Community

Local attorney Bob Foster—a longtime Morgan Hill Rotarian, former school trustee and city councilman, and all-around family man—is Leadership Morgan Hill’s 2018 Leadership Excellence Award recipient.Foster will be honored at a July 21 outdoor celebration and fundraiser at Guglielmo Winery in east Morgan Hill. Tickets and other information about the celebration will be announced in the near future.The Leadership Excellence Award recognizes leaders like Foster whose vision advances the spirit of community and charity in Morgan Hill, according to a press release from Leadership Morgan Hill. The annual award winner also reflects courage and insight and inspires others to lead in a like manner.“(Bob Foster’s) community leadership over so many years has built a solid foundation for making Morgan Hill the great community it is today,” said LMH President Cricket Rubino. “Our board enthusiastically looks forward to celebrating Bob’s accomplishments and the resulting award.”Foster, 78, was born in Long Beach and moved to Morgan Hill in 1965, after growing up in numerous locales around the country as the son of a U.S. Navy serviceman. Foster’s move to Morgan Hill followed his graduation from San Jose State University and the UC Berkeley Boalt School of Law.With his law degree and state bar membership—and some experience as a California Deputy Legislative Counsel—Foster joined Ernie Rusconi’s law firm. The two established the Rusconi & Foster firm in 1967, according to the press release. The firm was joined by George Thomas in 1972, creating the Rusconi-Foster-Thomas firm that continues to thrive in Morgan Hill.While Bob Foster is now retired, the firm in the “very capable hands” of his son Del, the press release continues.Bob Foster’s 50-plus years of practicing law allowed him to pursue a long list of public service and philanthropic experiences outside his career at the firm. These included a stint as Morgan Hill’s city attorney, practice as a volunteer judge during the 1971 riots at SJSU and work for the state and local bar associations, according to the press release.Furthermore, Foster was elected to the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of trustees for three terms (1966-74 and 1978-82), followed by election to the city council, where he served his first term as the city’s mayor. He returned to the council in 1996 for two years, as an appointee and then an elected councilmember to fill a vacant seat.As a member of the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill since 1965, Foster has served on the organization’s board as president and remains active in the club’s projects.Throughout all of these activities and commitments, Foster found time to mentor his four sons as Boy Scouts, coach their sports teams and actively support the YMCA, United Way and Goodwill, according to the press release. He has also served as president of the Chamber of Commerce, and was the chamber’s “Citizen of the Year” in 1969.He has also used his legal expertise to help establish a number of nonprofit organizations in Morgan Hill.Foster met his wife, Nancy, when they both attended Willow Glen High School, according to LMH. The couple married in 1962 and raised their four sons in Morgan Hill, where two still live. The senior Fosters now have 15 grandchildren.Nancy was an elementary school teacher for several years, and was active in their sons’ after-school pursuits. Active in the community like Bob, she has contributed as a past president and member of the American Association of University Women.Del and Chris, the sons who still reside in Morgan Hill, have carried on the family tradition of community service. Del Foster has served two terms on the MHUSD school board. Chris Foster has also become increasingly active in the local Rotary Club.Del said there is no question his own community service is influenced by his upbringing, and the tradition continues. Del’s children—who range from high school age to their 20s—have been highly active in various public service organizations, including Rotary Interact as teens, the American Red Cross, the civil air patrol and their church.“We were raised in a family where public service was the expectation, and it was what we did,” Del Foster said. “It never occurred to me to do anything other than that, and my kids have picked up the same thing from me.”The seeds were planted even earlier, though. Bob Foster said his lifetime devotion to the community was influenced by his parents. His wife’s parents were “even more active in the community than I was,” he added.“I was raised in a family that was military, and very country and community oriented, and my parents were always involved,” Bob Foster said. “When Dad was home (during peace time), he was always doing something. My mother was active in the Red Cross wherever she went.”He added he is “very appreciative” of the Leadership Excellence honor, and he is looking forward to the celebration this summer.This summer’s celebration in Bob Foster’s honor will be attended by community leaders, supporters of LMH, past Excellence Award winners and “the many friends and relatives of the honoree,” reads the press release. The event is also a fundraiser for LMH, a nonprofit educational organization. Ticket price includes dinner as well as a chance to participate in a silent auction for numerous items on display.Leadership Excellence Award winners are selected by a panel of past award recipients and other selected community members.LMH is now in its 23rd year of “building community leadership,” according to the press release. The annual LMH program provides participants with the insight, tools and training that enables leaders from all walks of life to emulate residents like Bob Foster and give back to their community through service.For more information about LMH and the Leadership Excellence Award, visit leadershipmorganhill.org.

The appearance of an apparently racist political display at an east Morgan Hill residence depicting watermelons and a noose in criticism of President Barack Obama has inspired widespread Internet commentary accusing its owner of hatred, even if it hasn’t caught the attention of immediate neighbors.

Morgan Hill Police was one of many public safety agencies nationwide that participated in the National Night Out Aug. 7. Also present at the local event, which took place on Depot Street in the city’s downtown, were the Morgan Hill Fire Department, Santa Clara County Fire Department, South County Fire District, CalFire and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

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

Due to a recent clarification of property lines and bad timing,

With the web-footed walk that happens in snowshoes, Sean de Guzman, manager of the state snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit in the Sierra Nevada, performed the season’s second snow survey Jan. 31. It happened hours ahead of an atmospheric river and cold front...

With little fanfare for its arrival early Thursday morning, Morgan Hill’s newest downtown centerpiece—yes the Fourth Street parking garage tarantula—was hoisted via crane from the back bed of a truck and ever so gently placed onto the three-story wall of the downtown structure.About a dozen residents came out to see the public art piece with their own eyes after viewing images and sketches of Napa artist Gordon Huether’s arachnid creation paid for via use-it-or-lose-it redevelopment funds—and debating its worth at public meetings and social media sites.“I think it’s beautiful. I love the color. It’s so cool,” said Judy Viegas, an administrative analyst in the City of Morgan Hill’s Community Services Department. “This is exciting for our city.”Installing the red-legged tarantula, which spans 16 feet in diameter with limbs made out of waterjet cut aluminum and a body of headlights that light up and glow at night, was no easy task for construction workers. One in particular was tasked with finagling the spider onto a mounting pipe that protruded out high on the parking structure wall and then tilting it while the crane operator helped keep it in place.“I actually think it’s really cool,” said Ali DeStasio, who works at Dr. Crowe’s medical office in the downtown. “I was looking forward to seeing it in person. It actually is cooler than I thought it would be and I’m excited to see it lit up.”A green electric extension cord could be seen dangling from the wall and eventually will hook up to the tarantula to supply power to its LED lights inside the various headlights that make up the body.But not everyone in town is a fan of the tarantula, mostly due to its six-figure cost.“It’s 200 grand and I think honestly the money could’ve gone into infrastructure or other things,” said Dan Skeen, a local resident since 1987 who was the first one out taking pictures with his camera as it was mounted. “To me, it seems out of place in our downtown. Aesthetically, it doesn’t match up with the rest of the downtown.”Morgan Hill native Jim Sergi, 58, shared similar sentiments about the spider’s place in the downtown.“200 thousand spent on a spider and no animal control service in Morgan Hill is a disgrace to the community,” said Sergi, who called for the resignation of all those involved in commissioning the public art piece for the downtown. “I think the artwork is terrible.”Mixed reviews—including some unfiltered comments about the tarantula selection—from some community members sprung up as soon as the city unveiled the idea several months back. But downtown business owner Nancy Reynolds, who, along with husband Chris, runs the Candy Parlor, was impressed with the tarantula statue that symbolized the species indigenous to the Morgan Hill area.“I think it’s awesome,” said Reynolds, who explores other cities and appreciates their public art pieces. “I think it fits in our downtown pretty well.”The parking structure, which is yet to open, consists of 270-plus parking spaces to serve downtown residents and future visitors. The $8.6-million construction contract with F&H Construction is funded by leftover Redevelopment Agency bond proceeds. The city purchased the property for the garage last year for $2.1 million from developer Rocke Garcia, also with leftover RDA cash.The project is located between Third and Fourth streets, behind Huntington Station, Trail Dust and Toto Trattoria restaurants.The contract also includes about $425,000 worth of public art. Along with the 12-foot spider sculpture, the city commissioned a 20-feet-by-12-feet glass depiction of poppy jasper, a mineral found only in Morgan Hill for the Third Street side of the garage.Despite the outcry over the cost of the artwork seen on social media and heard at the installation site and various other places around town, the city got a bargain on the garage’s public art, according to  Morgan Hill Economic Development Manager Edith Ramirez.When the city sent out a request for proposals from qualified contractors for the project in late 2014, they specifically asked for a public art component, Ramirez said. Thus all three contractors included public art proposals with their garage plans, and F & H submitted the lowest bid. None of the submitted bids included local artists in the process.Ramirez added F & H Construction negotiated the public art budget before they bid the project. Not only was their bid the lowest, but their public art proposal was the largest of the three bidders, Ramirez noted.“They offered a wall of poppy jasper art glass to enclose the plaza stairwell and the tarantula as their public art component,” Ramirez said. “The city did not choose the art. And, had the city gone with a different contractor, the total cost for the garage would have been more.”The garage project also includes about 4,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the side facing Third Street, which will also feature a public plaza of benches, tables and wide walkways underneath a sprawling oak tree just outside the parking structure.The entrance and exit for vehicles to the structure will be on Fourth Street.

Morgan Hill began its month-long celebration of June as Pride Month at the June 1 Pridefest, which was held at the City Hall campus to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.  The June 1 event featured speakers, entertainment, advocacy and education. The celebration kicked off with a...

The man found dead June 6 outside a Morgan Hill retail building has been identified as 54-year-old Kevin Hart.

Over the years, Tiffany Maaske-Miller has had some of her older age group Hip Hop Craze dance teams win a national competition. However, history was made when Hip Hop Craze’s youngest age group (5-11) division team won the FlyDance National Competition Finals for the first...