The following events, organizations and people deserve either a
Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week:
THUMBS DOWN: Burglaries have increased sharply in Hollister and police officials say they don’t know why. Burglary reports have more than doubled over the past two years, meaning that this troubling trend predates the recent city budget cuts. And while Hollister Police Department officials rightly recommend that residents take care to lock doors and windows, they also say the department doesn’t have the resources to develop a network of neighborhood watch groups that they say could be key in combating the problem.
THUMBS UP: Speaking of city budget cuts, parks officials say they’re going to need help maintaining the city’s parks and public spaces this year. Fairview 4-H Club members stepped up recently to prune the rose garden at Dunne Park. Club members, who range in age from 7 to 14, devoted about half a day to the task. On behalf of the community, thank you to a hard-working, service-minded group of young people.
THUMBS DOWN: To thousands of Hollister commuters, news this week that the California Transportation Commission won’t be providing Corridor Mobility Improvement Account funding for much-needed improvements to U.S. Highway 101 and the state Highway 25 interchange was about as welcome as a rush-hour flat tire. Regional transportation officials say they aren’t giving up on finding money for the project. “There are other pots of money,” said Lisa Rheinheimer, executive director of San Benito County’s Council of Governments, the lead local agency on transportation matters.
THUMBS UP: At the age of 84, local walnut grower Al Bonturi is still blazing new trails in agriculture. Back in the 1940s, when World War II created a labor shortage, it was Bonturi who brought the first Mexican farm workers to San Benito County to help harvest crops. Now he’s working with the University of California, Davis, on an experimental walnut stock that researchers think might be able to fend off blackline disease, a deadly threat to San Benito’s walnut orchards.
THUMBS DOWN: Gas prices just keep going up – pump prices for regular unleaded increased another 14 cents over the past two weeks – and now several local businesses say they have no choice but to start passing price hikes along to customers. Hit especially hard by the gas price increases are businesses that do deliveries or send service workers to customers’ homes. So don’t be surprised if that pizza (or plumbing repair) costs a little more.
THUMBS UP: Lowe’s has agreed to purchase a 12-acre parcel on Hillcrest Road where the company is expected to build a home improvement center next year. The big-box store could mean up to 175 new jobs and significant sales tax revenue. Site plans for the project – which call for a 150,000-square-foot home improvement center and a 31,500-square-foot garden center – are expected to go before the county Planning Commission this month.
