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Despite shooting, resident enjoys community
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My name is Timothy Hughes, and I was quoted in the April 5 Morgan Hill Times article, “Late-night shooting startles neighbors,” by Michael Moore regarding the reported incident. I live in the Vineyard Court Apartments, situated between both a quiet residential neighborhood and the LaCrosse Village apartments complex, which is located across the street from my apartment.
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I am writing to offer a clarification concerning the surrounding area. Early on the morning of April 1, 2017, a criminal incident at the intersection of Vineyard and La Crosse Drive caused some concern regarding the general public safety of both the immediate vicinity and wider Morgan Hill. To the relevant point, I have lived in the Vineyard Court apartments for six years, having moved down here from south San Jose. Vineyard Court is a lovely apartment complex, featuring excellent amenities, beautifully maintained grounds, and a friendly family and professional oriented community. Additionally, a highly professional and welcoming management are deeply appreciated and to be thanked for their part in helping to create and maintain the high quality of living that all tenants here enjoy .
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The immediately surrounding area is comprised of the Vineyard Town Center, Tennant Station, and the Cinelux theater. I live between a residential neighborhood, the little Llagas creek and excellent shopping services. I routinely walk the creek area path and shop in the nearby center.
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Morgan Hill is a wonderful community that offers much enjoyment and reward to its residents. That has been my experience and that of everyone I have met and encountered since moving to Morgan Hill.
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Certain non-associated incidents, rare in occurrence, do not make for a pattern.
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The Morgan Hill Police Department’s response to the incident on the night of April 1 was swift and professional. The actions of one individual should not be mistakenly indicative of anything more.
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Tim Hughes
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Morgan Hill
Blueprint should pivot more in favor of business
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Dear Mayor Tate and Council Members Carr, Constantine, Spring and Robinett-Jachimowicz:
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We urge you to adopt the Morgan Hill Economic Development Blueprint that will be presented at the April 19 council meeting. City staff have done an excellent job spearheading this report and getting us this far. The work which has gone into creating the Economic Development Blueprint has been comprehensive and inclusive. Putting the results of this analytical and planning into action requires policy and behavior changes both from our elected leaders and the broader community.
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The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce has been very concerned about our city’s decade-plus history of adding working residents at more than 10 times the rate of local job creation. Becoming ever more of a bedroom community is unhealthy and unsustainable from economic, environmental and quality of life viewpoints. Contrary to the arguments some have made in the past, adding more places for people to live has not resulted in more local jobs.
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As the Blueprint shows, Morgan Hill has given up more than half of its undeveloped industrial land during the lifetime of the previous General Plan. Each one of those decisions was made for seemingly good reasons at the time, but the cumulative long-term effects of those decisions are adding up.
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Morgan Hill is effective when we put significant effort and resources into things that matter. The tens of millions of taxpayer dollars invested in our downtown are yielding visible results. The auto dealer incentive policy has worked to address our otherwise uncompetitive costs for building new state-of-the-art auto dealerships. The RDCS process effectively manages the overall rate of housing development.
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However, at this time we do not have comparable programs in place to drive jobs supporting development. In fact, our fee structures for new industrial and office development are higher than those in neighboring San Jose and Gilroy. We also lack the scale of resources dedicated to supporting jobs development compared to our neighbors.
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It is unsurprising, then, that both South San Jose and Gilroy have been building new jobs supporting facilities at a time when Morgan Hill has not. The city’s Economic Development staff has done an outstanding job helping companies backfill into vacated facilities from the exits of companies like Abbott, Custom Chrome, Fox Racing, Comcast, Alien and Smart Products.
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However, very little newly constructed space has been built in a very long time, and thus the supply of buildings to fill up has largely run dry.
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“Pivoting” is an understood necessity in today’s business world. It means turning an organization’s capabilities and resources in a new direction in order to meet new challenges and/or capitalize on new opportunities.
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We hope that the Economic Development Blueprint makes it clear that some pivoting is necessary for you to ensure the long-term health of Morgan Hill.
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John Horner
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President and CEO, Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce
