Guest View

Many years ago, I was invited to celebrate Mass with the Sisters of Charity (Saint Theresa of Calcutta’s Sisters). On the sacristy wall, there was a message for visiting priests: “Celebrate this Mass as if it will be your first Mass, your last Mass,...

On Feb. 17, the Morgan Hill City Council once again displayed a lack of foresight and financial wisdom in handling Ordinance 2131. You might recall that last spring, voters signed a petition to suspend the ordinance that would change the zoning for a three-acre parcel of land on Lightpost Way and Madrone Parkway from “light industrial” to “general commercial.” The petition required the zoning change to be approved by the voters before it could be enacted. Instead of following the California Constitution, the city terminated the petition in an attempt to aid an out-of-town developer who bought the land cheaply. That developer will now make a windfall with the city council rezoning the land to commercial, which is worth more. Now the city is being sued by the Hotel Coalition for failing to abide by the requirements of the Constitution. Who will pay the bill to defend the city? You, the taxpayer.

This November, Santa Clara County voters will vote on Measure A, a housing bond that will create new affordable housing for our most vulnerable community members and programs for our working people.That description sounds very impersonal, perhaps even bureaucratic. But it’s not. It’s very personal to me because I am a parent, because I am a local employer, because I am intimately aware of the struggles of the most vulnerable families and individuals in our community.Last year, one of my daughters moved to Idaho solely because of the high cost of housing in the Bay Area. She and her fiancé were tired of shared renting and knew they would never be able to buy a home in California. I miss her.Community Solutions employs more than 200 bright, talented and committed staff. While we offer competitive pay and benefits, the vast majority of them can’t buy a home here and many cannot afford escalating rents. They are commuting from farther and farther away. Or they are taking their talent and moving away, like my daughter. Local businesses and nonprofits are having a harder time filling positions due to the high cost of living.Community Solutions serves more than 4,000 residents across Santa Clara County. Every day I see our clients—our neighbors—struggling to survive because of our housing crisis: mothers leaving our domestic violence shelter unable to find affordable housing; students whose families live in their cars—even with a parent employed full-time; homeless men and women living with mental illness, for whom we don’t have the housing for them to continue on to better health and self-sufficiency.For all of these reasons…for all of these people, we must do better.Measure A will create new affordable housing for our vulnerable communities—for homeless families with children, veterans and seniors.Measure A also identifies housing solutions for working families. The measure funds affordable housing near workplace centers and transit. And it creates a First-time Homebuyer Program to support working people and families wanting to build their lives here, like teachers and nurses who cannot afford to live where they work.Measure A provides a holistic approach to addressing our housing challenges. It focuses on helping those most in need, but ensures that we don’t leave anyone behind.This year’s ballot may be the longest one ever. This election cycle has been one of the most exhausting ever. But we have a historic opportunity here in Santa Clara County—an opportunity we cannot squander.  I urge you to join me in voting YES on Measure A for affordable housing.Erin O’Brien is the President and CEO of Community Solutions. She wrote this column for the Morgan Hill Times.

It is with whole-hearted enthusiasm that I submit this letter of support for the renewal  of Charter School of Morgan Hill’s charter. I am a proud parent of a seventh grader at Charter School. Our daughter has been a student there since kindergarten, and my husband and I could not be happier with the education she’s received since day one.Charter School is a true community that consists of students, faculty, support staff, parents and families. The strong family involvement and community interaction is the foundation of our school’s successful learning environment.Through project-based learning (PBL), which is at the core of the school’s curriculum, our daughter has been able to be immersed in a variety of amazing educational experiences.  In first grade, she traveled back in time for “Now & Then Day” and learned how people truly lived in the past.In second grade she took a trip across the seas for “Ellis Island Day” and experienced the immigration process first hand (please note Ellis Island Day represented the experience of ALLimmigrants to the United States). Our daughter was born in China, and she experienced that day as a Chinese immigrant, just as thousands of Chinese immigrants came through Angel Island to find work and start a new life in the U.S.In third grade she learned problem solving through deductive reasoning by solving a "teddy bear" crime scene. In fourth grade she panned for gold as a 49er in Placer County. In fifth grade she experienced life as colonist in the hamlet of “Charterburg,” running a business as a seamstress and forced to pay taxes to the King. In sixth grade she went spelunking and discovered ancient cave paintings.  Charter’s Math, Science, Art, Agriculture, Music and Spanish curricula weave seamlessly into the PBL subjects. Watching this type of teaching and learning take place year after year is almost magical. All our teachers are dedicated and talented individuals who give of themselves to make Charter the remarkable school it is.My husband and I are both Latino and it was important to us as parents to find a school that reflected the diversity of our Morgan Hill community. Public education in a diverse and positive learning environment is extremely important to us, so Charter was our first choice for our daughter. My husband grew up in San Jose and is the son of farm workers. As a child, he and his family lived and worked in the fields. He was fortunate to attend an elementary school that had caring and loving teachers.  Because his parents worked during the day with no one at home to watch him, his teachers went the extra mile and allowed him to stay after school to do homework and get the extra support he needed. He is the first in his family to earn a college degree. He often says the environment at Charter is much like the environment of his elementary school.  My father immigrated to this country from Latin America to seek educational opportunities for himself. He was profoundly grateful for those opportunities which allowed him to become one of the first Latino neurosurgeons in the U.S. He never let us forget the importance of a free and equal education, which allowed him to better himself and our entire family.Both my husband and I feel the Charter community has the diversity needed to enable its students to become culturally competent adults. In our daughter’s seventh grade class are students of Latino, Asian, Filipino, Portuguese and Middle Eastern descent. Our daughter has the unique distinction of being of Chinese ethnicity, raised by Latino parents, and at Charter she is just Caroline. To us, this demonstrates that her classmates respect and embrace cultural diversity.It is evident that Charter School students are learning and thriving through the PBL curriculum and dynamic environment.  Your vote to approve renewal of the charter should be without question. A vote to deny renewal is a vote to deny students within your own school district an exceptional learning experience that educators throughout the area strive to emulate.