Want a textbook example of poppycock? Here
’s a classic: San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales thinks Morgan Hill is
“appropriately represented” on the Coyote Valley Planning Task
Force.
Want a textbook example of poppycock? Here’s a classic: San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales thinks Morgan Hill is “appropriately represented” on the Coyote Valley Planning Task Force. How many elected Morgan Hill officials – from either the school board or City Council – serve on the task force? None.
For the past year, Gonzales and the City of San Jose have rebuffed Morgan Hill’s attempts to gain a seat on the task force. A city staffer does serve on a technical advisory subcommittee, but is not a member of the full task force. A San Jose resident, Russ Danielson, a former trustee for the Morgan Hill School district – once an appointed official, never an elected official – serves on the full committee.
Here’s another example of poppycock, this time from Gonzales’ biography on the City of San Jose Web site: “Gonzales … is taking a regional approach to solving many of Silicon Valley’s most challenging problems…”
We don’t know of any definition of the word “regional” that would lead anyone to exclude Morgan Hill from Coyote Valley’s region, but apparently there’s one in the poppycock dictionaries that line Gonzales’ bookshelves.
Gonzales’ cold-shoulder treatment of Morgan Hill residents is shameful and irresponsible. But what else should we expect from the mayor of the city that sued to try to stop construction of Sobrato High School and who’s leading the charge to force South Valley residents to pay for a BART to San Jose extension boondoggle that will not benefit them one iota? We really shouldn’t be surprised.
But we should be outraged. Morgan Hill officials are absolutely right to expect and demand representation on the task force that’s planning a huge development just north of its borders. At build-out, Coyote Valley will have 25,000 housing units, 80,000 residents and 50,000 workers. That development is within the Morgan Hill School District’s attendance boundaries, yet the City of San Jose has not deigned to give a place at the planning table to even one current school board member. That’s disgraceful.
And even if the school district and city do not have a formal voice on the Coyote task force, both agencies need to have representatives, staff and/or elected officials, attend the meetings to voice concerns, make suggestions and demand solutions.
For instance, who is going to pay for building and staffing these new schools in the city of San Jose but within Morgan Hill School District boundaries? It’s no wonder that splitting the school district, now one of the largest geographically in the state, is again under discussion in some quarters.
Morgan Hill – a still-rural town of just 39,000 people – will have a new neighbor more than twice its size and it isn’t being allowed a voice in the planning process. The impacts will be enormous and wide-reaching. Everything from housing to traffic, from air quality to schools, from agriculture to retail, from infrastructure to public transportation will bear the brunt of Coyote Valley’s development.
And the impact won’t stop at Morgan Hill’s borders. It will spill over into Gilroy, Hollister and Salinas. The development of Coyote Valley will likely create critical demand for new roads and public transportation expansion. The air pollution created by the cars, fireplaces and construction will head south to South Valley. Our schools – from kindergarten to college – will need to accommodate thousands of new students.
It’s not just Morgan Hill and its school district that need real representation on the Coyote Valley Planning Task Force; so do Gilroy, Hollister, Salinas and Gavilan Community College.
Let’s make sure San Jose officials understand that they’re being lousy neighbors and urge them to give all Morgan Hill city and school officials – and all of South Valley – seats on the Coyote Valley Planning Task Force.
Here’s how to reach Gonzales: Office of the Mayor, 801 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95110; voice: 277-4237; fax: 277-3868; e-mail:
Ma********@ci.us
Let’s put an end to San Jose’s poppycock and start planning a Coyote Valley that’s good for the entire region.
To respond to this editorial or comment on this issue, please send or bring letters to Editor, The Morgan Hill Times, 30 E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037, fax to 779-3886 or e-mail to
ed******@mo*************.com
