Columnists

Enjoyable meeting with John Horner this week, who’s officially taking over the reins as Chamber Director. Great move forward. John has a passion for the community, the connections, the ability to listen and perform and has business fingers in pie far beyond the quaint and interesting shop, Thinker Toys. The toy shop is kind of like John, really, a pleasant place bent on customer service with an upbeat personality and an inventory geared to success. I also like his ideas on furthering business programs aimed at youth to expand views of the real world and business opportunities.

Bring dinner and a bottle of your favorite wine and be treated to a delightful evening with the French farce “Boeing Boeing” at Limelight Actors Theater through July 18.

You know how you read the stories in the paper of poor, tortured souls who board a plane for a one-hour flight and six hours later they are still sitting on the tarmac in a plane full of people who have not eaten anything but a piece of wood disguised as a granola bar and whose deodorant has failed thanks to the hot, Texas sun and the lack of A/C in the sweltering plane? And you know how you always think, “I hope that never happens to me?”

Well, I thought I was going to be able to share a little good news with you this week. You see, I believed my hearing greatly improved one magical night. Unfortunately, a visit to my good friend, Dr. Joe at the Hearing and Speech Services here in Morgan Hill, told me it was just circumstances. You see, Lady M had eleven of her friends over recently to play Bunco and, although I was sequestered in an upstairs bedroom, the noise level was close to the 135db pitch of a jet engine at 100 feet. I was certain that my hearing had returned to normal – no group of lovely ladies could possibly have that much fun and express their enjoyment that loudly.

Pop-up park V2.0 is a smashing success by just about any measure. Sitting at the southwest corner of Second Street and Monterey Road, this new little gem already feels like it was always there.This latest temporary park opened to the huge relief of so many who were asking questions like, “Where do our children play downtown?” and “What happened to that big blue chair?” after the original pop-up park closed due to a change in property ownership.Children are once again playing downtown and a spruced up big blue chair is again ready for those photo opportunities (the wood was literally worn down from use).I have heard many say that the newest pop-up park is better than the original. It has a piano, more chairs, more picnic benches, more incredible trees, and maybe a more desireable location. But to me the original paved the way and will never be forgotten.I’ve mentioned this before but I think it bears repeating: The first pop-up park almost didn’t happen.As usual, the city staff members involved in the project asked downtown businesses about giving up about a half dozen parking spaces in return for a little-understood concept of a temporary park. At first, several of the businesses balked; so more information was delivered and conversations ensued. Eventually most of the businesses were on board. The hesitation was understandable because it was a time when the parking garage construction work was starting and a lane reduction pilot program was underway on Monterey Road.Those times were dynamic and the park had to be a success—or else there would be egg on a few faces.Well the “Bike HUB Park,” as it was called then, was a huge success right from the beginning. The success was not as much of a surprise as the type of users were. It had been expected to appeal mostly to adults, but it quickly proved to be the place where families went. Appealing to families, who were generally felt to be missing from the downtown, had always been a key part of the plan; hence the playful primary colors and children’s foam play blocks. But I don’t think anyone dreamed that it would be as popular with families as it turned out.It would be easy, and safe, to let that old park die a fond memory but people like Dan McCranie, Edith Ramirez, John Lang, Mike Katwan, Dale Dapp and a small army of city staffers once again took on a challenge that could leave egg on their faces.Armed with past experience and fresh ideas, the planners of the new park set out to create a place that would be new and inviting, but also familiar.This new park benefits from many lessons learned from the old park but the biggest lesson for me was this: think big and out of the box and take a chance. The risks can be great but rewards can be so much greater, and even quite different from your expectations.Take that chance.Please enjoy your park.John McKay is Interim President of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.