”
OK, let me get this straight
– Richard Scagliotti is to blame for all of the growth. Where
have you been? Richard didn’t bring the big developers here; the
local greed, of realtors and contractors, brought the big
developers here and it had nothing to do with the Board of
Supervisors.
How many times did city staff tell the Council they were
creating too many allocations through the so-called
”
Growth Management Program.
”
They didn’t listen and I don’t recall Richard being on the City
Council or LAFCO at that time.
“OK, let me get this straight – Richard Scagliotti is to blame for all of the growth. Where have you been? Richard didn’t bring the big developers here; the local greed, of realtors and contractors, brought the big developers here and it had nothing to do with the Board of Supervisors.
How many times did city staff tell the Council they were creating too many allocations through the so-called “Growth Management Program.” They didn’t listen and I don’t recall Richard being on the City Council or LAFCO at that time.
If you recall Sunnyslope Villages was built by Anderson Homes first. This property was annexed way back in the 70s over the objections of LAFCO staff. LAFCO way back then leap-frogged this huge parcel into the city. Richard was in high school when this happened. Then came K&B and they zeroed in on the Cerrato property and eventually Valley View Estates.
OK, are you following me? These are all in the city limits.
Then came the developments off of Southside Road (Ladd Lane), which was owned by Bertuccio Farms. Now I think that Richard had some involvement in Kelly Ranch; but once again are you listening? It is in the city limits. Richard also developed the Albertson’s shopping center and just in case you didn’t hear me the first time; it’s in the city limits. He has absolutely no authoritative voice in the city limits.
Time to move to a smaller town like this one used to be.”
“As a former board member of the San Benito Red Cross, I’ve read with interest the previous letters that have appeared in this space and after the last two, I felt it incumbent upon me to give another side of the story – also from an insider’s perspective.
I resigned from the board because I could no longer tolerate the lies and the hypocrisy of my fellow board members. Allow me to give you some examples:
The current board chairman makes a big deal of being a ‘proud volunteer’ at the chapter. I find it interesting that he trumpets his association, when, at least up until I resigned from the board, he had not helped at a single public event for the chapter during his entire time on the board. Apparently his volunteerism only extends to sitting in on board meetings.
He also talks about how financially strapped the chapter is, but neglects to tell you that he personally took two trips (at chapter expense) with the executive director, one to a fund-raising seminar and another to the national convention – neither of which was necessary nor could the chapter afford it.
These people are liars and hypocrites of the highest order. They don’t care about this community – in fact, the executive director doesn’t even live here. My advise would be to stay away from them – don’t donate to them and don’t volunteer. You’ll be tainted by the association.”
“What is all the fuss about the vehicle maintenance contract being given to San Benito Tire? All it amounts to is a personal grudge against good guy Bob Cain by Don Kelley, Vince Pryar and Robbie Scattini. Can’t the three of them settle their own problems without dragging the county into it? At this point in time, their only goal is to try and discredit a good supervisor!
Also, what is a picadillo?”
“The news of the possibility of a new animal shelter being built is long overdue. I just really hope that is comes to fruition. I also hope that the plans include a much larger facility, enough to handle all the cats and dogs that are either surrendered or picked up due to being lost.
However, I feel the need for the City of Hollister to update not only the shelter, but also its position on euthanization. Our new shelter needs to become a no kill facility. Homeless animals should only by euthanized if it is a means to end their suffering and pain, not because of their breed or the fact that it needs some medical attention or the shelter deems it unadoptable.
In this day and age, we need to be kinder and gentler to all living things, show our children the way to compassion, leave a legacy behind that is worth its weight in gold to pass on.”
“This is regarding Hill and his claim that Bob Cain and San Benito Tire did something illegal. According to the lawsuit, (pages 10 and 11) “high ranking sworn sheriff’s deputies” allegedly witnessed the removal of unreplaced auto parts, took them as evidence for the purpose of a “criminal investigation/prosecution.” To quote the lawsuit, (page 10, lines 18, 19, and 20)
“Without further explanation, those parts were removed from evidence and taken to the dump.”
In the lawsuit, Hill says (page 11, lines 15 and 16) that it was because of Scagliotti’s influence that,”in his opinion prevented him from proactively launching an investigation.”
Remember the kilo of cocaine, guns and money stolen from Hill’s evidence locker? Did the gypsies ransack Hill’s booty again; or did Hill authorize the disposal of the auto parts evidence? If not, who did it and why? Also, are we suppose to believe Hill is afraid of a Supervisor? Please!”
“Kudos to Elaine Cass for stepping up to the plate for Bob Cain. It took guts to sign her name. But when you’re right, you’re right. Sheriff Hill, DA Sarsfield, Mike Pekin, Kelley and the Vigilantes should all be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to this man. I hope he gets an attorney and sues their sorry butts.”
“We four students are writing this letter to the newspaper because we don’t want to end up out of school and put through the same problems that the girl had when she complained about the softball coach a couple years ago. Hopefully, the principal will see this and do something to stop the problem.
We have to take a class in order to get accepted to college. This teacher is the only one who teaches it. The rule he has is, “I will always win and you will always lose.” He requires us to be there with him before and after school. Sometimes we have to ride with him in his pickup truck and he always picks personal things to talk about. Our grade is constantly threatened if we are not affectionate. We hate always having to hug him when he wants one. He doesn’t treat the boys that way. He is always moody and if we don’t jump the second he says, he embarrasses us in front of everyone.
We are tired of him always sticking his video camera in our faces. Why can’t he have a student do it? Why do we have to get filmed anyway?
If you don’t believe us, see how many students don’t take his class their senior year. Ask some of the ones that graduated since they will have nothing to lose now. We feel like a secretary that will get fired if they don’t have lunch with the boss.
Please help us by printing this so something can be done to change the way he treats us. This is the worst experience in our lives.”
“I’m sorry, does being ‘just a county employee’ (how derogatory is that) somehow diminish your options for employment advancement? Doesn’t the County’s Human Resource Department assemble an interview panel and conduct interviews with a rating scale? Are there not minimum requirements to be met? I bet there is.
Let’s say Mandy applies for the job and is interviewed and is found to be qualified; then shouldn’t she get the job? Are you saying that because she is a friend of a supervisor that she should not get the job if she is qualified? That doesn’t seem fair.
Why don’t you let County Human Resources do their job and keep your personal rude innuendos to yourself.”
“I was just hoping the girls J.V. water polo team could get some recognition for their last game. They haven’t had anything said about them or pictures in the paper. They’re undefeated this season, which is, I think, the first time ever.”
“I used to be a volunteer with the Red Cross and these letters are making me really mad. The new director tries to pretend she’s all for the community, but did she tell you they won’t take food to the firefighters anymore? And only little, bitty bottles of water? They make frozen baloney and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for firemen that are fighting fires and that’s not right. They need more than that. A couple of months ago, the CDF called the chapter to bring some sandwiches to the firefighters up on Mt. Hamilton and the chapter didn’t go because they couldn’t find anyone on a DAT team to respond and she didn’t want to spend the money to make the sandwiches. We never failed to respond before. If they can’t make 130 sandwiches, how are they going to act in a big disaster when the county needs them?
She travels all over the place and the chapter pays for it. You can’t believe anything she says.”
“I’m still going for my morning walk and I still haven’t seen hide nor hair of the city’s tree pruning crew. Remember three years ago, a professional arbor company was hired by the city to get their lazy workers caught up on tree pruning in the entire city? During this time, the city purchased new equipment to help them stay on top of the situation.
The tree project manager was to divide the city into four sections – east, west, north and south. The first section was selected and a route mapped out for continued maintenance without any one area getting out of control. This didn’t happen. Why? The tulip trees and mulberries on Suiter, D, B, Monterey, West, A, and Powell streets haven’t seen a pruner for three years or since the professional arbor company left. When will these trees get the attention they need? The answer is no it’s not PG&E’s responsibility.”
“Ruben Lopez, you who rode on the backs of the taxpayers and now riding on the coat-tails of the rich and famous as the Rev. Jesse Jackson does, one would think you would encourage a young, fellow Hispanic to succeed.
But, oh no. You want to try and drag him down, like frogs in a tank full of boiling water, pulling anyone down that is trying to get out of that situation so they all die together.
You, having been an educator, I would think you would be the first to want to see him succeed. But instead, you start throwing around silly childish rhymes. You sound and act like a kindergarten child. It’s time to grow up, school master. Something you’ve never done.
As for Ignacio Velazquez, at least he is trying to keep his business going. In case you didn’t notice, he employs several local citizens of Hollister. Organizations like the Chamber of Commerce, Red Cross, the San Benito Stage Company and others are able to meet or perform there. He is generous, always donates to different organizations and he is a contributing citizen of Hollister. I am proud of this young man and his accomplishments. In case you didn’t know, he is not finished learning and not afraid to admit there is more to learn. He is still continuing his education. Be encouraged, Ignacio.
As for you Ruben Lopez, go back to your community of San Juan Bautista and try to be a contributing citizen.
I am not related to Ignacio and know him just enough to call him by his first name.”
“Just a thought on ‘slow growth.’ While listening to all the talk of the anti-slow-growth crowd, good points are made. Some of these are very true. Other points are just filler. Property rights are very important. Many claim these rights are in the constitution and are protected as such. The slow-growth crowd claims (I might be reading between the lines) that group rights are more important than individual rights when you look at the big picture.
Along with other things such as infrastructure keeping up with growth, only the greedy rich want to build as fast as possible to make as much as possible. Also, have you looked at prices lately? My children will never be able to afford to live here.
There seems to be one thing that is always left out of their slogans. This would be that slow-growth, as in Santa Cruz for over 30 years, will raise prices even higher. So be very careful how you vote. Next thing you will hear from these proponents of slower, easy living growth will be UCH (University of California, Hollister).”
