"When did it become legal in Gilroy to have people living in a tent in their front yard? Never … well there is a house on the corner of Maria and Amanda ways doing just that. They have had a tent pitched in their front yard for more than a month and seem to have people living in it day and night."

Dear Pitched,

Red Phone contacted Code Enforcement Officer Scott Barron, who said you are correct.

"A camping tent would not be permitted to be used as a residence or even living space," he said. "Tents do not meet many of the minimum requirements listed in the Municipal Code, the California Building Code or the California Health and Safety Code for a residence or habitable space. We do however appreciate this being brought to our attention. If the caller would contact Code Enforcement at 846-0264 thereby providing an opportunity to ask additional questions, we would certainly investigate the problem."

So good caller, if you want the neighborhood campers gone, give Scott a call.

No more homes in Gilroy

"I want to make a comment on plenty of open space including the Glen Loma specific plan. I don't know what the city council people are thinking letting people build and build and build around here. Hey, we need some land. We don't want to just see cement and houses. I've lived in Gilroy all my life and I miss our friendly little town of Gilroy. What happened to that? It's getting too crazy around here. We're not a city, we're a town. We don't want to be like San Jose. We want to have land and open space. And not get hit in your car practically every day because there's too many people around here. Stop building."

Dear Stop Building,

Red Phone hears, but disagrees. Under your system, the only people allowed to live in the city of Gilroy - it is a city and no longer a town - are those who are born here? That sounds a bit harsh.

As far as the council is concerned, if an applicant applies to build in the city, staff must ensure the application conforms to all city rules and regulations, then the council allocates residential building permits. And, as far as commercial building goes, if a store or business wants to move to Gilroy, the land they want to build on is zoned appropriately and the applicant conforms to all building requirements, there's not much the city can do. Alas, Gilroy, like many other cities that started as small towns, is growing and growing. It is a fact of life and one can only implore city leaders to keep as much open space as possible. Red Phone knows of only one way to conquer the concrete jungles. We can all move to Montana or Wyoming, where there is much more open space.

What happened to horoscopes?

"What happened to the horoscope in the Dispatch? It's no longer there and I miss it. I think a lot of other people do too. Thank you. Bye!"

Dear Not in the Stars,

Red Phone spoke with Andi Joseph, editor of that section, who said "due to space constraints, we've had to make some changes in content. At this time, we've discontinued horoscopes, but stay tuned. We're looking at some alternative possibilities, like a weekly horoscope that would publish once a week."

So good caller, do as she says. Stay tuned.

Street light now repaired

"Red Phone, I called about street light no. 1316, a few days later a service truck checked the light, however, the street light still is not working. I called again but no results. It has been inoperable for weeks. Street light no. 1316 is on Plymouth Drive."

The next day the caller who contacted Red Phone about street light no. 1316, got in contact the following day to day the street light was repaired. "It was working last night, so never mind," the caller said.

Red Phone:

Thanks so much for letting Red Phone know that crews repaired the light.