth of Gilroy.”
He pointed out that the city is in the first few years of its 10-year building permit cycle, but has already doled out the vast majority of construction permits through 2013. The next City Council will tackle the issue of setting growth limits while nurturing the city’s downtown.
Some builders and developers have pushed to have the area released from the city’s Residential Development Ordinance, the growth control measure that forces developers to compete for a limited number of building permits every few years.
Gartman has expressed caution about a blanket exemption for the downtown area.
“Part of me wants to open it up a little bit and have a special category just for the downtown area, but also keep it part of the RDO,” he said. “The RDO for the city runs on a different timeline than something for the downtown area.”
The next council also will have to design economic incentives to continue downtown improvements. For instance, officials have already discussed the possibility of continuing waivers of development fees for certain businesses, based on the six districts within the city’s draft Downtown Specific Plan.
Other likely issues council candidates will face this fall – affordable housing, parking for the downtown area, and sidewalk repair and tree maintenance.
