The following events, organizations and people deserve either a
Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week.
The following events, organizations and people deserve either a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week.
THUMBS UP: For San Benito County’s Habitat for Humanity chapter, which celebrated its official affiliation with Habitat International and the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce this week. “A major portion of this community is living at or below the poverty line. We have a number of homeless in the city, too, although you may not see them,” said George Lewis, president of the local chapter, during the celebration. With California housing prices soaring to record levels, middle-class families are struggling to buy a home of their own. For the least fortunate among us, the dream of owning a home must seem absolutely unattainable. But now, the local Habitat chapter, which got its official recognition at the beginning of the month, will put that dream within reach. Instead of giving homes away, the organization forms a partnership between a family in need and people who can donate materials and skills to build or refurbish a home. The houses are sold to the family at cost, and the family pays back the no-interest mortgage over a period of approximately 20 years. This is the kind of compassionate program that truly offers people a hand up not a hand out.
THUMBS DOWN: For the habitual double parkers who snarl traffic and create safety hazards on Monterey Street in front of San Benito High School. Everyday, parents double park on the road while they wait for their kids to get out of class. Police say it creates a hazardous situation because it is difficult to see students who are walking in the area when several cars are stopped in the road. Now, police are doing something about it. Beginning this week, officers started handing out $20 tickets to double parkers. The good news is a fine is easy to avoid: just use the school parking lots that are just a block away.
THUMBS DOWN: For the San Benito Council of Governments, which this week found most of the $261,000 that went missing because of “accounting errors.” While we’re glad COG found the money, it should never have lost such a large chunk of taxpayer change in the first place. How does one lose track of a quarter million dollars? What this incident highlights, as noted in an independent audit of COG’s books, is that the government entity needs to overhaul its accounting system to make sure this kind of alarming snafu can’t happen in the future.
THUMBS UP: For the detective work that led police to nab the suspect in an July arson that endangered the lives of those living in several apartment complexes on Valley View Road. Police arrested Nicholas Correa at the airport this week when they learned he was returning from Idaho. They say he lit a relative’s car on fire because of a family dispute. But the fire spread and destroyed three other cars as well as engulfing the carport. The truly scary part is that the burning wreckage fell on gas meters and could have set the entire block ablaze. Thankfully firefighters were able contain the fire before it became a serious conflagration, and police were able to track down the man the believe is responsible for putting people’s lives in danger.
