It’s almost palpable. Downtown Gilroy is changing. It won’t
happen overnight, but in a decade, perhaps sooner, downtown will be
a very different place. What’s different? Focus and commitment.
It’s almost palpable. Downtown Gilroy is changing. It won’t happen overnight, but in a decade, perhaps sooner, downtown will be a very different place. What’s different? Focus and commitment.
Finally, our community leaders have kept the focus on downtown and that, coupled with a downtown guardian angel named Gary Walton and a series of transportation grants which have transformed sections of Monterey Street, is making a difference.
There is a new spirit of entrepreneurial downtown. Buildings are being refurbished and new construction, including the Gilroy Arts Center, is planned. South County Housing has big plans to raze the old Gilroy Cannery and build a downtown core housing project.
What will eventually transform downtown is simple: people. People who live downtown. People who want to walk to get a cup of coffee, drop of their dry cleaning, order a pizza, work out or grab a beer. People will drive business and that will, in turn, attract more business, more people and more investment.
What Gilroy has failed to do in the past is jump-start the process. And what we have discovered is that it doesn’t take the city shoveling out huge sums of cash for infrastructure to get the job done. Creating an “enterprise zone” works just fine. Lift the government restrictions, streamline the planning process and make common-sense decisions like allowing for more housing downtown, and you’re hiking down the path of revitalization.
Mayor Al Pinheiro is delivering on his campaign promise to keep the policy focus on downtown. The city is making significant strides in the revitalization effort. Yet there is more to do.
The start of a new year would be a good time for a downtown round table. Perhaps the mayor could invite people from the private sector who have invested in downtown to talk about the city’s planning process. Gary Walton should be on the list as well as builders Mark Hewell and Dave Sheedy. So should City Administrator Jay Baksa.
To keep the momentum up, there will have to be frank discussion and a willingness on the city’s part to seek solutions. Gilroy has started something exciting; let’s keep it going, let’s transform downtown so it’s not just lip service when we say “it’s the heart and soul of our city.”
