There's a downtown wish list just on the next page from our new columnist, Erika Mailman, and it's a really good one. One line struck me, though it's not about downtown. As an aside, she wrote, "Is it just me or does the Garlic Festival T-shirt never look as exciting as you'd hope?" Geez, I think that every year, so here's an idea for Brian Bowe and company that could work and be a lot of fun: How about an official Garlic Festival T-shirt design contest just like the poster contest - with a cash prize and the recognition that goes with it? There are a lot of great digital artists and design artists that would have fun with it. Plus, it's another good PR move for the fest. Send a few winning T-shirts out to the media, and presto, there's PR galore - or is that, PESTO, there's PR galore ...

Speaking of PR galore, maybe MayorAl will post a picture of himself wearing the winning G-Fest T-shirt on his new Facebook page ...

T-shirt #1 idea, though, belongs to Gary Walton. He and brother Joe officially, and softly, opened Lizarran Tapas Restaurant in the Old City Hall building downtown Thursday night. Don't wait, the Spanish cuisine is inventive and delicious, reasonably priced and the remodel inside is relaxing and tasteful. But I hope the T-shirts Gary is thinking about get made: Lizarran Restaurant ... New York City, Miami, Palm Desert, Gilroy - perfectly classic.

And for a perfectly classy holiday cake, see Penny Perluss at Penny Cakes bakery next to the Claddagh on First Street. Check out Penny's amazing and detailed Halloween party cake - tricky to make, but quite a treat to serve and eat.

Well, treat yourself to this news: If you use more than 472 killowats of energy at home, this month or next you should be getting a rebate - somewhere around $35 - on your PG&E bill. A real federal stimulus package would have been to pay everyone's power bill in December, but we'll take what we can get and count our blessings ...

As a local yokel, you can get into Gilroy Gardens this weekend, and the weekend of Nov. 28-29 for $9.99. That's a bargain, and the Gardens are playing host to a Middle Earth fantasy event - great fun for the imaginative segment of a child's mind ...

Speaking of children, my daughter is a Santa Clara County Sheriffs Deputy. It's hardly a secret as some claimed in the comments section - nor has it been. I'm very, very proud of her and her chosen career in law enforcement. It's a shame that there are some who leave mean-spirited, childish comments on our Web site - they are trolls who subtract from the community conversation with pitiful utterings made from behind the skirts of anonymity.

Face to face, the other morning at First Street Coffee, firefighter Mark Ordaz asked me what I thought about the temporary, brown-out closures of Sunrise Fire Station. The firefighters had just printed hundreds of flyers making their case against the City Council and were meeting to strategize for future political action. I think the brownouts stink, but I don't think Gilroy Fire needs four firefighters to an engine and I think if the union's position is don't give another inch it will only end up harming its members in the long run.

Ideally, Gilroy would continue to have its own fire and police departments. That's obvious, but faced with new economic realities, the city should explore all options for service - that includes approaching County Fire, CalFire and the Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department. Conducting city business the same old, same old way is not a long-term option. The longer that reality is ignored, the more painful it will be when it arrives. Compromise, be realistic and understand that there must be further cuts - either in pay and benefits or in layoffs - to bring city revenues in line with expenses. The current system is going to collapse under its own weight, though the union attorneys will be sending a different message for obvious reasons.

Not happening this week: Mark Zappa's phantom recall of the mayor. Just another rant, apparently.

Mark Derry Mark Derry is the executive editor of the Gilroy Dispatch. Reach him at (408)847-7010 or editor@garlic.com.