This I know after 25 years in the news business: If there’s a
drought, the wildfire danger is extreme because the vegetation is
crispy dry
This I know after 25 years in the news business: If there’s a drought, the wildfire danger is extreme because the vegetation is crispy dry; if the winter rain – oodles of it – has transformed Gilroy’s April hills into County Cork’s hillsides in Ireland, the fire danger is off the charts because there’s an abundance of fuel for the burning. So … damned if it rains, damned if it doesn’t … and it doesn’t matter either way to the powers that be (listening Don?) because the Santa Clara Valley Water District is always thirsty for your money and it’s going to find any and all ways to soak you dry.
Damned if Gilroy’s proposed city budget isn’t a might-as-well-be official declaration that the “Great Recession” is over. Furloughs over, raises possible and no problem covering declining property tax revenues with projected sales tax increases. It’s Katie Bar the Door and Let the Good Times Roll again. Seems like we’re jumping the gun to me. Word to the City Council wise: Return to the days of Mayor Mike Gilroy and go through the budget line by line – not willy nilly skipping from here to there on a mere random Councilman’s question whim. Do a thorough review and for every line item ask this out loud: “How does spending this money benefit the residents of our community?” Remember, for example, that through all the years of booming sales tax prosperity, Gilroy couldn’t even fix up the amphitheater at Christmas Hill Park. We did get four firefighters to an engine, though, and pension obligations that will be a heavy albatross around the city’s neck for years to come.
In the weekends to come, it’s a dang good idea to be following this year’s Garlic Festival poster contest winner, local artist JoAnne Perez-Robinson, around. First stop for JoMama and her soothing art display, one of the homes on the always captivating Gilroy Assistance League’s Home Tour this Friday and Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend; second stop, the Downtown Gilroy Wine Stroll on Saturday, May 14 from 2 to 6 p.m. and third stop, the pièce de resistance, the Menage à Trois event – art, wine and chocolate – at the beautiful Fernwood Cellars in the countryside on Redwood Retreat Road from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 21. Voilà a trois for the next three weekends. All event details on our website as usual.
Unusual and sorry I missed it, MayorAl conducting the Watsonville Community Band at Gilroy Gardens Wednesday evening. If anyone has a video, please send it along, that would be fun to see … can’t you just picture MayorAl in 10 years, retired, shaggy hair, flowing beard waving a wand in front of a band on the Fourth of July … a few lessons arranged by the good folks at Porcella’s Music and our mayor may find a third calling … ah, new moniker, MaestroAl …
Maestro on the ice is a good way to describe San Jose Sharks Captain Joe Thornton in the Stanley Cup playoffs – and really during the last half of the season. The monkeys are flying off his back now that Thornton has unlocked the magic box. He’s finally locked in. Three numbers of four in the magic combination were always there, but Thornton couldn’t figure out the last. He has it now, and is securely comfortable in his role, confident in what he needs to do to push the Sharks into the penultimate series that will wind up with one team hoisting The Cup. He’s a playmaker, a scorer, a puck thief and a warrior all at once and at once for all. And that’s making all the difference the Sharks need.
All the difference is desire and execution and both appear to be well in hand as the Sunday, June 5 debut of the downtown Gilroy Farmer’s Market fast approaches. Mark your calendars, the early vendor line-up is impressive and the impetus to get this going in the right direction right away is clearly there. What’s going to be needed is community support so get ready for a Sunday stroll, some shopping and some socializing at the Gilroy Farmer’s Market …
Well, well, well … we interrupt the flow of this column to announce that former candidate for District One Santa Clara County supervisor, Teresa Alvarado, has accepted a position – no doubt a very lucrative position – with the Santa Clara Valley Water District as the manager of communications and will report directly to CEO Beau Goldie. Look out taxpayers, here comes that big bonanza ballot bond measure that the District so desperately needs to quake-proof the dams … first order of biz for Ms. Alvarado, complete honest answers to Bob Cerruti’s letter to the editor which, in a fit of serendipity, just so happens to be on page A5 today … the well, well, well is indeed deep, deep, deep at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Deep wells of goodness ahead as the Gilroy Sportsman Chefs, a good ol’ club for guys like Guy Bostock who just wanna have fun and do something positive for the community, put on the annual Fishability Day on May 14 for those with special needs. It’s one of those days that puts a smile on everyone’s face. The pond at Hill Tops Springs Ranch off of Old Leavesley Road is stocked with mucho trout, participants get a pole and the rest is glee. DaChefs clean the fish and pack it in ice for potential home cooking.
Home cooking – as in authentic Mexican appetizers – is what you’ll get at the Fifth Annual Tequila Tasting at the historic Willey House downtown on Saturday, May 21 from 3 to 7 p.m. Premium tequila tasting, snacks, music and a silent auction to benefit the Latino Family Fund de Gilroy. Easy $35 tickets, too, just go online to www.eventbrite.com/event/1213245851.
Mom’s Day Sunday … thanks toward the heavens for the warmest smile, the youthful spirit, the tunes we sang on the player piano, the shelf always stocked with peanut butter, the quick trips to Cook’s Seafood to pick up a crab, the love of swimming in the sea and just the love – it is as perennial as the grass.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@****ic.com
