beyond San Jose to Gilroy, and Morgan
Hill must be a scheduled stop for all
north- and south-bound trains going
through our city. And if Caltrain and
SAMTRANS want South County vot-
ers to support a 2020 ballot measure
for countywide transportation
improvements, our needs must be
addressed, or we’ll work to defeat it.”
Mayor Constantine and
Councilmember Larry Carr also
advocate for Morgan Hill’s needs with
the Santa Clara Valley Transportation
Authority (VTA), where Carr serves on
the board and Constantine is on the
Policy Advisory Committee.
“The VTA votes on county bus and
light rail system improvements, but
South County’s needs are not well
represented,” Constantine said. Half of
the VTA’s current board members live
in San Jose, and meetings are in San
Mateo. “We can’t even use their mass
transit system to attend their meetings.”
Another priority, according to
Constantine, is to “work with State
representatives and Caltrans to expand
the Highway 101 commuter lane
through Morgan Hill.”
“High-Speed Rail is coming. It’s a
big topic, right now, and it’s going to be
hard for Morgan Hill.”
“Two of the five busiest railroad
crossings in the greater Bay Area are
here in Morgan Hill at Dunne and
at Tennant. The High-Speed Rail
Authority proposes to run eight trains
per hour. What will that do to our local
traffic? If Caltrain is running, that’s
what Morgan Hill commuters will use.
They’re not going to drive south and
park at a high-speed rail station in
Gilroy to turn around and ride north to
their Silicon Valley jobs.”
“As a city council, we can’t control
the Authority’s decisions but we
can educate and influence them
to minimize their impacts on our
community and compensate land-
owners properly. We’ll continue to ask
for community input and pose the
tough questions to the Authority
to get answers.”
Fix Our Streets
Currently, Morgan Hill has roughly
a $21 million backlog of street
maintenance projects. Mayor
Constantine said the City’s $1.6 million
annual budget for street maintenance
falls far short of what’s needed to reduce
that backlog. He stated during his
campaign that he wants the City Public
Works Department to provide City
Council with a monthly status report
on maintenance and efforts to secure
funding to upgrade streets faster.
Improve Local Internet
Speed and Access
Certain areas of Morgan Hill continue
to be negatively impacted by slow and
intermittent internet service.
According to Constantine,
“Businesses, schools, and residents can’t
function without reliable high-speed
internet. We’ll continue to explore
partnerships with internet providers,
and incentives for providers to improve
their services, looking for ways to
improve fiber optic and wireless relay
infrastructure among other things.”
“The City’s Economic Blueprint
addresses telecommunications with
creative ways to improve infrastructure
such as the Dig Once policy. When
developers invest in a property we want
to leverage their efforts, for example by
laying fiber optic cable in their pipes.
We’ll continue to look for new ways
to improve.”
Promote a Sustainable Community
“As Mayor, I’ll continue to support
measures shown to increase energy
efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions,” Constantine said.
“Since 2016, Morgan Hill residents
have had the opportunity to get their
energy from Silicon Valley Clean
Energy, a community-owned agency
providing clean and renewable energy,
thereby significantly reducing
CO2 emissions.”
“Our City has implemented
energy- efficient LEED standards for
city buildings and realized signifi-
cant cost savings as a result. We also
supported Recology South Valley, our
trash and recycling service provider, on
their installation of a natural gas filling
station and use of trucks fueled by clean
natural gas.”
Keep Schools Safe and Fully Funded
“The City’s largest employer is the
Morgan Hill Unified School District,”
Constantine said. “I believe we
can make them more a part of our
community.”
“The City Council voted to increase
funds for a School Resource Officer
from our Police Department to provide
schools with education and training
related to active shooter drills, cyber-
bullying, and other safety measures to
keep students safe.”
“The school district currently needs
at least two 10-acre sites to serve our
growing population. They’ve done well
putting Measure G funds to work on
capital improvements, but they can’t
build ahead of the curve; the funding
won’t support it. We can help the
district look for sites.”
“Even with the Local Control
Funding Formula, our teachers are
still paying out of pocket for classroom
supplies. I’ll work with school leaders
to ensure that Morgan Hill gets its fair
share of state funding and advocate for
more support from Sacramento.”
Address Homelessness
Acknowledging Santa Clara County’s
persistent homelessness crisis, Mayor
Constantine said he’ll advocate for part-
nerships with the County and neigh-
boring cities to help end homelessness.
He favors an “aggressive, multi-faceted
approach that addresses the issues that
make people homeless in the first place.”
Preserve and Create City Parks
A proponent of local community parks,
Constantine said he’ll ask for a Master
Plan for land acquisition and creation
of new parks accessible to all residents
including those in underserved areas of
Morgan Hill.
“Our council works as a team: we all read the meeting agendas; come with open minds; hear information from staff,
council and citizens; discuss issues openly; and then build consensus to move things forward in a unified way.”
18
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
february/march 2019
gmhtoday.com