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Public opinion will prevail
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This past week, two separate sources have strongly suggested that the “complete streets” pilot project has received a resounding ‘no’ vote from both the residents and the merchants of Morgan Hill. If common sense prevails, the City Council will vote in alignment with the will of the public and the follow the recommendation from the Chamber of Commerce to not make the changes permanent.
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In the event that the City Council votes to enact permanent changes to the configuration of Monterey Road from Main Avenue to Dunne Avenue, the fight against these changes will continue in the form of a voter initiated ballot item through the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
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This idea was presented to me by my friend Tim Hennessy at a time when I was considering other options that were less desirable, such as organized boycotts. I’m pleased that this brilliant and rather obvious solution was presented, because evidently the businesses downtown are suffering without any outside help other than the few interests that continue to hold to the fantasy that this is a viable option for downtown at this time.
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I am quite confident that we can easily get the 3,000 signatures to overturn an imprudent vote by the City Council in the next meeting; after all, regardless of how one feels about the issue, everyone should support placing this issue in the hands of the voters.
Hopefully, voter enacted reversal of any changes made will not incur any cost to the public, otherwise the next voter referendum may be to recall any council members voting to make them.
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Sean Adams
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Morgan Hill
Businesses suffered from Monterey Road trial
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From the beginning of the “Complete Streets” pilot project we stated that our biggest concern would be the potential consequences, positive or negative, for the businesses most directly affected by the proposed change.
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The chamber has composed a spreadsheet and graphs illustrating the detailed feedback we received through a targeted survey of the downtown businesses. Our methodology was to hand deliver one paper survey to each business in and immediately adjacent to the downtown core. The survey was delivered on July 9 with a return postmark deadline of July 17. These dates were chosen to be as close as possible to the end of the trial period and before the Monterey Road construction projects got underway.
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Forty-four businesses responded, 35 of which identified themselves and nine of whom chose to remain anonymous. We delivered 73 surveys, so this represents a 60 percent survey response rate.
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Thirty out of the 44 (68 percent) businesses reported that their customers’ response to the road change has been highly negative while only three (7 percent) reported that their customers’ response has been highly positive. Summing up all considerations, 64 percent of the businesses oppose making the lane changes permanent, 11 percent are still undecided, and 25 percent support permanent implementation of complete streets.
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Given this feedback, the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce recommends returning Monterey Road to two mixed use (vehicles and bicycles) lanes in each direction at the earliest possible moment.
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We further suggest that other traffic calming and safety measures (such as better indicated crosswalks, heightened speed limit enforcement and similar reasonable measures) be considered for implementation as part of the streetscape improvements program presently under way and/or at a future time.
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John Horner
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Executive Director, Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce
Why new construction in a drought?
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I hear everywhere that California is in an epic drought from the governor on down: he and the water districts say we should be conscientious, conserve, and reduce our water usage by at least 25 percent. I even receive an evaluation from the city comparing my usage to that of similar households.
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In the meantime, I also see massive new construction underway, both residential and commercial. I see huge apartment complexes going up on the IBM site at Hwy. 85 and Cottle Road in San Jose. I see new residential being populated in Gilroy, on Luchessa and next door to Christopher High School, not to mention the massive site under development near Hecker Pass Highway and Santa Teresa, between Syngenta and Eagle Ridge Golf Club.
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Morgan Hill is not immune, on Hale/Santa Teresa just south of Tilton avenue, two or three sites on Butterfield Boulevard, etc.
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The point is, if we are in such a devastating drought, why are we building new housing at all, and permitting so many new water meters now? The new residents can’t reduce their usage by 25 percent from zero. Is there a new water resource we haven’t been told about, or is the drought imaginary? Who will address these questions—Santa Clara Valley Water District Director Dennis Kennedy, the Planning Commission, Santa Clara County, the state? Or no one? I anxiously await a response.
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Keith Davis
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Morgan Hill
