ESTABLISHED 1868
A New SV Media publication
Friday, September 1, 2017
gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 150, No. 35 • $1
Keeping Gilroy Gardens growing
LOCAL SCENE This play’s the thing
By the numbers Mathnasium of Gilroy, was honored in July for its outstanding performance at the 13th annual Mathnasium International Franchise Convention. The local outpost of this tutoring program specializing in math won the Rising Stars Award selected from a pool of more than 800 Mathnasium franchise locations around the world. “This award speaks to the great success we’ve had with the students who study at our centers,” said Seth Bullwinkle, owner of Mathnasium of Gilroy. “We are deeply dedicated to making math fun and engaging for all our students. My staff and I are so grateful to all the families who have trusted us with their children’s math education, our students for all their hard work and positive attitudes, and the Gilroy community for embracing Mathnasium in the way that they have.”
CITY STUDYING NATIONAL WATER LODGE PROPOSAL By Jack Foley Senior Editor
Brad Kava
Saturday Sept. 9 is the day to audition for the children’s production of “Into the Woods,” which will be presented Nov.10-19. The City of Gilroy Recreation Department sponsors the play and has hired a new director, Colleen Blanchard for the show that includes Stephen Sondheim music and lyrics and Saturday, The play brings a new life to Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (and his beanstalk) and the Witch in a lyrically rich retelling of classic Brothers Grimm fables. Actors can be 8-17 years old. They should be prepared to sing a song of their choice (cd accompaniment preferred) and should wear comfortable clothes and be prepared to learn a small dance routine. Auditions are at the Gilroy Senior Center, 7371 Hanna St. with a 10 a.m. check-in for a 10:30 a.m. audition. Older teens, 13-17 years have a 2 p.m. check-in for 2:30 p.m. audition. Registration fee: $150 (residents); $155 (nonresidents) Registration fee does not include costume, t-shirt & required cast member ticket sales. Rehearsals are on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. beginning September 13. Young actors may not be required to attend each rehearsal. Individual rehearsal schedules will be determined by cast member availability and the Director. The show will be at Gilroy High School Theater November 10-19.
SINKING FEELING Pedro Virgen’s Union Taxi Company has sunk from 13 cabs to three as a result
of competition from largely unregulated ride share companies that charge half as much as him.
Local biz not Lyfted RIDE SHARE COMPETITION KILLS CABS By Bryce Stoepfel Reporter
The owner of Union Taxi Company of Gilroy says ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber have been killing his business. Pedro Virgen, 50, who has owned the company since 2006, has seen his business shrink from eight taxis and a dozen employees to three cabs and two drivers. He’s lost his home, and his family of four now shares a two-bedroom apartment with his sister and her husband. “I’m sad,” said Virgen. “I don’t know why the city lets them operate here, They don’t have to have permits, like we do. They don’t
have their cars inspected or give their employees drug tests. They don’t have the insurance we have.” Virgen works 12 hours a day to keep afloat and pay $4,100 a month for insurance, fuel, licensing fees, his office and advertising. Virgen has laid off his dispatchers and his secretary as business has dwindled. Customers “all go to Uber because it’s a lot cheaper,” Virgen said. “I don’t know if I'm going to be in business much longer. It’s just too much. They can charge half as much as I can. To go to San Jose, I charge $90, and they only charge $45.” Virgen, an immigrant from the Oaxaca region of Mexico, worked as a cab driver for Union Taxi and saved enough money to buy the company for $70,000 in 2006. He made a good living until about
three years ago, when Uber and Lyft made inroads here. Now, to help make ends meet and support his wife and 7- and 9-year-old children, he’s selling prepared food and Oaxacan crafts from his office at 7263 Monterey St. As part of the city’s regulation of cab companies, he’s required to pay rent on an office in town. The ride sharing companies aren’t. He is not alone. Taxi cab companies around the country have closed, including Gilroy’s Golden Taxi Cab. One of the things Virgen is most sad about is that he and his drivers made a decent living. In his opinion, rideshare drivers don’t make a fair wage, and says his drivers could make as much as $400 a day.
Celebrate the arts
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
T OUT & ABOU OF CALE NDAR EVEN TS
A section of the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
➝ Cabs, 4
Muralist Sheryl Cathers is filling the walls outside the city’s Arts Center on Monterey Street with a project commissioned by Leadership Gilroy that celebrates youth in arts. It should be done by October.
Joan for the Hills Community honors folk singer and lifelong activist Joan Baez
Inside this issue:
OUTGOING TIDE P10 | CLOS LACHANCE P16 | LEVEE WALK P17
Joan Baez and the Coyote Preserve
True or false: The City of Gilroy owns a tourist attraction business called Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park. That’s false. True or False: Gilroy taxpayers paid $12.5 million for the park more than a dozen years ago when it was called Bonfante Gardens. That’s true. True or False: The Gilroy City Council controls park operations, hiring and six-figure management salaries and is required to make sure meetings of the park’s board of directors are open to the public, just like city council meetings. That’s all false. It’s true. In fact, park employees don’t work for the city; the park’s board of directors hiked the General Manager’s total compensation to more than $202,000 a year without public or city input and the board’s meetings are not open to the public. That’s because the company that runs the park, Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, Inc., is a private, nonprofit corporation, not a public agency. As such, it’s only required to file one public document each year, a financial summary called a 990 form that lists revenues, expenditures, assets, contributions and compensation paid to top management and directors. The eight directors of Gilroy Gardens, seven atlarge community members and one city council member, serve without pay. They include city retiree Jay Baksa, who was city administrator when Gilroy bought the park, Jane Howard, who heads the Gilroy Welcome Center, which for years has been partially funded by the city and tourism-related tax revenues and City Councilman Dan Harney, appointed in January by the council. The park’s 2015 financial form suggests the city plays a key role at the park and that its role is growing and will include the city Parks and Recreation Department. ➝ Gilroy Gardens, 2
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MAKE THIS SCHOOL YEAR
GREATER THAN LAST YEAR!
Mathnasium of Gilroy • mathnasium.com/gilroy
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