Happy first day of spring tomorrow. It is time to put away the
winter clothes, time also to lay the March elections to rest.
Happy first day of spring tomorrow. It is time to put away the winter clothes, time also to lay the March elections to rest. Lisa Pampuch and Dennis Taylor have both written entire columns bemoaning the failure of Measure B, the library parcel tax.
The March ballot boasted eight tax-and-spend measures. Six passed, two failed, which means I got my way on two out of eight measures. I am not going to whine about the six that passed. You win some, you lose some. In a democracy, we the people get the government we deserve, and as the results show, we obviously deserve more bond indebtedness.
Looking over the results, it appears that 55 percent of the people in this county, in this state, will vote for absolutely anything … except to lower the requirement for passing a new tax from the current two-thirds to 55 percent. That proposition, Prop 56, failed to garner even 40 percent of the vote. I imagine a voter scrawling on a mirror, in red ink, the message, “Stop me before I spend again!”
Sixty-one percent of the electorate voted for Measure B, the library parcel tax. Fortunately for local area farmers, who would have had to cough up more than eight dollars per acre, and for commercial real estate owners, who would have had to pay more than $300 per acre, that measure failed, as it did not garner the necessary two-thirds.
Mr. Taylor, in his column of March 10, after castigating the electorate at large for being uncaring in not passing Measure B, asserts that I really have no objection to library ‘Net porn; I just want to prevent the masses from educating themselves. Hogwash, Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Kevin Heath, in his letter of March 16th, attributes to me things I have never said and attitudes I have never felt. Neither Mr. Heath nor Mr. Taylor seems able to read and understand an argument, much less to refute one, far less to structure one. This may explain why they rely so heavily on the ad hominem attack. I am glad that www.gilroydispatch.com has archives, so that no reader need imagine that the attacks of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Heath bear any resemblance to the truth.
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I attended the City Council meeting of March 15th, at which the Council voted 5-2 to certify the Economic Impact Report, and allow Wal-Mart to build its superstore. Major media were present: the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News and network TV news.
None of these media heavyweights were present when Costco was approved in 19 minutes flat, because Costco is mostly a union shop. Wal-Mart is not, and has therefore been systematically targeted by, not only our homegrown Gilroyan union members, but the state, national, and international union movements.
It was very interesting to watch Paul Correa up on the dais, groping for one excuse after another to delay approval, while in the row behind me, a young man wearing a Wal-Mart sad-face T-shirt muttered the straight union line: “They don’t give good benefits.”
In any case, five of our councilmen stood up for fairness and equal opportunity and right to work in the face of the combined might of the international union movement. I salute them. This time next year, we should have a Wal-Mart Superstore. That brings my March wins up to three out of nine, huzzah.
Two other agenda items concerned me. One was the Firework Mitigation Strategy, which deserves a whole column to itself. The other was a motion to begin the process of filing for eminent domain against 7347 Monterey Street, which belongs to Gin Loy Dong and Leung Kam See Dong. This item was continued, which is public-meeting jargon for postponed, until June 21.
This case does not merit filing eminent domain, which should be used for projects the government really needs, like roads, and, well, roads. In this case, the property is desired that Gilroy may build an art center.
I think that an art center is a want, not a need. I also think the city should not be buying property while simultaneously, frantically declaring that we are in dire financial straits right now, since the state is not giving us the funds that we expect.
