Author Archives: admin

Would You Want A Business Or Home Next To This?

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Tattoo shops. Head shops. Massage parlors. Great slide into ghetto. Any wonder the residential area in New Monterey is rampant with petty crimes?
Tattoo Shop

Investigators are now saying it was most likely a Molotov cocktail that started the fire at Creative Visions Tattoo Parlor in Monterey.

The fire started around 5 AM and police believe it may have been set during a burglary. The police department originally received a call for a burglary alarm going off at 800 Lighthouse Avenue, when the arrived at the scene the place was on fire.

Would You Want A Business Or Home Next To This?

Tax The Tourists? Moe Say Don’t Do It, Everything Will Be Fine!

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Moe knows what’s REALLY good for P.G.

Baghdad Moe

In addition, he will ask the council to consider an emergency resolution that would allow new or increased taxes to be put on the Nov. 3 ballot. Those include raising the hotel room or transient occupancy tax increase from 10 to 12 percent, increasing the business license tax by deleting an annual tax limit, imposing a new 1.5 percent real estate transfer tax, and a parcel tax to fund the Pacific Grove Public Library.

The room and business license tax proposals are fighting words to Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar.

“We are opposed to this all the way,” he said. “This one, we’re going to fight. The city has to live within its means.”

Tax The Tourists? Moe Say Don’t Do It, Everything Will Be Fine!

Watsonville Chimes In On P.G. Police

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When I first moved to the area, I was stopped by a Pacific Grove policeman. This time, I was truly curious.
…
As I drove away, the warning I understood was that older-model cars might be stopped and searched at random by Pacific Grove police.

Watsonville’s police force is dedicated to public safety, not collecting taxes. My interactions with Monterey and Pacific Grove have left me to believe that creating revenue is the priority. Perhaps they just don’t have enough to do. Perhaps those cities could save some money in work force reductions.

Me, I will be wary and do less shopping and eating in Monterey County. I can’t afford $250 toll roads.

Maybe that’s why the stabbings and gang shootings happen in Watsonville and not P.G.?
A few recent stories out of W-ville:
8/3 A homeless man and six Watsonville gang members, age 12-19, have been arrested in connection with the April slaying of another homeless man.
8/3 rape of a 23-year-old woman in her home early Saturday
7/17 WATSONVILLE – Police are searching for a man who they said tried to kill the mother of his children Friday morning.
7/17 Teen boy recovering after being shot in the stomach in gang incident
7/14 Car chase, crash, stabbing in Watsonville blamed on gang rivalry
7/13 Teen stabbed in the head after Sunday night car chase
7/12 Two stabbings reported in Watsonville
6/17 Two arrested for street corner gunpoint robbery outside Watsonville
6/17 Watsonville teen shot in suspected gang-related drive-by
6/17 Watsonville men face trial on gang, assault charges for stabbing on Santa Cruz’ Chestnut Street
6/6 Teens stabbed, badly hurt during Watsonville gang fight
6/5 Watsonville neighborhood feud erupts into street fight between gang members

Watsonville Chimes In

Pollacci To Stand Trial For Rape

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Tom Pollacci

 

After hours sitting in front of a judge Friday, Tom Pollacci of Pebble Beach will stand trial on charges of rape.

His family owns Ron’s Liquor store on Lighthouse Ave. in Pacific Grove. Pollacci is accused of raping an unconscious woman back in April of 2008.

Pollacci could face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.

He’ll be back in court at the end of this month. Pollacci is out on bail.

From the Hear-Old:

McGuirk testified she (Jane Doe #5) told him that one morning as she was getting ready for high school, there was a knock on her door. She answered and found Pollacci and another man, who threw her over his shoulders in her bathrobe and forced her into Pollacci’s car.

They drove her to the river in mid-Carmel Valley. The other man, whom she did not know, held her down while Pollacci raped her, she said.
. .

Another woman said Pollacci, a friend of her ex-husband, raped her in her home during an unannounced visit more than 20 years ago. Another said he tried to rape her in the parking lot of the Highlands Inn after a luncheon date in 1992. That woman did report her assault to police, and Pollacci pleaded guilty to sexual battery.

Pollaci To Stand Trial For Rape

Slash & Burn. Layoffs & Cutbacks Imminent

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In 2007, the city eliminated 24 employee positions, which included the layoffs of 16 workers. The move was said to save an estimated $580,000. Now, Becklenberg said the council needs to consider more layoffs.
“We will have to look at customer service at city hall,” he said. “Can we afford the same staffing levels?” Becklenberg will also tell council members the city could save tens of thousands of dollars every year simply by loosening it’s notoriously rigid architectural and historic review standards.

Ditch that tourist chamber payoff, don’t think it’s done any good.

Slash & Burn. Layoffs & Cutbacks Imminent

Peas In A Pod – Agha & Potter

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They all sound corrupt to me. Why would Nader support Potter when he is in cahoots with Goldbeck to get his gargantuan Holman Hotel approved?

Monterey real estate developer Nader Agha says he gave a $10,000 check more than five years ago to county Supervisor Dave Potter’s election campaign that was never reported by the campaign as required by state law.

Potter said Tuesday, “I have no idea what Nader is talking about. If he had given me $10,000, I would have reported it.”

Agha said Potter called him in January 2004 saying he needed financial help because his campaign was short of money. Potter was facing a formidable primary challenge that year in his bid for a third term from two challengers — Salinas Valley agribusinessman Stephen Collins and then-Pacific Grove City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck.

Peas In A Pod – Agha & Potter

Bankruptcy Knocking At The Door Again

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The city undertook a major staff reorganization in 2007, and in November, voters approved an increase in the city sales tax, which staved off shutting down city services, Bennett said.

But wage, benefit and retirement commitments to city employee groups are continuing to erode city finances, and “they’re not going down as our income and the economy is going down,” she said.

The council, Bennett said, should look at “what the downsides of bankruptcy might be and learn them before we’re in an emergency situation.”

City Hall Bk

 

Bankruptcy Knocking At The Door Again..

Pacific Grove – City Of Homes Or Transients

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Less resources for residents, says Moammar.

The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce is proposing that voters re-write a decades old law to help bring in some money to the cash-strapped city.

Victoria Arroyo, the general manager of the Seabreeze Inn and Cottages in Pacific Grove, said their hands are tied when it comes to upgrading their facility. Arroyo said they want to be competitive with their Monterey neighbors, but it’s nearly impossible with Measure C in place.

Yes, lets have more garbage on the ground from Sea Breeze Motel.

Dumpster Sea Breeze Motel 071216a

Pacific Grove – City Of Homes Or Transients

July 4th Weekend Not So Busy

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No way did the town seem crowded at all.

Budget cutbacks forced the city of Monterey to cancel its annual fireworks display, but thanks to a calendar coincidence, which moved the MotoGP race up two weeks to July 4 weekend this year, thousands of colorful bikes lined Cannery Row.

Police began closing the street to automobile traffic about 2 p.m. Lt. Leslie Sonné of the Monterey Police Department expected 8,000 to 10,000 people to be on hand by the evening — about what the event has attracted in past years.

By mid afternoon, attendance was below last year’s, possibly because an aggressive public relations campaign to discourage illegal fireworks in the city, Deputy Chief Mike Aspland said.

July 4th Weekend Not So Busy

Pedestrian Safety Still A Concern

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I have been known to stop and move those sidewalk graffiti signs OUT of the way when they are in the middle of the foot traffic path, such as the curb cuts for handicap access or this Keller Williams sign in the middle of the sidewalk.

Kelller Williams Sign In Way

Now if they can get those bistros that expand out onto the sidewalk to raise the umbrellas so I don’t have to duck. . .

In their efforts to make Pacific Grove a safer place to walk, five members of the Traffic Safety Commission formed a subcommittee to focus on the issue of pedestrian safety improvements. These include sidewalks, crosswalks and traffic signals.

Pedestrian Safety Still A Concern