HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
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Friday, September 1, 2017
sanbenito.com • Vol. 144, No. 35 • $1
Velazquez says city violating state law 400 BLOCK PETITION MEETS SIGNATURE GOAL Nicholas Preciado Reporter
Robert Eliason
POR VIDA Emily Morales and Christy Sandoval are co-directors of El Teatro Campesino’s new production “¡Viva La Causa!” a revision of the retrospective of the Chicano theater company that premiered last year. Opening night at the Teatro playhouse in San Juan Bautista is Friday.
Light in darkness
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
THE STRUGGLE IS REAL IN NEW TEATRO PRODUCTION
Vintage-Inspired Mrs. B’s Z-Place is an eclectic institution
Roseann Hernandez Cattani
OUTGOING TIDE P10 | CLOS LACHANCE P16 | LEVEE WALK P17
Inside this issue: Mrs. B’s downtown boutique
HOLLISTER CA. PERMIT #48
➝ El Teatro, 4
automatic approval. It needs to be brought forward in a public meeting,” said Mayor Chris Martorana. “Alteration to that section of the map was not appropriate.” Earlier in the meeting, Martorana said it was “not a happy day” but called the city manager’s resignation “the best course.” Grimsley was involved in local politics for more than 40 years. He was city manager and public works director for Hollister in the 1970s.
make his pizzas. In starting the business, he is also bringing a taste of his family’s home country to his family’s hometown in Hollister. The Felice family is from the Calabria part of Italy and has deep roots in San Benito County as well. With the opening of Forno, meanwhile, Hollister will once again
Neighbors felt Grimsely, as the city engineer, turned a blind eye to substantial alterations that were being made to a section of the 99-unit housing development project. The city council Tuesday said they were not aware of the alterations, which they called significant, until a few days previously when they started getting letters from lawyers of nearby residents. “In our view that does not meet the standard to an
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San Juan Bautista City Manager, Roger Grimsely, abruptly resigned Tuesday during closed session at the city council meeting. Grimsely, who was also the city engineer, announced last year his intention to retire. While the city council
in March said it would start the recruitment process, Tuesday’s action left city leaders grappling for a replacement and they appointed Matt Orbach, the city’s community development director as the temporary city manager. The council said it would hire a separate city engineer. Grimsely came under fire from residents who live near the Rancho Vista housing development currently under construction.
said Jim Brumfield, whose 14-acre horse ranch on San Juan Highway is a short walk from the site of the planned bridge. The riverbed crossing will be funded completely with federal money from the Federal Highway Administration's Toll Credit Highway Bridge Program, with construction slated for the spring of 2017. “The key to a better transportation
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LOOK FOR IT ON THE WEB
An advocacy organization that rep college instructors across Californ symbolically walk out of the class what they call a significant pay di
San Juan resident: ‘Like our own
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KATIE HELLAND •REPORTER khelland@freelancenews.com
Roseann Hernandez Cattani Editor
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HOLLISTER
A $16 million bridge stretching 900 feet across the San Benito River is planned to connect Y Road and San Juan Bautista. But in this rural area, the number of people it will serve is small. “It's like our own bridge to nowhere,”
SJB OFFICIAL UNDER FIRE OVER RANCHO VISTA DEVELOPMENT
Project planned for Y Road
****ECRWSS**** Residential Customer
City manager resigns
Cake, anyone?
The San Benito County chapter of the national nonprofit organization Birthday Cakes 4 Free started last spring and group members have been bringing cakes, cupcakes and muffins to low-income seniors and children ever since then. Since the group started in June, its members have delivered about five cakes a month to the Emmaus House, Chamberlain's Children Center and the assisted living facility Whispering Pines Inn. Now they're looking to expand to individual homes in the county. A2
narrative that has to fight for relevance in a volatile society is powerful, and starkly relevant in these divisive political times. “Looking at all these pieces, the short vignettes and puppet shows in the 1970s, every scene and root cause is about struggling against the social and political structure,” said Sandoval. “It could
Solar revisions
tells the history of the Chicano theater company through characters and motifs from classic Teatro productions. In one scene, the audience gets to experience the struggle of the company’s founder and National Medal of Arts recipient, Luis Valdez, as he writes his seminal play, Zoot Suit. The frustration to convey a people and a
The company vying to build a 247-megawatt solar farm in Panoche submitted a draft supplemental environmental impact report addressing plans to examine impacts under a revised, reduced proposal. PV2 Energy filed the supplemental draft EIR on Dec. 23. The prior company overseeing the project, Solargen Energy, had an initial EIR approved by the county board in late 2010. A5
SPORTS
Prepare to move and be moved during El Teatro Campesino’s latest production “¡Viva La Causa!” “It is designed to be an immersive experience as the action takes place throughout the playhouse,” said Christy
Sandoval, co-director of the retrospective that spans the influential group’s more than fifty year history. During the performance, audiences travel from room to room, walls of which are covered with Teatro memorabilia and props that theatre-goers will remember from previous productions. The play takes place in a dystopian future and
Soph surge
PAID
Editor
A year ago, Brad Sparrer was the No. 5 player in the lineup on San Benito High’s golf team. But entering the 2015 season—practice starts on Feb. 1—the 5-foot-8, 140pound sophomore will likely be the Haybalers’ No. 1 player. Sparrer’s meteoric rise came the good old-fashioned way: hard work. B1
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
A section of the Hollister Free Lance
T OUT & ABOU OF CALE NDAR EVEN TS
Mayor Ignacio Velazquez said the Hollister City Council is violating state law by stalling the certification of a petition to place the 400 block of San Benito Street development before voters. “Once they have verification from the [San Benito County Registrar of Voters], at the next regular scheduled meeting they need to announce that verification was certified,” Velazquez said by phone Monday. On July 11, Velazquez turned in a petition to the city clerk with 2,398 signatures to force a referendum on the city council’s decision to sell the cityowned lot to the Community Foundation for San Benito County and The Del Curto Brothers Group. According to an assessment by the county registrar and certified by Assistant County Clerk Angela Curro July 27, the petition had 1,660 valid signatures, 60 more than the 1,600 required. “The city has to validate or certify the referendum,” continued Velazquez. “They’ve been stalling and trying to get around that. They’re violating state law.” In an August 16 letter to the city council, the mayor’s attorney argues the city has taken more than 30 days to certify the petition and is therefore in violation of state election laws. According to the mayor’s timeline and his attorney’s letter, the city clerk needed to certify the sufficiency of the petition at the regular meeting on August 21. However, city officials think the mayor’s timeline is off. City Attorney Soren Diaz said Monday the elections official actually has 60 days, excluding weekends and holidays, to certify the petition because the amount of valid signatures the mayor collected falls within 95 to 110 percent of the number required. Deputy City Clerk Christine Black said via email that the elections official has until October 4 to certify the petition and cited Elections Code Section 9115(b).
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