Taxes From Vacation Rentals Yes! Code Enforcement No So Much

Grand Jury roasts the county.

The report criticizes what it calls the county’s decision to “consciously take a passive approach” to enforcement. It argues that approach has resulted in “significant growth” in the numbers of unpermitted vacation rentals while the county takes its time developing rules for the practice, and “increasing public tensions over this uncontrolled growth” as a result. It also suggests lack of enforcement and growth in the numbers will “likely magnify the difficult problems that the county must address when new ordinances are eventually enacted and take effect.”

Taxes From Vacation Rentals Yes! Code Enforcement No So Much

Will The Pigeons Sustain On?

first awakenings

When First Awakenings leaves the ATC and moves up to the old Coco’s Big Boy. Also, they should offer a carry-out that harkens to the past use of the property. It used to be a transfer lot for the garbage trucks and storage for dumpsters. Many of the dumpsters were tagged in spray paint “Rhino Lunch Box”. Would make a great inside joke.

“Contrary to what people may think, we were not pushed out, we chose to move,” said Craig Bell, co-owner of the popular restaurant.

Bell said that both the American Tin Cannery developer Comstock Properties and property owner the Cannery Row Company wanted to keep First Awakenings in its current location at 125 Ocean View Blvd., but “we saw an opportunity and wanted to take it.”

The new location at the well-traversed intersection at Lighthouse and David avenues in Monterey has provided space to create an outdoor dining patio that will be slightly larger than the existing one at their current location.

Will The Pigeons Sustain On?

Tsunami Hotline – Seismologists Are Standing By

\Cornered Tsunami hot line

Of all the Monterey Peninsula cities, Monterey would suffer the greatest inflow of seawater in the event of a tsunami, although the swells would also inundate areas of Pacific Grove, Carmel, Seaside and Pebble Beach.

The changes from the 2009 maps and the ones just released by the California Geological Survey, part of the state Department of Conservation, aren’t dramatically different, but varied enough to add warnings to new areas of the city.

“They have increased the map area by several blocks in the downtown area, to the west and south,” said Nat Rojanasathira, Monterey’s assistant city manager.
For example, the new maps show warning areas coming all the way up to Pacific Street covering more of the Old Monterey area, passing over the top of Fremont Street at Abrego Street, surrounding the Naval Postgraduate School and now reaching all the way to Highway 1 along Camino Aguajito.

And in Seaside, the area already susceptible to both sea-level rise and tsunami threats along Laguna del Rey has been expanded into neighboring residential areas by a few blocks.

In Pacific Grove, the new maps cover neighborhoods inland of Ocean View Boulevard all the way up to Surf Avenue and then continuing down along Sunset Avenue. In Pebble Beach, the maps show portions of 17-Mile Drive potentially underwater, including Spanish Bay,

Tsunami Hotline – Seismologists Are Standing By

 

Ex Mayor Recovers Stolen Bicycle

Carmel Mayor sees something and says something

at around 3:30 a.m. March 18, a security guard at the Monterey Plaza Hotel saw someone smash a glass door at the Mad Dogs & Englishmen bike shop and called police, who soon arrived to discover “someone had broken in and stolen a high-end electric bicycle.”

Having seen their post and photos of the bright red e-bike, former Mayor Steve Dallas was in Seaside shopping for his mother the next morning when he saw a group of men standing around a bike that seemed out of place. “I was getting something for my mom at Smart & Final and came back to the car with some drinks for her, looked up and saw this red bicycle,” he said. He recognized it as the e-bike stolen from Blevins and Watson — who opened their first Peninsula bike shop on Mission Street in Carmel several years ago — so he called Seaside P.D.

Ex Mayor Recovers Stolen Bicycle

Arrivederci, Bank Of Italy

PG needs more stuff for transients. Banking for the locals is not making it.

PG BofA

Colleen Haggerty, a senior vice president for the bank, said on Wednesday that during the pandemic, one of the steps Bank of America took was to temporarily close some financial centers to help consolidate resources at nearby locations.
“In this case, the Pacific Grove financial center has been closed for nearly a year, at the onset of the pandemic, with services consolidated to the Monterey financial center less than two miles away on Franklin Street and to our Seaside location less than four miles away,” Haggerty said.

Moe Says:

Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said the branch has always been engaged with community events in the downtown. And while he said he understood the reason for the closure, he is concerned about the effects on residents, particularly seniors.

Hah! He is really afraid of losing the use of the bank’s parking lot during his Goodish Days.

Arrivederci, Bank Of Italy

No Cure For The Mercedes Benz 2021

If the seal posse was there Ache-Man would have thrown his body in front of the German missile to protect the seals.

A 30 year old Pacific Grove man crashed his 2008 Mercedes off 17 Mile Drive onto kelp and rocks on a beach near Cypress Point Saturday afternoon around 1:30 p.m., according to California Highway Patrol public information officer Jessica Madueño. The beach is used by harbor seals for pupping each year, usually beginning in April.
Madueño said the cause of Ryan Todd’s crash remains under investigation but noted he was usinga cell phone at the time,

No Cure For The Mercedes Benz 2021

Patisserie Bechler Shooter Charged With Attempted Murder

Jennifer Nicole Razo
Following a March 4 preliminary hearing, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Rafael Vazquez found there was sufficient evidence to believe Razo committed two counts of attempted premeditated murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, and two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and he ordered her to stand trial.
Razo also faces several enhancements, including causing great bodily injury. She’s being held in Monterey County Jail. Her bail has increased to $2,030,000.

Patisserie Bechler Shooter Charged With Attempted Murder

Turn The NOAA Building Into Another Art Gallery?

Got the money, do it. Just what is most useful another art gallery open 16 hours a week. Just tear it down and plant some butterfly favored fauna. Or maybe a mountain lion preserve.

Noaa Close

 

While those circumstances might suggest that the group has little chance of competing with deep-pocketed bidders, Greene pointed out that there are very few things a buyer could possibly do with the building and land due to its sensitive location, which is zoned for open space. “Because it falls in the Coastal Zone, it would be hard for anyone to come in there and do any significant development,” he said. Before trying to acquire the building and land, Greene said his group first wants to see if there’s local interest in the project.

Turn The NOAA Building Into Another Art Gallery?

Tourist Hucksters Want To Change Airport’s Name

Carmel-Fresno Airport

Carmel-Fresno Airport has a nice sound, right? Is this the same group that wanted to change the name of the Stockton airport to San Francisco Stockton Regional Airport.

Should we all just start tacking “Carmel” to everything to increase it’s value to the less than intelligent tourists?

A Carmel tourism group has proposed changing the name of the Monterey Regional Airport — as it’s currently known — to the Carmel-Monterey Regional Airport, according to a proposal to the airport district’s board of directors this week.
Representatives for the group, Visit Carmel, which is funded by hotel and restaurant customers, showed Monterey Peninsula Airport District’s five directors Wednesday a presentation outlining why it believes including “Carmel” in the name would benefit the airport and the city.

Tourist Hucksters Want To Change Airport’s Name

Letters From The Editor: Mega Hotel At ATC Is Not For Us

Should be replacing the old 50s motels with up to date PG Remodels instead.

ATC

 

Proposed ATC hotel won’t help
It’s always been about a certain quality of life in Pacific Grove. Always. It’s a bit slower, a bit quieter than our neighbors. If we need to see the “bright lights,” Monterey and Carmel are a very short drive away. I always loved the fact the sidewalks would roll up in the evenings and the town would go to sleep for another day. This quality of life is in danger of being taken away from us by people who want to make Pacific Grove into their vision of what Pacific Grove should be, a tourist town, a place for conventions, a place to hang out at night and have drinks.

So why does Pacific Grove need another hotel? Most say we need the revenue. OK, what city doesn’t? The question we need to ask is, with a limited revenue source, what do we want to sacrifice in order to achieve a more sustainable revenue source? Raise taxes? Raise fees? Pacific Grove is not Monterey or Carmel and I’m not sure if we really want to or need to compete with them. These cities already have the infrastructure and are way ahead of us. If we add another hotel what will this do to the quality of life we have come to expect. With traffic, parking and water issues already at the forefront in town, how will another hotel help with these issues? Will these issues be lessened by building another hotel or will they become worse? Yes, a hotel will bring in revenue to the city but at what cost? Are we willing to throw out the baby with the bathwater? Are we going to accept that this is what’s required for Pacific Grove to become more of a tourist destination than it already is? My opinion is that Pacific Grove has always been a quiet little town and should stay this way. We should not sacrifice this quaintness in order to pay our infrastructure bills, pay for the retirement packages to city employees or to try to compete with our neighbors for tourist money.

Some have said that Pacific Grove needs a place for our school kids to have dances, a place for graduation ceremonies or even a place for high school reunions. My question is how many of these places does Pacific Grove require? We already have plenty of sites that can be used for civic events like Asilomar Conference Grounds, PG Performing Arts Center, the Masonic Lodge, Chautauqua Hall and the golf course clubhouse. There is a new boutique hotel going in at Central and Fountain that was presented to City Council as having space for local events so why do we require another hotel with another space for these events that can not seem to be accommodated currently?

At the proposed ATC hotel, there will be 304 valet served parking spaces for the 225 rooms but this number does not take into account the minimum of 75-100 employee parking spaces, plus vendor parking and all the parking spaces needed for special events will pretty much put the proposed allotted parking at more than capacity on most days.

It’s simple. It’s about our quality of life.

— Vicki Illgner, Pacific Grove

Letters From The Editor: Mega Hotel At ATC Is Not For Us