Community

Mayor Steve Tate’s next “Coffee With The Mayor” will take place Saturday, April 22 at BookSmart in their new location near Condit Road and Dunne Avenue, east of the freeway (1295 E. Dunne Ave.). Tate’s guest will be recently elected Councilmember Rene Spring. The two officials will be available 9:30 to 11 a.m. (a half hour earlier than the usual time) to answer any questions residents may have, listen to citizens’ concerns or suggestions, and simply engage in conversation about the city in a casual, relaxed environment. Attendees are also welcome to just listen to the conversation, see what is on people’s minds, etc. as many Coffee With The Mayor regulars do. Tate will buy the coffee. There will also be a special bonus, as Councilmember Caitlin Jachimowicz will make an independent appearance at 11 a.m. BookSmart in conjunction with the local chapter of the AAUW.

While “pitchfests” are an increasingly popular way for the owners of Silicon Valley startup technologies to pull from a wealth of expertise and investor resources to get off the ground, no such event has ever been scheduled in Morgan Hill.Until now.On June 2, a group of South County investors and sponsors will host the “Disrupt Forum” at Specialized Bicycle Components. The theme of the pitchfest is “Innovation Goes Outside,” with a focus on pitches from companies with new ideas in the areas of sports, agri-business, environmental technology and others.Disrupt Forum is open to the public, with a full day of activities and networking scheduled, beginning at 9 a.m. Pitches, which must be submitted by April 21 to be considered in the pitchfest competition, will be judged by a panel of high-tech experts and investors, according to Tracy Hutcheson, one of the investors and a Silicon Valley high-tech veteran.The forum will also allow plenty of opportunities for startup owners to network with the experts and investors who know the ropes of how to succeed in the region’s competitive high-tech industry. Also on the schedule are speakers and discussion sessions, which will range from IoT (Internet of Things) to wearable sensors to Virtual Reality technology.But the Morgan Hill pitchfest will be much more than that, as organizers hope it will mark the beginning of an ongoing effort to bring more high-tech innovation to Morgan Hill and South County.“We intend to use this event as a beachhead to create a center of gravity shift to the South Bay to sponsor and grow an incubation community in Morgan Hill,” Hutcheson said. “We want tech to grow outward from the South Bay and establish a strong foothold here.”An “incubator” in Silicon Valley parlance is loosely defined as a company or group of small companies that helps even smaller startups gain a foothold by providing expertise, resources and services such as management training or office space.Morgan Hill City Councilman Rich Constantine said the Disrupt Forum and its long-term goals seem to align with the city’s ongoing efforts to attract more industry and commercial activity to town.In the short term, Constantine said he hopes the June 2 pitchfest will produce the “next Netflix,” which started as a tiny startup. Not only has Netflix ballooned into a multi-billion dollar company since it was founded in Los Gatos, but it has become an ingrained part of that community. Constantine said he would like to see something like that come out of the Disrupt Forum for Morgan Hill.Hutcheson noted the closest thing Morgan Hill has to Netflix is Specialized, which was founded and has grown into an international company here, thus making it an appropriate venue for the Disrupt Forum.But in the long run, Constantine thinks the forum and follow-up efforts will help attract more economic development to Morgan Hill.“Just getting interest in our industrial (properties) and being an integral part of Silicon Valley would be fantastic,” Constantine said.He added that Morgan Hill, with its abundance of farmland and sports facilities, could become a “playground” for new technologies that track physical activity, irrigation and related data.While incubators have become somewhat ubiquitous in Silicon Valley, no such community exists in Morgan Hill yet, Hutcheson said. The investors involved with the June 2 Disrupt Forum hope to change that.The ongoing effort to do so will include regular pitchfests and networking events similar to Disrupt Forum, potentially on a semi-annual basis, Hutcheson said.But there is already a deep pool of expertise and resources in Morgan Hill, where many high-tech executives make their home. “Let’s get them involved,” Hutcheson said.

As a registered nurse and fitness enthusiast, 40-year-old Morgan Hill resident Michelle Fithian never thought that she was at risk for a stroke and, even so, that she wouldn’t pick up on the symptoms if it ever happened to her.

The local nonprofit Edward “Boss” Prado Foundation announced its board of directors for 2017. Pictured seated in the front row are (left to right) board members Laura Escoto, Jennifer Tate, Prado Foundation CEO Cecelia Ponzini, CFO Melissa Santos and Secretary Connie Sue Murray. Standing in the back row are board members John Horner, Kathy Carrera, President Gary Ponzini, Vice President Steven Riley Prado, Betty Beach, Michelle McKay and Mayor Steve Tate.The Prado Foundation was founded by the Ponzinis in 2013 as a legacy to Cecelia’s son, Edward “Boss” Prado, who died at the age of 29. The foundation is built on Edward’s values of generosity, sensitivity and being a good neighbor, explains the foundation’s website at edwardbossprado.org. The foundation operates a number of programs that strive to preserve these values by helping those who are less fortunate. These include Cecelia’s Closet and Food Pantry on Peebles Avenue, Share The Runway prom dress donations, the No Child Goes Unfed school lunch program and others.For more information, visit the foundation’s website at edwardbossprado.org.

Any residents interested in helping to keep officials accountable in the expenditure of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Measure B sales tax funds can apply to be a member of the Measure B Citizens Oversight Committee. VTA is seeking eight candidates for this committee, and applications must be submitted by April 21. Each committee member will serve a four-year term.

A storm is brewing as heavy rains and strong winds are expected to hit South County beginning in the late afternoon April 6, according to Anna Schneider, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Easter Sunday 2012 is one that the Nunez family will likely never forget.

Ann Sobrato High School’s gymnasium was invaded by aspiring musicians from all of Morgan Hill Unified School District’s secondary schools for a March 29 free community concert.

Local Rotarians served up some grub for more than 300 senior citizens March 25 as part of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill’s annual Harvey Barrett Senior Dinner at the Morgan Hill Buddhist Hall.

Students of Voices College-Bound Language Academy honored Cesar Chavez on the holiday named after the farmworkers’ rights activist by hosting a march and demonstration at Nordstrom Park in east Morgan Hill.The afternoon of March 31, known as Cesar Chavez Day in California, about 140 elementary students from the charter school marched with parents and teachers from their campus on Murphy Avenue to the park. Along the way, they chanted motivational slogans such as “Si se puede!” and held up pictures of Chavez and other activists.Some of the adults marching played hand drums and bells. Voices principal Juan Carlos Villasenor led the march while directing the students through a megaphone.Shortly after the march concluded at Nordstrom Park, Villasenor handed the megaphone to Monica Delgado, a granddaughter of Chavez.“It’s very important to my grandfather that we come together as a community to honor the people who bring fruits and vegetables to our plates—the farmworkers,” said Delgado, who works for the City of Morgan Hill as budget manager. “When you think of Cesar, you should always think of farmworkers.”Chavez, who died in 1993, was an American labor and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. He became known as an influential Latino rights activist who dedicated his life to supporting farmworkers.Every year, March 31 is Cesar Chavez Day in California, Colorado and Texas.The demonstration was also a celebration of activism more broadly, one of Voices Academy’s key values. At one point while the students were assembled at Nordstrom Park, Villasenor asked the second-grade students to tell an adult in the audience something they have learned about activism.Luis Casas, 7, approached a Times reporter and told him about Mahatma Gandhi, another world-renowned activist who peacefully led the Indian independence movement in the 1940s.“Gandhi said, ‘We don’t fight, we talk. We want peace,’” Casas said.Students who participated in the march were in grades transitional kindergarten through second, Villasenor said.Voices Language Academy is a dual-language charter school organization that opened an elementary school in Morgan Hill in 2015. The school is currently housed at Advent Lutheran Church on Murphy Avenue, but is in the process of acquiring a permanent facility in Morgan Hill.