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THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

BROTHERS OF THE VINE A supplement to the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times

Solis Winery wins big in largest American wine competition

Solis Winery takes home wins

SOUTH VALLEY MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE

COYOTE CREEK P10 | THEATER THRILLS P12

RAPE SUSPECT CAUGHT P2 | PARK FOR EVERYONE P4 | BUSES FACE CUTS P12

THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY

FEBRUARY 15, 2019

ESTABLISHED 1868

A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance

Mansmith’s BBQ has a new storefront A New SV Media publication Friday, February 15, 2019

SAN BENITO MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 152, No. 7 • $1

DIVINE PAIRING Mansmith’s BBQ and Aroma Cellars are better together

New real estate trends hit Gilroy schools COYOTE CREEK P10 | THEATER THRILLS P12

Submitted photo

HOMEBUYERS ARE ARRIVING WITHOUT SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN, REALTORS SAY

SUPPORT GROWS County workers and community members held another rally for O’Connor and Saint Louise hospitals on Feb. 10 in Morgan Hill.’

Scott Forstner Reporter

Gilroy real estate agents are reporting that 1,218 single-family homes, condos and townhomes were sold in the city in the last two years, yet Gilroy schools are facing a headscratching decline in enrollment. Real estate professionals are offering multiple explanations. Some say it’s because sales are declining. Others are saying shifting demographics—new homebuyers without children or with one child—are affecting future school populations. Increasing housing prices with higher interest rates have resulted in a 17 percent drop in Gilroy home sales from 665 in 2017 to 553 in 2018, according to local real estate figures. “As far as ‘family makeup’ concerning Gilroy homebuyers, there doesn’t seem to be a significant difference from years past,” said John Agresta, managing broker for Coldwell Banker-Gilroy. “What is happening, however, is that the number of homes being sold (in Gilroy) has declined.” ➝Real Estate, 11

Nurses enter fray NURSES THREATEN TO STRIKE AT TWO LOCAL HOSPITALS IF THE COUNTY REJECTS DEMAND TO RECOGNIZE CURRENT UNION Barry Holtzclaw Managing Editor

New labor conflicts—and the threat of a nurses strike—have erupted to roil an already boiling controversy over Santa Clara County’s purchase of two failing hospitals. Nurses from Saint Louise and O’Connor hospitals on Tuesday, Feb. 12 warned the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors they will strike unless the county negotiates a new contract for them with the California Nurses Association (CNA), pending final approval of the hospitals’ sale. Meanwhile, the days count down toward a Feb. 22 showdown between California’s attorney general and the county. If the sale falls through because of

legal action by Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the more than 700 nurses at the two hospitals will be out of work. A CNA spokesperson said more than 90 percent of nurses at the two hospitals endorsed a strike if the county follows a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge’s December ruling voiding the CNA contract at O’Connor and Saint Louise hospitals. The CNA declined to say how many nurses participated in the strike vote, which concluded Saturday, Feb. 9. If the sale closes on March 1, nurses at the two hospitals would be county employees represented by a CNA rival union, the Registered Nurses Professional Association (RNPA). More than a dozen nurses, all members of the CNA and some in tears, spoke Feb. 12 to the supervisors, demanding immediate negotiations and job and seniority guarantees. “We don’t want a fight, but you have left us no choice; we mean what we say,” Melinda Markowitz, CNA president, told the supervisors. Nurses said the county has reneged on its promises to offer jobs to all 2,000-plus employees

at O’Connor and Gilroy-based Saint Louise. They cited examples of kitchen workers and other staff at Saint Louise who were not offered jobs and 12 nurses, most in the emergency room at O’Connor, whose job offers were rescinded this month with no explanation. The nurses told supervisors they had a right to strike because of “unfair labor practices” committed by the county in transitioning nurses into new jobs as county employees. The county said it has offered jobs to more than 700 nurses from the two hospitals. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ernest Robles voided the O’Connor and St. Louise union contracts. He said the county has no responsibility for any pension benefits. CNA objected to Verity Health’s motion to reject their contract and has requested damages for breach of contract from Verity. Robles continued the January 30 hearing on CNA’s objection to Feb. 13. On Feb. 11, County Executive Jeff Smith said in an interview, “We’ve made it clear that we can’t

unilaterally decide who represents the nurses.” He said entering into a new, separate contract with the O’Connor and St. Louise nurses would violate the county charter and the county’s contract with the CNA’s rival, the RNPA. “There is literally no legal way they can get what they are asking for,” he said. “The county has no independent authority to decide who is representing whom; it would be a violation of the union contract and of the county’s merit system.” He called the CNA members’ arguments ”absurd” and “irrational” and cautioned nurses that walking off the job after March would be an illegal “wildcat strike.” The RNPA represents the 2,270 nurses and nurse practitioners at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and will legally will represent all county hospital nurses on March 1, when the acquisition would close—unless Becerra wins in court. Becerra is asking a U.S. District Court judge to block the ➝ Nurses, 8

Court ready to see lawsuit evidence U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE REJECTS CITY ATTEMPT TO DISMISS CASE Michael Moore Reporter

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A federal judge last week rejected a second attempt by the City of Gilroy to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former police dispatch employee, clearing the way for the evidence-gathering phase of the litigation. Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District Court of California in a Feb. 5 ruling denied most of the city’s argument for dismissing former Public Safety Dispatcher

Patricia Harrell’s lawsuit, and granted a portion of it. As of the latest ruling, Harrell’s complaint, originally filed in August 2017, now contains six “causes of action” against the City of Gilroy and its police department. The Feb. 5 ruling also dismissed Harrell’s complaints against five current and former city employees—including former Police Chief Denise Turner Sellers— whom Harrell had named as defendants. Koh’s ruling also suggested the judge is growing impatient with the city’s efforts to dismiss the lawsuit. The city and previous individual defendants have now twice filed motions to dismiss Harrell’s lawsuit in full. The ➝ Lawsuit, 15

CASE DISMIISSED Former Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner Sellers is no longer a defendant in a wrongful termination lawsuit.


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