Monthly Archives: September 2016

Downtown Deplorables

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A little news from the runaway mayor’s home base.

Stockton’s Silva stepping up. But can’t keep his firearms from getting stolen

Mayor Anthony Silva on Thursday outlined a nine-step proposal to curb gang violence and seek justice for a 3-year-old girl killed by gunfire last weekend.

“I hereby declare war on active gang members within the city of Stockton,” he said at a news conference at City Hall.

“Everyone here, you know we can think of all sorts of (homicide victims),” the mayor said. “Tim Egkan just last year, I can think of all sorts — Ray-Ray (Rashawn Harris), we should all have these people in custody.”

Egkan was a force in downtown Stockton redevelopment before he was fatally stabbed in early on Sept. 13, 2015, just blocks from his downtown home.

Harris, 13, was gunned down at 7 a.m. Feb. 23, 2015, in his driveway in the 2200 block of South Sacramento Street by a .40-caliber Beretta Px4 Storm semi-automatic pistol.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the Beretta was legally registered to the mayor, one of two guns stolen from him in separate thefts. Silva did not report that gun stolen until March 22, 2015 — 27 days after Harris’ killing. The D.A.’s Office said in August that Silva refused to cooperate with investigators seeking information about the recovered gun, although the mayor has denied that claim.

Downtown Deplorables

Now Ex-Cop Suing PGPD And The DA

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Strange Night In Pacific Grove

Prosecutors closed the investigation for lack of evidence.

In May 2013, Gill was terminated from his position at the Seaside Police Department. Six months later, he sued the Pacific Grove Police Department and the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, the two agencies charged with the investigation of the stabbing, for lost wages, slander and allegedly botching the investigation with malicious intent. In essence, he’s alleging his firing was based on prosecutors’ “feelings and suspicions” that he made up the story.

Now Ex-Cop Suing PGPD And The DA

Assemblyman Visits Pacific Grove

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Number one party of fees, bureaucracies and regulations hears cries from downtown businesses about fees, bureaucracies and regulations.

Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, made a short visit to Pacific Grove on Wednesday to hear the concerns of local business owners at a town hall style meeting. The purpose, said Stone, was to improve the communication lines between the Legislature and local entrepreneurs and business owners.

“One of the biggest concerns that they raised is that they feel that small-business owners have very little voice in Sacramento,” said Stone, noting the majority of complaints he heard centered on fees, bureaucracies and regulations. “They explained some of the issues that they’re facing that make it more difficult for their business and ways they think I can communicate that better in Sacramento.”

Assemblyman Visits Pacific Grove

Salinas Cops Are Peeping For Cellphone Using Drivers

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It’s not like anything else in happening in Salas, eh? How many people die of cellphone accidents compared to gang shootings?

Salinas Police said an undercover officer looked for drivers using their cellphone and then informed a uniformed officer in a marked patrol car of the violation. Ten stops were made 3 hours.

“It has been shown time and time again that using your cellphone while driving is very dangerous,” said Sgt. Gerry Ross. “It’s very tempting to answer that phone when someone calls but it is not worth someone getting hurt or killed. Find a place to pull over and call the person back.”

Ross said drivers are keeping an eye out for police, and officers are having to get more creative to enforce cellphone laws.

Salinas Police said they are also sending plainclothes officers out on foot, to look into cars to spot illegal cellphone use.

Salinas Cops Are Peeping For Cellphone Using Drivers

Cross Bay Swimmer Gives Up

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No wetsuit. Swimmer got cold, no kidding.

Eric Gutierrez was swimming through the darkness, in chilly ocean waters, with only swim trunks and a head-mounted light.

His goal was to become the first person to ever cross the Monterey Bay while swimming without a wetsuit.

“I’m really optimistic that I might be able to do this. It’s a long way, straight across it’s 24 miles. It’s really a mind game to endure that long,” Gutierrez told KSBW before diving in.

Gutierrez swam 17 miles as a support crew followed him in a kayak. At one point, he was surrounded by a school of dolphins.

He abandoned his cross-bay attempt around noon when he was a few miles offshore from Moss Landing.

Cross Bay Swimmer Gives Up

Trenching Begins For Wastewater Delivery To P.G.

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Toilet to Tap

Raise a glass. And hope they don’t dig up your phone line.

Streets will be torn up — some more than once — through the heart of three Peninsula communities. The pipeline will run from Seaside’s Hilby Pumping Station over a new Monterey-Salinas Highway bridge through downtown Monterey and the Presidio of Monterey to an existing pump station and pipeline on Sinex Avenue in Pacific Grove.

Approved on Sept. 15 by the state Public Utilities Commission along with a water purchase agreement for the $85 million Pure Water Monterey groundwater replenishment project, the new infrastructure is expected to be complete and operational by the end of next year, in advance of the availability of recycled water in early 2018. It will be used to transport the new 3,500-acre-foot annual recycled water supply, along with aquifer storage and recovery water.

Trenching Begins For Wastewater Delivery To P.G.

No P Posse Proselytizes People

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Coalition against citywide admissions tax. But that Half Fast Marathon. That thing blocks the streets.

Besides the aquarium, the coalition includes the Big Sur International Marathon and the Friends of the Pacific Grove Public Library, among other area nonprofits.

Proponents of the tax say that a 5 percent fee attached to aquarium admissions, for example, is only fair because of the city’s need to pay for the repair and maintenance of the city’s infrastructure, including city roads, sidewalks, paths and the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail.

No P Posse Proselytizes People

Monterey Wants More Wharf Money

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Fishermans Wharf

Last year, the city decided to change its policy, after negotiations on rental agreements failed. Those changes caused several businesses to get eviction notices.

“When leases are up we want to get to market rate that doesn’t mean that it has to go from where it is today to market rate tomorrow and we expressed interest and council expressed interest in taking some time and ramping up market rate over a period of years,” said city manager Mike McCarthy.

Last month, Balesteri’s Wharf Front was evicted after being in its location for nearly 40 years. Owner Sam Balesteri said he had been paying $4,000 in rent on a month to month basis for the past two years.

Monterey Wants More Wharf Money

Wharf Lease Program Draws 200 Protesters

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Wharfs 1960s

Is Haffa comparing a residence where the landlord maintains everything to wharf pilings? If the toilet at the Grotto backs up does Haffa call and pay for the plumber?

major issue is that last year the council voted to shorten lease agreements to 10 years. City Manager Mike McCarthy has repeatedly said, however, that they are not strict policies, but guidelines and that the council will negotiate. The city has offered lease terms that exceed that time period if tenants commit to make improvements to the premises on which their business resides. Also at issue is the cost of leases and whether they are fair market value.

“Leaseholder(s) pay $405 or $680 per month rent for waterfront properties,” Councilman Alan Haffa said Tuesday. “How much does a one-bedroom cost per month?”

Wharf Lease Program Draws 200 Protesters