Uncategorized

Speed bumps are returning to Morgan Hill’s primary downtown artery, but only until a new traffic signal is installed at Fourth Street and Monterey Road.These were among more than a dozen “traffic calming” measures—together costing about $600,000—taken by the City Council Sept. 16 to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety downtown, as well as slow the flow of vehicle movement.Elected officials remain determined to establish a “complete streets” vibe downtown that is inviting to visitors on all modes of transportation, despite the failure of an experimental two-lane Monterey Road configuration to convince the council of its permanent effectiveness earlier this year.The council voted unanimously Sept. 16 to direct city staff to enact the following street and infrastructure improvements in and around the downtown:• Add green bicycle “sharrow” markings to the pavement, along with signage to accommodate cycling traffic;• Narrow vehicle travel lanes from 10.5 feet to 10 feet in width;• Slurry seal the street for new directional striping;• Install temporary “speed cushions” on Monterey Road between Third and Fourth streets, and between Fourth and Fifth streets until a new traffic signal is installed at Fourth Street (no speed bumps will be placed where similar devices were previously located just before Third Street);• Install movable pedestrian crossing signs and electronic countdown signals at key intersections;• Provide more bike parking;• Add enhanced crosswalks at Monterey Road intersections;• Add temporary street corner bulb outs at Fourth and Fifth streets;• Add lighting to street trees;• Begin the design process for a new traffic signal at Fourth Street and Monterey Road.In addition, the council and city staff seek to encourage developers to expand the sidewalks, and businesses to convert parking spaces along Monterey Road into “parklets” for outdoor dining or other “active use.”The council also directed staff to explore street and signal improvements on Monterey Road between Cochrane Road and Main Avenue, and between Cochrane and Butterfield Boulevard in order to encourage more use of Butterfield, improve traffic flow and pedestrian/cyclist safety, beautify the roadway and slow down vehicles as they approach downtown.Councilmember Rich Constantine made a motion at the Sept. 16 meeting to remove the speed cushions, but that suggestion failed for lack of a second.From February to July, the city conducted an experiment to determine if reconfiguring Monterey Road to one lane in each direction, with buffered bicycle lanes, would sufficiently calm traffic divert motorists with no intention of stopping around the downtown. The trial generated significant debate among the public, while city staff and consultants collected data on traffic volumes, noise levels, pedestrian activity, vehicle speeds, travel times and other metrics.But at the Aug. 5 meeting, after hearing from more than 40 residents and business owners who were divided on the trial’s effectiveness, the council voted 4-1 to keep Monterey Road in its original four-lane configuration. Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr was opposed to that motion.The majority at that time determined that a two-lane configuration would not reach its goals without other traffic improvements such as a viable vehicle passage around the west side of downtown.The efforts adopted Sept. 16, and the concept of the one-lane configuration, are intended to help make downtown “the most walkable, bike-friendly, urban, family-oriented and transit-oriented neighborhood” in Morgan Hill, according to city staff.The cost to implement the new improvements is about $600,000, according to city staff. About half the funding will come from leftover Redevelopment bond proceeds, and the rest will come from the city’s public facilities fund which is financed by developers’ fees, City Manager Steve Rymer said.The new traffic signal at Fourth Street will take up the majority of the project cost, with a price tag of about $350,000.A key reason for the new traffic signal is to accommodate expected vehicle traffic moving in and out of the Fourth Street Garage, which is under construction and expected to be completed in November, city staff said. The only exit and entrance for vehicles to the facility will be on Fourth Street.City staff also recommends the new signal, as well as the existing traffic light at Second Street, should be set up with a flashing red light to act as a stop sign during times when traffic volume is low.The Fourth Street traffic signal will likely take up to a year to design and install, city staff added. Until then, speed bumps will serve to slow vehicles.Monterey Road is currently undergoing a “streetscape” construction project which will continue to restrict traffic until completion this fall. Some of the improvements approved Sept. 16 will be implemented after the construction is complete.

Three years ago, CARAS—the Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services—first opened its doors in Gilroy to offer assistance to the Latino community. The nonprofit organization picked up where MACSA—Mexican American Community Services Agency—left off when it closed its downtown Gilroy office.

The Granada Theater, an embattled icon of downtown Morgan Hill that has been threatened for years with demolition and redevelopment, will survive as an entertainment venue—albeit after a 14-month renovation process that could start as soon as October.The five-member Morgan Hill City Council, acting as the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Successor Agency, agreed to sell the theater to developer Frank Leal for $294,476. Leal—a veteran of the regional hospitality industry and owner of Leal Vineyards in Hollister and Willow Heights Mansion in Morgan Hill—agreed to renovate the theater building and reopen it as a full-time “entertainment, special event and assembly venue with food and beverage service,” according to a city staff report.The council approved the sale unanimously at the Sept. 2 meeting. City staff also recommend granting Leal $704,000 in leftover RDA bond proceeds to assist with the renovation and reopening.The sale of the property on the 17400 block of Monterey Road also includes the space currently occupied by the Morgan Hill Cigar Company, which will have to relocate before Leal and his crew begin construction.The Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency purchased the property in 2008 at a cost of about $2.4 million.The sale price approved Sept. 2 is supported by an Aug. 3 appraisal of the property by Valbridge Property Advisors.The RDA was shut down by the state in 2011, and since then the city has struggled to find a developer with whom to partner in an effort to turn the Granada into a money-making enterprise that can generate tax revenues to fund local services. The city is in somewhat of a hurry to improve the site—as well as other former RDA properties downtown—because post-RDA regulators including the state Department of Finance are eager to put the assets back on the tax rolls at their highest possible income generating value.Assistant City Manager Leslie Little explained the discrepancy between the 2008 purchase price and the cost to Leal is largely due to a more strict criteria that agencies like the RDA had for purchasing property. When an RDA purchased property, by law it was required to pay for any personal property on the site, fixtures and equipment, improvements, and “loss of goodwill” or disruption of existing business on the property.“In today’s normal real estate market, we had an appraisal that suggested the highest and best use is the land value,” Little explained. “The buildings are not contributors (to the property value). They are functionally obsolete. They actually detract from the land value.”Little was referring to the Downtown Mall as well as the decrepit Granada Theater building, both of which were included in the recent appraisal.Furthermore, Little added, the Granada/Downtown Mall site, known as “site 1,” was comprised of a number of smaller parcels. Purchasing properties in such a manner is often more expensive than what a developer could recover from their sale.The Granada has been closed as a full-time movie theater since 2003. It was built in the 1950s. Over the last couple years, the nonprofit Morgan Hill Granada Preservation Society has been showing weekend movies at the theater, and even converted one of its two auditoriums into a live entertainment venue. The nonprofit gained a short-term lease to enact these part-time activities from the public trust that currently owns the property.Leal’s proposal will generate ongoing economic development activity for Morgan Hill by attracting visitors, providing jobs and contributing to the “vitality” of existing businesses, according to city staff.Leal, working with Weston Miles Architects, expects to spend more than $2 million of his own funds on the Granada project, city staff added. Proposed improvements include structural reinforcement, fire suppression sprinklers, an exterior facelift, heating and air systems and flood mitigation measures.When construction is complete in about 14 months, the newly reopened theater will employ up to 30 full-time and 60 part-time staff, according to city staff. The project will also retain the historic marquee and signage adorning the front of the theater.Leal also agreed to the following conditions:• A 20-year land use restriction that requires the building remain in use as an “entertainment and public assembly” venue;• Submit demolition and development permits before closing the purchase;• Begin construction within 30 days after closing;• Participate in collective downtown marketing and improvement efforts such as the Morgan Hill Downtown Association;• Open the theater at least six times per year for community or charity events.

Vehicle theft

GILROY—The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has opted not to file criminal charges against a veteran Gilroy police officer following a May incident where his teenage stepdaughter shot herself in the leg with his personal handgun.

Stolen vehicleA thief or thieves stole a black 1994 Honda Accord from a residence on the 100 block of Mathilda Court, according to police reports. The crime was reported 5:11 p.m. Sept. 10.  A dark green 1997 Honda Civic was stolen from the area of the 18500 block of Butterfield Boulevard, police reported. The crime was reported 9:56 a.m. Sept. 10.Someone stole a white 2002 Chevrolet work van with a ladder on top from an unspecified location in Morgan Hill, police reported. The crime was reported 8:35 a.m. Sept. 3.DisturbanceAbout 10 people holding baseball bats threatened a young woman who allegedly owed them $20, according to police. The subjects, age 19 to 21, knocked on the victim’s door and hid in the bushes across the street. Police did not reveal the location of the incident. The crime was reported 8:56 p.m. Sept. 9.Petty theftThree suspects were arrested after trying to shoplift merchandise from Staples, 1023 Cochrane Road, police said. Store staff called police when the suspects were in the process of trying to hide merchandise in their clothing, in an apparent effort to steal the items. The suspected thieves tried to steal three pairs of headphones. Police arrived before the suspects were able to leave the parking lot. The crime was reported 11:20 a.m. Sept. 10.VandalismTwo model homes at a residential construction site were broken into, and the suspect or suspects broke the front doors in to gain entry, police reported. The crime was reported 2:17 p.m. Sept. 8.BurglaryConstruction containers at a site on the 18700 block of Madrone Parkway were broken into and vandalized, according to police reports. The crime was reported 11:05 a.m. Sept. 6.Auto burglaryA thief or thieves smashed a window on a silver Jeep Cherokee and stole a backpack with children’s clothing in it from the vehicle, according to police reports. Two suspects were allegedly seen driving away from the scene in a gold Lexus with tinted windows. The crime was reported 2:47 p.m. Sept. 2 on the 700 block of Cochrane Road.

Imagine standing a few feet from live, acoustic instruments and melodious human voices. How does it make you feel?

Three Santa Clara County Main Jail correctional officers were charged Sept. 8 with the murder of inmate Michael Tyree.The guards—identified as Matthew Farris, 27, Jereh Lubrin, 28, and Rafael Rodriguez, 27—are accused of beating inmate Tyree late last month so much that they caused massive and eventually fatal internal injuries, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office.“These men violated the law, human dignity, and the job that they were sworn to do,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a press release. “They may have thought that their violence, enacted late at night in the obscurity of a jail cell and against a helpless and mentally ill inmate, was invisible. Today we see it for all of its brutality. Mr. Tyree was not invisible. His death was not invisible. We will see that there is justice.”The guards are also accused of felony assault under the color of authority for beating another inmate minutes before their alleged fatal assault on Tyree.In its complaint against the officers, the DA’s office claims at around 10:50 p.m. on Aug. 26, the three guards entered the cell of another inmate in the same “pod” as Tyree and physically assaulted him.According to the DA’s office, inmates reportedly heard the blows and Tyree screaming, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Stop.”According to the press release, a short time after allegedly assaulting the first inmate, the officers entered the cell of Tyree.The DA’s office alleges after the closed-door beating—which left Tyree with numerous injuries all over his body—inmates heard Tyree crying. Then they heard his body hit the floor.Later, according to the DA’s office, two correctional officers entered Tyree’s cell just after midnight to find Mr. Tyree dead on the floor, covered in his own waste. He was pronounced dead at 12:35 a.m. The County Medical Examiner estimated that his internal injuries to his liver and spleen were so severe that he died within minutes of the trauma.If convicted of the charges, the guards could face life in prison.“I appreciate the District Attorney’s decision to file murder charges against the three correctional deputies arrested for the murder of Michael Tyree,” Sheriff Laurie Smith said. “While no one can bring Michael back to his family, we can ensure that those responsible for his murder are brought to justice as swiftly as possible. The reprehensible actions of those accused of this cowardly act are not indicative of the values we expect from our correctional deputies. As the Sheriff, I will redouble my department’s efforts to root out any correctional staff that does not share and exhibit the high standards the public rightfully expects from us.”Tyree was in custody related to his probation for a misdemeanor drug possession that was being monitored in Santa Clara County Superior Court's mental health court, according to the DA’s release.He was also charged with petty theft.The sheriff’s office announced Sept. 4 that it will request funding for a modernized camera system in the Main Jail and Elmwood Jail facilities. The announcement was in response to the death of Tyree.“Expanding the number of cameras at each of our custodial facilities will improve the safety of inmates, visitors and correctional staff assigned to those facilities,” Sheriff Smith stated.  “This is a common sense improvement designed to increase our staff’s ability to monitor our jails and ensure stricter accountability for all personnel assigned to our facilities.”On Sept. 3, following the arrest of the correctional deputies on suspicion of the murder of Tyree, Smith and her top command staff met with community leaders from several organizations to provide them with a detailed briefing on the arrests and to listen to concerns and ideas as to how the sheriff’s department can continue to work collaboratively to address those concerns, according to sheriff’s Sgt. James Jensen.“We had a great discussion with the sheriff at yesterday’s community meeting. We look forward to continuing the conversation with the sheriff and working within the facilities,” said Reverend Jeff Moore, President San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP.In attendance at the meeting with community leaders were representatives from the NAACP, Silicon Valley Debug, Jail Observer Program, Correctional institutions Chaplaincy, among others.Chaplin Evelyn Vigil from Correctional Institutions Chaplaincy said, “I am grateful for the sheriff’s swift and decisive action in this case and look forward to continuing our cooperative efforts to provide high-quality care to inmates and staff,” said Vigil.In addition to the proposal to expand and modernize the jail’s camera system, the sheriff’s office has proactively sought input from the FBI on its operations and will continue to review and improve its current policies, procedures and protocols for safely managing those in custody that must cope with mental illness.

One suspect is in custody and police are searching for a second after they say two men robbed a Morgan Hill video game store while holding customers, including a young child, hostage at gunpoint.The incident is the second armed robbery in Morgan Hill in less than a week, as police reported a similar crime at a local convenience store Sept. 2.About 10:50 a.m. Sept. 5, the two adults entered GameStop, located at 1057 Cochrane Road, with at least one firearm, according to Morgan Hill police. One of the suspects brandished the handgun and took two store employees and four customers hostage.The suspects robbed the hostages of their personal belongings and held them captive in a storage closet while they looted the store, police said. The robbers fled the scene in a vehicle that later seen by a Morgan Hill officer driving to the area of an apartment complex at 260 Berry Court.The suspect who was driving the vehicle attempted to evade police, then ran into the apartment building, according to police.The police department deployed the Morgan Hill/Gilroy Regional SWAT team to search for the suspect, who police believed to still be armed. After a 13-hour evacuation and search of the property, police requested the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team to continue the search.The county’s SERT team found the suspect in one of the apartments about 10:30 a.m. Sept. 6, bringing the standoff to a peaceful resolution, police added.The second suspect is still on the run, authorities said. Police have not released the name of the suspect in custody because they do not want to risk compromising the ongoing the investigation.Also assisting in the investigation and arrest were the Gilroy Police Department, MHPD Volunteers and Community Emergency Response Team.The Sept. 5 incident at GameStop was the second recent armed robbery in Morgan Hill. About 12:41 a.m. Sept. 2, a black male adult entered the 7-Eleven store, 295 W. Main Ave., and brandished a small handgun toward the store clerk, according to police.The suspect told the victim to open the cash register, police said. The victim initially refused, and then the suspect punched him in the face and forced him to open the register.The suspect then removed the cash from the register and was last seen running toward Crest Avenue, according to police.The armed robber is still on the run, and police are asking the public for help finding him. The suspect is further described as about 6 feet tall, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a red billed hat and black pants.The victim was transported to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy where he was treated for his injuries and later released.The Campbell Police Department reported a similar incident that occurred Aug. 31 about 11:37 p.m.During the Campbell case, two black men entered the Food Mart located at 100 W. Hamilton Avenue and demanded money from the clerk, according to police.The physical and clothing description of one of the suspects and the method of the crime were a near identical match to the Morgan Hill robbery, according to police.The San Jose Police Department also reported two robberies in which the suspects’ actions and description also resembled the Morgan Hill robbery; however, a direct link has not yet been made.Police did not say if they think the 7-Eleven robbery is related to the GameStop incident.Anyone with information about these crimes can call Morgan Hill police at (408) 779-2101 or the anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.