Like a glittering swarm of locusts, the fly-by-night vendors
descended on our fair Garlic City with Valentine’s Day wares,
setting up makeshift shops all over town. The word on the street is
clearly out: Gilroy is an easy mark.
Like a glittering swarm of locusts, the fly-by-night vendors descended on our fair Garlic City with Valentine’s Day wares, setting up makeshift shops all over town. The word on the street is clearly out: Gilroy is an easy mark. The city yawns and looks the other way while slick-operating vendors pick the pockets of local merchants … and there’s no end to the excuses for the lack of enforcement of city laws requiring business licenses. Talk, talk, talk about business retention is cheap, cheap, cheap when the city can’t even protect the local florists from the organized street vendor mafia. Local businesses like Frank’s Garden Florist and the Gilroy Flower Shop deserve better. They pay property taxes, insurance, employee taxes, buy their gasoline and their coffee here every day of the year, yet City Hall allows vendors to undercut them and avoid paying, for example, sales tax. How about a sting on Mother’s Day? How about a little investigative work – all the merchandise looks about the same, is there a single source? How about protecting the local merchants who contribute to making Gilroy great year round?
Gilroy is Great because Rotarian, former commercial pilot and avid tennis player Marco Renella has teamed up with the city recreation department to include our fair Garlic City in the national Tennis Night in America event to introduce the sport to young people. Kids don’t even need a racquet to take a whack at a tennis ball Sunday, March 6 at Christopher High School. The free Intro to Tennis Clinic is for 5 to 12 years olds. It starts at noon in the CHS gym. Details: 846-0460. You just never know what sport a child might fall in love with, so the key is to expose them to as many as possible and see what sticks.
Stick it did, many moons ago when daughter Shannon started to sing on stage. It’s a clear-as-a-bell memory when she landed her first solo singing “Blue Skies” in a John Bisceglie show staged in a warehouse at Christopher Ranch. (Now there’s a business that contributes to the community year after year.) Anyway, two of three daughter sing, and Mariah, who’s taking a voice class at Oregon State, had the privilege to sing in Phil Robb’s choir while at Gilroy High. So, I’m an American Idol fan and hoped that the kid with local family ties, DeAndre Brackensick, would make it to the top 24. He didn’t, but he went a long way and it’s a far cry from competing in Morgan Hill’s Idol Competition. It takes guts to get up on stage and let it all flow out of you. That’s another reason why Gilroy is Great. There are all kinds of opportunities for young people to experience theater here, from the STAR summer program at Gavilan College to South Valley Civic Theater to Gilroy Children’s Musical Theater. And heads up, John Bisceglie is planning “Gleeful” … “a hilarious parody based on the hit TV show, overflowing with singing, dancing and comedy.” Auditions in August.
In August, hopefully there’s a thriving Gilroy Farmer’s Market. Early word is that the market would be held adjacent to the Community Demonstration Garden downtown on Sundays. Vendors would not be limited to produce and flowers but would include artists (pottery and such) and, perhaps, local businesses would support the event with coffee and crepes. Combine that with a bit of marketing and Gilroy may have a success on its hands. Councilman Peter Leroe-Muñoz took the time to get in on the ground floor, lending his time and energy at an initial meeting. Great to see that kind of leadership support from the top.
Top of the news: Snow in Gilroy. Bev at Looking Good Salon, who is the No. 1 rated weather forecaster in town, says so. (No, I’m not sure who is the No. 2 rated weather forecaster.) Ma Nature, though, pulled a fast one on me. I boldly took the blankets off the citrus trees when the thermometer hit 70 degrees about 10 days ago and now it’s nature’s voodoo time …
Voodoo Doughnuts is famous in Old Town Portland, famous for it’s spell-binding menu which includes a Bacon Maple Bar – raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting and bacon on top (Miss Jenny and I split one, it’s strangely delicious) – and a Captain my Captain doughnut – raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch. Not sure why that percolated in my mind, but I woke up the other morning after dreaming about being at an event at Lizarran Restaurant upstairs in Old City Hall and having Bill Christopher point out the window to his new business venture downtown, a retro diner that served up renowned doughnuts including a garlic cream version …
Strange dreams to harsh reality … Gas prices are climbing as quickly as public employee pensions. Thankfully, Gilroy is Great because there are station owners who play fair. Bozzo’s Union 76 on the north side of First Street, unlike many stations, doesn’t raise prices at the first sniff of opportunity. Prices are fair reflections of the market and you can even save on gas by filling up your tires with air – and that’s free. Imagine that.
Imagine that three storefronts in a row are vacant at the Gilroy Premium Outlets. Never seen it, but it’s a fact in the row near Bose and Rockport Shoes. If gas hits $4 a gallon and Gilroy, now largely dependent on sales taxes as a crossroads retail center, suffers because people cut back on driving, what’s Plan B? Now that would have been a good topic for the City Council retreat … oh, sorry, I know, we’ll knock down the Outlets, float a bond, build rows of $35,000 bocce ball courts and christen it the MayorAl Bocce Ball Center while lobbying for a High Speed Rail stop there.
Have I mentioned that Sarah’s Vineyard, a privately owned and operated Gilroy business on Hecker Pass, has beautiful bocce ball courts and a place for a lovely picnic. City Hall better start truly caring about local businesses, not just in words, but in deeds. Take a look at our auto row – in the rear view mirror.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@****ic.com
