Town Council

They Did It!!!

Anita Christy

This is the story of how a small, determined group of worried mothers and fathers stopped a train wreck, even after that train was barreling down the tracks.  It took these parents, neighbors, and their friends less than a month to stop a project they were told by Gilbert Town bureaucrats could not be stopped and that had been in planning and development for a year.  The developer and land owner of the project ignored them….at first.  The group started organizing in late March.  That’s when the Town had posted signs in their neighborhood on the site of a mental health facility to be completed in the Fall of 2014.  

That was the first that Pioneer Elementary parents knew what was in store for them.  In record speed, they launched one of the best organized, best mobilized grassroots community action efforts experienced by Gilbert since the effort to stop Prop 406 (sales tax increase).  

What turned a contented neighborhood into a battling army? 

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Who’s Being Naughty?

Anita Christy

This sticky-fingered little miscreant was observed with these signs in his hands around 6 pm on Tuesday, 1/18/2011. Does anybody know who this is? Hmmmmmm? It looks like he’s removing two signs from in front of the Town Council Building at 50 E. Civic Center Dr.  Who put him up to this? I wonder if he has a collection of “No On Prop 406” signs in his garage? Remember how those disappeared? The ones handmade by Gilbert’s children?

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Bible Study Ban Followup

Anita Christy

The Gilbert Town Council held a Special Meeting Monday night (3/22/2010) to discuss the now infamous Land Development Code (LDC) and the need to revise a couple of land use provisions. This meeting took place because of a series of events that led to a major media dust-up that put Gilbert in a most troubling national spotlight. Gilbert, the “forward looking, family oriented community with a small town atmosphere,” had become “the City that forbids bible studies in homes.” This is not the reputation that Mayor John Lewis and the Council Members had in mind for the Town.

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Please Reelect Jared Taylor for Gilbert Town Council

Anita Christy

(Gilbert Watch welcomes this guest letter by Jared Taylor, who is currently serving as the Vice Mayor in Gilbert. He has lived in Gilbert since 1996 with his wife and three daughters.)

Over the last few years, Gilbert has been showered in recognitions. I’m running for re-election to build on our strengths, address our challenges, and keep Gilbert the best place to grow a family and build a business.

Here are a few of the recognitions our wonderful residents and Town have earned: 22nd Best Place to Live (Money Magazine, 2014); 2nd Safest City in the US (Law Street Media, 2016); Best City for Raising a Family (Move.org, 2016); 7th Happiest City in America (Zippia, 2016), and Top 5 Safest Cities to Build Your Startup (Tech.Co, 2016).

We couldn’t live in a better place at a better time. Who would have thought that Gilbert would have grown from “The Hay Capitol of the World” to one of the most successful cities or towns in the US?

My appreciation goes to the many wonderful residents and Town leaders who have made Gilbert so great.  

While we have had tremendous success, we continue to need strong leadership to address the challenges we face.

Over the last few decades, a large part of Gilbert’s budget has come from construction sales taxes.

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