I support the use of the old Salvation Army building downtown as a place for artists to display their work and to have workshops. I was called to a meeting recently by members of the Theater Angels Arts League who are planning several uses for the future Cultural Center along with the Gilroy Arts Alliance. Until the actual Cultural Center is built they have been planning several different uses for that site.

The Art Community in Gilroy has been very proactive in gaining support for the future Cultural Arts Center. Gary Walton and other downtown business owners have also expressed support for getting artists into a downtown building. When I was the president of the Gilroy Eigleberry Neighborhood Association I would always hear from local residents surrounding the vacant lot on 7th and Eigleberry streets, the future Cultural Arts center site, that is was a magnet for crime and people dumping unwanted belongings.

The Eigleberry residents would welcome what is being proposed at the vacant lot which is currently a community eyesore. Temporarily having a place for the Art and Cultural Community to have a venue to display not only artists work but also a place for performances by dance groups and theater groups to display their talent is much needed in Gilroy.

I would also strongly encourage and support a community garden on part of the vacant lot. Several community agencies and residents have started talks and are currently looking for a central location for a community garden and what better place then the 7th and Eigleberry location. These interested parties would not only bring support for a community garden but resources and volunteers to maintain it.

The community garden would also be a great place for school children to come out and learn about eating healthy and the benefits of growing your own food. The Gilroy Arts Alliance and the Theater Angels Arts League have done a lot of work to bring these proposals forward and to bring arts and culture for all of the Gilroy community to enjoy. If you support this idea contact your City Council and city staff and let them know that you support art and culture in Gilroy.

Arthur C. Barron Sr., Gilroy

He's a community volunteer, let him keep his high fence

Dear Editor,

I know Chris Cote and have worked with him as a volunteer. He built the first new solar powered homes in Gilroy history AND then he sold them at a discount out of his pocket to police officers and firefighters, even a family that runs a non-profit animal rescue? A cop that lives in one of the homes volunteered to protect him after what happened.

He also has a permit for his fence the city gave him 20 years ago and the new addition is lower then they allowed and it's just like the fence the city has on their property next to his.

If you have ever driven by the CALSTAR emergency helicopter at your hospital you should know there's a second one to save people's lives at Salinas Airport now because Chris set up a meeting for CALSTAR with the mayor there and helped them negotiate a lease for a second base many years ago for very little money. And there's even a second landing pad for the second helicopter in case two people get sick in Gilroy at once.

When the school district tried to put up cell towers next to a kindergarten in Gilroy several years ago and then hid it from the public disguised as a flagpole just feet from classrooms with the kind of transmitter that could cause radiation to harm babies, Cote' exposed it and got a new law passed so that cell towers couldn't go near people's homes, either. Then the district invited him to form the first ever Environmental Oversight Committee that he ran for years. He volunteers on two city committees and one at the county and does gives a heck of a lot of time to poor and hungry people overseas but doesn't brag about it. He's also a Democratic Party representative at the Santa Clara County Central Committee and has the written credentials from the state and county to prove it, whatever anyone else says to the contrary.

Yes, Chris did make some mistakes and got into a lawsuit with the school district. But who doesn't make mistakes, especially when they were 23 years old and owning a large business? No one is perfect and he did pay back what the company he owned that went out of business way back then. But no one ever says that.

Let's let this lawsuit play out with a contractor that might have tried to kill Chris. What if the contractor cheated Chris on those newest solar homes he was trying to build for the community and charged more than he promised he would? Give the guy a chance, he's pretty darn brave trying to get a drug dealer off the streets that was hired to kill him. Chris is using his own money in a reward and he never sent out any e-mails from anyone else's list, volunteers did. The coward that tried to torture Chris snuck in through an open window, took a 2x4 to Chris' head while he was asleep and unable to defend himself, and then duct taped him up with two other men in ski masks. It could happen to anyone in Gilroy now and it might! Apparently the very same criminal has just been arrested again lately selling dangerous hard drugs to kids in Gilroy.

Bill Evans, San Jose

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