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YOUR GUIDE TO CITY-RELATED NEWS AND EVENTS

Comments by the public will be taken in person on agenda items before action is taken by the City Council. For more information, please review the meeting agenda.

Meeting Agendas and Packet Materials will be Available Online Here.

Past City Council Meetings are available for viewing on the City's website.

Conversation and Coffee with Mayor Blankley

The community is invited to join Mayor Marie Blankley for coffee, donuts, and conversation about the City's efforts to improve our streets and implement a sidewalk repair program that will bring us closer to our goal of a safely walkable and accessible street system.

Conversation and Coffee will take place on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at 9:30 AM in Council Chambers located at 7351 Rosanna Street. 

To ensure everyone can participate, we are offering Spanish-language interpretation services for this meeting. To request this service, please contact communications@cityofgilroy.org at least 72 hours before the meeting. 

To learn more about the City’s efforts in improving streets and sidewalks, check out this month’s June Monthly Spotlight with the Mayor

✅ Conversation and Coffee with Mayor Marie Blankley 

✅ Date: July 13, 2024 

✅ Time: 9:30 AM 

✅ Location: Council Chambers at Gilroy City Hall located at 7351 Rosanna Avenue 

Gourmet Alley Project: Trash Enclosure Foundations are Completed, and Work Continues on the Trench Drains

This week, crews finished pouring the final trash enclosure foundation, finished installing the foundations for the lighting poles, and continued saw-cutting for the trench drains. Once fully installed, the trench drains, which will be located down the center of the alley, will provide stormwater drainage and prevent water from pooling in these walking areas. 

We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through the Gourmet Alley Project. Your support is invaluable to us, and we are committed to delivering a project that enhances our community and downtown.

For more information about public parking lots downtown, please visit www.cityofgilroy.org/389/Downtown-Gilroy.

2024 Citywide Pavement Rehabilitation Update

The major paving work for this year’s project has been completed. However, some streets that received major paving work are also scheduled for slurry and microsurfacing, which means that they don’t look quite finished yet. Additionally, a number of street segments that didn’t receive major paving work are also scheduled for slurry and microsurfacing. Crews anticipate beginning this work at the end of the month.

For more information about the project, including a map of street segments included in this year’s project, please visit https://www.cityofgilroy.org/1025/Citywide-Pavement-Rehabilitation.

Santa Teresa Fire Station Staffing Report: Week of 6/28/2024

For the week of June 28, 2024, the Interim Santa Teresa Fire Station was staffed with 2 personnel 24 hours a day, with the exception of Sunday, June 30, and Thursday, July 4. On July 4th, the Fire Department was staffed with additional apparatus and personnel to provide enhanced fire protection response Citywide. Fire apparatus were deployed in pairs with each capable of both traditional and wildland firefighting capabilities. When not assigned to calls for service, these teams patrolled throughout the community to ensure enhanced coverage during the holiday.

In general, the Santa Teresa Fire Station will be opened and operated when regular, deployable firefighters are available. In addition, the Fire station will be opened and staffed with available resources during times of heightened public safety concern, such as: 

• State of emergency declarations
• Red flag warnings
• 4th of July and the surrounding weekend
• Potential flood or other disaster
• Public events or gatherings in which there is a significant concern for public safety

This weekly report is provided as part of our commitment to transparency regarding the staffing status at the Santa Teresa Fire Station.

Exciting news! We're introducing a new segment: Fact or Fiction! Got a rumor? Use the same form below to share it with us, and we'll fact-check it for you. Every week, we'll tackle a few questions and clear up any confusion.

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions this week!

We've provided answers to some of the questions below, and look forward to more questions this week!

Responses provided by City Administrator Jimmy Forbis:

❓The parking in downtown Gilroy is a significant problem. While the Downtown Live events during the summer months could be nice to support community involvement, the current parking is inadequate to support the numbers of individuals. The partial closure of the 2 lots along Eigleberry have exasperated the issue, in some instances taking upwards of 20 minutes for potential customers looking to frequent our downtown businesses. What is Gilroy doing to remedy this and better support our downtown?

The City has been continually monitoring the parking lots downtown. As such, we’ve kept track of peak times for parking, such as when the Downtown Live Music series is held on Thursday evenings from 5 PM to 9 PM. The photo below was taken of the Downtown Gourmet Parking lot around 6:00 PM during the music event and shows numerous open parking spaces only a few minutes walk from Monterey Road. Despite the ongoing Gourmet Alley project, we have managed to maintain the same level of available spots, if not more. In fact, the City has leased the 4th and Monterey lot and now has more available parking spots than prior to the start of the Gourmet Alley construction. We have some issues concerning the parking along Monterey and thus have commenced pre-enforcement of the two-hour limits along Monterey Road. This will help encourage those parking in front of businesses on Monterey to limit their parking to under two hours. For more information concerning downtown parking, please visit the City’s Downtown Parking Information page at https://www.cityofgilroy.org/389/Downtown-Gilroy.

❓Will Gilroy start to incorporate other attributes in it's identity? I understand Garlic is commonly associated with Gilroy, but can we include wine/wineries biking, trees, and other attractions? Gilroy is not a major garlic producer and our community reflects so much more than that.  

Sorry, we can’t agree with you that Gilroy is not a major garlic producer! Local business Christopher Ranch is the largest garlic farm in the United States and 50% of the country’s garlic is grown in the Gilroy area. The City and its economic partners market many aspects of what our community has to offer. Please visit our partners at Visit Gilroy – you’ll see that Gilroy is marketed in many different ways! https://visitgilroy.com/

Have you ever wondered about Gilroy's infrastructure, upcoming developments, municipal services, or important community events? Your curiosity fuels our mission to provide you with answers.

In addition, we're introducing a new segment: Fact or Fiction! Got a rumor? Use the same form below to share it with us, and we'll fact-check it for you. Every week, we'll tackle a few questions and clear up any confusion.

📢 How It Works:

Ask Away: Drop your questions in the “Ask Gilroy” survey form

We Answer: Each week, we'll pick a question and provide a detailed answer in our weekly email

Stay Informed: Sign up for our emails to access our answers and stay in the loop.

It's time to unlock the mysteries of Gilroy together! Let's dive into the heart of our community and discover what makes our city tick.

👉 Ready to ask? Drop your questions in the survey form linked below and let’s go! 🚀

Mayor Marie Blankley

Mayor Pro Tempore Carol Marques

Council Member Rebeca Armendariz

Council Member Dion Bracco

Council Member Tom Cline

Council Member Zach Hilton

Council Member Fred Tovar

City of Gilroy

Office Hours

Gilroy City Hall is open to the public Monday through Thursday, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, and on Friday by appointment only.

City of Gilroy

(408) 846-0219

7351 Rosanna Street, Gilroy, CA 95020

www.cityofgilroy.org

City Administrator Jimmy Forbis