The future of Gilroy is now. You sip your morning coffee as the sun is starting to shine upon your balcony. You just moved into your new apartment at 8955 Monterey Rd and you are starting to put the plans together for a Sunday in Downtown Gilroy. You have many options to get there. The 68 VTA bus stops in front of your residence every 20 minutes or we could hop on a Bird E-Scooter that are right out front sitting in the plaza.
Ride share companies like Uber and Lyft are in Gilroy now. Encouraging residents to get out of their cars and use these transportation options is being encouraged from the World down to our City. Your Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission works hard to advocate and make these options possible. 8955 Monterey Rd like other recent larger apartment complexes feature bike storage rooms inside the complex that can safely secure 80 bikes. The public plaza that will be built in front of the complex will cater to those that walk and bike. The public plaza will have commercial spaces under the housing suited for small grocery and eateries. Along with public benches and secured front row bicycle parking, there will be a water feature and public art. Initially the developer had no plans for public art at the site but Councilmember Dion Bracco asked the developer to include a public art piece not to exceed $10,000 and the developer agreed. The Gilroy Public Art Committee will approve that public art piece. We are currently reaching out to car share companies like GIG car share to come to Gilroy. When you build developments like this one you need to provide many options to residents in order make them transit oriented and have alternative modes of transportation at their fingertips.
The weather is nice for a 30-minute walk to Promised Land Brewery located in Downtown Gilroy. This newest brewery located between 5thand 6thSt features a taproom where the beer is piped fresh from the kettles in the back. Brewery owner Eric Ingram owns many successful BBQ restaurants and this will be his first brewery. You continue the adventure by taking an Uber six blocks down the road to the new CineLux theatre that will be coming this Spring located at the old Platinum movie theatre. There you can grab a bite to eat at the café and sip on some local beer/wine from South County.
One way cities successfully increase turnover in their Downtowns is with parking meters and enforcing a time limit. Paying for front row parking at a premium will encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation. Uber/Lyft, e-bike share, e-scooter share, transit, walking, and biking all bring a visionary and technology based future to parking in the City and Downtown. If the City were to change to a metered system where you paid to park, the City could collect funds and help offset the cost of sidewalk cleaning in the downtown and enforcement staff. Tourists would pay for prime spots and locals would know where they could park and walk for free. This will reduce parking in prime spots by downtown residents, employees, business and building owners. All while keeping a constant turnover, which is what restaurants want.
The Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission is going to be making many recommendations for changes to the parking policy and parking code once the General Plan is finished. We need to include more healthy language and establish parking maximums rather than minimums. Currently and in the future not everyone will own a personal vehicle. Santa Clara County Healthy Cities Initiative is looking for these changes from Gilroy, as other cities have already made the shift.
The Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission is going to be making many recommendations for changes to the parking policy and parking code once the General Plan is finished. We need to include more healthy language and establish parking maximums rather than minimums. Currently and in the future not everyone will own a personal vehicle. Santa Clara County Healthy Cities Initiative is looking for these changes from Gilroy, as other cities have already made the shift.
The League of American Bicyclists recognized the City of Gilroy with a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) award. We join the ranks of only 65 communities in the State of California that have achieved an award level. Gilroy is the 8th city out of 15 to have this designation in Santa Clara County. Look for a public ceremony coming up this May during bike month and some signs near the gateways into the City promoting this award. Follow us at #GilroyBPAC