Dear Editor, The Santa Clara Valley Water District has been
feeding at the
”
public trough
”
for way too long, with bloated bureaucracy, budget, and payroll
with minimal oversight, transparency, or accountability.
Dear Editor,
The Santa Clara Valley Water District has been feeding at the “public trough” for way too long, with bloated bureaucracy, budget, and payroll with minimal oversight, transparency, or accountability. Water rate increases have been increasing far more rapidly than inflationary rates over the past 10 years, foisted upon the backs of taxpayers with little or no recourse. Meetings concerning rate hikes are given “lip service” and a deaf ear at best. Why is construction continuing as it has been when we are experiencing a “drought”? All these points are and have been very well documented in Bay Area newspapers. Last year’s SCVWD debacle was certainly a step in the right direction, but there is much to be done yet.
Anyone else?
Stu Kingman, Morgan Hill
Time to stop funding the theme park known as downtown
Dear Editor,
The few blocks of our wonderful City of Morgan Hill have been given a theme-park kind of a name. We are developing a Knott’s Berry Farm or a Bonfante Gardens with a fake name called Downtown Morgan Hill.
Several places, or centers of commerce, now qualify for a description of Downtown. Vineyard Center, Tennant Station and Cochrane Plaza. These downtowns are located on the transportation corridors. They are the heart and soul of the City. They are the businesses that generate the taxes that benefit the city.
In this time of great financial difficulty, I believe, we cannot afford to let our local government continue to finance a theme park.
We cannot afford to tax the businesses in the actual downtown centers and use the money to subsidize their competition. We must stop the funding for the employees of the Downtown Merchants Association while we are laying off city employees. We must stop the funding for employees of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce while we are laying off city employees. We must investigate why we are paying to hire Employees of the Young Men’s Christian Association while we are in deficit budget and laying off city employees.
Our public service employees are one of our most important investments. We are putting these ethical, trained and productive people out of work.
Staten Johnston, Morgan Hill
CAL FIRE can do the job and at much less cost to residents
Dear Editor,
I was happy to see the recent editorial headlined “Fire Service, Dollars and Common Sense,” and very happy to see the consideration of Cal Fire.
Having retired from Cal Fire after 34 years of public service and living in Gilroy all my life, I can tell you that Cal Fire is capable of administrating the city of Gilroy Fire Department as well as any other fire service at a much less cost.
There would be no reason to cut “PERS” benefits. The retired employees would receive all the benefits. Only problem for the firefighters is they would get a significant reduction in pay. But, they would still have a job with benefits that are very good.
I retired eight years ago and I receive half of what my “fire service brother” in the same rank received after his retirement from Santa Clara County Fire. So see how I feel when someone says to me, “You 90 people are rich off the taxpayers.” No, I am not rich, but I had a job that gave me medical benefits and a respectable income after serving the public.
I said this before in a previous letter to the editor. I totally support the benefits for firefighters and police, but … they should get in touch with reality and not price themselves out of a job. The “Our View” editorial hit something that is very significant in our city of Gilroy: ambulance service. This is needed for paramedic service.
The city of Gilroy wants firefighter/paramedics where they have an ambulance responding with paramedics at the same time they do. Having paramedics in a rural fire area makes sense because paramedic ground and air ambulance service does not get there before the fire engine.
Take, for example, Pacheco Pass and Hecker Pass. If you are not aware, the South Santa Clara County Fire District is administered and stations covered by Cal Fire personnel under contract with Santa Clara County. Paramedics are on all SSCCFD engines that respond in rural areas. They are also in an “auto aid” agreement with the city of Gilroy and Morgan Hill. They have the same engines and training as firefighters in both cities and are the second engine in many parts of both cities.
People in the rural areas should be aware and made sure you do not lose Cal Fire/SSCCFD as your fire emergency response provider, or you will be paying a greater tax amount toward fire protection as Morgan Hill has and as Gilroy will if the city chooses to change.
All state employees are getting a reduction in pay during this financial crisis. Gilroy employees are losing their jobs. Our firefighters and police better listen to the past and be “proud to serve” instead of complaining they are overworked and underpaid.
I urge the citizens to contact city leaders mentioned in the article to express their concerns in this matter to help save your tax dollars.
Zack Snyder, Gilroy
