Readers share thoughts on the city taking control of Gilroy
Gardens and crime in the city
Council Candidate Outlines Thoughts on City and Gilroy Gardens
Dear Editor,
In spring 1979, as a student at Glen View Elementary, I had the opportunity to participate in a small class taught one day a week for 12 weeks at a place called Tree Haven. The class was all about trees and the teacher was Michael Bonfante. It was a fantastic and memorable experience. Much has changed since 1979, and the land is today known as Gilroy Gardens. It remains 516 acres of wooded foothills and 250 acres of it are still undeveloped.
I bring this up because as a candidate in the city council election, much of my time over the last couple months has been spent talking with local residents. One question frequently comes up: What does the city intend to do about Gilroy Gardens? The city has the opportunity to purchase it for a small fraction of its appraised market value. Some see taking over operation of the theme park as a financial quagmire that should be avoided. Others fear that if the city does not act the land will fall into the hands of developers. I share both concerns.
It should be noted that the current council has been discussing the matter almost entirely in closed session. Why exclude the public from the discussion about how to spend city funds? The current council has not satisfactorily answered that question. Later, when the precise terms of a purchase offer are being formulated, a closed session makes sense. Before then, a closed session flagrantly ignores the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law.
The simple fact is that the current council either has no clear plan for dealing with Gilroy Gardens or has not felt it necessary to share its plan with us. In my view, the land deal being offered the city is too good to pass up; For less than $13 million the city can acquire land recently appraised at about $60 million. In fact, a private party intent on massively expanding the theme park and building a luxury hotel recently said that it would pay $50 million for the same deal that the city is being offered. Instead, the city should buy the land with the intention of holding on to it for a long time.
Perhaps Gilroy Gardens will flourish and become financially self-sufficient. If so, then the city will have saved a valuable and unique local business with regional appeal, and at the same time made an incredible land deal. And, should it one day turn a profit, the city already stands to receive a share of the funds for educational purposes under the terms of the agreement in 2005 that created the non-profit corporation. On the other hand, perhaps Gilroy Gardens will ultimately fail. In that case, the city can remove the theme park entirely and turn this land into the crown jewel of the city’s park system. Either way, the land beneath Gilroy Gardens is only going to become more valuable over time and the city’s investment in this land will be remembered by future generations of Gilroyans as an enlightened decision.
I am, of course, open to learning your reaction to this plan and would appreciate suggestions on how this plan could be improved. You can contact me through my campaign web site: woodwardforgilroy.org.
Perry Woodward, Gilroy
Despite Increase in Population, Gilroy is a Safe Place to Live
Dear Editor,
We are monitoring the crime stats as we have been for the past two years. We recognize the crime trends and also realize that this is not just a local trend, rather a regional trend. This July we made adjustments to staffing deployments to help combat this trend. Our goal is to have more staff on the street at peak hours. We are currently evaluating the effectiveness of this deployment plan. We rely heavily on our Neighborhood Resource Unit to provide community education. Our patrol division is working very efficiently in response to calls for service. Patrol is also continuing proactive enforcement. We encourage our patrol officers to think outside of the box to come up with innovative ways to lower crime rates. Our Anti-Crime Team is working together very well and they have been successful in investigating and solving many complicated gang and narcotic cases. ACT also continues with proactive probation and parole sweeps. Our detective unit is working diligently investigating all types of crime including burglaries. Between all of the units in the department we have made some recent burglary arrests that we feel are significant.
The City of Gilroy is still a safe place to live, work, and play. The numbers of crime are about the same as they were 10 years ago even though the population has increased by 15,000. We continue to strive to fight crime by working in partnership with the community to provide excellent public safety.
Gregg Giusiana, Chief of Police
