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City Hall this week released a draft of its long-in-the-works Economic Blueprint, a document compiled with the help of Morgan Hill’s private businesses and residents that outlines how the city can grow its economy in the coming years.“From a thriving economy and highly inclusive community to a healthy environment, the community's long-term sustainability is the foundation for all policies, projects, programs, and initiatives,” reads a portion of the Blueprint draft. “The Economic Blueprint is a significant opportunity to advance this vision and all the benefits of a sustainable community.”In summary, the Economic Blueprint draft lists four key industries that planners expect to drive the economy and create jobs, revenues and a “fiscally sustainable future,” according to the press release:• Innovation and advanced manufacturing;• Retail;• Tourism, including leisure, agriculture, wine production and recreation;• Healthcare, particularly the medical service and diagnostics industries.“By articulating clear intentions with these industries, and developing implementation strategies, the city, the business community, businesses, developers, investors and other economic development partners will be better positioned to realize the dividends of a focused and collaborative effort,” the Blueprint adds. “From the city's perspective, a primary responsibility is to make land use and policy decisions that will attract investment, remove unnecessary barriers, achieve economic sustainability and in return enhance the community's quality of life.”The City Council will discuss and likely approve a final version of the Economic Blueprint at the April 19 meeting, starting at 5:30 p.m. at council meeting chambers, 1575 Peak Ave.The 59-page draft is full of financial and demographic data that illustrates the need for an ongoing focus on the four categories listed above. For example, residential properties in Morgan Hill generate about 67 percent of the city’s general fund revenue, but account for about 75 percent of general fund costs. By contrast, commercial properties contribute about 28 percent of general fund revenues, but only about 21 percent of the costs, page 16 of the Blueprint draft states.Manufacturing continues to make up the largest share (21 percent) of the roughly 16,000 jobs in Morgan Hill, followed by education and healthcare (14 percent of all employment), professional and scientific services (12 percent) and retail (12 percent).In addition to the four key industry sectors listed above, the Blueprint also establishes “four pillars” that align with the city’s General Plan 2035 priorities: maintain the quality of life, fiscal sustainability, job growth and tourism.The Blueprint establishes “benchmarks” that city planners and developers will be encouraged to meet along the way toward these goals. These include policies that facilitate zoning and General Plan allowances for certain types of new development, additional marketing for sports-related and lodging projects, potential new funding sources for property improvements, among many others.The Blueprint includes detailed “work programs” that gives a timeline of when these benchmarks should be completed, and which city department will take the lead on each strategy.Another key measurement for the success of the Economic Blueprint will be the frequent evaluation of “economic indicators” in Morgan Hill. These include:• The city’s unemployment rate (currently 4.1 percent)• Jobs/housing ratio (1.42 in 2010)• The number of retail businesses in town (112 in 2015)• Annual sales tax revenue ($8.8 million projected this year), property tax revenue ($6.3 million), transient occupancy (hotel) tax ($2.6 million)• Commercial vacancy rate (5.24 percent in 2016)• Total jobs in Morgan Hill (15,700 at the end of 2015)• Business to business revenue ($1.18 million in 2016)• Number of hotel rooms available in town (912 as of October 2016), and the vacancy rate of these rooms (now about 70 percent).The process of drafting the Economic Blueprint began in 2015, and has been led by city staff members Edith Ramirez and John Lang. It has also included input from the council and planning commission, as well as “thought leaders” and “pathfinders” from the private sector and neighboring public agencies.The Economic Blueprint draft can be viewed on the city’s website, morganhill.ca.gov.

Chris Enns and her husband were traveling from Grass Valley to Monterey March 28 to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, when their luggage and a cache of valuable items were stolen from their car during a lunch stop in Morgan Hill.An unknown suspect smashed two windows of their vehicle while they were eating at Chili’s on Cochrane Road, said Enns, an author. Stolen were two laptop computers, iPads, irreplaceable work files and everything that was in the couple’s luggage.Enns called MHPD as soon as they noticed the damage and theft. The couple hasn’t heard any updates from police, and their stolen items have not been recovered, she said.Through her conversations with an officer and others associated with the parking lot property outside Chili’s, which is part of the Cochrane Commons shopping center anchored by Target, Enns learned that such vehicle break-ins are common on the commercial properties in the area where Cochrane Road intersects with U.S. 101.“It’s amazing your police department knows about these people, but doesn’t do anything about it,” Enns said. “There needs to be signage (in the parking lots) that says people leave their vehicles at their own risk.”Police have seen an “influx” of such crimes, known as theft from a vehicle, along the stretch of Cochrane Road from the Target shopping center, south to the parking lots of In N Out, Denny’s and a shopping center at the corner of Cochrane and Madrone Parkway that houses numerous tenants, according to MHPD Sgt. Carson Thomas.He noted that about half of the recent incidents are “crimes of opportunity” in which the vehicle owner has left the cars unlocked, and the other half result from “people leaving valuables in the front and back seat, visible.”The precise numbers of these crimes don’t show a plague of vehicle burglaries, but many who frequent these properties are aware of the incidents. Some have taken extra security precautions in recent weeks as a result.From October 2016 to March 2017, eleven theft from vehicle crimes were reported on these Cochrane Road properties, according to MHPD Crime Analyst Margarita Balagso.No arrests have been made in relation to these thefts, but Thomas suspects the thief or thieves are from out of town—“most likely from up north.” He noted that the location of these parking lots, with easy access to the freeway, makes it difficult to catch the suspects.“It’s a high concentrated area of people who are shopping or eating, so crooks figure people are going to be in those establishments for a while,” Thomas said.He added that MHPD is working with regional law enforcement task forces to investigate the crimes and identify a suspect or suspects.Thefts are bad for businessA handful of employees at the shopping center at Madrone and Cochrane, contacted by the Times April 11, were aware of the recent string of vehicle break-ins.Jared Stephen, manager of Anytime Fitness, said the center’s property manager recently beefed up security by making regular foot and vehicle patrols in the parking lot. He said there have been “no issues” since that started about two weeks ago.He added that customers of the 24-hour gym were “voicing their concerns” about the uptick in vehicle burglaries, prompting the additional security. Others were frequently posting about the incidents on Facebook and other social media.“That’s bad for business once stuff like that goes on (social media),” Stephen added.A few doors down at Peet’s Coffee, manager Amanda Dekelaita said she has heard from customers about the recent thefts. She also said she hasn’t heard of any further crimes since the increase in security a couple weeks ago.Managers of In N Out and Chili’s referred the Times to their corporate offices, which did not respond before press time.Enns added that since her car was broken into, she has been warning people she knows not to stop in Morgan Hill when they’re traveling through the area.Balagso, the city’s crime analyst, added that throughout Morgan Hill, a total of 55 theft from vehicle incidents have been reported from October to March.

Police arrested two people and recovered a handgun following a Morgan Hill traffic stop in which the driver gave police a false name and driver’s license, according to authorities.A Morgan Hill Police officer initiated the traffic stop in the area of Monterey Road and Berkshire Drive early in the morning April 8. The driver provided the officer with another person’s driver’s license, attempting to pass it off as his own, according to a post on the MHPD Facebook page.The officer thought something was suspicious about the ID and “peppered” both occupants of the vehicle with questions about where they lived, according to police. Despite saying they both live in Morgan Hill, they were “fuzzy” on their answers.During an initial DUI investigation of the vehicle and its driver, a MHPD dispatcher advised the officer that the owner of the vehicle had a warrant for his arrest, police said. An officer at the scene called the driver by the vehicle owner’s name, Todd Branon, and the driver responded.“Branon immediately realized his mistake and his head fell back as he explained that he had a warrant and lied about his name to avoid jail,” the Facebook post reads.Branon was arrested on suspicion of DUI, false ID to an officer, using another person’s license and suspicion of identity theft, police said.The passenger, Irene Camacho, was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, possession of drugs, possession of paraphernalia, felon in possession of a firearm and other charges.Anyone with information about this incident can call MHPD at (408) 779-2101.

Animal control

Purchases in Santa Clara County just became a little more expensive with the new half-cent Measure B sales tax going into effect April 1.Those funds will jumpstart the Valley Transportation Authority’s 30-year collection of more funds to fix potholes, upgrade highway interchanges, build expressways, improve bus and Caltrain service and complete other transportation efforts.In Morgan Hill, the biggest windfalls from the new sales tax—passed by voters in November 2016 as Measure B—will come in the form of $800,000 annually for basic roads and streets maintenance/upgrades, and about $9.5 million for the long-needed Santa Teresa Boulevard/Hale Avenue extension on the west side of town.Other Measure B funds potentially disbursed to Morgan Hill could help improve pedestrian/bicycle safety and mobility, add more bus lines to the area and bring more Caltrain service to local residents, according to city staff.But the funds won’t start rolling in for at least four months, as VTA staff and representatives, with the help of a citizens oversight committee and officials from 15 cities in the county who will benefit from the tax, will spend the next quarter drafting a detailed plan for the expenditure of the funds.“By the end of the quarter, we’ll be able to start getting money out to the cities so they can start using it on road repair,” said Morgan Hill Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr, who sits on the VTA board of directors.VTA expects to receive its first payment of Measure B sales tax in June. The board is scheduled to adopt a “final draft program” for Measure B, as well as a budget allocation for 2018-19, by the end of June, according to the VTA website.Measure B is projected to raise between $6 billion and $6.5 billion countywide for transportation infrastructure improvements over the next 30 years. Funding is divided into nine categories, not all of which will directly impact Morgan Hill:• $1.5 billion for the BART extension to downtown San Jose;• $250 million for bicycle/pedestrian mobility and safety improvements;• $314 million for Caltrain capacity improvements;• $700 million for Caltrain grade separations;•  $750 million for county expressways (including the Santa Teresa/Hale extension in Morgan Hill);• $750 million for highway interchanges;• $1.2 billion for local streets and roads (including $800,000 annually for Morgan Hill);• $350 million for State Route 85 corridor congestion relief and noise abatement;• $500 million for public transit operations.Need is desperateThe drafters of Measure B used a formula based on each city’s population and roadway miles to determine their annual allocation from the new sales tax funds. In Morgan Hill, that amount comes to $800,000 annually, though the first full annual allocation likely won’t come until next fiscal year.The city currently spends just more than $2 million per year on street maintenance, but officials have declared they need to spend at least $5.8 million just to maintain roadway infrastructure in its current citywide condition.With Measure B and possible new gas tax funding proposed last week by the governor, city officials are optimistic about future pothole repair and other maintenance projects. The new gas taxes, which have yet to be approved by the state legislature, could bring another $1.4 million annually to Morgan Hill for streets infrastructure, Carr said.“That’s the closest we’ve come to the state doing something” to repair roads and streets, Carr added.Unexpectedly to Carr and other officials, shortly after Measure B was approved, VTA suggested the annual funds for maintenance and pothole repair could come in the form of a reimbursement, rather than an up-front distribution.“I’ve heard concerns about that,” Carr said. “It’s not the way most cities or I were thinking about it when supporting the measure last fall.”He added that he thinks the City of Morgan Hill can afford to work with that proposal if it becomes the rule, but admits it would be easier for cities to receive the funds before spending them.Westside bypass funding on the wayAnother vital transportation need in Morgan Hill is the extension of the Santa Teresa Boulevard/Hale Avenue corridor on the west side of town. This project has been in the pre-planning stages for decades, with viable funding having dried up over the years.The “county expressways” category of Measure B projects would provide about 70 percent of the city’s cost to extend Santa Teresa Boulevard from the intersection of Hale and West Main Avenues, to the intersection of Spring and DeWitt avenues. This funding amounts to about $9.5 million, with the city kicking in the remaining $4 million or so.Together, these sums will cover design, right-of-way acquisition, environmental studies and construction, according to Morgan Hill Public Works Director Karl Bjarke.When deciding how to spend these expressway funds countywide, the VTA board will give preference to projects that are “shovel ready,” added Morgan Hill Finance Director Christina Turner. She sits on the Measure B Technical Advisory Committee with Bjarke and representatives of the 15 other cities that are slated to benefit from Measure B.Bjarke added the city’s portion of the Santa Teresa/Hale extension will be “100 percent designed” in May. After that, private property purchases for the new roadway’s right-of-way will proceed, and Bjarke expects the project to be shovel ready by the middle of 2018.There is also a county portion of the Santa Teresa/Hale extension, which will extend the roadway from DeWitt and Spring Avenue to Sunnyside and West Edmundson Avenue. This project, projected to cost about $8 million, is also on the list of Measure B expressway projects.Together, these two extensions will create a seamless bypass around the west side of downtown Morgan Hill—something that residents and city planners have identified as key to solving the area’s worsening congestion problems.

FraudA customer at Walgreens, 745 E. Dunne Ave., paid for merchandise with $520 worth of counterfeit $20 bills. The crime was reported 4:45 p.m. March 28. Stolen vehicleFour boys stole a golf cart from P. A. Walsh Elementary School, 353 W. Main Ave., and took the vehicle for a joyride through residential streets. The boys were about 16 to 17 years old. Police cited the four suspects on suspicion of theft and released them to their parents. The incident was reported 6:50 p.m. March 28.RobberyTwo men wearing bandanas entered Golden Eagle Gas, 16995 Monterey Road, and forced the cashier to open the register. The suspects stole an undisclosed amount of items and ran away. The robbery was reported 10:29 p.m. March 28.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.

A late-night shooting over the weekend rattled a quiet neighborhood in southwest Morgan Hill that surrounds an elementary school and is interwoven with creeks lined with public walking and cycling paths.One man was injured as a result of the shooting, which occurred early in the morning April 1 near the intersection of Vineyard Boulevard and La Crosse Drive. The incident stemmed from a road rage dispute that began up the road, and the shooter was a fugitive from another county wanted on a $4.9 million warrant for attempted murder in the City of Soledad, according to police.Just after midnight April 1, two vehicles were reportedly involved in the road rage incident that began on Monterey Road just north of San Martin Avenue, according to Morgan Hill Police.As the vehicles continued north on Monterey Road, the driver of one of the cars brandished a handgun at the two men in the other vehicle, police said. The suspect followed the victims as they turned from Monterey Road onto Vineyard Boulevard, toward La Crosse Drive.The suspect came to a stop at the intersection of Vineyard and La Crosse. He exited his vehicle and fired one round from the handgun into the passenger’s side of the victims’ vehicle, according to police.The victims’ vehicle made a U-turn at the intersection, and headed eastbound back toward Monterey Road, police said. The suspect continued firing toward the driver’s side of the vehicle. One of the rounds penetrated the driver’s side door and hit the driver in the lower left leg.The victim drove to Safeway at Tennant Station, and called 911, according to authorities. He was transported to the hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries related to the gunshot wound. The passenger of the victim’s vehicle was uninjured.Police set up a perimeter in the area of Vineyard and La Crosse, and the suspect’s vehicle was found a short distance away, the press release states. MHPD officers located the registered owner of the vehicle, from whom police learned that suspect Alexander Monzon, 19 of Soledad, was driving the car just before the shooting took place.  Police also learned that Monzon was wanted on a $4.9 million warrant for attempted murder out of Monterey County, authorities said.MHPD requested assistance from Gilroy Police and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. GPD responded with a tracking K9, while the sheriff’s office provided deputies and a helicopter to assist in the search, according to police.After a “systematic search” spiraling out from where the suspect’s vehicle was located, police found Monzon hiding inside a residence on John Wilson Way, according to the MHPD press release.Monzon was taken into custody without further incident and booked at the county jail for the warrant and on suspicion of the Morgan Hill shooting, police said.Residents reactSoledad Police Chief Eric Sills said by email that Monzon is wanted in relation to a shooting in Soledad that occurred in 2016, though he didn’t offer details. He said investigators think that shooting was gang-related.Residents of two apartment complexes near the intersection of Vineyard and La Crosse in Morgan Hill said they heard five gunshots outside their doors when the April 1 shooting happened.Tim Hughes, 38, who lives in an upstairs unit just outside the scene of the shooting, said it was “disturbing” to see a “gun battle in the middle of the street” outside his home. He added it seems there has been an uptick in shady activity in the area in recent months, and he hopes the presence of an alleged gang member from Soledad in Morgan Hill is not a sign of a trend.“If he’s wanted out of Soledad, what the hell is he doing here?” Hughes wondered. “Thank God they found him.”He said he heard loud tires squealing late Friday night—“not unusual around here”—followed by five “pops” that he immediately took as gunshots.“Then it sounded like (a car) was trying to get away,” Hughes added.While the incident marks the first shooting in the neighborhood in the six years Hughes has lived there, he added the area is becoming increasingly populated with “weird creepers,” gang members and drug using vagrants who hang out by the nearby creek during the summer.“We see police out here all the time looking for people,” Hughes said.He added he doesn’t blame the police for the apparent uptick in crime, and in fact praised MHPD for responding to the April 1 shooting so quickly.‘Growing’ town means more crime?The crime mapping website crimereports.com shows that MHPD, in the last six months, has responded to and processed nearly 20 crimes in the area of Vineyard and La Crosse—including at nearby commercial properties. Property crimes such as breaking and entering, auto burglaries and theft are the most frequent types of incidents listed.But at another apartment complex across the street from Hughes’ neighborhood on Vineyard Boulevard, two residents contacted by the Times said they still feel safe despite the shooting.However, both women said it seems in recent months they’ve been hearing more emergency sirens and seeing more police activity throughout town than they did when they first moved into the apartment complex.“You’re not going to get away from it,” said Sheena, who declined to give her last name. She has lived in the Vineyard Boulevard neighborhood for four years. “It’s a nice little small town, but it’s growing. I feel safe around here.”Anyone with information about the April 1 incident can contact Det. Fernando Del Moral at (669) 253-4964 or the anonymous tip line (408) 947-STOP (7867).

The winter season was a strong one for local teams with two league champions and five teams that made the playoffs.

Police arrested two suspects on suspicion of drug possession and sleeping in a stolen vehicle outside a Morgan Hill business late in the evening April 3.About 11:24 p.m., Morgan Hill Police received a call from Calderon Tires, 14720 Monterey Road, to investigate a possible trespassing violation, according to an April 4 press release from MHPD.Police arrived at the scene and saw a man and woman sleeping in a Jeep. Upon investigation, officers learned the Jeep was stolen out of San Jose, according to police.The two suspects—Adrian Rios, 25, and Denise Galvanvieyra, 22—were detained at the scene, police said. Both suspects said they were from Morgan Hill.Officers also learned that Rios had warrants for his arrests. When they searched the vehicle, officers found narcotics and shaved keys suspected of being used for stealing cars, police said.Both suspects were booked at Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of trespassing, possession of narcotics and vehicle theft, police said.Anyone with information about this case can contact MHPD Det. Fernando Del Moral at (669) 253-4964 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-STOP (7867).

The benefit to graduating one player from the previous year is the chemistry that just carries over for a team.