Opinion

Just when you think our South Valley can’t get any lovelier now that our golden hills have turned green, out of the cold and rain of winter (well, sort of—it’s been a strange year!) burst forth brilliant yellow flowers spreading like soft coverlets over our hills and vales.

Keep growth balancedDear Elected and Appointed Morgan Hill Representatives,In recent weeks we have had extensive meetings and discussions with representatives from a large number of Morgan Hill’s major private employers, and every one of these companies is in a solid growth mode. Many of them are considering physical expansions as they have filled out their current facilities. They need to know that there is a place for them to expand into; otherwise they will be forced to expand and/or relocate elsewhere.Since this time last year, much has changed … and all of those changes further support the argument against land conversions of this type. Our industrial building vacancy rate has dropped from a great recession high of approximately 20 percent to about 3 percent today.  Meanwhile, large numbers of new housing units have been built, but the vast majority of them are occupied by commuters and retirees. The counterintuitive argument that more housing will automatically mean more good paying jobs in Morgan Hill has, in fact, not been demonstrated. Housing has been added at a much, much faster pace than have good paying jobs. Meanwhile, many cities to our north have been pursuing a job focused development program; relying ever more heavily on communities like Morgan Hill to provide the housing, services and amenities people need to live their lives.A healthy Morgan Hill must be a balanced Morgan Hill. That is why we have land reserved for industrial development in our General Plan. Those in the development business focus on doing the projects now which can make money now, and then they typically move on. The point of zoning and planning is to ensure that an appropriate long term view is taken as we further build out our terrific city.Please continue to support a robust, balanced Morgan Hill by denying requests for industrial land conversion to residential uses. Yes, Morgan Hill needs more apartments, but not at the cost of building a balanced city.Sincerely yours, John T. Horner, President and CEO of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Coffee with the MayorThe first Coffee with the Mayor for 2015 will be 10 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 7 at BookSmart. Coffee with the Mayor gives Morgan Hill residents an opportunity to give input to the mayor in a very relaxed and informal environment.  The “input” can be anything—questions, suggestions, criticism (hopefully constructive!) or just a friendly chat to get more familiar with the mayor and with Morgan Hill governance. Some regulars come because they want to hear what other attendees have to say, and that’s fine, too.  The coffee is on the mayor and BookSmart very graciously provides some yummy treats to complement their great coffee. The mayor and City Council will have concluded their annual goal setting retreat the previous weekend, so Mayor Tate will give an overview and provide an opportunity for residents to provide feedback on the city’s direction. The mayor usually brings along a guest but for this first meeting of the year, he will go it alone.  Steve Tate, Morgan Hill‘Original Navy SEAL’ to speak in MHFriends and Family of Nisei Veterans (FFNV) will hold its annual membership meeting Feb. 14, 2015 at the rear building of  Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center, 16450 Murphy Avenue. Pot-luck lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. for FFNV members and the main program will start at about 12:30 p.m. The program portion of this meeting is open to the public.Our guest speaker will be William Goehner, Jr., of Morgan Hill. At the beginning of World War II, he joined the Navy at age 16 and volunteered for the elite Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), popularly known as “frogmen.” The UDT was the original Navy SEAL. He led many “suicide missions” against the German Navy and became one of the most decorated and fastest promoted sailor in the Navy.  In Hollywood’s Oscar-nominated movie “The Frogmen” (1951),  Goehner was portrayed by Richard Widmark. Goehner will take you through a harrowing and danger-packed mission to mine a German submarine base in the Baltic Sea to a heartwarming encounter with a young German soldier while on a reconnaissance mission on Normandy just before D-Day.Brian Shiroyama, Morgan Hill

Art is not only coming; it is already here.I’m sure most of you are now aware that in the next few months we will soon double, triple, or possibly quadruple the amount of public art we have in town. It’s hard for me to say since apparently there’s more public art in Morgan Hill than you might think because it’s not all obvious. Most of the new art will be much more obvious.All of the attention right now is on public art but we have a lot of the other kind too. What do you call that, private art?In many of the businesses in town, most notably restaurants, you will find local art that has been placed there for your enjoyment and purchase. Some of this art will grab your attention with bold colors or designs while others remind you that there is a quiet place in the library that could use that painting (we all have libraries, right?).The local art was placed in those businesses by the Valle Del Sur Art Guild that is based right here in Morgan Hill. The guild was formed over 4 decades ago and includes several dozen members. Now you can see their work thanks to over 14 partner businesses participating in their Art Around Town program. Their art can also be viewed periodically at the Community and Cultural Center (CCC).Art on the walls of the CCC is also coordinated by the El Toro Culture and Arts Committee. This group also helps with events to spark an interest in art in our youth and push to keep art in the forefront of our community.A new art gallery is opening up downtown. Morgan Hill Art Gallery on Second and Monterey is an example of one of the components long discussed as missing in our downtown business mix—an art gallery where diners and shoppers can spend some time browsing and shopping for art. This gallery also happens to be associated with the Valle Del Sur Art Guild and will feature locally created art.We are fortunate to also have many other local artists who are not associated with any guild or association in our community. Several of these artists will gain new or additional exposure in the community as they release their Downtown Placemaking Art Mini-grant winning work. Many of our artists are not just hobbyists and you will find some of them in art exhibits around the country. A second mortgage might be needed to purchase some of their work.We have an abundance of all forms of art in our community whether it be painted, sculpted, photographs, music or otherwise. Like so many other things happening in Morgan Hill there appear to be opportunities, or opportunities in the making, to let more of what is already here grow and shine.Again, for a community of our size we fight above our weight class in the arts. We just need to stop and pay more attention to it.I think that this is the year that art, like so many other things, will start to find its proper place in the community.Please enjoy what we have and support the arts.—John McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and a member of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

‘The Story Of My Life” is about the relation-ships in life, what we miss, what we remember and what we could have done differently. Two actors carry this story with quality voices and good delivery.

At Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park above Santa Cruz, a single ridge separates two very different habitats. Walking the trails on the park’s east side through bright slopes of mixed evergreen trees and chaparral, it seems so unlikely that just over the hill giant redwoods nearly 300 feet tall shade a forest floor dark, moist and green. The great thing about this park is that both settings are within easy reach of a day hiker.

Last August we sent Junior off to college. It was horrible. I spent the entire day trying to be cheerful and happy, when all I really wanted to do was cry. Junior looked like all he wanted to do was get rid of his mother. I honestly think Harry could have stayed because the entire time he was helping Junior assemble the $3 million worth of useless dorm organization crap I bought*, he kept talking about how fun college life was and giving helpful advice on what co-eds to avoid and how keep track of your red Solo cup at a party.

As we head into 2015, we reflect on 2014 and make resolutions to hopefully carry us through the upcoming year. We promise to eat healthier, exercise more, be a better person and pray for world peace. But instead of searching for that magic cure, or constantly working toward fulfilling New Year's resolutions, just be happy—it's not that hard.

John McKay in a recent column said the city must grow. But how do you define growth?  He mentions the good work of General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC), but does not mention the 30,000 additional residents the GPAC is considering adding to the 40,000 already here. Such numbers would overwhelm our community, change it and put it at risk.Thirty thousand new residents will place overwhelming demands upon municipal services and infrastructure. You would think that the city will gain from the new property tax but the city receives very little of that as the state, county and school districts siphon most of it. Cities that relied on a residential tax base suffer and are at risk of becoming insolvent.This city struggles to meet its current demands. It has difficulty in maintaining what we have. The city has deferred millions in needed street and other projects but it does not have resources to address them. We spend millions on property for ball fields we don’t need for which we have no resources to build. Point being we cannot grow without revenue to support such growth. We have to grow with all other considerations, including our quality of life. It must be a planned and balanced approach.Realtors and developers have been engaged, and are salivating at paving over precious farmlands and open space. I attended a number of the public meetings of the GPAC and attendance was few in number and always the same people: property consultants and developers. But that is not public engagement.  If you want to gather information from the community, you also scientifically survey and/or present the projects for municipal vote, neither of which has happened. At the moment, county landowners and developers run this city and gave the council an ultimatum last week to which this weak council yielded. So who is running this city?When you start addressing interest in the downtown, John, I would expect you would have many business owners interested as the effects are immediate and close by. But many consider the Southeast Quadrant, where most of the growth will occur, as a distant project and cannot fathom the impacts of traffic, crime, noise, pollution, sewage and the need for higher taxes to support a massive new population.The City has thousands of acres of land within its existing city limits. There is plenty of land to grow up, if not out. Building within the existing city limits/framework is the most cost effective and efficient means of growth—no ifs, ands or buts. Annexing county land and paving over farmlands in light of climate change without a mitigation and adaptation plan and a constrained city budget is irresponsible leadership.John McKay, if you want to discuss the future and growth of Morgan Hill, I would surely like that conversation. Your perspective in my opinion is not aligned with what I believe the residents of Morgan Hill really want and more importantly the protections they absolutely need.—Mark Grzan is a former Morgan Hill City Councilmember/Vice Mayor.