Monthly Archives: February 2007

Marina Just Says No To Marijuana Pharmacy

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Both Marina and Seaside now have temporary moratoriums in effect against such clinics — actions prompted by inquiries last year about the possibility of locating them there.

City staff members say medical marijuana clinics wouldn’t promote Marina’s general plan policies. The clinics wouldn’t generate sale taxes and could prevent tax-generating businesses from finding space in the city.

I don’t oppose the use of pot, but these clinics are rife with corruption and attract crime to the area.

Grow your own.

Marina Just Says No To Marijuana Pharmacy

The Fleecing Of The Golf Fans

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The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce will likewise host shuttle services to bring visitors into town and encourage them to linger. Last year, it transported more than 2,500.

Of the 1,110 guest rooms in Pacific Grove, all but 102 had been sold as of Friday afternoon, which is about the same as the past two years, Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar said.

Ammar said the impact of the AT&T goes beyond the event itself, as fans who enjoyed their time on the Peninsula later return to the area with family and friends.

Tell me, does this look like Last Home Town Hospitality?
Att Chamber Shuttle Checkpoint

Don’t you dare park in the often empty lot behind Holmans.
Holmans No Att

And please leave your valuables back in your parked car where it will sit on the street  for eight hours.
Att Shuttle Items Not Allowed

The rudeness does not stop in PG, here’s a bit from a letter in the Hear-old

2/15/07
Limiting snacks
We can understand the security reasons for limiting the size of bag people were allowed to bring to the AT&T golf tournament. However, we were turned away at the bus in Fort Ord for having snacks and water inside our bag that was smaller than the size limitation….

I guess last year was our last visit to the AT&T.

The Fleecing Of The Golf Fans

When The Weather Is Fine PG&E Goes Offline

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For the second time in a weekend, parts of Monterey and Pacific Grove were plunged into darkness Sunday night.

“It just happened to have affected a lot of the same people,” a PG&E spokeswoman said.

The latest outage was caused by fallen wires at David Avenue and Fillmore Street at the Monterey-Pacific Grove border, and was apparently unrelated to a power loss Saturday.

At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, more than 4,000 Monterey residents and most businesses on Cannery Row were again left without power after a similar outage the night before.

When Saturday’s outage first occurred, there was some speculation that a car that had struck a power pole on Asilomar Avenue might have been the cause, the PG&E spokeswoman said, but that scenario was quickly ruled out.

Repair crews determined, she said, that a below-ground equipment failure caused a transformer to explode near Fremont Street and Ramona Avenue in Monterey.

When The Weather Is Fine PG&E Goes Offline

Science Prevails Over Doubt In Round Up Controversy

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Tidepool Nazis favor erosion instead?

Dead Ice Plant

Pacific Grove has halted spraying invasive iceplant with a well known herbicide because of concerns by environmentalists the chemical could harm endangered species and the coastal environment.

P.G. City Council requested Rana Creek, the Carmel Valley environmental planning company hired to restore the dunes, provide a report that includes the effects of Roundup, a commercial herbicide, on the environment.

“To kill this much iceplant,” said Lee Willoughby, one of several Pacific Grove residents concerned with the use of Roundup, “there has to be some runoff, and it goes right into the tidepools. I think it’s a major concern.”

Former Pacific Grove City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck wrote a letter to the city requesting more information about the use of the herbicide.“Of particular interest is,” Goldbeck wrote, “who is doing the Roundup and when are the planned applications?”

Rana Creek is currently preparing the report, which will be presented to council members March 7.

Bruce Cowan explains in great detail in a letter from the Carmel Pine Cone

What does glyphosphate do? It is an enzyme inhibitor in the photosynthetic pathway (shikimic acid pathway) that prevents the formation of lignins. Plants normally convert sugars (simple carbohydrates made in photosynthesis) to complex chains of carbohydrates (cellulose, lignin). Animals do not make cellulose or have cellulose in their tissue structure; it is only found in plants, fungi and bacteria. Without cellulose or lignins, plants collapse and die. Animals don’t have cellulose or that photosynthetic pathway, so glyphosphate is without effect.

Science Prevails Over Doubt In Round Up Controversy

Union Pickets Leave Without Making A Difference

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Dan McAweeney of DMC Construction, a company that’s been the focus of intense picketing by the local carpenters union for nearly two years, is calling for an end to the protest.

Since July 2005, Carpenters Union Local 605 has been involved in a picketing campaign against DMC, because DMC pays its employees based on merit and skill, as opposed to a “prevailing wage,” something the union objects to.

“We want it to stop,” said Dan McAweeney, president of DMC Construction Inc. “It’s obnoxious and embarrassing, and it’s gone on long enough.”

The picketers, mostly immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, are not union members and are paid solely to picket.

They are gone. Thankfully.

Union Pickets Leave Without Making A Difference

Tough Times Equal Tough Decisions

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Eighteen people in the mostly silver-haired audience of about 100 offered their thoughts after the Jan. 24 presentation. Suggestions ranged from hiking golf fees to shopping locally to keep profits close to home. Several speakers preferred cutting city staff to raising taxes; others said they’d gladly pay higher taxes to improve city services. Many agreed that the property transfer tax—a fee of $10 per $1,000 of value on homes sold—may be the best option. It would raise about $2.5 million per year and only affect homeowners who sell on the open market.

Bike permits.
Pet Licensing.
Garage Sale Licensing.
Parking meters.

Tough Times Equal Tough Decisions