Monthly Archives: February 2016

McDonald’s Leaving Town

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No drive up window and rent hikes push the affordable family burger chain to leave after winning the fight to build in P.G. back in 1974 when the town was more serving to residents.

Arches Gone

While the building that the fast food restaurant is located in at 100 Country Club Gate was sold in January, 2014, the golden arches remained. But now, the building is up for lease and McDonald’s is departing America’s last hometown.

“Somebody bought the property where McDonald’s is and now they want to increase the rent but McDonald’s can’t afford it,” said Pacific Grove’s Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar.

McDonald’s Leaving Town

Iconic Forest Ave House Subject Of Lawsuit

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Often walked past this huge house on the way to school. Thought it was a neat alternative to old victorians and other ’50s ranch styles.

1009 Forest Ave

Google maps street view

In early 2013, a tenant at 1009 Forest complained to the

city about inadequate living conditions. A building inspection later found there was no permanent source of heat, a leaking roof, lack of smoke detectors, hazardous wiring, a termite infestation and a garage deck railing in poor condition.

“There was a complaint made so we had to inspect the site,” says John Kuehl, building official for Monterey and Pacific Grove. “The building has a number of issues: electrical, plumbing. There were sparks and hazardous wiring. There was also an extra unit installed without approval.”

Boyes contends all the claims are false and that an inspection was illegally made without her consent. Throughout 2013 when the city started to take actions against the alleged code violations at the property, Coleman was in and out of the hospital with various ailments and unable to respond to the city’s notices. The city has placed a $113,465 lien on the property.

Coleman claims tenants made the original complaints to get out of paying rent, which they avoided paying after Pacific Grove posted notices of violations at the property. Boyes says Coleman had to file a cease-and-desist order to remove the tenants from the property and to collect back rent.

Iconic Forest Ave House Subject Of Lawsuit

2016 State Of The City

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Kampe refers to Carmel and Monterey as cities with 2 to 3 times revenue per capita than P.G. operates with. Tells me that P.G. is not being managed very good.

“Our recent audit gave very high marks to Pacific Grove,” said Kampe, noting selective fee increases for city services and a strong increase in the transient occupancy tax as major factors.

But he also said city staff is “stretched too thin” and that “very hard to explain benefit plans” are creating challenges for recruitment and retention.

“Taken together, current deferred spending plus looming cost increases tell us we need increased revenue,” said Kampe. “We now need to ask if we, as a community, are prepared to support essential and desired services that make our city such a privileged place to live.”

Kampe referred to Carmel, which has three times the revenue per capita, and Monterey, with double the revenue per capita, as references to just how well the city has managed with its limited finances.

Yet, despite the city’s current and future challenges, Kampe still had plenty of good things to say about his city of choice.

2016 State Of The City

Mayor Repeats The Old Substainable Song

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Build more hotels, attract more visitors. Do you really like waking up to weekend neighbors that arrived late Friday and packing up early? How about the slow moving traffic from hospitality workers that cannot afford to live here?

“My wife and I still wake up each morning and think how wonderful it is to live in this amazing community,” Kampe said. “It continues to be this special place because so many work so hard to make it this way.”

“Taken together, current deferred spending plus looming cost increases tell us we need increased revenue,” said Kampe. “We now need to ask if we, as a community, are prepared to support essential and desired services that make our city such a privileged place to live.”

Kampe referred to Carmel, which has three times the revenue per capita, and Monterey, with double the revenue per capita, as references to just how well the city has managed with its limited finances.

Mayor Repeats The Old Substainable Song

Invest Now In Ocean Front Property On Pine Street

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Global warming will affect tourism in a million years. Or is it the tourists gaining weight on fried foods sinking the land mass?

Tens of millions of Californians live in coastal counties, and the population in these areas is slowly growing. But at the same time, federal ocean-related expenditures have steadily declined by 8 percent, while the state continues to endure a historic drought and the early effects of climate change.

“The coast is where climate change impacts are among the highest,” said Kildow.

A lot of Monterey Bay’s ocean economy lies at or near the shore, which could be vulnerable to erosion, said Charles Colgan, an economist and co-author of the report.

“Much of Cannery Row sits on top of an erodible shoreline, for example,” he said. “Rising sea level is something that people are going to have to pay attention to.”

And our own esteemed Sam The Sham wants more of our tax dollars to “help”.

“This report is the first time people have been able to put solid economic numbers on these environmental and marine issues,” said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel. As the founder and chair of the House Oceans Caucus, Farr seeks to draw attention to and secure limited federal funding for ocean-related programs.

Invest Now In Ocean Front Property On Pine Street

Say Goodbye One Last Time To Cannery Row Square

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Only so much one can do with old cannery buildings.

Cannery Row Square

 

The aquarium purchased the buildings at 585 and 625 Cannery Row from the Shake family in 2014. It has raised $28 million toward the $65 million needed to fund the purchase of the property, construction of the center, and to support expansion of programs for visiting school groups, teachers and youth. Construction of the center itself will cost $30 million. The aquarium hopes to break ground on the state-of-the-art facility this fall.

Say Goodbye One Last Time To Cannery Row Square

Gas Leak In New Monterey

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Pacific Gas Electric Gas Leak

Mayra Tostado said PG&E was notified of a gas leak at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at 406 Lighthouse Ave., adding no injuries were reported.

PG&E crews capped the leak at 3 a.m. The repairs led to a closure of Lighthouse Avenue between Drake and McClellan avenues Thursday. The street reopened late Thursday morning. An employee at nearby Current Comics said business was unaffected.

Gas Leak In New Monterey

Nature Closes Beach

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Up from the ground comes a bubblin’ crude.

jed clampett shooting

As a safety precaution, the city of Monterey on Thursday closed McAbee Beach due to what was described as a small amount of a petroleum-like substance that had been discovered in the area of the beach.

The substance will be tested to determine exactly what it is and its origin, according to a press release issued by the city. The city is acting on the recommendation of the Monterey County Health Department to close the beach. The leak was described as “minor” and confined to the remnants of a cement foundation of a former building located on the site. The beach will remain closed until further notice.

Nature Closes Beach

Sorry Hippies, Recycling Is A Bummer

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Now the container deposit is just another tax that increases the cost of products.

Recycle The Cedar St Times

On Jan. 31, rePlanet announced it closed 191 recycling centers in California, citing declines in commodities pricing of aluminum and plastic, coupled with a rise in operating costs as a result of minimum wage increases and required health and workers’ compensation insurance.

California Redemption Value recycling centers in Monterey, Pacific Grove, Salinas, Prunedale, Marina and Del Rey Oaks closed, leaving centers at the Marina landfill, 14201 Del Monte Blvd., and near the Costco in Sand City, 801 Tioga Ave., as the two closest locations. The center in Sand City is a rePlanet location, closed Tuesdays and open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. the rest of the week.

Ted Terrasas, Monterey’s sustainability director, said city officials were surprised to find out about the closures earlier this week.

“The redemption centers are required to be put in place by the stores,” Terrasas said.

Sorry Hippies, Recycling Is A Bummer

Californian Tests Positive For Zika Virus

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Not to be confused with Zito Virus which causes one to hug disease releasing raccoons.

The resident had recently traveled out of the country and contracted the Zika virus. Zika is spread through mosquito bites.

We think it’s only a matter of time before the viruses and the mosquitoes in California get together, and that we have infected mosquitoes, and that there’s local transmission. But this won’t be a very frequent occurrence,” Santa Cruz county mosquito and vector control manager Paul Binding said.

It’s possible that a traveler infected with the virus could be bitten by a local mosquito and that mosquito could bite someone else, further transmitting the virus.

Californian Tests Positive For Zika Virus