EDITOR: Every perspective is believed to be important to
consider for the future planning of Morgan Hill. Focus on
“planning navigation effective,” the following is presented for
consideration in the future planning process for areas in Morgan
Hill with the expectation that what results will be in the best
interest of Morgan Hill, the property owners, the citizens and the
future, with ideally, no regrets.
EDITOR:
Every perspective is believed to be important to consider for the future planning of Morgan Hill. Focus on “planning navigation effective,” the following is presented for consideration in the future planning process for areas in Morgan Hill with the expectation that what results will be in the best interest of Morgan Hill, the property owners, the citizens and the future, with ideally, no regrets.
Memories of West San Jose in the 50s were fondly remembered the evening of April 7 at the Morgan Hill City Council meeting as a recollective description of Morgan Hill, 40 years ago, was presented. As a young child in grade school, I fondly remember the orchards in West San Jose, where busy Saratoga Avenue connects freeways 280 and 85 now, onward to downtown San Jose. My mother and I would enjoy partial benefits from my father’s U.S. Army veteran’s check and board the City of San Jose bus.
En route to a shopping spree and lunch in downtown San Jose, we would ride past orchards, where major shopping centers and business developments are now. Agricultural communities appeared to cultivate closer relationships where people did help one another and work together. There were similarities in the majority of a population in occupation, lifestyle and philosophy – cultivating a closeness through commonality.
In very recent years, as an example, an unknown elderly gentleman approached me at a Winchester Boulevard Business Association meeting and related his heartfelt gratitude and appreciation, as he told me how thankful he was to my dad and my uncle in the 50’s, when the brothers, agricultural farmers at the time, lent him rare but much-needed farm equipment.
The bond formed was right for the time, but as west San Jose developed, success was found in the principle that made America great – independence. Each property owner found a specific independent and important niche as west San Jose developed toward what it is today.
It is my belief that independence again needs to be prevalent today for success to prevail. Greenbelting may only be possible now if advocates and professionals are willing to bring their perpetuallyfunded wallets to devote to the programs or cause, their extended gratis, their time on a 24/7 basis and volunteer capabilities.
Proper “navigation of plans” toward reaching a desired goal or project completion, was one topic that surfaced at the Morgan Hill City Council meeting on April 7 during discussion on the effort by the city’s Urban Limit Line committee in trying to determine what land should remain in an undeveloped greenbelt.
Explaining it further in my own words, the basic idea is, instead of working on a plan straight to completion without in-process reviews and needed revisions, there could be a higher chance of rejection at completion. It was recommended that there be a process (much like milestone monitoring or checkpoints) to keep a plan on course that, most likely, would result in success or approval. This could be performed with interim or intermittent reviews or corrections, to a point where there would be a high success possibility that the plan would be approved when it reaches its final stage of completion. The interim review approach was the preference to increase chance of approval success at completion.
The following is presented with unofficial knowledge that was related to me through conversation with a friend, who apparently has met with a Santa Clara County supervisor, who, as is my understanding, has mentioned that an entire scope of work could be negated if there are violations found in not following provisions in the Brown Act.
Portions of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, were accessed through the Internet and read. It is my understanding, if interpreted correctly, that the public is given permission to speak through the Brown Act on items of interest throughout an agenda. Logistics of a meeting are understood, as are the time elements, but there may (or may not be) a violation area that needs to be examined further.
The aforementioned is brought to your attention for review. Please understand the topic has been taken on surface value when related to myself, but was felt worthwhile to present for review to assure compliance.
Julie Borina Driscoll,
San Jose
