Opinion

Pop-up park V2.0 is a smashing success by just about any measure. Sitting at the southwest corner of Second Street and Monterey Road, this new little gem already feels like it was always there.This latest temporary park opened to the huge relief of so many who were asking questions like, “Where do our children play downtown?” and “What happened to that big blue chair?” after the original pop-up park closed due to a change in property ownership.Children are once again playing downtown and a spruced up big blue chair is again ready for those photo opportunities (the wood was literally worn down from use).I have heard many say that the newest pop-up park is better than the original. It has a piano, more chairs, more picnic benches, more incredible trees, and maybe a more desireable location. But to me the original paved the way and will never be forgotten.I’ve mentioned this before but I think it bears repeating: The first pop-up park almost didn’t happen.As usual, the city staff members involved in the project asked downtown businesses about giving up about a half dozen parking spaces in return for a little-understood concept of a temporary park. At first, several of the businesses balked; so more information was delivered and conversations ensued. Eventually most of the businesses were on board. The hesitation was understandable because it was a time when the parking garage construction work was starting and a lane reduction pilot program was underway on Monterey Road.Those times were dynamic and the park had to be a success—or else there would be egg on a few faces.Well the “Bike HUB Park,” as it was called then, was a huge success right from the beginning. The success was not as much of a surprise as the type of users were. It had been expected to appeal mostly to adults, but it quickly proved to be the place where families went. Appealing to families, who were generally felt to be missing from the downtown, had always been a key part of the plan; hence the playful primary colors and children’s foam play blocks. But I don’t think anyone dreamed that it would be as popular with families as it turned out.It would be easy, and safe, to let that old park die a fond memory but people like Dan McCranie, Edith Ramirez, John Lang, Mike Katwan, Dale Dapp and a small army of city staffers once again took on a challenge that could leave egg on their faces.Armed with past experience and fresh ideas, the planners of the new park set out to create a place that would be new and inviting, but also familiar.This new park benefits from many lessons learned from the old park but the biggest lesson for me was this: think big and out of the box and take a chance. The risks can be great but rewards can be so much greater, and even quite different from your expectations.Take that chance.Please enjoy your park.John McKay is Interim President of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

THERE is more to a natural landscape than meets the eye. We stand in awed reverence beneath Yosemite Falls or on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Who wouldn't? The grandeur is overwhelming. But what about those ho-hum areas that we pass without notice? Are those places empty wasteland, or do they hold some importance beyond our ken?

I grew up on a prune ranch on Fisher Avenue bought in the 1930s by my immigrant grandparents, Gataeno and Anna Forestieri. My first job was picking 10 boxes of prunes to buy a lunch box when starting kindergarten. The year was 1960.My brother Steve and I worked summers, weekends and part-time jobs. My parents were adamant that farming was not a feasible career for us. Steve and I found other careers—an engineer and court reporter, respectively.Morgan Hill is a town rich in history, and my father helped build that image and was appointed to the Federal Prune Administrative Committee by Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland in 1980.You must understand the past to see the future. The freeway placement, which my father Duke Forestieri fought, cut off our land to the west. Dad took on other people's orchards to make ends meet for our family. He also pursued the idea of moving to Yuba County where prune farming was beginning. My father's love of Morgan Hill instead kept him here. He continued to sharecrop but as Yuba County's production increased, it drove the price of prunes down everywhere—including in Morgan Hill.The cost of farming escalated in the Valley, as more and more restrictions were enacted, utility costs increased, and labor for harvesting became harder to find even though my dad paid top dollar and provided free housing for the seasonal workers.  My dad's health began to spiral downward in his mid-70s. He gave up sharecropping and farmed only his land and the next door neighbor's..The pioneer farmers did not have stock options or golden handshakes; they had their families and their land. Dad joined others in working with the city in the 90s and early 2000s to carve out a plan for the pioneer farmers and include the needs of a growing Morgan Hill. Before he died in 2011, this plan was taking shape and he told me, “It lets people enjoy using our land, not just looking at it as they drive by, but to walk on it, play on it".This  final plan has been worked on for over 15 years. It provides an area where kids who cannot afford traveling teams can improve their skills in many sports and have a better chance at the coveted spots on the high school teams.It will provide a place for community sponsored events, where families can afford the tickets for the whole family.  If this cohesive plan is not put into place, landowners will go their own way, creating a haphazard tapestry for financial survival, which will not enrich our children's lives or improve the landscape.I firmly support this plan for the SEQ.Editor’s note: The Southeast Quadrant/Sports-Recreation-Leisure Urban Service Area expansion plan will be considered for approval at the March 11 meeting of the Local Agency Formation Commission. For more information, visit morganhilltimes.com or santaclaralafco.org.