Columnists

It’s the fifth of July, and it’s been a long and slow moving morning. Yesterday was the Fourth of July, and as a proud Morgan Hillan I enjoyed much of what our community and its hard working volunteers put together for us on this special holiday.I went to the July 3 Family Music Fest and saw Monterey Road filled with people of all ages out having a good time on a beautiful summer evening. This event is a huge undertaking by the Independence Day Celebrations organization, which started earlier that afternoon with the Patriotic Sing. The Family Music Fest fills the streets with tables and chairs, tents, bandstands and food trucks. It was all nice and tidy in time for the July 4 festivities, which includes the greatest Fourth of July parade in the region.The Music Fest also filled the streets with what has to be the best behaved group of people out having a good time. Most of these folks are from our community. For an event with adult beverages and a big crowd, we have to be proud of how well we celebrate together.I thought I got an early start on the Fourth, but by 9:30 the Freedom Run had been completed and the Freedom Fest cruise (rolling car show) was already underway.It was one of the nicest days I’ve ever seen for the July 4Parade. Not too warm and not too cool which was unusual for me. I’m used to roasting a bit.As usual, the parade was everything we expected and it set the tone for the rest of the Fourth of July. If you haven’t been out to the parade you just have to go next year.After the parade, the downtown clears out and becomes a virtual ghost town. There must be a way to keep some of the crowd—which numbers in the tens of thousands—busy downtown or nearby as we wait for the fireworks display. People are out with their families and friends having a good time, so this is a huge missed opportunity. Sounds like a project for someone out there.I have yet another project for someone out there…Every Fourth of July many of us sequester our pets in some quiet corner of the house so they won’t freak out at the Freedom Fest fireworks display, which we are also well known for. We love the planned fireworks and make this sacrifice for our pets’ well-being.What we can’t plan for are all of the illegal fireworks which startle our pets days before and after the Fourth.The evening of the Fourth, our dogs were fine through the official fireworks show as we cranked up the volume on the movie we watched with the house closed tight as a drum. The dogs were restless, but seemed fine.Then those idiots with those illegal fireworks got going all around us. I don’t know if these are alcohol fueled or stupidity fueled, but we need to do something about these inconsiderate scofflaws.I don’t know what these people were thinking with the dry hillsides all around us just waiting for a spark to send flames running across our open spaces. Seriously, this is just idiotic.Aside from the fire threat, what those fireworks do to our pets really angers me right now. I was up most of the night as one of our dogs would react to all of the nearby fireworks. Even after they stopped, she just couldn’t relax.Seeing what it did to one of my dogs, and my sleep, I am ready for some drastic measures. How do we fix this? I’m ready for some action.I really enjoyed my July 4 events, but the most vivid memory is of my dog huddled under the bed just shaking. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. How about you?John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, chair of the city planning commission and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be contacted at [email protected].

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].