Columnists

Q:Since joining this company a few weeks ago, I have noticed a lot of areas that need improvement.  However, I’m not sure how honest I should be in sharing my views with management. In my previous job, I was always very open about my opinions.  If I saw a problem, I simply described it to my boss and proposed a solution, but I’m not sure this would be welcomed in my new organization.  What do you think?

Earlier this week Michelle and I got the call that we had been dreading for way too long. Our dear friend known for his integrity, compassion and ability to get things done lost a battle with an opponent that paid no regard to any of those qualities. Cancer was his foe, and in a world where the odds of surviving this foe grow greater every day, too often it is still unstoppable.There was no way to win this battle. Any sense of victory would have to come from the way he faced the world and fought the battle with the usual tenacity and calm air of dignity around him. He can claim that victory.The battle took place over months and brought out a cast of characters to lend support in every imaginable way. Too numerous to name everyone here, it included his son Matthew, Jill Kirk and Kathy Sullivan who need to be mentioned for all of the difficult decisions and daily toil.Everyone involved in the battle could now be considered family because the man engendered that kind of bond amongst a group that otherwise might not have naturally gravitated to each other. I guess that is what some people can do. I hope this is something everyone can understand since I wouldn’t have if I had not been involved.I know in the coming days we will hear about what a great statesman he was and how much he gave to the community and what an inspiration he is, and I think they would all be true. But what matters to me was who he was as a person.So often in public someone would come up and say, “Remember me? I met you at so-and-so working on this-or-that…” And he would always take the time to engage them—or even better, if he didn’t have the time he expressed that in a way that I could only dream of.He was honest about his time and if you got any you got it all.We both loved good food and a fine glass of wine, and we shared many—usually with a gathering of friends with varied and energetic conversations.Even the quietest of moments are remembered, maybe now the most.He was also a man that suffered more pain than most. He had lost his first wife to a debilitating disease that lingered for too many years before exacting its final toll. He lost his second wife to an insidious disease that also lingered but had more than physical effects which he had to deal with that hurt him so much inside. The final blow which was so unfair was the recent loss of his beloved Nika, his canine companion who was also the vessel that carried so many fond reminders of his last wife. Is there any fairness?But you would never guess that this man had experienced so much inequity from his approach to life.Holidays, birthdays and those other special occasions will now be a little hollow. Discussions regarding city politics, the Downtown Association, or which flavor gelato is best will be missing a voice.The sun will come up, darkness will fall, we will laugh, we will cry, we will go on. But life will never be quite the same.Dennis Kennedy has left the room.John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, Interim President of the Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

Hello, my name is John McKay and I am a bicyclist. I can’t ride 100 mile days in ease or climb the road to Henry Coe Park for lunch but I can wheel out my “Designed in Morgan Hill” bike (it says so right on the frame), and pedal between morning coffee and lunch in the same day.I don’t wear spandex tights and can’t keep pace with a group of riders who actually understand and use the aerodynamic advantage of the person in front of them. I can judge my health condition by how easy it is to get over any U.S. 101 overpass, proving I’m no elite athlete.I know that there is a health benefit from bicycling, but it has to be done with a regularity that I cannot commit to; so I treat my rides like little vacations and take anything else I get out of it as a bonus. I ride for the sheer pleasure of rolling around on two wheels in a community that has so much to see and do in such a small area.There is a social aspect to cycling for me. During most of the Monday Lunch rides, there is a mother with her toddler in a hitched-on half-a-bike, making it a family affair. Bicycling is one of those pursuits that appeals to a broad age group.I try to be careful and respectful of others I share the road with, and for the most part those others are very respectful and considerate right back. Few seem to respond negatively to my sometimes slightly wobbling vector down the side of the road.Our community is proving to be so many different things. One of these things is a great place to ride bicycles.There are plans afoot to work on defining the safest bikeways to get from one part of town to another, creating safe places for bike parking if you venture downtown, and generally to foster the safest and friendliest place to ride bicycles possible in our community. There are many partners working toward making Morgan Hill the most bike friendly town it can be. But here again, it is the community members themselves who are leading the charge.I believe the most successful efforts are led by those that care and embrace an effort with passion. Based upon this, I think we will have a very bright future as a bicycling community.Summer is coming, so it will soon be prime time to get out and ride. I look forward to the potential of some organized evening rides for all ages (hint, hint…) and other fun organized opportunities; but I’m personally going to get out and ride as much as I can right now.I was recently challenged when I said that there are a lot of bicyclists in Morgan Hill. I stand by that assertion and I think that most bicyclists in Morgan Hill are just as I described myself above—enthusiastic about bicycling but not shopping for a team jersey just yet…John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of local wines and I plan on enjoying them a lot this holiday season.My guess is that many of you who enjoy wine may not be all that familiar with our local wineries and the fact that there are over 30 of them right in our backyard. I sit in on the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley wine association’s marketing meetings and that’s not lost on them. There has been good progress made promoting the local wine region with events like the WSCV Passport Weekend and the installation of the Wine Trail signage. But it has always felt like more could be done.The WSCV is now stepping up their game and brought in a top notch wine marketing consultant to match their goals. This firm is out of the winemaking mecca of Napa, and at first blush I was thinking, “Uh oh, are we going to be molded into something else and be like some other place?” Well, I needn’t worry because the marketing consultant gave a wonderful seminar that emphasized our local wineries should continue doing what they do best: making great wines and being personable and approachable.That marketing consultant really clicked with me because he was saying that winery visitors were looking to have a good time and not get an undergraduate degree in winemaking. Traditionally many wineries seemingly wanted to impress you with talk about things like brix readings, the effect of fermenting or barrel ageing in oak (must always ask if it is French), stirring the lees and malolactic fermentation. All the stuff I want to learn about but not feel obligated to do so.Now, instead of encouraging the wineries to talk about how many months the wine spent ageing in an oak barrel, etc., the winemakers have been encouraged to just talk about what they like to eat with a particular wine or maybe tell you a funny or touching story about how a wine or their winery came about, and maybe talk about their dog. Halleluiah.This was comforting to me since I was always a little self-conscious about my wine knowledge and I can only imagine others felt that way too. So often I’ve walked into a winery and felt like I had to earn a sample by proving I was worthy. I felt like I should taste a hint of this or that and was disappointed if I couldn’t.It turns out that I never should have felt that way in our local wineries. No one was ever testing me—that was my own preconceived notion. Many of our local wineries were already practicing the fun approach to winery visits and they just wanted to see me enjoying their wine.Our local wineries are mostly small and family operated. They love the personal touch of sharing their stories and just talking about wine. And for those wine aficionados who want to get technical, most of these folks are still wine geeks at heart so chat it up.So in between the shopping, gatherings with family and friends, and generally celebrating the holidays head out to a winery for a local wine experience that’ll make you feel right at home.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, a city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.