Opinion

This week, Jews around the world began the period of the Three Weeks, a time of national mourning leading up to the commemoration of Tisha B’Av (literally the ninth day of the Hebrew month Av), the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.On the secular...

I’m doing pretty good for a new year—I’ve only had to tear up a couple of checks because I was mentally stuck in the past. I think I’m ready for 2016 now and my check writing hand is following suit.2016 is the year the downtown will start to unfold and begin to show us what all of the dust, inconvenience and pain for some of the local businesses was all about; and it better be good.I know that several businesses have been impacted directly by all of the construction, but likely none more that Huntington Station on Third Street. They stand to reap the rewards of being right next to the new parking garage and the foot traffic it will bring; we just need to make sure they survive being right next to the construction zone. So let’s support this restaurant and all of our businesses downtown. They really need your patronage.Since so much of the conversation has focused on each individual aspect of work downtown, like the parking garage and completion schedule, I don’t think most of us are stepping back to imagine the bigger picture of how our downtown will look and function when everything is done.I am just now really starting to put a proper mental picture of the downtown together and I’m starting to get excited about it. What will it look like?On a walk down Monterey Road, you’ll notice that the median has a simple and clean look with native grasses and mulch. At the intersections, rustic looking fencing will define the public spaces—some might even sit a spell to take in the view of the downtown from this different perspective. Surely the “Dear Family” sculpture deserves some time tingling your optic nerves.Walking along the sidewalks you will now be able to sit at tree planter boxes, relaxing or socializing on built in benches. At night there will be a subtle glow coming from under the benches and the trees will help illuminate the sidewalks with their festive lighting. Unique lanterns hang from the trees in the median to add another dimension to this nighttime streetscape.I get to Third Street and I look toward the completed parking garage and see people gathered in the plaza right in front. Some will sit in public Adirondack chairs under the giant lantern supporting oak tree and others in front of the businesses that will front the parking garage, which I can only hope will complement the thriving scene at Huntington. There will be the unmistakable buzz of people happy to be out and enjoying themselves.I’ll miss the colorful pop-up park, but hope to enjoy a corner with yet another business that should thrive in our downtown.Looking up and down Monterey Road, it will look a lot like it has in the recent past, until you start to look at the details. And I think those details will make all the difference in the world in how we see and use our downtown.Please start spending more time enjoying our downtown right now.McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

The Times noted in the Sept. 30, 2015 article on PG&E’s proposal to build a new substation in South County, "The last open house took place Sept. 28 at the Morgan Hill Community Center. Two previous sessions took place in Gilroy and San Martin.The trio of meetings was sparsely attended, but the public can continue to provide feedback to PG&E via email, phone or the internet.”I believe the sparse attendance was by design on PG&E’s part and not apathy on the part of those who will be negatively impacted. I was completely unaware of this project as were most of my neighbors when we just recently learned of the plan and the eight possible locations for the substation. We learned that mailers had been sent out, but were intermingled with other ads and junk mail, and easily dismissed rather than in an envelope PG&E would normally send customers regarding matters of importance.Many of us are now scrambling to understand how these eight sites were determined. It obviously wasn’t using valuable public feedback.Three of the sites are particularly distressing to the residents along the scenic Watsonville Road Wine Trail corridor. The “Watsonville C” site location is particularly troubling for my family in that it will be built directly across the street from our house! My neighbors are understandably equally troubled.This is such a scenic area that it is hard to fathom how PG&E would even consider a 6-acre substation and its devastating impact. The impacts are devastating in potential health effects for those living in the vicinity, environmental considering the impact to Little Arthur and Uvas creeks, and loss of property value.I am also wondering where our county stands on this very important matter. I have yet to hear back from our District 1 County Supervisor Mike Wasserman to whom I have sent several emails. The county should have been giving PG&E guidance, direction and input from the start because there are obviously so many zoning, planning and permit issues.Redwood Retreat Road has by county ordinance been designated as a scenic road and as such the county has placed limits on building in order to preserve the beauty of the area. So again, my question is, why wouldn’t the county be involved and also keeping us informed? Mike Wasserman has never mentioned the South County Power Connect Project once in his newsletters—leaving me to wonder, why?John Tepoorten and his family have lived on Redwood Retreat Road for 19 years. PG&E is in the outreach phase of its South County Power Connect project, which will add a new substation and new transmission lines to South County to enhance the electrical grid. To learn more about the project and the eight substation site options, visit pge.com.