~ attributed to anonymous by W.W. Jacobs, author of "Monkey's Paw"

In a recent letter to the editor, Mark Zappa detailed his displeasure with Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro and advocated for Pinheiro's recall from office. Zappa detailed an incident in which he felt attacked by Pinheiro for having a dissenting point of view. Although I cannot corroborate Zappa's description of the mayor's attack on him, I can empathize with Zappa as I've also been on the receiving end of Al's displeasure regarding my opinion(s).

Having said that, I understand Zappa's desire to begin a recall of one or more of our elected officials. Zappa recalled his own admonitions to Council to not purchase the Bonfante Garden lands. I, too, spoke against that purchase to Council and asked if they did approve the purchase to include measures to make financial restitution to the city funds by selling the "unusable hillside acreage" to an agency tasked with open land preservation. The mayor assured me that every effort would be made to realize some financial return from that unusable acreage. To this day the city still owns every acre it bought.

Nearly every critic of Council's financial fumbles demands the sale of Gilroy Gardens' land. A better idea than selling the land is leveraging it. Selling the land is a mistake, as our Council doesn't have a good track record of hanging onto money. If the city sold the land and put the proceeds after paying back internal funds into the general fund it would be soon gone.

Leveraging the land may be an unpopular idea, but makes financial sense. Rather than receiving a one-time lump sum from selling the land, the city would realize smaller but recurring payments from the land. Let the land work for Gilroy into perpetuity.

The city leases the 70 some acres of parkland to Gilroy Gardens for just about what a Gilroy family pays to rent a 3 or 4 bedroom home every month! That's right, the city leases the parkland to Gilroy Gardens for some $25,000 a year plus 10 percent of profits to be given to the Parks and Recreation department. Keep in mind Gilroy Gardens is a non-profit organization. Also keep in mind that Gilroy Gardens has done a crackerjack job of living up to its mission as a non-profit. It has never turned a profit!

Gilroy needs to secure a different tenant willing to pay what the land is really worth on a monthly basis. Better yet, find several tenants willing to co-exist on the land. Yes, it will mean Gilroy Gardens will be no more unless they can find a new sugar daddy. Yes it will mean part-time jobs for Gilroy's youth will be harder to find.

At this point in time can Gilroy really afford to keep supporting an entity barely able to support itself, let alone our city?

There was once a letter of intent in Gilroy's hands to buy the land. With the right combination of effort and expertise a letter of intent to rent can also be in hand.

So, some of you want to recall a mayor. Do you really? Who would you elect in his place? Think hard, because it's a lot easier to fire someone than to hire his or her replacement. Make no mistake, the recall process is in place to allow the electorate relief from an elected official who has abused their power or lost touch with the needs of the electorate. It isn't a complicated process, but be sure you can live with the result before you sign the petition.

There are 18,400 registered voters in Gilroy. To force a recall election requires a petition signed by 20 percent of registered voters, or about 3,700 signatures. Getting just anyone to sign a petition in front of Nob Hill won't get it done.

Unlike the gubernatorial recall that took Arnold from Hollywood to Sacramento, Gilroy voters are only able to recall the mayor not choose who replaces him. Gilroy's Charter stipulates Pinheiro's replacement would be one of the remaining council members, and THEY get to decide. Which of Council would you have be mayor? Hard decision, isn't it? I can think of only one.

Ben Anderson Columnist Ben Anderson is a long-time Gilroyan and father of two fantastic teens. You can reach him at column@heyben.us. His column is published weekly.