‘This is a glorious day’
Hollister Councilman Victor Gomez said it all this week when he
said
”
we’re headed in the right direction.
”
‘This is a glorious day’
Hollister Councilman Victor Gomez said it all this week when he said “we’re headed in the right direction.”
Gomez’ remarks were made at dedication ceremonies for a new Hwy. 25 bypass through Hollister, but he could have been talking about the end of a six-year-long sewer moratorium, a downtown strategic plan that offers a hopeful vision for a vibrant future, San Juan Bautista’s infrastructure project or a host of other things that have the community “headed in the right direction.”
It’s too easy to look at the battered national economy and our own economic hardship and forget the significance of the progress Gomez pointed to.
When local voters were asked to raise sales taxes to pay for transportation improvements in San Benito County way back in 1988, no one could have anticipated that it would pass with nearly 83 percent of the vote.
As important as its passage was – imagine the busy Nash-Tres-Pinos-Sunnyslope corridor without the Measure A-funded San Benito Street and Union Road extensions – the real victory in Measure A was that it forged effective and lucrative partnerships with California and federal officials.
Carl Guardino, representing the California Transportation Commission, said to those present at the dedication Monday that partnerships of the sort crafted by Measure A have become a vital part of transportation projects in more recent years. In all, Measure A was the catalyst that brought $78 million in transportation projects to San Benito County.
“I greatly respect what you have done as a community,” Guardino said. “This is a glorious day.”
“Change is a good thing, as long as you plan for change,” Supervisor Anthony Botelho said to the crowd.
It’s remarkable that, a generation ago, the community had the insight and the generosity to plan for its future transportation needs.
