Long-time community activist Steve Tate seeking election in
Morgan Hill mayoral race
The mayoral contest in Morgan Hill has become a two-way race, as
long-time planning commissioner and city council member Steve Tate
pulling papers to run for the seat in November.
Long-time community activist Steve Tate seeking election in Morgan Hill mayoral race
The mayoral contest in Morgan Hill has become a two-way race, as long-time planning commissioner and city council member Steve Tate pulling papers to run for the seat in November.
He will be running against another long-time community activist, Alex Kennett.
Tate outlined several points he deems priorities in Morgan Hill, including tackling looming fiscal problems.
“While Morgan Hill is in very good shape today, we do face challenges,” Tate stated. Solving our budget shortfall and beginning to rebuild our reserves is critical.”
As Morgan Hill grows, Tate said he wants a budget in place to ensure public safety – police and fire – are able to grow along with the population. “Keeping our public safety services strong as we grow is essential,” he said.
Regional growth presents a special challenge to Morgan Hill. The massive Coyote Valley project just to the north of Morgan Hill will dramatically affect the city by adding a bevy of new students to schools and taxing the city’s roads.
“Making Morgan Hill’s voice heard – and heeded – in the face of increasing regional pressures is a must,” he said.
Like small towns across America, Morgan Hill is not immune to the pressures exerted on its downtown core from regional retail centers. Since the 1950s and the advent of the shopping mall, centers such as the Gilroy Outlets and the new Gilroy Crossing have been slowly taking their toll on conventional downtown merchants, forcing towns to adopt aggressive redevelopment strategies to preserve city centers.
“Increasing our downtown’s vigor and vitality is also a strong need,” Tate said. “Morgan Hill provides us a great living experience, a high quality of life with a small-town feel that we all treasure.”
Tate, who served seven years on the city’s planning commission and the past eight years on the City Council, is active in numerous Morgan Hill service organizations, including youth leadership roles and as Morgan Hill Rotary Club president. He also is a member of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, and of the South County Democratic Club.
He chairs the Library Building Committee – charged with working with the School District and County Library to secure Prop 14 funding to build our new library – and also chairs the Measure P (Residential Growth Control) Update Committee. Tate serves on the Council’s Economic Development Subcomittee, the County Library Joint Powers Authority (JPA) Board and the City/School District Liaison Committee.
In the nonprofit sector, Tate chairs a community task force called Youth Empowered for Success (YES!), a cooperative effort with the countywide Cornerstone Project that is aimed at building positive assets in youth.
He has been married to his wife, Jennifer Tate, for 36 years and has two grown children and two grandchildren. Jennifer Tate is a personal trainer at the Fitness Formula and has been a downtown business owner and past Morgan Hill School Board Trustee.
The couple’s daughter, Stacy, teaches seventh and eighth grade classes at St. Mary’s School in Gilroy. She and her husband Keith Huddleston have two kids, 5-year old Jared and 3-year old Kylie. And just to make family get-togethers more interesting, the Tates’ son Greg is also married to a Jennifer Tate. Greg Tate works in the business-to-business software sector; she works for the Gap and they live in San Francisco’s Marina district.
Tate is an avid runner, and has completed roughly 15 marathons plus a 50-mile run to celebrate turning 50 back in 1994.
“I love all sports, especially Giants baseball,” he said. “Jennifer and I spend the month of March in Scottsdale, Ariz. and attend Giants spring training games there and also get to some games at Pac Bell Park.”
Tate has picked up several key endorsements early on, including Council members Larry Carr and Greg Sellers, as well as Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage.
