Monthly Archives: October 2008

Teachers Union Dues – Where They Go

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For or against it is a personal choice, but what does this have to do with education, or the advancement & support of teachers?

Labor unions are no longer relevant to labor. They exist only to give the union administrators a paycheck, and money into political campaigns.

California’s largest teacher’s union has given another $1 million to defeat a Nov. 4 ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in the state.

The contribution recorded Tuesday makes the California Teachers Association the largest institutional donor to the No on 8 campaign. CTA also gave $250,000 in August to Equality for All, a coalition of gay advocacy and civil rights groups opposing Proposition 8.

Union Facts

Teachers Union Dues – Where They Go

City Hall Roof To Be Cleaned, Cost: $22,000.00

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Poopy City Hall Roof

Minutes of the October 15 Council Meeting

B. Announcements

• Celia Perez Martinez, Public Works Business Manager gave status on the following:

o Public Works will be cleaning the outside of City Hall except the roof as it contains a toxic material and requires special handling.

Martinez goes on to describe the process, and says it will cost the city $17,000 to $22,000 just to clean the roof. Thanks to businesses that do not cover the garbage.

Zocalos Restaurant, 8/21/08
Dumpster Zocalo 080820

City Hall Roof To Be Cleaned, Cost: $22,000.00

Why Kids Can’t Read

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They are too busy being taught to be vegans.

A non-profit program called Farm To School is promoting healthy eating habits in school. The program partners with local farms, parents and school cafeterias to make eating fruits and vegetables the norm in a child’s diet.

Hey, bacon comes from farms, too!

Why Kids Can’t Read

More Talks On Reopening Old Bath House

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Talks continue over the Old Bath House located in Pacific Grove. The city, a developer and local business owners hope that eventually the location will be open to the public as a restaurant.
The owners of Passion Fish.. as well as Adventures By The Sea have been in talks for about a year now.

More of the same old stuff?
Think Chili Dogs (3/2/07)
Old Bath House Wienerschnitzel

More Talks On Reopening Old Bath House

California Produce Still Tainted with E. coli

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This time it’s iceberg lettuce.

An E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in tainted iceberg lettuce that sickened 36 people in Michigan last month has been traced back to California growers.

The outbreak, involving bagged, industrial-sized packages of iceberg lettuce sold through wholesale venues to restaurants and institutions, sickened students at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, and inmates at Lenawee County Jail before spreading to metro Detroit.

Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said September is peak season for Salinas Valley lettuce growers.

“That’s when our growers are very busy,” said Perkins. “If it’s California bagged lettuce, there’s a real probability that it will be tied to our area, or to somebody that we know.”

What did our career congressman Sam The Sham Farr do with the millions of tax dollars he got when it was spinach?
Farr Piggy

California Produce Still Tainted with E. coli

Carpenters Union Loses Another One

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Monterey County Superior Court Judge Robert O’Farrell dismissed the suit filed by Local Union 605 Oct. 2. The lawsuit claimed DMC Construction did not show proof a portion of its subcontractors for the stadium project are disabled veterans, which is required by the state.

“Essentially the union didn’t really have the information to back their claims,” said DMC general manager Mark Lord.

Unions can’t fund themselves by providing useful, positive reasons to exist. So they turn to suing people and misleading workers. That’s where the dues are going.

Union Facts

Carpenters Union Loses Another One

Write In Candidate Challenges Dan Cort

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Hollister For Mayor

Retired veterinarian Ted Hollister has thrown his hat into the ring as a write-in candidate for mayor of Pacific Grove.

“The tipping point” for him, said 77-year-old Hollister, was the council’s action to merge Pacific Grove’s fire department with Monterey’s, an issue he felt didn’t raise enough questions among the council members.

“I don’t fault their intentions,” he said. “I just disagree with the way they’re going.”

Or was the tipping point the flap over getting to move into Forest Hill Manor before the construction was complete?

Write In Candidate Challenges Dan Cort

Recreation Trail Repair Industrial Accident

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And that P.G./Monterey Fire department merger is on, BTW.

Monterey Fire Battalion Chief Stewart Roth said a construction worker was trapped near the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Seapalm Avenue along the bike path.

Gabriel Godinas, an employee with James Sumerville, Inc., was trapped up to his waist in the ground. Rescue workers were forced to shore up the seawall before they were able to remove Godinas from the ground.

Rec Trail Collapse 1 Rec Trail Collapse 2

Recreation Trail Repair Industrial Accident

Mayor Proposes Solar Investment In P.G.

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Tuesday night, the City Council and the Pacific Grove Unified School District board met in joint session to talk about sharing resources to save costs.

One of those shared resources, according to Mayor Dan Cort, could be rooftops.

Cort proposed in the joint session that the city and school district offer panel space on their buildings to an investor who would construct solar power-generating panels on them.

There are people that are stupid enough to invest in solar panels for Pacific Grove? We’d need another person crazy enough to climb up there and clean the bird poo off the panels.
Solar In PG Right

Mayor Proposes Solar Investment In P.G.

Bold Murals Appear On NOAA Building

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The murals, designed by Alaska artist Ray Troll, were installed last week on the otherwise drab NOAA Fisheries Service building next door to the Pacific Grove Lighthouse.

“We went through the coastal commission some time ago,” said Frank Schwing, director of the environmental research division for the fisheries service. “It was determined we didn’t have to do any formal permitting.”

The colorful murals — large panels painted on fabric and installed on the entire upper portion of the research building — depicts marine life such as humpback whales, birds, salmon, sunfish and sardines.

Up close they look ok against the concrete bunker like building.
Noaa Close

But from a distance – it looks like a billboard in the pines.
Noaa

Bold Murals Appear On NOAA Building