I was disgusted after reading the Aug. 17 article in the Free Lance about the city council meeting in which the future of rally was discussed. The fact that the council is once again hem-hawing about whether to move forward with the 70th anniversary rally in 2017 made me angry.
Nowhere in that article did I see that future discussion on the subject was postponed until after the elections. Now I’m hopping mad! This is absolutely ludicrous. As I said in my previous editorial, people coming from all over the world make their plans at least a year in advance. Sponsors allocate their money for the next year by September or October. I’m sure Police Chief David Westrick would like as much time as possible to plan for 100,000-plus visitors to our town.
What in the heck is wrong with these people? What could possibly be the reason for putting off such an important and timely issue for so long? Let’s see, our Mayor Ignacio Velazquez is running against Keith Snow. Anyone who has ever been to a city council meeting would not in their right mind vote for the man (Snow). He adds a minimum of an hour to every council meeting with his nonsensical comments. Help us, Jesus, if he was elected mayor.
It’s not exactly a secret that our mayor is pro-rally. He put aside financial gain from his business, The Vault, so that he could vote for this year’s rally. Ray Friend is and has always been pro-rally and he is running unopposed. Mickie Luna and Karson Klauer (in office until 2018) are on some kind of crazy power trip and won’t give a yes vote to the rally until they see rally cost figures etched in stone. And then there’s Victor Gomez, the councilman who gave us his word via a yes vote to sanction the rally for 10 years in 2013. He doesn’t back up his word, so I’m grateful that he won’t be running for re-election. However, he owes it to the fine people of Hollister to man up and get behind the rally as he said he would in 2013.
I haven’t heard anything about the two men vying for Gomez’s position. A Google search proved that Tim Burns previously worked for our code enforcement department. Roy Simms II, also running for the position, is a sumo wrestler, and apparently a pretty good one too. But we know nothing of his stance on issues affecting the city.
We are in trouble here, folks. We need to demand that the rally be sanctioned now and not in December. It’s the bleeding 70th anniversary. Wake up council and do what’s right. Quit pussyfooting around and move forward with the rally. There isn’t one logical reason to wait and there are many reasons that you need to move forward now. Roadshows Promotions Inc. is anxiously waiting to get to work on our rally. Let’s get the show on the road.
Please make some noise, people. Make the council put the rally on the agenda ASAP and give it the vote to move forward. Apathy is what has our country in such a mess. Everyone’s voice matters. Let yours be heard.
