Dear Editor, Thanks to Chuck Flagg for his Feb. 19 article on
Habitat For Humanity’s Morgan Hill Cory Drive project.
Thanks for the story about Habitat for Humanity’s good work
Dear Editor,
Thanks to Chuck Flagg for his Feb. 19 article on Habitat For Humanity’s Morgan Hill Cory Drive project. He did a nice job of covering not only the wall raising, but also the history of the project and Habitat for Humanity. Readers might like to know there are dozens of pictures of the event and nearly 100 of the Cory Drive project from its beginning of construction on the Internet at nonprofitevents.shutterfly.com
Pi Silverstein, Morgan Hill, Habitat for Humanity volunteer and amateur photographer
We need a governor who will fight to make California No. 1
Dear Editor,
Meg Whitman certainly has the right to buy the office of Governor of California.
The Supreme Court has granted corporations the right to buy any elective office they choose and wealthy individuals should have equal rights with corporations.
We can hope that Californians will choose a Governor who will fight to make California No. 1 in education, even if it requires raising taxes. We can also hope our governor will fight to give California affordable, quality health care, even if it requires signing a “Single Payer Health Care Bill.”
Perhaps voters believe that other factors are more important than how much money you can spend to get elected.
Frank Crosby, Morgan Hill
Thanks to Reggie-Licious Catering for the wonderful meal
Dear Editor,
I want to publicly thank Mark and Mary Reggiardo for the wonderful and delicious meal they prepared for the memorial service for my aunt Katy Fantozzi.
It is so nice to see young, lifetime residents be so successful in business. Kudos to Reggie-Licious Catering and crew.
Vivian and Earl Goforth, Morgan Hill
Why are we using public money to compete with taxpaying businesses?
Dear Editor:
On Monday, Feb. 22, our Mayor gave a presentation about the “State of the City – Morgan Hill.” Generally the words were positive and the downtown Morgan Hill (Theme Park) was mentioned often.
The Mayor said that the deficit for the 2010 city budget is estimated to be about $1.5 million. He said that because of this 800-pound gorilla we were going to eliminate portions of our civil service.
Civil servants are the people who provide for our common good, they plan for and respond to our emergencies, and they enforce our rules of protection. Civil servants are our defense line and safety net.
Our Mayor is also the “Chairman of the Board” for our city’s corporate enterprise. The financial status, of the enormous corporate activity, was not presented. Also the speaker did not have a slide to display how many millions (probably $30,000,000 or so) have been invested in a small neighborhood (theme park) called “Downtown Morgan Hill.” We even built a promenade that would make Scarlet O’Hara proud. Yet, much of our city does not have safe sidewalks.
We were advised and then we invested possibly $50 million of public money in a commercial activity. Five thousand dollars per household is very big investment for a small town.
We created a corporate partnership with the Mount Madonna Young Men’s Christian Association (a corporation). The stated purpose of the partnership is to share the profit. It is my understanding that the YMCA did not contribute a similar amount. This, share-the-profit contract puts us into business of serving only a select few for the next 20 years. Our for-profit enterprise and our theme park might be called the 8,000-pound gorilla in the room.
It appears that the purpose of the commercial enterprise is to sell memberships. Recently we invested money to construct 2,000 square feet of additional space so the partnership could serve more paying members. Why did we invest more money?
We are using public money to compete with local businesses such as 24 Hour Fitness. We are using public money to operate and damage the tax paying businesses. We are empowering the Mount Madonna YMCA to freely use expensive government buildings to generate profits for their religious organization. They even charge, and demand hold-harmless contracts from children and senior citizens. These for-profit managers are driven to serve only members/customers with money and to protect the corporation.
Not once have I seen the Chamber of Commerce protecting their members by demanding that public funds be used only to provide for the common good.
Our Democracy suffers lasting damage when the government abandons its purpose of providing for the common good.
Has the commercial activities generated a meaningful return on our $80 million plus investment? Will any of the $80 million be repaid soon? Are funds from the membership fees being put into a trust to replace the public buildings being consumed? Do the “profits” accrue to the city’s general fund to offset taxpayer cost?
Staten M. Johnston, Morgan Hill
