Gavilan misses opportunity by declining
on the Leatherback site proposal
Gavilan College officials have proven once again they are
disconnected from the Hollister community with their decision to
quietly decline a proposal to partner with developers and the YMCA
in using the old Leatherback Industries site.
Gavilan trustees in closed session last week directed President
Steve Kinsella to bypass on the idea and continue looking at other
options for classroom expansion, needed in light of space
limitations at the Briggs Building. They cited concerns about the
location
– which is curious, being blocks from downtown Hollister and the
current classrooms – and a potentially negative impact on
enrollment.
Gavilan misses opportunity by declining
on the Leatherback site proposal
Gavilan College officials have proven once again they are disconnected from the Hollister community with their decision to quietly decline a proposal to partner with developers and the YMCA in using the old Leatherback Industries site.
Gavilan trustees in closed session last week directed President Steve Kinsella to bypass on the idea and continue looking at other options for classroom expansion, needed in light of space limitations at the Briggs Building. They cited concerns about the location – which is curious, being blocks from downtown Hollister and the current classrooms – and a potentially negative impact on enrollment.
And those explanations had to come from the developers themselves because Gavilan officials chose the secretive, legally questionable, closed-door route toward brushing aside an idea with broad community interest, and followed up by citing that very misinterpretation of open-government law in declining to comment publicly on the decision.
Then again, we’re just Hollister, which appears to be the resounding attitude shared by most of the trustees and Kinsella’s administration when it comes to Gavilan’s decisions here, in a county pouring millions upon millions of dollars into a district where leadership all too often forgets who’s the boss.
Hint: It’s not Steve Kinsella and it’s not the passive-minded trustees whose rubber stamps are running out of ink. It’s the citizens of Hollister and other southern Santa Clara County communities whose taxes pay the bills.
The trustees have spent millions of taxpayers dollars on a satellite site that even they acknowledge cannot be used for 15-plus years, if ever. The potential developers of the Leatherback site offered Gavilan free land and the ability to purchase the facility once completed at just above construction costs, or Gavilan could have leased or purchased the site over many years.
The people deserve an explanation for why trustees, under Kinsella’s guidance, passed on such a tremendous opportunity not only for the enhancement of the academic environment in San Benito County – including better access to cultural and recreational facilities – but also for the economic vitality of the area.
Colleges across the country are moving into more urbanized areas because they provide added foot traffic, improve walk-ability for students to otherwise distant conveniences, create a more focused sense of community and allow for partnerships with other organizations in expanding offerings to students.
Where is the data to show that a Leatherback site somehow would diminish enrollment? It makes no sense. The property is centrally located, near downtown shops and civic offices, and near major thoroughfares to get in and out with ease.
Perhaps college leaders are concerned about such a move’s effect on prospects for their dream satellite campus planned for Fairview Road at Airline Highway.
Perhaps it might turn out that the Leatherback property, especially since there is significant room to expand, could become more than a temporary home for Gavilan College in Hollister.
And an ideal one at that.
