For a live State of the City presentation, please join me on Saturday, June 4 at 9:30am in Council Chambers over coffee and donuts. Until then, I hope you find this written version interesting and informative of what's happening in Gilroy today. I look forward to discussing further on June 4th!
Mayor Marie Blankley, CPA
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It is my pleasure to bring to you Gilroy’s 2022 State of the City address.
As you may know, I’m a lifelong Gilroy resident (since 1964), a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) of over 30 years, and parent of 2 adult children with my husband, Steve, all of whom are engineers. This is my 5th year on the Gilroy City Council, and my 2nd as Mayor. I’m honored to follow in Roberta Hughan’s footsteps as the 2nd woman to be elected mayor of Gilroy in 150 years.
Our struggles are ever-present, and this past year was no exception, but we’ve also made some very positive strides and have much to look forward to.
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Economic and Commercial Development
- San Jose Sharks-- We look forward to bringing a two-rink ice facility to the Gilroy Sports Park operated by Sharks Ice. As a city, we’ve done our part to this point. We hope to have a deal approved this year for which the Sharks anticipate an 18 to 24-month construction timeline to begin in early 2023.
- Recreation opportunities for the acreage surrounding Gilroy Gardens are finally a go to explore. We’ve received clearance from the Surplus Lands Act, giving us the green light to move forward with recreation development possibilities.
- Always the subject of something to improve upon, Gilroy’s downtown alleys will soon see significant changes thanks to a $3.9 million Clean California Local Grant from CalTrans. This money will make substantial capital improvements such as storm drains, lighting, pavement, and trash enclosures from Lewis St. to 7th Street in the alley on the east side of the Monterey Street buildings, and also to the well-known Gourmet Alley from 4th Street to 7th Street. While PG&E may not be ready to place existing utility lines underground, conduit will now exist below the pavement to accommodate underground wires. These areas will be more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and will be closed to vehicular traffic (but for emergency and trash collection), welcoming pedestrian access and business/restaurant use of outdoor spaces in the alleys.
- A 140-space state-of-the-art multi-purpose parking lot is being added adjacent to Gourmet Alley behind the Center for the Arts and the Neon Exchange, complete with electric charge stations and convenient access to downtown businesses. The space is large enough to dedicate portions from time to time for events like Art & Wine Festivals, Farmer’s Market, and other downtown-based events. All in all, the City is investing $6.5 million in infrastructure improvements in our downtown area. Please welcome the dirt, dust and related inconveniences that are coming soon and will bring dramatic changes to Gilroy.
- A commercial center is under way at 10th and Chestnut, on the northwest corner of the 101/10th Street interchange, completely rebuilding the rundown center that previously existed.
- Tech giants Amazon and Google have purchased land in Gilroy, specifically Amazon WEB services hopes to locate a data center of over 200,000 square feet on Camino Arroyo east of 101 and just south of the Outlets. Google’s land purchase is in unincorporated Gilroy with no development applications to the County as of yet.
- We are working through industrial development applications for the vacant parcels on both the north and south sides of 10th Street (Hwy 152) east of 101. Although “working through” means all those things necessary to address and mitigate negative impacts of development (environmental impact reports, traffic studies, Ag mitigation, etc.), one very positive impact is that we are seeing interest to do business in Gilroy which brings the opportunity to add jobs we sorely lack. In January the City began a “Why Gilroy” promotional campaign in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Gilroy to signal that Gilroy is Open for Business and to highlight all of the benefits of doing business in Gilroy. The promotion will run for all of 2022 in the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Streets, Transportation, and Infrastructure
- We have applied for a $19.5 million federal grant to build a long-awaited bridge connecting the west end of 10th Street to Santa Teresa Blvd to provide direct access to the growing population in the city’s southwest quadrant. The infamous 10th Street Bridge may actually become a reality with this grant that would cover 80% of the cost, and requiring the City to meet the remaining 20%.
- Equally exciting are two Letters of Support dated April 11, 2022 to Congressman Panetta from the Mobility Partnership of VTA and the Council of San Benito County Governments where we, southern Santa Clara County and northern San Benito County, jointly request funding for the design phase of Phase 2 improvements to the 101/25 interchange, AND a $2 million request to begin initial work on that badly needed 4th lane on 101 south of Cochrane to continue the US 101 Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program through Gilroy. This would mean widening 101 in the median and installing express lanes electronic toll systems infrastructure to match what exists north of Morgan Hill through San Mateo County. $2 million is just a start, but it begins the process. As we work together to increase housing options for all income levels throughout California, keep in mind that simultaneous improvements to transportation is particularly vital in communities like Gilroy that are farther away from the job centers of Silicon Valley and yet more attractive for housing in terms of affordability. Effective transportation solutions from the south are critical to congestion management as population increases where housing is more affordable.
- As to housing itself, the nearly $1 billion in funding provided by the voters of Santa Clara County in 2016, known as Measure A, to address housing insecurities is being quickly consumed throughout the county. Gilroy has only 1 Measure A-funded housing development, the Gateway Apartments on Monterey Road built in 2018, comprised of 75 apartment units, 37 of which qualify as very low- income housing and 38 low-income. Santa Clara County owns a vacant parcel near the Gilroy Transit Center, and we’ve asked their Office of Supportive Housing to designate Measure A funding to build housing for our more marginalized population that we hope to secure before all of Measure A funds have been spoken for. Gilroy shares the same obligation as cities throughout the Bay Area to plan for increased housing supply at various levels of affordability. Such levels of affordability, whether extremely low-income, very low-income, etc., are defined as a percentage of countywide area median income (AMI), making it particularly difficult for Gilroy residents suffering from housing insecurity, and who are likely to have the lowest income in the county, to compete with AMI thresholds that are more attainable for non-Gilroy residents choosing to move to Gilroy.
- Regarding public transportation and the Gilroy Transit Center, High-Speed Rail (HSR) and its proposed transformative improvements to our transit center may actually be real. On April 27, 2022, the High-Speed Rail Authority approved the final EIR and selected Alternative 4 as the route for the Merced to San Jose section of the project. Second only to Diridon Station in San Jose, the Gilroy Transit Center will be the most significant transit hub on this stretch. Multi-modal transportation in all directions, including greater and electrified train service, will be right here in Gilroy and will connect to adjacent counties. For many, particularly those parked on 101 daily, this can’t come soon enough. While realizing these transportation improvements is still a long way off, I’m told by HSR that residents should begin to see evidence of ground-breaking, however small, within 2 to 3 years.
- The Gilroy City Council approved an additional $2 million in funding to improve our own city streets as part of a 5-year plan to stop the decline of pavement condition throughout the city. On April 18, 2022, the city council awarded a $4.1 million contract for FY22 citywide pavement maintenance. A city-wide map shows residents which streets are scheduled for maintenance. As with the $6.5 million of infrastructure improvements going into our downtown, please welcome the dirt, dust and inconvenience that means our streets are finally getting the attention they deserve! This is only Year 1 of our 5-year plan, but with our current financial priorities, residents can expect the continued annual funding of pavement maintenance that, at a minimum and throughout the city limits, will prevent further decline of pavement conditions where possible.
- 9 miles of fiber optic cable is being added to our City and will increase the internet highway capacity and access throughout.
Addressing the Drought - Gilroy acknowledges the severe drought conditions we’re all facing and I’m proud to share that through our very own South County Regional Wastewater Authority (SCRWA), we are developing and managing drought-resilient water supplies by increasing our use of recycled water and conserving our valuable drinking water. When you see purple irrigation systems, you’re seeing recycled water in use! In addition to our efforts to limit the use of potable water by our residents, we are working together with Valley Water to consider in south county additional forms of water reuse that add to our potable water supply, such as purified water.
Strengthening our Workforce - The people we depend on for all of our city services are our most vital asset. We as a city are committed to ensuring that our workforce can maintain a suitable quality of life—even with the challenge of being in one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States.
Kudos to GUSD - Gilroy Unified School District has rebuilt Brownell Middle School, and is currently rebuilding South Valley Middle School (formerly Gilroy High School), two facilities arguably and previously in the greatest need of improvement in Gilroy. Thank You GUSD and the taxpayers!
I close as I did last year, asking us all to remember that we are all the people of Gilroy, people of diversity and inclusivity, each of us doing our best with our own financial and emotional struggles, and people who give of ourselves day in and day out. Thank you for being part of the Gilroy family.
Mayor Marie Blankley, CPA
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