Opinion

Well it’s just about here… Saturday, Dec. 2 will be the big day that the three new downtown parks will finally open to the public.I’ve been watching the planning of these parks for close to three years, and at times they just seemed like some far-fetched and far-off dream. This city had not built a new park in almost 20 years, which seems strange for a community that is so focused on open space and parklands. The time is right.Turns out it takes a lot of planning—and it turns out that hard work, resourcefulness and timing are other prime ingredients in making things only recently dreamed a reality.The community loved the idea of a park along West Little Llagas Creek, behind Ladera Grill, M&H Tavern, Murphy’s Mercantile and Betto’s Bistro. The input from the initial community outreach meetings is actually seen in the park now. The fact that it’s more of a passive park without all the play features (now reserved for the Railroad Park), and the proposed artwork were all discussed at the meetings.Even the neighbors—one directly adjacent the park—gave feedback that was heard and incorporated. Involved neighbors are the best kind, and they have embraced the park.Right up from the Third Street Creekside Park is now Nob Hill Trail Park. The views of Morgan Hill and surrounding valley will now be featured along with a couple of big slides, trails and equipment to offer outdoor exercise in a setting that feels like a forested park far from the city’s core.Exercise equipment and walking paths aren’t particularly unique to city parks, but having two big slides coming down a signature hill right next to the downtown is.Who would’ve ever guessed that we’d really get these big slides down Nob Hill? They’re the kind of thing that just seemed like an unrealistic dream at one time. I like to believe that the support, effort and funding from the Morgan Hill Rotary Club made the difference.I believe that not only are the slides going to be a lot of fun; they will again bring attention to a community that has a zest for life and just has fun.Now that we have slides and exercise equipment right in the downtown, we can eat, shop, play, exercise, sleep, repeat… That’s an active lifestyle.The Railroad Park is going to be where the young ones get catered to. The many play features look like so much fun that I’m guessing there might be some “close adult supervision” taking place regularly right alongside the community’s children.The bright primary colors, murals and feel will hopefully offset the loss of the pop-up park which will likely go away soon. I like to think that the two pop-up parks provided plenty of inspiration for the new Railroad Park. Could the big blue chair end up there?Morgan Hill is a community that generally takes itself seriously, but these parks allow us to let our hair down a little and have some fun.The spider sculpture on the parking garage, big blue chair, and other public art also speak to our fun and sometimes whimsical side, and the outside world is recognizing us for it.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

My wife and I attended Mayor Steve Tate's State of the City address Feb. 25. I was disappointed to see the low turnout of residents at this very important event. The speech was very long on vague, lofty goals and very short on budgetary specifics related to these goals. That opinion aside, what really irked me were a couple of statements noted in the handout flyer distributed to the attendees: "The City is committed to engaging the community and being responsible stewards of public resources" and one  of the “ongoing priorities” is "Preserving and cultivating public trust.”In my opinion, there have been many questionable misuses and squandering of public resources, with a great number involving the myriad of wasteful downtown projects. (The $3.6 million Third Street Promenade comes to mind along with the recent $200,000 “Spider.”) But one of the most flagrant, if not at least questionable spending decisions, involve the compensation package and perks given to our City Manager. As reported by the Morgan Hill Times July 17, 2014, the City Council not only gave Steve Rymer a 3-percent raise after only one year of service, but they also voted July 2 of that year to give him a 30-year, $900,000 home purchase loan at 3 percent interest with no points or other mortgage fees that average homebuyers pay. Mayor Steve Tate justified this decision "because we could provide incentives in terms of his longevity here in Morgan Hill." I think a $200,000-plus salary with generous municipal benefits would provide more than a bit of incentive to quite a number of qualified, experienced city managers.Then, even more outrageously, after four closed session meetings, the City Council on March 18, 2015 announced and approved giving the City Manager a $110,000 home improvement loan at a below market rate of 5 percent, in addition to a $3,200 per year raise. City resident Doug Muirhead justifiably voiced concerns regarding this at the sparsely attended council meeting, but it was a done deal regardless.More recently, as reported by the Morgan Hill Times, an additional $10,800 raise was approved 4-0  by the City Council in its March 2 meeting. Mayor Tate was absent. This all could be seen as blatant cronyism, if not at least excessive misuse of public funds. Besides, how is someone earning $228,000 per year not able to manage securing a  $900,000 mortgage from a private lender?My purpose is not to disparage Mr. Rymer or his work, but to point out that without public input, those we entrust with our hard-earned money often spend it very unwisely. Our streets are in disrepair, our water and waste infrastructures are soon to be overburdened and our quality of life in this town will suffer. This is not the time to be spending excessively on questionable artwork, pop-up parks or extravagant public payrolls.It's disheartening that more Morgan Hill residents don't get involved in city affairs unless it affects their immediate neighborhood, but city planning and spending affects us all eventually. Other than city officials and employees, there were maybe a handful of residents that attended the meeting in addition to a couple of dozen high school students there getting their civics certificates.The city's outreach program is weak at best. These important issues should be announced to all residents by either citywide mailings or methods other than the "Nextdoor" or City of Morgan Hill websites, which I doubt many people visit, or short blurbs in the local paper.I encourage Morgan Hill citizens to make an effort to get involved and come see and hear how their city operates and spends their resources before making their choices for city officials in the November 2016 election.Ask for specifics and don’t just accept lofty platitudes. It's your money they'll be spending.Zenon KomarczykMorgan Hill