Add it up:
airport site works
As a child I was fortunate to have great wisdom imparted upon me
by the elders in my family. One such tidbit was given to me by my
Grandmother Kilgore. She taught that when faced with a tough
decision, list all the pros and cons, and generally the right
decision becomes clear.
 Let’s try this technique on the new courthouse site, shall we?
Because we’ve heard the negative side so often, I’ll list the cons
first.
Con: There will be a loss of workers that frequent downtown
businesses.
Pro: There will be office space freed up to consolidate other
(currently housed out of town) county agencies. Have you ever tried
to find the county planning department?
Con: People who rent offices at the business park near the site
will have to drive into town to file papers at the recorder’s
office (at a cost which is passed on to their clients).
Pro: If the trips to town are planned right, lunch downtown can
be enjoyed at the same time paperwork is filed, negating the above
argument. Also, inmates will not have to be shackled and
transported to the courthouse, risking security and using valuable
law enforcement time.
Con: There is no office space available by the site.
Pro: There’s no courthouse either. By the time the courthouse is
built there will undoubtedly be more than one office building built
on the 33 lots near the site.
 Office buildings and the courthouse will encourage development
of support buildings and services, leading to increased property
tax, sales tax, permits and licensing revenues.
Con: The Fremont School site will remain urban blight if the
state doesn’t take on the burden of demolition, cleanup and
rebuilding.
Pro: And I think this is a big pro-what a great area for a city
center that consolidates all the city offices. Anyone who’s been to
City Hall must agree the city officials could use a little more
space. And wouldn’t it be nice to do all your city business in one
place instead of going to Park Hill, City Hall, etc?
This would also be a great space for residential/commercial
condos (a mini Santana Row comes to mind) or senior housing.
Con: The current Fremont site has environmental issues, would
still present parking issues and the building would be inadequate
to serve the county’s needs within a few decades.
Pro: The Flynn Road site is a clean slate with the potential for
a state of the art building that will accommodate the needs of the
county well into the future.
In my opinion, the Airpark Site makes sense.
I have believed in the potential of this area for some time, so
much so that I am a property owner near the site.
 My property was purchased not because of the potential
courthouse location, but because of the potential for development
in general. Grace
&
amp; Associates’ Monterey office is located on Garden
Road-adjacent to the Monterey airport and jet center. The jet
center was developed by Ken Lindsay who is also developing the
Hollister Airpark.
We see what’s happened in Monterey and see the same potential
for Hollister.
The state has made an informed and calculated decision and in my
opinion filled our collective glass half full!
Bette Grace
Hollister
Add it up:
airport site works
As a child I was fortunate to have great wisdom imparted upon me by the elders in my family. One such tidbit was given to me by my Grandmother Kilgore. She taught that when faced with a tough decision, list all the pros and cons, and generally the right decision becomes clear.
Let’s try this technique on the new courthouse site, shall we? Because we’ve heard the negative side so often, I’ll list the cons first.
Con: There will be a loss of workers that frequent downtown businesses.
Pro: There will be office space freed up to consolidate other (currently housed out of town) county agencies. Have you ever tried to find the county planning department?
Con: People who rent offices at the business park near the site will have to drive into town to file papers at the recorder’s office (at a cost which is passed on to their clients).
Pro: If the trips to town are planned right, lunch downtown can be enjoyed at the same time paperwork is filed, negating the above argument. Also, inmates will not have to be shackled and transported to the courthouse, risking security and using valuable law enforcement time.
Con: There is no office space available by the site.
Pro: There’s no courthouse either. By the time the courthouse is built there will undoubtedly be more than one office building built on the 33 lots near the site. Office buildings and the courthouse will encourage development of support buildings and services, leading to increased property tax, sales tax, permits and licensing revenues.
Con: The Fremont School site will remain urban blight if the state doesn’t take on the burden of demolition, cleanup and rebuilding.
Pro: And I think this is a big pro-what a great area for a city center that consolidates all the city offices. Anyone who’s been to City Hall must agree the city officials could use a little more space. And wouldn’t it be nice to do all your city business in one place instead of going to Park Hill, City Hall, etc?
This would also be a great space for residential/commercial condos (a mini Santana Row comes to mind) or senior housing.
Con: The current Fremont site has environmental issues, would still present parking issues and the building would be inadequate to serve the county’s needs within a few decades.
Pro: The Flynn Road site is a clean slate with the potential for a state of the art building that will accommodate the needs of the county well into the future.
In my opinion, the Airpark Site makes sense.
I have believed in the potential of this area for some time, so much so that I am a property owner near the site. My property was purchased not because of the potential courthouse location, but because of the potential for development in general. Grace & Associates’ Monterey office is located on Garden Road-adjacent to the Monterey airport and jet center. The jet center was developed by Ken Lindsay who is also developing the Hollister Airpark.
We see what’s happened in Monterey and see the same potential for Hollister.
The state has made an informed and calculated decision and in my opinion filled our collective glass half full!
Bette Grace
Hollister
Money well spent?
Sixty-nine Americans killed in Iraq in January and February. Thirty-seven Americans killed in Iraq in March. McCain and Bush claim that 4,000 brave Americans have not died in vain. Both Republican stalwarts think $275 million per day for Iraq is money well spent.
Frank Crosby
Morgan Hill
Gas prices: no joke
The 4 cent a gallon increase in the price of gasoline on April 1 was no joke. It was Measure T.
Reba Jones
Hollister
The problem with
public education
San Benito County teachers are facing threats of losing their jobs and larger class sizes due to budget cuts from the state. Many people become teachers because they want to assist children to become successful learners. I know that’s why I became a teacher. As a general rule teachers typically make personal sacrifices to ensure that children receive the best possible education.
No Child Left Behind and California’s mandates make ridiculous demands of public schools and have created standards and tests that do not make sense. Gov. Schwarzenegger contradicts himself when he demands higher quality education, yet cuts education funding, then blames underfunded schools for not being able to meet the needs of all children.
NCLB and California have created a complicated system of standards and assessments, essentially for the purpose of deciding who to blame and who to punish. The thought of creating tests that are given at the end of the school year and providing the results to teachers at the beginning of the next school year will not help teachers and schools improve teaching.
The main focus of schooling has become teaching children how to take tests, bubble score sheets, memorize disconnected facts and receive huge doses of phonics instruction. Will this teach our children to become logical problem solvers and critical and analytical thinkers? Of course not.
Staff meetings and teacher training is consumed with looking at test scores and brainstorming on how test scores can be improved. Also to determine which students deserve more attention based on how close they are to improving their test scores.
Latino (English speaking and immigrant) and black students statewide are now disproportionately placed in remedial drill-and-skill instruction. Finger pointing is at an all time high. Politicians blame teachers, parents and immigrants for the failures in education, but we should actually evaluate our federal and state imposed standards and teaching methodology. School districts have reformed themselves to conform to the mandates, are moving to a scripted curriculum, have all but eliminated art, physical education and other interesting subjects and they are still considered failures. Perhaps the current standards and mandates are wrong!
We should sufficiently fund schools and create meaningful assessments that actually help teachers deliver better instruction.
Joe Navarro
First-grade teacher, Hollister
Cohousing’s time has come
I’ve been following the news of planned cohousing with great delight. As a retiree, I want to live in the area with others who share my ideas of the good life. Cohousing is so great for both the residents and for the community at large, I can’t believe the city officials and staff didn’t jump at this opportunity to benefit San Juan Bautista. My guess is they didn’t know what a group of economically secure people with education, talent, and skills can do for a small town.
In other towns where cohousing has been built, some of the benefits have been a community repertory theater; classes at the cohousing site for art, exercise, dance, hiking, photography, and more; expanded volunteer hours; greater civic service (including more people who willingly serve on juries); and more civic involvement.
Now, the only city officials who don’t want more civic involvement are the ones who are doing something shifty. Is that the problem in SJB?
Cecile Mills
Royal Oaks
