San Jose, once known as “The Valley of Heart’s Delight,” became known as “Silicon Valley.” Many San Joseans make Hollister their home. Do we want Hollister, like San Jose, to pass from nature’s beauty down a rabbit hole?
The geography of Hollister is notable. Our place lacks an adjoining principal Highway 101. No river, once the great Guadalupe, or ocean port as San Francisco or Oakland, ruffles our landscape.
What we own is an encirclement of friendly hills protecting a fertile valley of food growth.
Agriculture is the No. 1 anchor of the economy of San Benito County. We help feed the state and world. Why does anyone want to spoil that? I think the answer is in the human anatomy. Some people have dollar signs in place of eyeballs.
The dollar sign people favor the dead wood of housing construction over fields of life.
Even previous San Joseans think housing growth is inevitable but they think now they will enjoy Hollister. They forget about their previous life in choking air, colored tap water, traffic, stop lights and lengthy time to get anywhere.
Because we now know that our current situation of fast growth is the effort of a previous mayor and city council who fast tracked permits and licenses allowing this current fast growth.
What we now see took unseen time. Currently, Mia Casey and her friends are trying again to fasttrack growth.
My recently elected supervisor, Ignacio Velasquez, occupies their crosshairs because he understands the issues and honorably won his election. Fast growth believers are pulling the trigger to oust him. I find that a highly undemocratic masquerade of pirates.
Unfortunately, the group with dollar sign eyeballs is incapable of focusing on the real issues. People want life sustained with clean air, clean water and enough food to eat, make a living and a decent place to live.
We reject the theft of our land and our gifts of nature that will leave us only dead wood bereft of life for all.
Mary Zanger
Hollister
