Letters: Collaborative efforts are needed now more than ever

Dear Editor, I am pleased that Council is considering
collaborating with local agencies for the delivery of municipal
services. I have been advocating this for years while a member of
the Council.
Collaborative efforts are needed now more than ever

Dear Editor,

I am pleased that Council is considering collaborating with local agencies for the delivery of municipal services. I have been advocating this for years while a member of the Council. Such efforts must be a continuous process and not one that is driven by crisis. The fact that it will take three years to study is a concern and the length of time makes it seem that it is a disingenuous effort. 

Certain proposals such as collaborating on dispatch services could be done sooner than later because the infrastructure is already in place and could be easily adopted. Public works is the other area where collaboration would be of benefit.

In the past, Council would place certain projects on the fast track. This should be one of them. However, I am not sure Council wants to move in this direction. Granted it’s not what has been done before, and it feels uncomfortable but it is something we have to do. Government at all levels needs to be able to do with less and the methodology is through consolidation. Business does this all the time and selected entities serving Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Martin – should they ever incorporate – make sense. 

Collaboration is not anything new to either city. At the moment, Morgan Hill and Gilroy jointly own and operate the South County Regional Waste Water Authority. This successful joint venture treats the wastewater of both communities. This model can be used for other potential considerations as we study the joint delivery of selected services.

I am urging the Councils from Morgan Hill and Gilroy to take advantage of the economic crisis and do together, and perhaps better, than either community can do alone. 

If President Obama can pass an $819 billion stimulus plan in the first couple of weeks of office, we certainly should not take three years to save a million or two from the general fund. It is time for bold leadership to make decisions that will make a difference not only in our community but also in all of southern Santa Clara County.

Mark Grzan, former Morgan Hill Councilmember

Viability of downtown theater is suspect, most likely doomed

Dear Editor,

Regarding your recent Kick Starting Downtown editorial:

Well said. The viability of any cinema business model that is not a multiplex is totally suspect, and most likely, doomed. Especially so in this age of digital media when large flat screens, NetFlix and home theatre systems are seemingly standard issue in many households. A theatre large enough to survive and thrive downtown, would likely only do so at the expense of cannibalizing the existing business at Tennant Station. This very scenario was just recently experienced in Redwood City.

The city and the downtown would be better served by identifying, attracting and incubating businesses, other than restaurants, that would draw people downtown.

The City Council, via the RDA, has speculated in downtown real estate with the taxpayers’ money at precisely the wrong time, demonstrated poor execution (Measure H’s failure) and has exhibited an apparent lack of understanding of the fundamentals of the market. Their flawed, economic engineering model, imposed from the top down, is eerily reminiscent of those infamous, failed Soviet Politburo “Five-Year Plans” from a bygone era.

No doubt, all of this was and is being done with the best of intentions and now, having painted themselves into a corner, the Council appears desperate to spend themselves out of it. The panicked rush to get this proposed project fast tracked will most likely only serve to compound their previous miscalculations. I submit that successful downtown development is better left to those with the vision and entrepreneurship to invest their own capital, like the proprietors of Fuzia and Ragoots.

While the Council’s fervent desire to make something, anything, happen downtown is admirable, this ill-advised Hail Mary pass looks like it is being thrown by a blind Venus de Milo. Now, especially in this economic maelstrom, is not the time for the Council to throw good money after bad. It would be different if an experienced, successful theatre developer/operator had approached the city with a proposal to address a demonstrated need, but that is simply not the case here. Let’s step back, take a breath, study the alternatives and make a reasoned, intelligent decision regarding downtown’s future development.

Frank Manocchio, Morgan Hill

Time for an organic revolution

Dear Editor,

With unemployment, food scares, and demands on food banks all up, the time is now for an organic revolution. President Obama and Congress are currently considering a massive financial stimulus package to rescue our economy. Absent from the discussion has been any reference to supporting a sustainable and organic food system. 

Our economy and national security depend on relocalizing our food system, shifting away from chemically dependent industrial agriculture and assuring the system supports living wages for farmers, farm workers and others in the supply chain.

Redirecting the billions of dollars in farm subsidies away from corporate farms and industrial biofuels toward a just and organic food system is a solid long-term investment in America’s future.

There are people who know how to grow good food safely. Check out www.organicconsumers.org/usda_watch.cfm for information.

Eileen Sendrey, Morgan Hill