On Monday night, the Hollister City Council delayed a road
extension project because the city did not send out a public
meeting notice in Spanish.
On Monday night, the Hollister City Council delayed a road extension project because the city did not send out a public meeting notice in Spanish. To avoid such delays in the future, and to include as many people in the government process as possible, the city should create a policy requiring all such notices to be printed in English and Spanish.
Registrar John Hodges recently was required to put Spanish on county election ballots. Why should the standard be different for notices about City Council actions? Officials say Hollister is 50 percent Latino, and the council got a reminder this week that the city should regularly do business in a way that recognizes that.
The particular incident that highlighted the problem was the extension of North Street to Buena Vista Road. That’s a long-planned extension of a road that will ease traffic on Fourth Street. It’s a worthy objective, but it’s certainly a project that will draw the interest and debate from the residents who live in the quiet neighborhood next to Park Hill that will be affected by the project. After all, if the extension eases traffic on Fourth Street it will be because more cars will travel through their neighborhood.
The neighborhood has the right to know that those types of decisions are being made. But resident Mary Grimm pointed out some people might not have had the chance to speak up because notices about the project were sent in English only. She was worried her Spanish-speaking neighbors would have no idea the project was coming or that it would affect them.
The council rightly delayed the project for a month so notices could be sent out in Spanish even though neither the city nor the California Environmental Quality Act – which regulates such projects – requires that step.
“I think what’s important is we give people a chance to communicate in this community that’s 50 percent Latino,” Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia said.
It was the right thing to do even though there will be a delay. After all what’s important is that all residents of Hollister understand what the government plans to do, and that all residents have the chance to speak their mind about it.
