Hooray, Trader Joe’s is open – what a wonderful holiday gift for South County residents! But it’s a gift that the region – Morgan Hill residents and officials especially – worked hard to get. After a citywide postcard campaign, a few columns on the topic, and who knows how much behind-the-scenes work between city officials, developers and TJ’s representatives, South County finally has one of the much-loved specialty grocery stores and it’s in Morgan Hill.
After pining and whining for years, I had to make a trip to the Morgan Hill Trader Joe’s on the first day. I visited on my lunch hour during the store’s Dec. 8 grand opening and found what seemed to me to be the last available parking spot in the 117-spot lot. Parking lot vultures circled, waiting expectantly for someone to leave the store so they could claim the abandoned parking space. It felt like the Gilroy Outlets on the Saturday before Christmas.
Once inside, I was greeted with a warm “Welcome to Trader Joe’s” and a plastic lei. I ogled the orchids just inside the front door, but managed to resist. Instead, I headed for the frozen food section at the middle of the store. It was such a luxury to buy frozen tilapia, gorgonzola gnocchi and green beans without wondering how they would survive a long drive home. Now that I wasn’t shopping at a TJ’s in San Jose or Saratoga, but right here in South County, I didn’t have to worry about unloading partially thawed groceries from my car.
Instead, I learned when I got home that I had a new worry: how to fit all the frozen food I bought in my freezer.
The place was hopping. I ran into my friend and colleague, columnist Marty Cheek, and we spent a few minutes catching up on our various projects. I looked around and it seemed that lots of folks were running into friends and neighbors.
When he got back to Morgan Hill from working in Santa Clara, my husband made a TJ’s stop on opening day as well, and he ran into other folks we know.
Talk about pent-up demand – I’m predicting much success for the long-awaited South County Trader Joe’s.
And, as my husband said as he was unpacking his TJ’s purchases, “Now, when can we get a Whole Foods? Get started on that, will you?”
In the not-so-good news department, I was disappointed to see that Santa Clara County Supervisor and VTA board member Don Gage voted to spend $135 million on design and engineering costs for the 16.1-mile BART-to-San Jose boondoggle.
Gage said he voted for the expenditure because he needs more information.
“… I voted the way I did because the engineering will get us the information to make a decision as to whether to move forward,” he said of his vote. “If we don’t have that, we’re making the decision in the blind.”
I couldn’t disagree more. We don’t need to throw another $135 million of scarce taxpayer dollars after the millions already spent.
We already know the BART extension is an expensive, bad idea.
We already know that VTA cannot afford to build the extension.
We already know that VTA cannot afford to operate the extension.
We already know that federal policy wonks have recommended against putting federal money into the extension.
We already know that the highly touted BART extension to the San Francisco International Airport failed to meet its ridership projections.
We already know that the extension will not help South County residents, and will likely harm them, as our projects will likely be cut to pay for the BART extension.
“We know we don’t have the money,” said Mountain View City Councilman and VTA board member Greg Perry. “We don’t know how we’re going to get the money. But we’re going to bet half a million dollars that the money’s going to come.”
Why are we throwing good money after bad?
I’m in favor of public transportation. But I’m also in favor of sensible and equitable spending of skimpy transportation funds. The BART-to-San Jose extension doesn’t meet any sensible or equitable criteria.
Doug McNea of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association said, “Put BART on hold.”
That’s not enough.
Kill the BART-to-San Jose extension.
Lisa Pampuch is a technical editor and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. She lives in Morgan Hill with her husband and two children. Reach her at
li*********@in***.com.
