Local News
(Above) Point
Pinos Lighthouse 2001
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January 2001-July 2003
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board and ask a question or read those
already posted. It's a lot of fun. It's right
here as
of Sept. 2002 . For the story on the P.G. sewer situation,
from 1890's to 2000 refer to:
Welcome to Sewageville
Read today's
Monterey County Herald newspaper
online, free.
P.G. 2002/2003 Events Calendar
P.G. Census Info:
2000 P.G. Census Population & Race
1997 P.G. Economic Census
1990
P.G. Population Census
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at: http://www.morriefisher.com/forums/
July 13. Rents in P.G. are getting
more reasonable. We used to carry a list of apartment & housing
managers on this site, but we don't do that anymore because they got too
many calls. As of July, 2003, here are some real examples:
On 16th street, one half block to Lover's Point, a cute cottage
(A real hot surfers spot): $875 1bed 1bath
On Cedar, which is 3 blocks to Lover's Point, 1 bedroom, 1 bath. washer,
dry, water garbage paid: $850
On Lighthouse, near top of a mountain, huge bay views, very clean, a slightly
older modern apt: 2 bedrooms $900.00
June 30th. Joints (Shoulders, fingers, knees) getting to you? You
might have Chilblains (perniosis). It is a reaction
to cold, nonfreezing temperatures. It is seen most often in young people
who have Raynaud's syndrome and people who are exposed to damp, cold weather. www.webmd.com
June 29th. The
P.G. Feast of Lanterns is coming in July. Here are some quotes of a chinese
woman's view of it:
The mayor of Pacific Grove, dressed in a blue silk bathrobe (why do
people always wear bathrobes when they want to look "Oriental"?) introduced
the play, the centerpiece of the festival, the Legend of Blue Willow.
In the middle of the play, my friend Kazuko suddenly noticed the music
and laughed, "That’s Japanese Obon music. What is it doing in the middle
of this Chinese play?" The next thing we knew, there was a white woman in
a kimono (complete with fake Japanese hair) serving tea. In the ocean close
to the stage, a fire-breathing (thereby European) dragon swam by.
But this was done straight. It was all made up, they knew it was all made
up, their costumes were totally made up, and many details were culturally
and historically impossible. If this took place a long time ago, far away
in small town America, I could understand; but in this day and age, only
two hours from San Francisco, there is no excuse for being so clueless, so
tacky, so offensive. It was as if the whole city was celebrating 200 years
of western stereotypes and misconceptions about "The Orient."
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/asian/article_detail.asp?Article_ID=6273
June 12th. We are working on a second website which is going to have our
forum & large photograph libraries, hopefully & it should be up
as soon as the transfer is complete. PG does NOT have a firework display
on the 4th (P.G. has a rather skimpy, but okay display during the Feast
of Lanterns, last saturday of July). P.G. has a 4th of July celebration
at Caledonia Park right in back of the PGPO starting at 11am-2pm &
a BBQ ($5) at eleven thirty.
Monterey does have a 4th of July display.
This is their city memo (BTW, they set it off just off wharf #2 on
a barge not wharf #1, there are also lots of illegal fireworks set off
on the beach in Monterey, don't try this on any beach in PG!)
9:15 p.m.
- Fireworks
Display over Monterey Bay. Please be patient: Arrive by 5 p.m.
and be prepared to stay an hour AFTER the fireworks as traffic
will be EXTREMELY CONGESTED. Please follow the signs and obey all personnel
on site. It will take time get home.
June 8th. P.G. keeps City forester at half time
at about $35,000 per year. P.G. Gazette newspaper gives up. Love this gem,
Chamber says P.G. economy not so hot (duh):
"...especially with the economy not so
good."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/6042192.htm
June 6th. Lover's Point is closed this thursday
to next monday due to a sewer spill. They seem to ignore the fact that
there is a continous spill flowing into Lover's Point 24 hours a day from
the gutter pipe. I tested the gutter pipe water & it's full of poop,
however, it would take a complicated test to determine whether that
is from humans or animals.
In the meantime, the Recreational Trail needs $500k. :
"Pacific Grove will get some help fixing
its storm-damaged Rec Trail with a challenge grant from the Monterey Peninsula
Regional Park District.
The park district's board of directors has committed up to $50,000
to match community contributions, including other grants. Pacific Grove's
Rec Trail is part of the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail, which the park district
conceived of in the 1970s and built in cooperation with the cities it crosses.
While the cities are responsible for maintenance of their portions, costly
structural damage to the trail in Pacific Grove warrants park district
help, district General Manager Joe Donofrio said.
Pacific Grove officials have estimated that fixing erosion damage
from storms last winter are likely to cost more than $500,000. The city
has earmarked $100,000 toward fixing the trail in its draft 2003-04 budget,
and is seeking grants from various sources."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/6028486.htm
May 29th. Another sweet deal gets made:
They just got a 5 year lease renewal this year from P.G. City, but they
also own (according to their website) a 5000 sq.ft. Monterey beach front
house, a 5,500 sq.ft. Pacific Grove beach house & an approx. 2 acre
parking lot between Wharf #1 & #2 in Monterey. Yet, their rent of prime
Pacific Grove city beach property was raised to just 12.5% this year (From
10%) & is based only on a percentage of their kayak, bike & Etc.
rentals. Therefore, they don't have to be open when
they don't want to be! So, the city probably receives no payment
for the property because they appeared to not be open any or all of Oct,
Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb & March! That is free rent & free storage for
6 months of the year from the P.G. taxpayer! Also overlooked, with addional
locations, they probably meet the requirement of a 'chain store', which
aren't allowed in P.G.: Three or four locations
with the same menu....
P.G. tree guy gets ax. Seven
others laid off & city employees to take a 3.5% pay cut.
"The City Council took the action during a budget session Wednesday.
Several council members expressed displeasure at wielding the ax but
agreed it was necessary.
"I'd like to keep everyone," council member James Costello said.
"I really hate to lose a single person but I don't see another way."
Other layoffs approved by the council are for a deputy city clerk,
street sweeper, two maintenance workers, fire clerk dispatcher, city electrician
and library shelver. In addition, 10 positions now vacant won't be filled
under the draft city budget. The council will discuss the draft budget
again Wednesday and is set to approve the document June 18."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5967397.htm
May 24th. Happy Memorial
Day Weekend 2003. Tourism is down quite a bit this year & it's
foggy & wet today. More stories on yet another corruption scandal
in P.G.:
A summary of this scandal from our lovely paper, the Coast
Weekly:
"Well, there's Morrie Fisher, the mayor who's rumored
to have plotted to overthrow outgoing police chief Scott Miller in favor
of promoting one of his buddies in the department. There's councilmember
Susan Goldbeck, who has threatened the city with a lawsuit, unless City
Manager Ross Hubbard turns over employee records. Goldbeck, who's been
met with just a bit of resistance, (think Squid asking a shark for a bite
of calamari) says that the Brown Act (which says that public agencies in
California make decisions in front of the public) "is a joke in PG." There's
charges by Goldbeck that most of the council members and do major squid-pro-quo,
um, that's quid-pro-quo for the city employees.
Goldbeck also says Hubbard plays 18-holes of golf on the days there
are city council meetings..."
Early retirement given as reason
"The police chief is out in Pacific Grove, and the gloves are
off for everybody else.
Long-embattled Chief Scott Miller would say Friday only that he
is taking early retirement, effective at the end of the day. City Manager
Ross Hubbard and Mayor Morrie Fisher characterized Miller's departure
as no more than that, and wouldn't make any additional comment.
Others had a lot more to say. Miller's enemies were celebrating
and his friends were accusing the mayor of forcing out his longtime nemesis
so his friends within the Police Department can move up."
"Asked for a comment on the verdict, Miller issued a statement
that said, "This verdict strikes a blow to cronyism." The comment was
rumored to have angered Fisher."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5884218.htm
Councilwoman, residents suspect Miller was forced out
"Pacific Grove Police Chief Scott Miller, whose retirement announcement
last week has some in town suspecting he was forced out, has hired an
attorney to sort out his status with the city.
Monterey lawyer Michael Stamp said Tuesday that he's having "ongoing
discussions with the city... about what happened and where we go from
here." However, "there has been no decision of filing a lawsuit at this
time," he said."
"Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck, who believes Fisher and other City
Council members pressured City Manager Ross Hubbard to fire Miller or
force him to resign, said she'll raise questions about the matter at
tonight's City Council meeting. The council meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall,
300 Forest Ave.
Goldbeck said that Councilman John Stidham recently told her that
he and other council members had decided to fire Hubbard."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5910602.htm
May 18th. PG Chief of Police quits!!! (About
time). Pagrovian restaurant also calls it quits (Update: Reopened under
new management).
"The police chief is out in
Pacific Grove, and the gloves are off for everybody else.
Long-embattled Chief Scott Miller would say Friday only that he
is taking early retirement, effective at the end of the day. City Manager
Ross Hubbard and Mayor Morrie Fisher characterized Miller's departure
as no more than that, and wouldn't make any additional comment.
Others had a lot more to say. Miller's enemies were celebrating
and his friends were accusing the mayor of forcing out his longtime
nemesis so his friends within the Police Department can move up.
"This just stinks because a good man is being offered up on the
altar of political cronyism led by Mayor Morrie Fisher," City Councilwoman
Susan Goldbeck said Friday. "It's a fact.""
O'Connell said Friday that Miller had inherited minor morale problems
when he was named chief and that he had turned them into major problems.
"I'm shocked" over the chief's retirement, O'Connell said. "And
happy."
Miller routinely violated employees' rights in dealing with grievances,
O'Connell said."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5884218.htm
City seeks volunteer applicants for special-events committee
The city of Pacific Grove is seeking volunteers to serve on
the newly created special events committee. The committee will develop
a process for permitting special events, review applications for events,
and assist event sponsors.
The committee will consist of seven members: two business owners
in the downtown business district; two residents, at least one who lives
along the ocean front and one who lives in an area where special events
are held; two members of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors;
and one resident who does not fall into any of the categories above.
Application forms are available at City Hall, 300 Forest Ave.
The deadline is 4:45 p.m. May 30. For more information contact the recreation
director at 648-5730.
May 15th. PG to get new budget. $1.4
million shortfall predicted.
"Pacific Grove will indeed face layoffs,
pay cuts and reduced services to balance its budget.
Unforeseen spikes in retirement and workers compensation costs
are the main culprits, City Manager Ross Hubbard told the City Council
on Wednesday. All city employees are being asked to accept pay cuts of
3.5 percent for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which beings July 1, Hubbard
said.
Staff cuts called for in the draft budget presented to the council
would mean reducing hours at the city library and youth center and creating
added burdens for other city employees. Positions to be eliminated if
the draft budget is approved as is next month include the city forester,
a deputy city clerk and a street sweeper.
In addition, several positions that have become vacant in the
past year will not be filled, Hubbard said. Since 1999 the city has
gone from 140 to 117 employees, he said."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5866674.htm
----------
PG School Budget News:
"In January, he threatened to slash Pacific Grove's $17 million
budget by almost 20 percent and Carmel's $27 million budget by twice
that.
As furious parents lobbied Sacramento, the school boards prepared
to cut programs. Carmel sent out layoff warnings to half its teaching
staff. Pacific Grove considered closing an elementary or middle school.
But Wednesday brought great news for those schools. Carmel would
have to cut only up to $1 million, or 3.5 percent of its budget, and
Pacific Grove about $1 million, or 6 percent. "
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5866678.htm
May 12th. Price of gas in PG: $1.70's next to PGPO.
Two Hazards to Children in PG?
1) Why was pressure treated wood used in
the newer playground addition at Caledonia park?
(Chromated Copper Arsenate seen in green hue in wood,
above)
Chromated copper arsenate (CCA) is the most widely used
wood preservative in the United States. Containing
chromium, copper, and arsenic.
Hazards of Treated Wood in Playground Equipment
By: A Statement from Chairman Hal Stratton
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
"I am announcing that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) today scheduled a Commission Briefing for March
12, 2003 to consider the petition to ban the use of chromated copper
arsenate (CCA) pressure-treated wood in playground equipment.
.....The staff maintains that an individual child's risk from
arsenic in CCA-treated playground equipment will vary depending on
many factors. Those include the amount of arsenic released from the
CCA-treated wood, the amount of arsenic picked up on the hands, the
number of days and years the child plays on the wood, and the amount
of arsenic transferred to the mouth by hand-to-mouth activity. The staff
considered these types of exposures in calculating the increased lifetime
risk of developing lung or bladder cancer.
CPSC staff states this increased risk to children is primarily
due to exposure to arsenic residue on children's hands followed by hand-to-mouth
contact. The report says transfer of the arsenic from the hand to the
mouth can occur during and after playing on pressure-treated wood playground
equipment. " Full story:
http://www.daycare.com/story/arsenic.html
2) The ocean water at Lover's Point in PG which children
are swimming is loaded with e. coli bacteria & several other
kinds of bacteria. I know a child who got a rash the day after
swimming in this water. This occured on two seperate occassions a few
months apart on the same child. The water that comes from the gutter
pipe 24 hours a day 7 days a week unabated into Lover's Point.
Above Photo taken May 15, 2003, of the gutter water
flowing into the bay. It was a nice sunny day.
This water was tested at the Monterey Bay Aquarium & the
results were:
Per 100ml.
Fecal Coliform Count: 8664
Recreational limit for fecal
coliform: 400
Fecal Coliform limit, drinking water: 0
Enterococci bacteria (This is a bacteria
specific to human sewage, but may also come from animals) count: 6867
Limit: 104
Total coliforms: 24,192
Total coliforms Limit: 10,000
My suggestion is to NOT allow children
to swim in this water until the gutter water is sent to the water treatment
plant. This project is in the works. Also, the beach should
be posted with signs saying to keep children out of the water or to
avoid contact with it. Where are our elected representatives when
you need them?
April 24th. Gas prices are down to around $2.09
for regular near PG PO. Lugo's is about to close. The old Designer
Loft store at Forest & Lighthouse is now a french antique store.
Capsicum has closed. Holman's plans a 600 room hotel, big parking
lot, condos, retail space but has asked the city to pay $20k for a study.
The message board/local news board, when its working is:
http://www.pacificgrove.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
April 10th: Good Old Days, the weekend ofApril 12 is going
to be smaller this year & rained out! Fewer vendors are coming &
a massive storm is also due on Saturday & Sunday.....Also, cities
are keeping their police forces local, so expect a much smaller police
motorcycle competition. We expect about 20-30,000 people, but we have
only 6 cleaning people to clean (This is the chamber of noncommerce's
idea of cleaning), except on Sunday after the event. Keep PG clean.
Local News is now at the Message Board, unless
there is some real special news that belongs on the Local News page,
the message board is located at: http://www.pacificgrove.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
Some news stories on the message board:
->600 Unit "Ghost of a" Hotel planned, no mention of
the sewer impact.
->State of California/FCC start a free DO NOT CALL LIST
to keep telemarkers from calling you. Register now at:
nocall.doj.state.ca.us.com
->Gas price lists for PG.
->State of PG economy
Jan. 29th. More news on the message
board: P.G.
Sex Offenders up 56% from 2001 Get sneaky
& get in free to the AT&T
Pebble Beach National Pro-Am 2003 Fish
Jail cuts 16 jobs Davis
cuts PG School Budgets....
January 4th. News this week: A
15 year old girl was raped in P.G. The
Number of Monarch's in PG has shrunk quite a bit
A Murderer Confesses
& Monterey
Airport starts new security measures.
December 17th. Need storm info? We got it, see
some pictures of PG & the surf as the storms came in this week
on the message board.
Topic
1
(Below: Lighthouse & Congress in front of PG
PO)
December 7th.
In an attempt to prove to the City Of PG & Monterey
County that PG is polluting the ocean water continuously, I took
a sample of the water that comes from the gutter pipe at the bottom
of Forest Ave in PG to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Reseach lab. We used
a 24 hour test. The water is fresh & not diluted by ocean
water & not affected by sunshine or other environmental factors.
The observed & tested flow rate was about 5 gallons per minute
(About 2,628,000
gallons per year! (Does not include storm water).
This water is NOT safe!
Gutter Pipe from which sample was taken
at 9:30am Dec. 2nd 2002 (Above)
|
Per 100ml.
Fecal Coliform
Count:
8664
Recreational limit for fecal
coliform: 400
Fecal Coliform limit, drinking water: 0
Enterococci bacteria (This
is a bacteria specific to human sewage, but may also come from
animals) count: 6867
Limit: 104
Total coliforms:
24,192
Total coliforms Limit: 10,000
|
I also tested the ocean water below it after
it mixes with this water. The results are:
From the seawater sample: Total coliforms:
187; Fecal coliforms: 20; Enterococci: 31
October PG Real Estate prices are down 11% from
October 2001. A typical 4 bedroom house can be found around
$520,000. At the rate the prices are dropping it's only a matter
of months before they are near what the prices are in Seaside, which
has yearly rising real estate prices.
Nov. 5th election results (Almost done):
http://www.mocovote.org/nov2002.htm
PACIFIC GROVE MAYOR
MORRIS G. FISHER
2898
ROGER PASQUIER
2654
PACIFIC GROVE COUNCIL 4 YEARS
(No. to vote for 3)
* John
Stidham .......... 1725 votes 18.4%
* Ron Schenk .......... 1430 votes
15.3%
* Lee Yarborough .......... 1382
votes 14.7%
* Susan M. Goldbeck .......... 1380
votes 14.7%
* Bruce J. Obbink .......... 1237
votes 13.2%
* Robert Pacelli .......... 1102
votes 11.8%
* Jennifer McKnight .......... 1082
votes 11.5%
PACIFIC GROVE COUNCIL 2 YEAR
DAN MILLER
1568
48.1
SUE RENZ
1688
51.8
PACIFIC GROVE MEASURE P
UTILITY USERS TAX YES
1268 36.0
REPEAL MEASURE P NO
2250 63.9
PACIFIC GROVE
VOTER REGISTRATION
9338
TURNOUT
3690 Percent: 39.5
Oct. 31st.
Update: Pat H & her
sister personally wrote a $5000 check to the city of PG to turn
on our holiday lights!!!!
Way cool people!
"Holiday season may be dark
By DENNIS MORAN
dmoran@montereyherald.com
Several downtown Pacific Grove merchants are
calling City Manager Ross Hubbard the Grinch who stole the Christmas
lights.
About a dozen merchants converged on City Hall
Wednesday to protest Hubbard's decision to delay the downtown
Christmas lighting until after Tuesday's elections. Hubbard said
the lights will remain off for good if city voters pass Measure
P, a proposal to reduce the city's utility tax.
Also on Wednesday, Patricia Herrgott, treasurer
of a political committee campaigning for passage of Measure
P, filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission,
alleging violations by a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored committee
working for the defeat of Measure P.
Herrgott said the committee was tardy in filing
campaign-finance disclosure documents required after it received
a donation of $4,000 from the Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 28."
Full
Story
October 6th. The P.G. Butterfly Parade
was yesterday. We are talking about it on the message board.
We put up some PHOTOS
for your pleasure. This is my favorite group of kids:
Also newsworthy. The City of P.G. has decided
to install a gizmo soon that would redirect the gutter water
at the base of Forest Ave. into the sewer line. The idea is to have
the sewer spill water sent to the water treatment plant instead of
to the ocean. This is only for the summertime & only for the bottom
of Forest Ave. Cost is estimated at $500k. This sounds clever
but why don't they do it all year round? Fall/Winter/Spring is
when there are the most people in the ocean (Bay) water at the bottom
of Forest Ave. Also, something needs to be done about the gutter water that
is running into the bay soon. Gutter water, aka 'urban runoff or non-point
source water', is known to be just as dangerous as sewage water, aka
'affluent effluent'.
(Above) Main drain pipe, which flows into the
bay 24 hours a day 7 days a week, at the bottom of Forest Ave.
September 14th. Pacific
Grove Triathlon 2002 Photos The
Triathlon completed. There was a 750 gallon sewer spill directly
into the swim area of the triathlon about 40 hours before it started.
The water was tested before the race & the coliform counts were
extrememly UNSAFE for drinking water, but within limits for oceans:
"County officials tested for three different
types of bacteria, looking for the number of organisms found
in 100 milliliters of water. LeWarne said they found 61 E.coli
bacteria in the sample, below the state-allowed number of 400. For
total coliforms, they found 156, far below the standard of 10,000.
LeWarne said the sample found less than 10 enterococcus bacteria,
below the guideline of 104."
However, the US Environmental Protection
Agency has set the health goal for total coliforms at zero. Since
there have been waterborne disease outbreaks in which researchers
have found very low levels of coliforms, any level indicates some
health risk." http://www.epa.gov/safewater/source/therule.html#Total
Or Fecal coliform and E. coli are
bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated
with human or animal wastes. Disease-causing microbes (pathogens)
in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches,
or other symptoms. These pathogens may pose a special health risk for
infants, young children, and people with severely compromised immune
systems.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/mcl.html#4
Our Band aid approach:
"Pacific Grove City Manager Ross Hubbard
said the city is working with a $500,000 state grant to install
a pumping system that could divert future sewage spills away from
Lovers Point storm drains and back into the sewer system. That system,
he said, should be in place by next summer."
September 10th. Real Estate in PG. We are
discussing it on the message board sometimes.
September 5th. Read about the latest news on
the cutting of the thicket in PG on the message board.
Quotes:
"Neighbors protest removal of cemetery's
thicket.
The removal of a dense thicket of brush that
served as a home and birthing area for deer and foxes has angered
some neighbors.
"Added city resident Terence Zito,
"This really hits home because this is what Pacific Grove is
- people who care about the environment."
August 25th. P.G.
Triathlon is coming up Sept. 13
& 14, 2002.
They say:
"Learn how to make
the Monterey Bay Kelp your best friend and how to swim the kelp
crawl."
We say:
"Learn how to make the Monterey Bay
poop your best friend and how to swim the poop crawl."
(A few althetes have verified seeing poop in
the water at the point during triathlons, try using a broad
spectrum antibiotic if you find it necessary later. I have used
them for post ocean swimming infections.)
2001 P.G. Triathlon,
Pooped Out?
"It's not easy to swim against the advice
of the
county Health Department. Health
officials have posted a warning
flyer at the beach entrance, saying
Wednesday's bacteria
measurements ? of entero and fecal
coliform ? were four to
eight times their maximum allowable
levels.
"If it were up to me, I'd rather
not go," said 34-year-old Salinas
triathlete Christina Brigantino.
She and her fellow toughies are
gearing up for the Sept. 15 Seagate
Triathlon at Pacific Grove. A
bacteria advisory is the last thing
she needs: "I don't want to get
diarrhea 10 days before the race."
"It's strange," said Butch Johnson
of Pacific Grove. "Every year I
compete in the Pacific Grove triathlon,
I suffer from dizziness or
light-headedness ? something that
doesn't happen after the other
local triathlons. I don't know if
it's just psychological, or if there's
something in the water."
Scuba diver Aaron Murphy of Adventures-by-the-Sea
at Lovers
Point says he gets ear and eye infections
that occur nowhere else
but in those waters.
No way, said Kathy Barrett of Monterey.
The 37-year-old
veteran of eight triathlons ? two
in Pacific Grove ? has gotten
sick twice after swimming in sections
of Monterey Bay that
received advisories.
"I ended up puking my guts out,"
she said."
Full Story:
MPH :2001/09/07
August 7th. Get married in PG on the beach
for only $350, includes flowers. $150 for Ceremony, $100 for
license. Bride and groom flower special, $100:
http://www.baysidewedding.com/
Suspect Arrested (MPH 08-07-02):
A 20-year-old Salinas man has been arrested
for last week's killing of a Seaside man near Cannery Row.
Police say Anthony Joel Estrada was the triggerman in a botched
carjacking that resulted in the shooting death of Ignacio Sanchez.
Pacific Grove police said Estrada was
arrested early Monday at an apartment at 44 Natividad Road in
Salinas with help from the Salinas Police Department's Violence
Suppression Unit. His two accomplices apparently were still being
sought Tuesday.
Pacific Grove Cpl. Darrin Smolinski
said Estrada is a gang member with a lengthy record of violent
crime and was linked to the shooting through evidence found at
the scene of the attempted carjacking. He would not elaborate,
but the department said in a news release, "Investigators are certain
that the male in custody is responsible for the shooting death of
Mr. Sanchez."
August 4th. Post Shark Viewing in
PG Fatal For Seaside Man
"A Seaside man was killed late Thursday
night near Cannery Row in what police say may have been an attempted
robbery or carjacking carried out by two men and a woman who remained
at large Friday.
Killed was 27-year-old Ignacio
Sanchez, a car wash employee who is survived by a wife and young
daughter.
"We know there was a heated
verbal exchange, but it's not clear if it was a carjacking, a
robbery attempt or something else," said Pacific Grove police Cpl.
Darrin Smolinski. "We are looking at all possible motives."
Just before midnight, Sanchez
and a 19-year-old woman were sitting in Sanchez's black Honda
Civic at a stop sign at Eardley Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard
in Pacific Griove. They had just returned to the car after viewing
the Monterey Bay Aquarium's's shark holding tanks, said Pacific Grove
police Cpl. Darrin Smolinski. Police would not identify the young woman."
"After the gunfire, the
two assailants ran from the scene near the American Tin Cannery
Outlet stores."
Full Story:http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/3790254
(Note: The MBA does not have a
'shark holding tank' nor
is it open to the public after 6pm )
Write the PG City Manager
& engcourage him to install lighting
on the PG Recreational
Trail (Just cut & Paste):
"Ross G. Hubbard" <manager@ci.pacific-grove.ca.us>
August 1st.
"Posted
on Wed, Jul. 31, 2002 MPH"
Pacific Grove booby-trapper
known for late-night remodeling
The Pacific Grove man arrested
for booby-trapping his walkway and building a small home arsenal
was a recluse known to his neighbors mostly for working on his
aging apartment house at odd hours of the night.
People who live around 44-year-old
Kevin Jeffrey Smythe say they rarely saw him but heard his hammering,
sawing and an occasional alarm. He lived in one of the four
apartments he was renovating for his parents at 306 18th St.,
and whose entrances he had barricaded with wrought-iron gates and
No Trespassing signs.
Authorities say he also
booby-trapped the walkway leading to his own apartment: a
spring that would fire a shotgun blank when anyone hit a trip
wire."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/3774932.htm
July 28th. The Message Board
has some commentary on yesterday's P.G. Feast (Festival)
of Lanterns
celebration.
July12th. The site is still having a little
remodeling, but its coming along alright. The Message Board
is operating & open to the public for posting.
You must register first. What was PG like two years ago
at this time? Pacific
Grove Beacon July 14th 2000 (Corrected link)
June 23rd. This website is going to be undergoing
a change around July 4th. It should be offline for
a few days or maybe longer. We want to put it on
another server & we are dropping our sponsor. What we are
looking for is possibly less commercialization & lean more to
cultural & historial aspects. This site brings a lot of business
to PG & we sell about $2M in real estate per year, but the tide
of change is upon us. Here is the City Budget
for 2002-2003 , the $44,300 left doesn't include paying the
$600,000 settlement for a certain Tony, a possible dropping of $400,000
in utility taxes & the drop in what the state may pay us. The
Budget was not approved this week. I thought that Fisher should have
come to the meeting because if he becomes mayor this is the budget that
he would have to use but he was absent. Tsk. Try reading up on him at
PG Library in the old newspaper archives so you can see what he did or
didn't do as a mayor before. They are on microfilm & very easy to
get & search for.
There didn't seem to be any funds allocated to make
the Chamber of Uncommerce building accessible, which
is a shame since the Monarch Days promotion requires
people to come to that office to apply for the promo.
This is, of course, illegal & I would be happy
to see someone sue them to get it accessible as it's been at
least 6 years so far since I asked that it be done.
June 10th.
Six years of Deficit Spending leaves only $44,000 in General
Fund
(Guess who was Mayor for those 6 years?)
May 29th. The famous carousel at Cannery Row was
auctioned off: "The 87-year-old
wooden carousel that had spun in Cannery Row's Edgewater Packing House
for more than 20 years has found its new home in the family room of a
Las Vegas millionaire. (MPH)."
More violence? "City
detective Chris Hunkel is investigating an incident concerning
Community Development Director Dennis Boehlje and resident Jennifer
McKnight, which allegedly took place at a meeting of the Architectural
Review Board. The board was reviewing plans for the expansion of the
Forest Hill Manor senior citizens' home. Someone in the audience loudly
protested, at which point, McKnight says, Boehlje approached her at
her seat.
"He came down from the podium and shook me
and yelled at me," says McKnight. "I have bruises on my arm."
(Coastweekly.com)
"A six-month-old program aimed at easing tensions
between renters and landlords on the Monterey Peninsula is catching
on slowly.
Officials say the voluntary rent guidelines
adopted by Monterey Peninsula cities last year have helped some
renters iron out problems with their landlords, but relatively few
have taken advantage of one of the guideline's main missions: mediation.""At
this point, I don't see it as a step in the right direction," he said.
"It was an attempt to placate people, and the attempt to placate has
failed because people are still incensed at their landlords." (MPH)
"The former owner of dune property between
Asilomar State Beach and Point Pinos has agreed to a $25,000 penalty
for illegally grading the property and failing to comply with a coastal
permit.
Texas businessman Stephen J.L. Page had hoped to
build a 3,680-square-foot house but sold the land after unsuccessfully
fighting regulators in the courts. The state Coastal Commission
had issued a cease-and-desist order against Page in December 1997
while he was driving a bulldozer across the property, scooping out
sand." (MPH)
"Jewell Ave. senior housing plan "still has a
pulse"
There is still hope for the senior housing project
proposed for Jewell Avenue in Pacific Grove.
State Coastal Commissioner David Potter said today
that he is optimistic that the facility for low-income seniors
can move forward despite continuing disagreements over the size.
"It still has a pulse," Potter said after spending
45 minutes at a packed meeting attended by developers, city officials
and opponents." (MPH)
The new $10,000 dollar ($9000 labor, $1000 materials)
Grove market mural pictures:
"The images of pork chops, salmon steaks and red
wine are gone now, but that's all right with Leslie Reed. He is
project director for Pacific Grove's historic mural project, and
the absence of the foodstuffs amounts to a blank canvas.
For five years, a wall of Charlie Higuera's Grove
Market, a popular mom-and-pop store on Forest Avenue, had been
home to a food-themed mural that locals nicknamed "Charlie's Chop."
Last week, that mural was whitewashed out of existence to make way for
a new city-sponsored mural, "The Victorian Picnic," which will be
unveiled in two months.
Reed said he never liked the old mural." (MPH)
May 13th. "Marine scientists are carefully
sampling the waters off Monterey this week for signs that a mysterious
species of plankton could suddenly bloom and begin poisoning marine
mammals, fish, sea birds -- and possibly humans."
"This latest outbreak is not
a so-called red tide invasion, marine scientists said, noting that
it is not red and has nothing to do with tides."
"In humans,
high doses of the toxin can cause permanent memory loss and death,
Cochlan said. In 1987, he added, three people died and 104 others
became ill in Prince Edward Island, Canada, after eating blue mussels
carrying the domoic acid."
Full Story
May 5th. A Pacific Grove Feast (Festival)
of Lanterns website, with complete schedule & photos.
Here is part of another review:
(Full Article)
"Then I
started to notice that all the signs were in that classic "Oriental"
font: "Restrooms," "First Aid," "Tickets $1". I shook my head, but
was not unduly alarmed. I have even seen Asian Americans use that font
before because their computer called it "Oriental font," so it was
possible that it might be innocent.
I saw a number of Caucasian women with chopsticks
in their hair. I rolled my eyes, but stayed calm. I know because
of my work I can be hyper-sensitive, so I try to give people the
benefit of the doubt."
"I looked around and realized that there were no
Chinese community here, no Chinese volunteers, not even very many
Asian attendees?20 at the most out of hundreds of people. The festival
organizers are proud of the fact that the Chinese who used to live
at China Point in the early part of the century used to send lighted
boats to take part in the festival, but I wonder cynically if that
is because they were not allowed into the festival itself."
"The mayor of Pacific Grove, dressed in a blue silk
bathrobe (why do people always wear bathrobes when they want to
look "Oriental"?) introduced the play, the centerpiece of the festival,
the Legend of Blue Willow."
"They were joined by a young boy wearing a bathrobe
and a pointed Vietnamese farmer?s hat, a young man in a psychedelic
paisley bathrobe and a Chinese skull cap with a fake Qin dynasty
queue down the back, and the king who wore a Thai-looking crown
with a fake queue and faded Tibetan-looking robes. All pretty standard
Orientals-are-all-the-same hodge-podge."
"In the middle of the play, my friend Kazuko suddenly
noticed the music and laughed, "That?s Japanese Obon music. What
is it doing in the middle of this Chinese play?" The next thing
we knew, there was a white woman in a kimono (complete with fake
Japanese hair) serving tea. In the ocean close to the stage, a fire-breathing
(thereby European) dragon swam by."
"But this was done straight. It was all made up,
they knew it was all made up, their costumes were totally made up,
and many details were culturally and historically impossible. If
this took place a long time ago, far away in small town America, I
could understand; but in this day and age, only two hours from San
Francisco, there is no excuse for being so clueless, so tacky, so
offensive. It was as if the whole city was celebrating 200 years of
western stereotypes and misconceptions about "The Orient."
April 30th. What's going on with Local
News? Not much. This is a rather dry period of news that's new.
Yes,
we still have sewer spills, yes, the huge mansions
located on Arena, between Arena & Asilomar are still
being built. The Civic Center looks completed,
however, there hasn't been an opening ceremony. It's not like
we wanted it, as a matter of fact, the people gathered
enough signatures to stop it, but a judge overruled that
& it was built with some design changes. Missing
is the original green door under the clock on Laurel. The main
plaza has a storm drain in the middle which drains
into the bay. Should the drain get clogged up, the water is more
than likely to run right into the Civic Center as the front door
is level with the plaza.
Cruise ships are going to dock in the bay soon,
however, they won't be dumping their ballast water or sewerage
into the bay.
March 23rd.
SOMETHING'S ROTTEN IN PG... SANDY KOFFMAN:
starfish hugger or eco-fraud? Sure, Pacific Grove's four-term mayor
has facilitated the Beach Water Quality Forum, and along with husband
DANIEL KOFFMAN developed a sewage spill response card. She's
volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and co-founded the PG
Eco-Corps. And earlier this month, she won the 2002 Sanctuary Award
presented to a public official by the ASSOCIATION OF MONTEREY BAY
AREA GOVERNMENTS (AMBAG). But some PG residents aren't buying into
Koffman's friend-of-the squid facade.
"She's only concerned about appearances," hisses
one angry tipster. "Some of us are amazed that she would receive
this award, when in fact, we've had more sewer spills than any other
city."
So the tipster's right: Pacific Grove does hold
the smelly honor of hosting the most Peninsula sewage spills.
Squid wonders if there's an award for that. Eew, and what would it
look like?
Full Story: www .Coastweekly.com
From MPH Newspaper:
A Pacific Grove crew recently posted signs
that prohibited curbside parking in order to complete a construction
project along city streets.
Cars would be towed away, according to
the signs, if they were parked between 7:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. on
the days of construction.
According to the city, those days would
be Feb. 21-Feb. 31.
It caught the attention of resident Ninivy
Ibrahim.
"Since Pacific Grove did not have the money
to pay overtime, they decided to extend the month of February
to give the contractor more time to finish the job," Ibrahim wrote.
March 10th. History repeating itself? We
have an old issue of the Beacon online. They are worth reading.
They are in Adobe PDF format. Have a look see! Pacific
Grove Beacon July 14th 2000
March 2. 270 Million Dead Butterflies."After
a severe winter storm in mid-January, in the mountains of central
Mexico, dead monarch butterflies lay in piles on the ground,
in some places more than a foot high. Between 220 and 270 million
frozen butterflies had rained down from roosts where they normally
festooned towering trees, researchers estimated.
"It was really macabre," said Dr. Lincoln
P. Brower, a butterfly biologist. "I've been going down there
for 25 years, and I've never seen anything like it."
Most of the monarchs in the two biggest
colonies in Mexico were killed in the storm, in the largest known
die-off ever of these butterflies, according to a report by Dr.
Brower and a team of researchers from Mexico and the United States.
But the loss of life is not expected to threaten the species, they
said." New
York Times Full Story
Star Princess Cruise Line may
deposit sewage in Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary
"News that three massive luxury ocean liners
will be dropping anchor in Monterey Bay in May, September and
October has been embraced as irrefutable good news for the tourist
industry in the local daily newspapers this week.
According to state and federal law,
ships must be only three miles offshore before dumping the sewage
of the thousands of people on board. The hulking Star Princess,
a brand new ship debuting in March, carries 2,000 passengers and
hundreds of crew. The Star Princess is free to dump inside the Sanctuary,
which extends 53 miles west at its farthest point.
Sanctuary Superintendent Bill Douros
says that except for the three-mile rule there are no special
protections against cruise ships dumping sewage."
Full Story
Defendant admits stabbing woman on
the Pacific Grove Recreational Trail in front of the Tinnery,
but says it wasn't planned.
By: vhennessey@montereyherald.com
"Ex-Marine and Defense Language Institute
student Jesse Jay Carson admitted Tuesday that he and a friend
stabbed a young woman on the Pacific Grove Recreation Trail,
but he says the attack was spontaneous, not planned.
Taking the stand in his own defense, Carson,
20, acknowledged he had made previous statements indicating
that he had planned the assault, but he insisted Tuesday that they
were fabrications. He said he had made it up as part of his research
for a novel on serial killings or to try to take the heat away from
his co-defendant, Jason Blad.
"You knew Jason was holding her down?"
"Yes, sir," Carson answered."
"You heard her say, 'Leave me
alone and I'll die?'"
"Yes, sir," Carson whispered.
"And instead of abiding that
simple request, what did you do?"
"At that point, I cut her throat,"
he said."
Wednesday Feb. 27th Full Story
Carson convicted of attempted murder in
Rec Trail assault
By: vhennessey@montereyherald.com
"After little more than two hours
of deliberation on Wednesday, a jury convicted ex-Marine Jesse
Jay Carson of premeditation in the attempted murder of a young
woman who was brutally stabbed and left for dead on the Pacific
Grove Recreation Trail.
Showing little emotion, but shaking
visibly, Carson stood at attention as court clerk Sally Lopez
read the verdict that carries a life sentence with eligibility for
parole in 11 years.
The victim, identified in court only
by her first name of Brooke, was not present for the jury's
decision, but her father jumped slightly when he heard the "guilty"
verdict and then he and his wife broke into tears."
Thursday Feb. 28, 2002 Full Story
February 24th. The new Pacific Grove Civic
Center is due to be completed in March 2002. It was supposed
to be ready in October 2001.
It's also costing us an additional $200,000!
(At this point). This is probably because of the new fancy
LCD computer monitors & networking equipment & such.
A few more stores closed or are closing at
the American Tin Cannery. Hotel tax revenues for Pacific Grove
are down a few percentage points compared to this time in 2001.
I have an interesting story. At Monterey
Peninsula College they had a Hospitality (Motel, hotel, B&B)
Industry class. The teacher, a prominent local 'Chamber-our-building-still
-isn't-handicap-accessible-but-we-don't-care-about-that-since
1996' employee, assigns each student to call up a local hotel/motel
or B&B and reserve a large volume of rooms (25-50?) for the
future. A few days or weeks later, they had to call the lodging
place back & cancel the reservations. Much to the chagrin of
the lodging establishment, I believe. I don't know if those false
reservations count toward 'room filled percentage stats' for Pacific
Grove, but there should be an investigation.
January 31st. It's a fecal matter.
If you want to read the report about the effect of PG affluent
effluent sewage on rare otters the report should be at PG library
Feb. 1st. Ask for "Monitoring Threatened Southern Sea
Otters for Exposure to Selected Fecal
Pathogens" at the Information desk. Conclusion of the
report notes that 40% of the de
ad sea otters had human or animal pathogens &/or
bacteria in their fecal matter. They were unable to determine the
exact source of these without further testing.
There are tons of lodging Vacany
signs in PG right now even though the AT&T Tournament
has begun.
January 27th. Talk about falling real
estate prices, sign spotted on Forest Ave in PG: 1 BEDROOM,
LARGE LOT $269,000. That's the purchase price, not the rent.
I wouldn't buy from them myself.
Fun facts: Temperature of the cold
water coming from the faucet in PG in Jan. 2002: 58 deg. Min.
entry salary of a PG Police Officer: $ 4,222 (Must
have at least a HS education).(This includes being able
to wear the PB Lone Cypress logo on their shoulder patch).
After an extensive investigation & the usual 'no-it's-not-the
Lone Cypress Tree' on our patch denial-response from the PGPD,
I was actually able to prove that it is. I found an old postcard,
titled, "Midway Point, Pacific Grove" that has a photograph on it
that is very similar to the logo on the PGPD shoulder patch. Midway
Point is actually in Pebble Beach & it's the rock on which the Lone
Cypress rests!:
|
Police Patch before 1993
Religious symbol on rock
|
Modern Patch 2000
|
Cypress Tree Postcard:
Midway Point, P.G. (Actual location:
P.B.)
|
If I could just find out why there
is a PB Trademark on a PGPD patch (This logo is also present
on a very large doormat in front of the PGPD main desk)........
Coming to the AT&T? Map to the
Stars' homes: J. Miller: Find intersection of Sunset at Arena
(Asilomar area), look due north-west on Sunset (Not Arena),
first Carmel white stone house. C. Eastwood (One of many homes):
Carmel. Bottom of 9th, south-west corner, Carmel white stone house
(What's with all this Carmel stone?).
January 20th. The annual rate to play
PG Golf Course is $485. The price of homes in Monterey dropped
32% in Jan 2002 from the year before. Mid-February is the
time of the year for this years 25,000 monarch butterflies to start
their mating ritual. Call 1-888-PGMONARCHS (Yes, even though its
10 digits it works) to find out more about PG Monarchs anytime
day or night. BTW, having sex with a Monarch butterfly
on it's annual migration is a $100 fine, first offense. (PG City
Code).
January 18th. Our Olympic Torch Relay
photos are out! Click on any image for a larger picture.
January 8th, 2002. What a holiday
season we had. Much warmer weather than usual & very
few tourists.
(Above: Warm weather on Jan.
4th 2002)
Tickets are almost sold out
for the AT&T Golf Tournament this year. They are limiting
ticket sales this year. For a few years now during the
golf tournament P.G. hotels & motels have VACANCY signs.
This is either because, in my opinion, the Chamber of Uncommerce
is uncommercing lodging establishments or they are busing people
around P.G. Come stay in P.G. there is always plenty of vacany during
the tournament. Don't have a tournament ticket? Just walk onto
the golf course. A few people told me they did this & no one
noticed. Haven't tried it myself.
Below is Local News from 2001.
In my opinion some mighty costly
things (Where P.G. wasted our money):
1. Traffic Enforcement person
sues PG City numerous times & wins $$$$$.
2. Ex P.G. Employee sues PG
City & wins either his old job back or $600,000 cash.
3. Civilian, whose face was
smashed on the sidewalk by a PGPD person, sues City/PGPD
& loses.
4. P.G. City buys land for
senior housing. First price about $600k (No water).
Instead city gives smokey approval to a questionable water
transfer to the property. New price of property about $1.2M
(Because it has water) & city purchases it for that new price.
This was on the assumption that the property prices were rising
so much that it was a great deal. Property sales completed prices
are now down about 16% from 2001. Don't look at me, I didn't elect
these people.
December 19th. What's it like
in PG these days? Deserted. Hotel parking
lots nearly empty. Stores are nearly empty of shoppers as
they hit 50-70% discounted department stores in Monterey &
Seaside. Target's parking lot in Seaside if nearly full as is
the Del Monte Mall parking lot. This can also be because of extra
employees taking up the parking lot as it did not appear there
were alot of shoppers yesterday at this mall. Depending how your
read the stats, it appears the mean completed sales prices of homes
in PG in November 2001 have dropped 16.5% from Nov. 2000.
Interesting newspaper quote
about the PG police department today:
"Students in the fifth
grade at Robert Down school are asked to pick out one
bear to bring in and donate. They are told that the bears go
to children who are in stressful environments or who are unhappy
in their homes, Hiserman said. She said they are happy to learn
that they can help other children.
And police officials (PGPD) said
they are happy to get the bears. Capt. Carl Miller said
many of the stuffed animals go to children who are in
violent homes. The bears help ease what is usually a very stressful
situation.
"We welcome the bears and make
sure they get good homes," said Miller. "
Full Story
(Ed note: Are violent
homes "good " homes? Why
don't the police try to un-violent them instead, which would
be a far greater gift for these children than anything else
one can give them?)
December 14th. Looking for
locals opinions? Try the message
board!
P.G. Ex-Community
Development Director sues the city & wins!:
"A Monterey judge ruled Tuesday
that a longtime Pacific Grove employee should get his
job back or be paid almost $600,000 in damages. Tony Lobay
was laid off from his job as special projects manager last
December.
Tony Lobay was laid
off from his job as special projects manager last December.
He had worked for the city of Pacific Grove for 29 years,
including 14 as community development director.
In 1998, he agreed to become
the city's special projects manager, handling such
things as the city's cable television franchise agreement.
But last December his position was eliminated.
Judge Richard Silver said
in his ruling that Lobay was not given sufficient notice
when he was fired. He also stated that because of Lobay's
seniority he should have been able to displace an employee
who hadn't worked for the city for as long. Silver also said
that city employees were never told they were "at will," meaning
they could be fired without cause."
Full Story
"
It's going to be a long, chilly winter for
some Pacific Grove High
School students .
They have been bundling
up against the cold,
wearing jackets and gloves
in class,
because the school's central
heating system
isn't fully working.This
week, with temperatures
dipping into the low 40s,
students and staff
have been feeling the
chill.
About 12 classrooms at the school don't have
any heat at all. And heat
for the rest of the 33
rooms varies on a daily
basis."
Full Story
|
The Mayoress & friends
(Back row) with a P.G. High
School Student (Front row)
at the Snow in the Park.
|
December 8th.
(Above) This is all that is
left.
|
From the Monterey
County Herald 12-05-01:
There isn't much left of the
historic house at 138 18th St. in Pacific Grove (Left)
- the roof and floor are gone, along with what was inside.
But part of the porch is still standing and the walls have been
saved, and city officials say that's enough to be considered "preservation.
"
The owner, John Carminati,
said he planned to move the house as part of a restoration
plan, but the moving company he hired couldn't complete the
process. He said he decided to dismantle the house because he
didn't have any other choice.
"Sometimes you have to
improvise and do what you can to make the project work,"
said Carminati, who has restored other historic homes in
the city.
|
November 29th. Our little Barbara
has been found!.......There are very few shoppers in
P.G. Of 15 stores, there were about 10 shoppers altogether
the other day. Most shoppers are shopping at Mervyns &
Macys in Monterey & Target, Kmart & Circuit City, Etc.
in Sand City. The American Tin Cannery shopping center in
P.G. had 23 stores posting jobs available this week.
November 23rd. Here is
a photo of one of the largest waves to hit Pacific
Grove's Lover's Point this week (Notice the people about
to get creamed on the rocks?). This may be one the largest waves
to ever hit P.G. This is due to global warming producing more
violent storms. When this photo was taken there were waves 50'+
hitting Mavericks, near S.F.
November 18th.
Rocky Shores Home
ready to build!
(Above) Rocky Shores
|
Douglas Johnson
has moved a step closer to building a house on a controversial
piece of Pacific Grove shoreline.
Johnson received a permit Wednesday from the California Coastal
Commission to perform dune restoration work that
may allow him to begin building his Rocky Shores home
by early next year.
Willoughby said Thursday that he didn't know of any resident
groups that were fighting the proposed development.
He said he also didn't know that Johnson's project
was so close to groundbreaking. Willoughby said that
even if Pacific Grove residents actively oppose the house,
Johson went through all the legal channels to get it approved
.
Full Story
MPH November 16, 2001
|
November 15th.
The median price of a home in P.G. from August 2000
to August 2001 dropped 2%. From October 2000 to 2001 it
dropped 7%. In October 2001, in addition to the 7% drop in
price, the average completed selling price was 6.6% under
the offering price. This results in an approximate 13.
6 % drop in actual selling price for one year. This
does not include those taken off the market. This is pretty mild
compared to Carmel where the median home price in October 2000 was
$1,287,500 but in October 2001 dropped to: $602,500!
(Source:Monterey County Association of Realtors).
Motorist files Suit Against P.G.
Officer:
A Pacific Grove police officer acquitted
of brutality charges last month is being sued by
the motorist whose complaint led to the criminal case.
Yoichiro Aoike Thomas, 49, of
Marina alleges in his civil lawsuit that officer
Craig Mosher beat him up after stopping him for speeding
last February. In the lawsuit, filed in Monterey County
Superior Court, Thomas contends he was targeted because he
is Asian.
Mosher has denied Thomas' allegations.
Mosher was accused of using excessive
force on Thomas after the motorist refused to sign
a speeding citation in the early morning hours of Feb. 3
in Pacific Grove. Thomas suffered a concussion, bruises to
his face, hand and knee, and injuries to his left eye. He also
lost three front teeth.
The complaint alleges the city had
already been notified of occasions in which Mosher
and other police officers violated citizens' rights. The
lawsuit contends that officers regularly targeted Asians and
other ethnic groups, conducted illegal searches and seizures,
used excessive force and made false arrests.
He faces medical bills that attorney
Christopher Cayce says will total $30,000.
"If (Thomas) had wanted his teeth
pulled by the P.G. Police Department," Cayce said
Tuesday, "he'd have made an appointment."
Full Story
November 12th.
On Caledonia Street (there are two of them) on November
10th there was an Open House for, get this, a rental in
P.G.! The Open House was complete with fancy signs &
the works & it's the first time we have seen an Open House
for a rental. It was a small apartment & today the 'For
Rent' sign is still on it.
(Above) Lighthouse Avenue in
P.G. November 2001
|
Sign on door on 17th Street.
|
November 2nd.
Anthrax concerns in Pacific Grove? Sure thing. The
postal workers who get the mail from the PGPO boxes wear masks
& rubber gloves. Believe it or not.
From the Monterey County Herald
Water suit in court
Responsible
Consumers of the Monterey Peninsula and Patricia Colin
Smith are suing Pacific Grove, alleging that the city
broke the law when it let 13 residents buy water credits
last year from a private business. Attorneys for the city
say that officials did not do anything wrong in allowing the
sale, and that because of a water shortage in the community,
those types of transactions are the only way residents can
build new homes.
But Goldbeck
said the City Council allowed residents who were farther
down on the list to jump ahead of those who were at the
top. The residents bought 1.76 acre feet of water credits
for a reported amount of about $100,000 per acre foot.
Deputy City
Attorney Michael Jencks said that the only way new
homes can be built in Pacific Grove is to obtain unused
water credits from existing parcels. That practice has
allowed the city to be able to move ahead with such projects
as a senior housing facility.
Full Story
The Carmel Pine Cone
Volume 87 No. 44 Oct 26 -
Nov 1, 2001
CHS senior saves drowning boy
"It was like
the scariest thing I've done in my entire life," 17-year-old
Carmel High School senior Hillary Timm said. What she
did undoubtedly saved another's life.
When a 17-year-old
Marina boy swimming at Asilomar State Beach Oct.
14 got caught in a riptide and was swept far off shore
in the freezing water, he began panicking and screaming for
help. Timm -- who was surfing about 25 yards away that sunny
afternoon -- heard about it from a guy on a Boogie Board and
began paddling over to see what was wrong.
"The thing that
really helped me to not panic is knowing that if you
just go under water, they want to go up and will let go
of you," she said. "The waves were crashing on us, he was pushing
me under -- it was not a good situation. I finally got my board
and I kept trying to tell him to grab the board."
But Timm's surfboard
was floating parallel to the waves, which were breaking
over the top of them.
"We just got
pummeled and the board came up and smashed me in the
head," she said. "I finally got him and got the board, and
I had him in one arm and the board in the other. He looked like
he was just about to pass out -- his eyes were rolling back in
his head."
"The paramedic
said his core temperature was 94 degrees, which is
pretty darn low, and he definitely had an altered level
of consciousness," Page said. The boy has since recovered
and is doing fine.
"She did a fantastic
thing. If it wasn't for her, I don't think this young
gentleman would still be alive today."
Full Story
From the Monterey County Herald
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
P.G. receives 5 bids on sewer
system work
Five companies
put in bids Tuesday to begin work on Pacific Grove's
aging sewer system.
The lowest bid
was $567,210 from Monterey Peninsula Engineering.
The highest bid came from Pavex Construction at around $969,000.
About $890,000 is available for the project, according
to city officials.
The City Council
is scheduled to award a contract on Nov. 7.
The work will
include replacing just over a mile of sewer line and
45 manholes, according to Public Works Director Steve
Leiker. The areas that were picked for work are the city's
most troublesome spots, located predominantly in residential
neighborhoods, he said.
The repairs
that are planned would be the most significant work
done to the system in recent years.
The city raised
its sewer surcharge fees this year to pay for the
work. The increases will be imposed incrementally until
July 2003. An additional $224,000 will be raised this year,
$392,000 next year and $560,000 for each subsequent year.
(Ed note: They are raising our taxes
to pay for something we have already paid for. Also,
the $3M for the Civic Center could have been spent on the
sewer system & then our taxes would not have been raised
for the next few years).
October 25th. A massive residential
sewage spill closed Lover's Point this week. The
new Civic Center which is said to be ahead of schedule
& under budget is not ADA accessible. But most of all,
it does not have a Certificate of Occupancy even though it is
occupied. Here is the newspaper story on this:
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Pat Hergott
went into Pacific Grove's new civic center this month
looking for something to complain about. It didn't take
her long to find it.
The elevator
in the new two-story building wasn't working and
Hergott, who is disabled, sat and waited for city staff
to bring her the documents she needed from the upstairs planning
department.
City officials
have said that one of the reasons for building the
center in the first place was that the old city hall
is not accessible to the disabled. They say the new center
will be fully accessible when the entire project is completed
in the next few months. About $1.5 million has already been
spent on the project, which is expected to cost about $3.2 million.
The entire project will include renovation of the old city hall
building and construction of a plaza.
She said that
besides the nonfunctioning elevator, she thinks there
are many other violations of the Americans with Disabilities
Act in the building, including doors that are difficult
to push open.
City officials
acknowledge that the new building isn't yet fully
accessible to the disabled: The elevator still isn't working,
a ramp has to be built and parking spots for the disabled
are now being used by construction trucks.
In addition,
the city doesn't have a certificate of occupancy
from the city building inspector to be in the new civic
center.
City Administrative
Services Director Pete Woodruff said Monday that
the elevator isn't working because water leaked into the
elevator shaft and is now being drained. Western Pacific
Elevator Co., the Pismo Beach-based subcontractor hired to
do the work, hasn't been showing up to make sure it's operational,
he said. Woodruff said that even when the elevator is fixed, it
could take months to get a state inspector to issue a permit to
use it.
City Building
Inspector Doug Rick said the elevator company has
been sent a letter alleging noncompliance with its contract.
(Ed Note: Isn't Rick's office in
the new Civic Center?)
Representatives
of the company did not return The Herald's phone
calls Tuesday.
Full Story
October 20th.
Who needs Anthrax When
Pacific Grove Has E.Coli and Raccoon Roundworm?
Here is a P.G. house that actually
went up in price from $799,000 (2000) to $1,295,000
(2001):
October 11th. The Monarch Butterflies
have arrived in PG. Only a few at this time. Real
Estate prices continue to drop. This is based on the same
home for sale, rather than some market median. Local cop
news:
"Thursday, October
11, 2001
Acquittal for P.G. officer
By JOE LIVERNOIS
A Pacific Grove police officer
was acquitted Wednesday of two charges of using
excessive force while detaining a man during a traffic
stop.
Monterey County Judge Gary
Meyer ruled that Craig Mosher "botched 
