Monthly Archives: August 2015

Developers Want To Transform ATC To A Luxury Hotel

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This
Parking meters at ATC

To this
Project Bella overhead view

Built in 1927 for use in the sardine heyday, the Tin Cannery has been home to outlet shopping since 1988 and never seemed to take off, despite the thousands of visitors exiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium across the street.

When the outlet mall had stores it was pretty good. One could get a variety of things without having to deal with the traffic. Ardan’s, Rebock, Corning and more.

If this deal fizzels, remember these names people.

“Project Bella aims to be the leading luxury hotel in the United States,” said a news release.

The project is a partnership between Domaine Hospitality Partners and the Cannery Row Co., which owns the cannery building.

Wednesday’s press conference will include Julie Packard, executive director of the aquarium, developer Ted Balestreri, Pacific Grove mayor Bill Kampe and Domaine CEO Ronald Meer.

Developers Want To Transform ATC To A Luxury Hotel

Central Coast Juicery Parks Delivery Truck In Disabled Parking

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Mark_Kaltenbacher

Noon on Saturday I come across an unattended commercial vehicle parked in the disabled parking place. Look around and see none of P.G.’s finest so I take a few pictures and consider call them or at least the 831-747-7085 number and reporting them. Then head off to go to the bank.

JuiceLocally

Central Coast Juicery

The driver shows up and shouted at me asking if I had some concern and after a debate on what the definition of parking is I go into the bank. Driver of said Central Coast Juicery truck moved it to a legal parking spot and goes to the same bank as I, where he continues to deny any wrongdoing. Give it up Mark, you ended up on Facebook in addition to LighthouseAvenue.com.

Highway 68 Tour By A Hack Frisco Writer

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Awful whiny story. Calls El Camino Real “The 101” like some sort of LA type. And the pesticides that get into schools – well who builds schools next to a toxic vegetable field?

sr 68

I started my own journey at the head of 68, Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds, where rooms were running almost $300 a night. The highway took me first through Pacific Grove, a prosperous village (low unemployment, a median house price north of $700,000, little poverty). I had to turn right to stay on 68 near the gate to 17 Mile Drive, which takes you to world-renowned resorts.

Then I turned northeast, as 68 joined up with Highway 1 for 2 miles, before splitting again near Seaside, not far from where Tesla Motors plans to open a new sales center

On my own drive, I reached Salinas and followed Highway 68 past Salinas High and through downtown to where it ended at the 101.

In Salinas, there is resentment toward the other end of Highway 68. Some ask why Monterey environmentalists don’t fight as hard against pesticides that get into Salinas schools as they do against coastal development. Others complain that Monterey is a magnet for jobs, which relegates Salinas to serving as a place for people who can’t afford to live near their work on the peninsula.

Highway 68 Tour By A Hack Frisco Writer

Short Term Rental Permit Freeze

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What started as a casual room rental idea is turning into entire homes being rented out, with no permanent residents on site. So much for rental homes in P.G. for families to live in.

The vote was 6-1, with Councilman Ken Cuneo dissenting.

After listening to about a dozen people speak both for and against the moratorium during a long public comment period, the council debated the merits.

“The City Council needs to take the lead,” said Mayor Bill Kampe. “It’s our job to wrestle with this.”

There was an almost even split between supporters and detractors of the vacation rental practice. Comments in support ranged from reports of good experiences with renters to enjoying the exchange between cultures. Detractors spoke of unruly, noisy and uncaring guests who sometimes exceeded maximum occupancy, exacerbated parking problems and even trespassed.

Short Term Rental Permit Freeze

Pacific Grove Residents Turn Against The Tourists

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Wha wha what? The very leaders the residents elect and the goofus Moammar have all been working hard to bring tourists to the town. Suddenly the town is becoming popular with visitors and people are all mad about it?

Why act so surprised? First there was the come-heres buying up all the funky rental houses, they remodeled them and stayed in them for a few weeks a year. Now they are renting them out to total strangers they find on the Internets.

Be careful what you ask for, tax loving P.G. politicians. You may get something slightly different than you wanted.

The program has been around for the last five years, but in the last year the city has seen an explosion in requests for short-term rental licenses.

Longtime Pacific Grove resident Thom Akeman has owned his home for 27 years, and he said thanks to sites like Airbnb his street has taken a turn for the worse.

“The last year it’s ceased to be residential, very few people live on this street because the short-term rentals that started about five years ago just in the last year went crazy,” said Akeman.

Pacific Grove Residents Turn Against The Tourists

And 27 years for the tree posse sheriff? He’s still a come here.

Bad Day For Radiator Repairmen

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And people stuck behind a VW. But good day to sell fire extinguishers.

Too Slow VW Bus

Some 130 air-cooled Volkswagens that left the U.S.-Canada border on Friday for a 1,500-mile, border-to-border cruise rolled into Pacific Grove on Wednesday afternoon, turning heads and bringing back memories.

It was the Pacific Grove VW Show & Shine, a stop on the Treffen 17 VW Cruise and Car Show started by Scott Dempster, CEO of Airhead Parts in Ventura, a supplier of stock, air-cooled VW restoration parts.

Bad Day For Radiator Repairmen

Defrauding (by) An Innkeeper

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Claimed to be historic, intimate, charming, blah blah blah. Was a big old house that was cut up into cheap apartments at one time.

Pacific Grove Inn on Pine Avenue shut down two weeks ago and customers who were supposed to stay there say the hotel took their money and still hasn’t reimbursed them.

On Tuesday, a sign was posted on the front door of the inn telling customers to write their name, number and email on the yellow pad on the front porch.

The 16-room hotel was operated by Malibu businessman Gary Peterson, who filed for bankruptcy July 15 in Santa Barbara.

Defrauding (by) An Innkeeper

Jan Leasure Says We Can’t Stop STRs

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Landlords will do as the please to tear down the hometown.

“When you live in a neighborhood, I understand how it feels if it’s not going in the direction you want it to,” said Jan Leasure, owner of Monterey Bay Vacation Rentals. “But short-term rentals will keep happening.”

But a perusal of any of the short-term rental websites reveals anywhere between 50-200 vacation rentals in Pacific Grove.

Leasure has been in the property management business for more than 30 years and believes that “as long as there is a demand on the Peninsula, people will continue to look for short-term rentals.”

According to Leasure, vacation rentals will continue to prosper in places like Pacific Grove with its small-town feel and proximity to the ocean. “You can’t stop it, because you can’t legislate who buys a house.”

Jan Leasure Says We Can’t Stop STRs