Opinion

The 2009 Tony Award-winning play God Of Carnage opened at the Morgan Hill Playhouse on April 8 and raised the bar on South Valley Civic Theatre presentations. We have talent here in our little town and it’s really good.

Fellow Army veteran remembers KennedyMay I add to the chorus of praise for former Mayor Dennis Kennedy, to touch on another of his contributions.Fifty-two years ago, in 1964, Dennis and I served as fellow 1st Lieutenants on a mud-steeped old Luftwaffe air base near the West German-East German border outside Kassel, Germany. Dennis was the Executive Officer of our HAWK Missile Battery, which was armed with 110 men and 36 air defense missiles pointed east.Dennis was a superb officer, a tireless worker with the painstaking precision of the engineer that he was. I still have the mental image of him laboring at his desk, always the last officer to leave other than the night's duty officer.He was exceedingly generous to me, lending me not only his sports car once to drive the many kilometers to Group Headquarters in Kaiserslautern but also his tan summer dress uniform when I took a few days leave to see my parents in Cincinnati. The uniform still hangs in my attic closet.Dennis and I bonded immediately, in part because two of his friends back in California—Norm Matteoni and Bob Saxe—had been law school classmates of mine at Notre Dame.While no one was shooting at us in those mid-60s Cold War days, the duty was long and arduous. We officers pulled 24-hour duty several days a week, in addition to regular 10-hour days, often in the worst weather Northern Germany could throw at us. Through it all, Dennis Kennedy served his country admirably, always bearing that upbeat smile and a high sense of duty.When Dennis rotated back to the states for his Army discharge, I succeeded him as Battery Exec. To the surprise of none of you who knew him, the transition was seamless. Everything was in perfect order. It was an incredible privilege to serve with him and I cherish the memory.Edmund AdamsCincinnati, OhioSV Flex issues approach resolutionA recent Morgan Hill Times article, “Silicon Valley Flex Academy charter in danger?” (April 1 edition) was misleading and used out-of-date information.First, there is no adversarial relationship between the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) and Silicon Valley Flex Academy. We are two educationally minded entities working together to find solutions to temporary complications.Second, the information in the Times’ article was outdated as it was based on information almost 30 days old. The staff of both SCCOE and Silicon Valley Flex have been communicating extensively since then and meeting to resolve all issues, a fact confirmed by both Silicon Valley Flex and the SCCOE staff. All issues have been resolved or are in the process of being resolved.Finally, it is important to note that the school’s educational practices and results were not called into question and the school was recently approved by the SCCOE board for a new term of five years.We have visitors from all over the world come to see our model. With every visit, we are celebrated for sharing this extraordinary model and the successes it has brought our students academically. As we continue to work with our colleagues at the SCCOE in resolving both the issues presented and their genesis, we will focus on continuing the provision of an outstanding education for the students, families and local community.Caroline WoodHead of School, Silicon Valley Flex AcademyEditor’s note: Full videos of the March 2, 2016 and Nov. 4, 2015 county board of education meetings—where the discussion of operations and finances at SV Flex took place—can be viewed on the SCCOE website sccoe.org.

On Nov. 19, 2015 a major update within the County of Santa Clara's General Plan became effective. The revised local-serving use definition, known as R-LU 57, attempts to set reasonable limits of "size, scale and intensity" of new institutional and commercial uses in the unincorporated areas. The change was initially quite well-received by neighborhoods, but after a short honeymoon of just four weeks, citizens revolted against the new law.I am the appellant in the Canh Thai Temple matter. This temple has become famous as the "bad neighbor Buddhist Temple in San Jose," but at stake are issues of even greater import than code compliance. In a recent open letter to the county supervisors, my neighbors and I urged awareness and action: "The current R-LU 57, ignoring Floor Area Ratio completely, encourages the buying of small lands for establishing institutions; it could even encourage the owner of a 15-acre property to split their land 10 times to create 10 Canh Thai Temples. We urge you to look at the long-term market-driven consequences of disregarding density and the General Plan."This temple is a peculiar case in point. It is on land that San Jose planners and voters designated as greenbelt by saying “Yes” to Measure K in November 2000, by an 80 percent landslide. For San Jose, the greenbelt is to be the green forever, as it is permanently delineated by the 15-percent slope contour. Even if Canh Thai Temple were to be identified as urban in scope—as the neighbors have protested, quite vigorously—there is zero chance of the property ever being annexed by San Jose. Measure K specifically requires any redrawing of the greenline to be approved by the voters.Two recent permit reviews have already eroded the credibility of the new "local-serving use." First was the approval of the VVGC (Hindu Center) on Dec. 17, 2015 by the Planning Commission. At 16,500 square feet, the VVGC will be the largest religious institution ever built in the unincorporated areas. Second is the Canh Thai Temple proposed for Evergreen, heard by the Board of Supervisors Feb. 9. The Canh Thai Temple, situated on a small 1.6-acre property, has more than triple the density of most other unincorporated religious institutions.Additionally, in the pipeline is the 29,000 square foot Cordoba Center. The unincorporated county has been the home of a dozen religious institutions, all under 10,000 square feet. Soon, it could be home to the newest megachurches.Overly dense and intense rural development has been an ongoing point of dispute between San Jose and the County over the years. Rural density is of enormous importance, since it limits the growth-inducing potential of developments that, otherwise, would become hidden future costs to the city—such as heavily used roads and other services.R-LU 57 formerly stated the following, to limit large uses in the rural residential areas: "Commercial, industrial and institutional uses may be established only where they serve the needs of the resident population and result in a net overall reduction of travel demand." To uproot discriminatory language about the origin of patrons, the new R-LU 57 replaces "local" with "local intensity:” New uses are now blind to origin of patrons; the new permits, instead, are compared to existing uses' building size and attendance limits. Furthermore, the size thresholds can be exceeded if developers include "maximal mitigations" of feasible scope, including financial feasibility. This begs the question: If you cannot afford to mitigate your large impacts, how could you afford to create big impacts and large buildings in the first place?The county, once again, is urbanizing. Owing to R-LU 57, it is only a matter of time before developers discover all those pots of gold and start looting. Only one thing can stop this runaway train: Reminding the supervisors that the County's General Plan has an underlying intention of low-density development. That intention should not be undermined by a stealth "small" change that is in fact far-reaching.

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.

Councilmember's comments 'insulting'

Mix tradition, obsession and inflexibility into a pan of sushi and you have the basics of Kimber Lee’s “tokyo fish story’.

On March 15, 2016, the Morgan Hill Unified School District board of education held a meeting in which Superintendent Steve Betando informed the board and the public of his recommendation that the newly opened Voices Charter School be co-located upon the site of the Charter School of Morgan Hill.  This decision is a momentous one which will impact hundreds of students and families. As such, parents and teachers from Voices and The Charter School of Morgan Hill attended this meeting to hear what Mr. Betando had to say, and to express their own concerns.We are writing from the perspective of the parents and teachers who were relegated to the overflow room and warehouse during the March 15 MHUSD Board meeting. There were over 200 people who had to watch the meeting via a TV monitor from these auxiliary rooms. Many of us have attended past meetings where the board room has been very crowded and people have been allowed to stand around the perimeter, sit on the floor and view the meeting from the hallway.  We attended this meeting because we wanted our presence to be felt and heard by the board and district staff, and we were denied this opportunity. We feel especially disappointed because there were multiple requests made to Mr. Betando last week to move the meeting to a venue which would accommodate the expected crowd. We feel that this request was purposefully denied.  We also feel that Mr. Betando orchestrated the setup to shield the board and squelch our ability to demonstrate our voice as a united front. Seats remained open in the board room for the entire meeting that members of our community were not allowed to access because they did not have the correct number on a sticker. Instead, many of us viewed the meeting from a room where the sound quality was so poor that it was difficult to hear the dialogue, and the lights kept flickering on and off.  The California legislators have passed the Brown Act for the purpose of facilitating public participation and it is through this type of participatory democracy, debate and discussion that the best ideas will emerge. Instead of embracing this through a simple change of venue, it appears that the district did everything in their power to limit this participation rather than encourage it.Signed by 212 CSMH parents, teachers and community members.

A booming real estate market has benefitted many in Santa Clara County, but many others have not been so fortunate. Homelessness here in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country is a problem that affects everyone. Thousands of individuals and families are currently homeless, and hundreds have resorted to living alongside our local creeks.

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