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Friday, May 10, 2019
gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 152, No. 19 • $1
Trump tweets, feds stonewall fast train NO RESPONSE FROM FEDS FOR TWO MONTHS Jaqueline McCool Reporter
The $79 billion HighSpeed Rail that promises to connect Northern and Southern California could be stalled in its tracks by a new obstacle: the Trump administration.
The Federal Rail Administration (FRA) has refused to meet with the California High-Speed Rail Authority following a series of tweets from President Donald Trump in which he threatened to pull federal funding for the project, according to a High-Speed Rail 2019 project update report May 1. “On Feb. 19, 2019, the
FRA administrator notified the Authority of the FRA’s intent to rescind the $929 million in federal FY10 grant funds,” said the update. “The FRA also indicated that it was evaluating taking back the $2.5 billion in ARRA funds that were awarded to the Authority and which has been fully expended in compliance
with federal requirements and deadlines.” The FRA did not comment on the pulled funding, but a source in the administration told this newspaper that the FRA is still reviewing the HighSpeed Rail Authority’s response to the notice of pulled funding. High-speed rail in California has been the
subject of controversy for more than a decade, but as the project progresses, the High-Speed Rail Authority has continued to modify plans and attempt to appease critics. The train would run through Santa Clara County, which already has local officials talking about massive downtown revitalization from a new
High-Speed Rail station in Gilroy which would promise a 25-minute commute to Silicon Valley. Morgan Hill has had a tumultuous relationship with the rail authority, having lobbied for years—with no discernible result yet—to keep the train route out of the city’s downtown and avoid ➝Speed Rail, 12
Teens give youngsters inspiration STEAM4STUDENTS ARE LOOKING FOR STUDENT VOLUNTEER MENTORS Scott Forstner Reporter
Photos by Special to the Dispatch
STEAM ENGINEERS Students at Luigi Aprea Elementary School enjoy working on their projects after
A self-motivated group of local high school students, calling themselves STEAM4Students, has been teaching after-school lessons for the last three years at various Gilroy elementary schools in a joint effort to improve early childhood development. Co-director Michal Stolarski said the student-created and -run organization is “dedicated to helping kids around Gilroy receive a better education.” Stolarski is a student at Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy who joined the organization last year. With currently about a dozen members, the group—founded in 2016 by ➝ Steam4Students, 9
a lesson given to them during the STEAM4Students afterschool program.
City settles lawsuit and pays $25k EX-DISPATCHER ALLOWED TO RESIGN POST Michael Moore Reporter
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The City of Gilroy announced May 7 that it has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in 2017 by a former employee of the city’s police department. Both the plaintiff and defendants hailed the settlement as a success. The settlement includes a full dismissal of the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Patricia Harrell, in exchange for a $25,000
payment to the trust account of the Costanzo Law Firm, according to the city’s press release. Harrell hired the Costanzo firm to file the lawsuit and represent her throughout the legal proceedings. Furthermore, the city agreed to allow Harrell to change her employment status to “resignation” instead of “termination,” according to the city. Harrell was fired as a public safety dispatcher for the City of Gilroy in March 2016, according to court documents. She filed a lawsuit against the city, police department and numerous former and current
city employees—as well as her union, AFSCME—in November 2017. Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said of the settlement, “The Gilroy Police Department is an outstanding organization that I am proud to lead. We hold ourselves to very high standards and did so in the case of Ms. Harrell’s termination. I am pleased to put this behind us so we can focus solely on service to the community.” Harrell’s attorney, Andrea Justo, said her client is pleased with the settlement outcome. “Ms. Harrell is finally able to have some closure
and move on with her life,” Justo said in a statement. “She has suffered greatly, not only from personal attacks during her employment but after this lawsuit was filed. As part of the settlement, the city has agreed to accept our client’s resignation in lieu of the proverbial scarlet designation of having been terminated.” While Harrell’s initial lawsuit contained many lurid claims of a culture of sexual activity and harassment within the police department, she amended her complaint multiple times as the defendants’ attorneys moved
to dismiss many of her claims in federal court. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Northern District of California. The city’s May 7 press release struck a victorious tone describing the diminishing list of complaints and defendants named in Harrell’s initial lawsuit: “Through a series of motions filed by the city and also AFSCME, the city prevailed in significantly narrowing the scope of Ms. Harrell’s case.” As of this week, Harrell’s complaint included a total of six causes of action, and ➝ Lawsuit, 2