Columnists

Well, I was going to write a Grinch column and complain about all the pins and fasteners in men’s dress shirts, the cyclists wearing invisible king’s crowns who ride three and four abreast in the roadway and sneer if you honk after waiting for a couple of minutes, or those who fumble at the grocery checkout counter pulling out one coin at a time to get the exact change while six people are in line ... but enough, I’m not really in the mood and that’s a good thing.

“Triangle” melds 2 stories across two centuries in a moving and tragic love story that blends early 20th and 21st centuries people together in a beautiful musical with actors who deliver an intense story with humor, deep feelings and a beautiful, well done score.

We can all claim to be this or that but I never thought that I’d ever claim to be a marathoner.On Nov. 9, 2016, I became a marathoner along with six fellow members of the Morgan Hill Planning Commission and several city staff members.On Nov. 8, the voters of Morgan Hill had overwhelmingly approved Measure S, which meant that the Planning Commission had to immediately get to work crafting a competition manual representing the values and desires of the Morgan Hill community.This competition manual would be the document developers and builders of residential developments will use to indicate where they will build, what desirable amenities they will include, and how much they are willing to donate to worthy needs in the community. Points are available for things like creating open space and being environmentally prudent with our resources as well as making our new developments look nice and be comfortable places to live.Each competitor can commit to their version of what is best for Morgan Hill and. An objective system will be in place to determine which ones are the best by a points score. More desirable commitments equals more points you get, and that score could win you allocations (permission to build a single dwelling unit).This isn’t the first time this community would benefit from the residential development control system (RDCS) competition. We have benefitted from decades of this kind of development regulation. Each previous iteration of the RDCS competition manual was refined to reflect the values of the community at that time, and this one is no different.The new competition manual takes the voter-approved Measure S and embodies what the voters indicated they wanted. Things like a lower number of dwelling units allowed to be built and eliminating spikes in construction, like we’ve been seeing the past few years.The commission met 20 times to create the competition manual basically from scratch. The goal would be to create a new manual, not just a refinement of the last one, and streamline it to make it simpler.Over those 20 meetings we discussed and debated how the needs and wants of the community would be met. We debated and then debated again, sometimes to the point of frustration, yet we always kept our goal in mind and cooperated to the end.We got into the weeds. Repeatedly. But in those weeds were the details which now make up the new RDCS Competition Manual.So we didn’t get simpler, but I think we got a pretty good document that should achieve its goal of getting great projects for Morgan Hill.   The City Council will soon decide whether or not the new competition manual is ready for prime time but it’ll be in this fall’s competition that we’ll see if the first goal of the manual works in deciding who gets allocations.But the final test will be in the following years when we see if we get the kind of projects that this community wants. My money is on getting that great community.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

We have the good fortune to live in a region where trails into the peace and serenity of open space are just moments from home. When I am asked for my favorite, it's tough to choose. There are just too many. But the Arrowhead Loop at South County's newest open space preserve is a top candidate.

I’m writing this from my makeshift office, located on the lower level of our home where we’re holed up during a remodel project.About every 10 years or so I steel myself and plunge headlong into a project that holds the potential to make me very happy or very frustrated. Twenty years ago we remodeled the kitchen in our first home. It was a fixer upper in a pleasant neighborhood that would become more desirable by the time we finished.That first kitchen put the finishing touch on a home that would become the springboard to a home in Morgan Hill. The draw to move to Morgan Hill was so strong that we never lived in that home when it was truly complete. Some form of construction was underway until we moved out and it went on the market.That remodel, laden with sweat equity and increased neighborhood desirability, made us very happy as it not only resulted in a great yield on investment but it got us here.The second remodel was actually one I did for my parents in their home in Mountain View 10 years later. We used a contractor that I had known for many years and had done most of the work on that first kitchen remodel which went reasonably well. But my mother’s remodel was fraught with strain from the beginning and it went very badly. We had to enlist an attorney to get the project finished after it was abandoned.Thinking back, there were signs that this relationship wasn’t going right even before we started. It was a reminder that if things aren’t going well while trying to get the job under contract, it probably isn’t going to get any better once you’re on the hook.So we found another house that was a borderline fixer-upper about three years back. We knew we would have to replace the kitchen and the extensive decking at the time. We finally made the commitment to do it now, another 10 years after that last miserable project.A huge part of any construction project is the team you put together; this was reinforced by my parent’s remodel. For some this is the hardest part of a project, but it is key to success.I recently retired from commercial construction. Even with that background, I find it tough to find a good contractor. Good news is that we have a few right here in Morgan Hill and the surrounding area.We knew one local contractor who we felt very good about and our beliefs were verified by checking the online reviews and talking to others.It took some time to get it all the details just right but we are now happily sequestered on our lower level listening to the sounds of progress above. We are still picking out the stuff like tile and faucets and sinks and such and we are happy knowing that we have a plan that we are really enthusiastic about.There is no moral to the story except spend the time to get the details worked out before you start, pick the right contractor and, of course, use a local contractor.John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association. He can be reached at [email protected].

Right now I’m nursing a memory with a poor substitute: dinner leftovers from the past weekend. But I’m comforted knowing that next week I’ll get what I’m missing right now—tasty morsels delivered hot and fresh from a mobile kitchen parked on Third Street.Yes, it will be Wednesday, June 7, and I’ll be sitting on an upturned red 5-gallon bucket with about 1,000 other foodies in front of the Third Street Plaza. The Moveable Feast is back!It doesn’t get much easier to join in the fun. Park in the Downtown Parking Garage and walk out into the Third Street Plaza. Just beyond will be a string of food trucks surrounded by fans of the diverse range of cuisines being offered. Maybe we can start to get some of the feasters used to parking in the VTA Parking lot across the railroad tracks too…The feedback I’ve heard from the community about the gourmet food trucks has been overwhelmingly positive, usually followed quickly by the universal question, “When will they return?”Short answer is next week.It seems that most of the residents I’ve heard from like the Moveable Feast trucks on Wednesdays, but how about the downtown businesses and the residents?That’s a mixed bag, but still mostly positive.A few businesses do not support the Moveable Feast events at all, but that’s a small number. Some don’t feel they benefit, but still support it in light of the exposure brought to the downtown. Others experience a benefit and are happy these events take place. This last group is a small number that we hope will continue to grow this year. By the way, this is from a business survey undertaken by the committee that brought you the Moveable Feast trial last year.I am obviously a huge supporter of Moveable Feast on Wednesdays but I’m just hoping you end up downtown eating and hanging out.I hope you, your family and friends come downtown on Wednesdays and find that something special at one of the gourmet food trucks. But maybe you won’t. Maybe the lines are too long, you’re not in the mood for what’s being offered that week, or you run into some friends and decide it would be nice to sit down and be served. Maybe you just walked past a restaurant and saw the most incredible plate of barbeque and your stomach just changed your mind for you.So I want to tell everyone that the Moveable Feast is coming but I also want to say that the rest of your favorite restaurants are here too. Maybe make Wednesday night the night where you commit to trying something new, whether it be a different food truck or a different restaurant. Can you say you’ve been to all of our downtown restaurants?Consider that a challenge.Give the kitchen a break on Wednesdays and get out and eat. It doesn’t have to be downtown (that would be nice though)—just get out and enjoy yourself on hump day. The rest of the week will feel a lot shorter. I promise.   Please dine out and shop often.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance and a city commissioner. He can be reached at [email protected].