“I know the government officially says we’re in a recession. I’ve just chosen not to participate,” said John Wiseman, of Searle Framing.
Wiseman walked away from his small Central Coast chain of art supply and framing stores after he sold it 14 months ago to an investor.
Wiseman was working on his golf game full time when he got word last weekend that his old stores would close its doors, leaving more than a dozen long-time employees without jobs.
Judge Timothy Roberts said he was aware of ongoing federal and state court cases addressing the inadequacy of mental health care in California’s prisons.
However, he said, attempts to find an alternative program for Glenn Blevins were unsuccessful and he was too much of a danger to release.
Roberts also rejected Blevins’ request to withdraw his no-contest plea, saying it was too late in the case. Blevins said he agreed to the plea bargain only because he’d been told he would be granted probation.
The judge said the viciousness of his crime, and Blevins’ increasingly serious arrest record, made him an inappropriate candidate for probation.
Pacific Grove will go down in history as one of the few cities to pull out of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Former P.G. City Councilman Dan Davis, a mathematician whose term ended earlier this month, has been arguing for the city to quit CalPERS for years. New reports show the state retirement system has lost 31 percent of its value– more than $81 billion– since its peak in October 2007.
“You don’t really need to understand the details to know that we’re in trouble,” Davis says. “If [CalPERS] doesn’t recover those losses, we need to make up the difference. Cities don’t have the money to do that.”
It may seem logical for P.G. to jump from a sinking CalPERS ship– but the timing is terrible. If the city had terminated the retirement plan in June 2007, Davis says, CalPERS would have refunded P.G. about $10 million. In June 2008, the refund would have been about $1 million.
“Now,” he says, “the city of P.G. owes CalPERS about $20 million.”
Yah, I know. Attract and keep quality workers with CalPERS as a benefit. But by winning workers from another town you’ll fill the ranks with workers that are prone to jump ship. If they left one job to come here, what keeps them from moving on. I have worked at jobs that were not as good as offers from Oakland. But who wants to work in Oakland?
The illicit activity started in September and happened in places from Salinas to the Peninsula, Uretsky said. Pacific Grove Police started investigating in October after a resident reported her mail, which included courtesy checks from her credit card company, stolen. One check turned up at a Pacific Grove bank and the teller recognized the name, he said.
Edith Gaskins, 39, of Seaside, one of the people arrested, allegedly opened a checking account online with one of the woman’s stolen checks.
Also arrested were Leticia Balajadia, 33, of Seaside, and Marina residents Warkiesha Pettis-Gulley, 33, and Brian Anderson, 40.
I’ve been having my mail sent to a Post Office Box for over 20 years, because of things like this. Always wondered what would happen if one of those ‘instant debt’ checks that come every month got lifted..
If it’s not enough getting assaulted or mugged, now it’s harassment by the bike riders.
Recently, my family and I have taken to the Monterey Rec Trail for some relaxing bike riding. The first outing led to my children getting a quick lesson in profanity from a bicyclist who was going at an excessive speed. The second came with another bicyclist crashing into my daughter, leaving her bleeding. Sure, he turned around but never once came back to ensure she was OK.
I find it despicable that these bikers think that they own this Rec Trail and that they are performing the Tour De France. After summoning a police officer he informed me that this Rec Trail is for walkers, runners, and bikers of all ages.
It’s a holiday tradition that has drawn crowds of people to Forest Avenue and Morse Drive in Pacific Grove since the 1940s.
It’s one of the most elaborate holiday displays on the central coast and on Saturday night the lights were turned on.
Hundreds of visitors will flock to Candy Cane Lane, this month to help them get into the holiday spirit.
And it has nothing to do with drawing shoppers to PG. Enjoy, it’s free to visit and no one is trying to sell you anything.
New LED wreaths. Nice change from the boring white ones.
“Well the holiday season in Pacific Grove is very important, especially to the down town merchants, and so the decoration lightning that we do down there is a key integral part of the whole celebratory aspect here, and one of the things we’ve been looking at is energy efficiency, says Pacific Grove public works superintendent Celia Martinez.
Pacific Grove has done just that, with 90 wreaths lining the light poles on Lighthouse and over 6,000 holiday light bulbs shining for 9 hours per night through the holiday season, an electricity bill of over $2,200 from last year, will be cut drastically.
Speaking of boring white lights, the “little Las Vegas” display on the old Grove Theater building is out this year. Merry X-mas!
Don’t know if he is telling the truth or not.
Saying he’s fed up with nearly 14 years of delays in his attempt to build a luxury hotel in downtown Pacific Grove, developer Nader Agha has put the landmark Holman Building on the market.
The sale price of $17.95 million includes the 84-year-old, 120,000-square-foot Holman Building and the 1.35-acre lot it sits on, as well as four other lots on Fountain Avenue being used for parking and a building across the street at 549 Lighthouse, Agha said.
Nader’s Hotel Proposal, also championed by Losin’ Susan:
Nader blames the changes in city leaders, but other business people have been successful in deals with the city. Old Bathhouse. Lighthouse Cinema. Maybe a big (ugly) hotel is not what we need.
(Trip Advisor)
People let loose with comments –
The Clement Monterey
Breakfast at C overpriced but very good. Lots of flies in eating area and staff a little slow. Great location.The Intercontinental has used these plasticized mattress covers – I guess in case you have an accident!? Yuck.
Monterey Bay Inn
The only noise through the night was the Sea Lions honking down the beach, and I’m not going to complain about that.the flattest pillows I have ever seen.
The manager on duty was unprofessional, as well as argumentative and patronizing
Bed did not seem clean. Smelled like other people. Ew.
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa
Every bit of noise was audible in the room, from the squawking seagull to the bass of a car. Though we could not hear our next door neighbors you can hear the folks upstairs. I was able to hear someone peeFatal flaw is the beds. Like plywood with a thin foam cover.
To reach the heart of Cannery Row, you have to walk by several “scenic” vacant lots, boarded up buildings and cyclone fencing.
Did I mention the service is super polite, even tho the waiter’s tie dangled in the main course and the dessert.
Sunset Inn
Regarding the room, I felt a bit like I was staying in a basement because of the pretty small windows in the room.I didn’t snore but the guy in the room next to ours did. The walls are extremely thin.
It was the same price as other very dirty properties.
A continental breakfast was offered but the coffee served was so foul it could strip paint.
Asilomar Conference Grounds
Stuff growing in corners of shower.staff liked to start cleaning rooms before 8am. It’s either sleep with the vacuum cleaner running, or get up.
Rosedale Inn Executive Suite
opening the windows took care of the smell.Deer Haven Inn & Suites
I also defrosted the refrigerator while I was there so the door would shutstay away from the back building with the two bedroom suites, very scary!!!
The room smelled clean but some of the items in the room did not. Those items are the bath tub, door hinges and the kitchen.
The room was like a section 8 apartment.
Lover’s Point Inn
pre-packed pastry where the list of chemical ingredients barely fits on the wrapper.good hotel to film a cheap B horror film at.
We wondered if it was haunted the motel was so empty.
Butterfly Grove Inn
but $190 for a room we didn’t want and in the end they gave to someone else?Holiday Inn Express Monterey – Cannery Row
We were woken up at 4am by a naked man talking on his phone outside our room (yes I did say naked!!) When I called reception they just came to the courtyard and asked the guy to ‘keep it down’Sadly the courtyard set up means that people stand outside their doors smoking along the footways overlooking the courtyard
Best Western Victorian Inn
When we got to our room and unpacked my wife heard a noise coming from the BR.We looked at the tub and the drain started to fill the tub with someone else s soapy, dirty water…yechh.Elevators smelled strange (possible pet urine?)
It was possible to hear whether the person in the bathroom above us was going #1 or #2 in the middle of the night
The Borg’s Ocean Front Motel
Right now my back feels like I slept on uneven rocks. Taking a pain pill and going to see the chiropractor tomorrow.we were not told there would be a triathalon taking place on the street in front of the motel (it blocked our view and megaphones were making very loud announcements starting at 5:30 in the morning) at the time we made our reservation. What’s with that?
Sea Breeze Lodge
the guy had to light the gas heat in our room which was really odd and made me paranoidI noticed the window was unlocked, so I checked all the other ones, which were also unlocked.
The Wilkie’s Inn
“Deceptfully charming on the outside. Nasty on the inside.”Lighthouse Lodge & Suites
there was a major draft through it and the room itself was strange in terms of decor.carpet needs to be shampooed-my feet became black when I walked barefoot
The two soaps on the sink area were unwrapped and one had obviously been used. There was a brown stain on a white towel.
view out the balacony was a “grave yard”.
They had no one available to fix the toilet so they sent a plunger over for US to do it ourselves.
sweaty-smelling pillows,
Best Western Monarch Resort:
looks and feels like a college apartment complex.
Thank you Monterey Police for nabbing so many DUIs this month . .
11/1/08 Citizen reports finding a checkbook, credit card and $100 inside Carrows Restaurant.
11/2/08 PARKER, SUNSHINE MONIQUE and PARKER, BRANDON TODD were arrested for public intoxication at Dickman and Hawthorne.
11/2/08 Victim reported the theft of her purse and laptop computer from her unlocked vehicle in the 800 blk of Laine
11/2/08 Victim reports the theft of property from his unlocked vehicle in the 700 block of Lily.
11/2/08 Victim reports the theft of property from her unlocked vehicle in the 700 block of Lily.
11/2/08 LAMBERT, CHASE was arrested for public intoxication in the 700 block of Lighthouse.
11/2/08 Victim reports an unknown to have stolen the rear Ca license plate from her motorcycle, while parked in the 200 blk of Lighthouse.
11/4/08 MPD towed a Utility trailer from in front of 999 David for expired registration.
11/4/08 Victim reported the wheels with Patens tires were stolen from his vehicle while parked in the 1100 blk of McClellan.
11/4/08 A vehicle was towed from 900 Belden for expired registration.
11/7/08 BLANCHARD, DIMITRI was arrested for DUI at Prescott and Archer. His vehicle was also involved in a collision with the yellow crosswalk sign at Laine at Prescott.
11/7/08 Assiri, Abdulrahman, was arrested by DUI at Lighthouse and Foam.
11/7/08 VAZQUEZ, ALEJANDRO was arrested for DUI following a vehicle vs. parked vehicle collision at Hawthorne and Prescott.
11/7/08 Victim reports residential burglary in the 800 blk of David.
11/7/08 Victim reports an unknown WMA to have battered him at 611 Lighthouse.
11/8/08 FRANK, ADAM was cited for driving on a suspended license for DUI at Drake and Foam.
11/8/08 Victim reports Suspect to have disturbed her peace on Laine.
11/8/08 MPD towed a vehicle from the area of Terry and Whithers for expired registration over six months.
11/8/08 Subject was placed on a 72 hour evaluation in the 700 blk of Taylor.
11/8/08 Department of Social Services was aided with a welfare check on a Subject in the 700 blk of Hawthorne.
11/9/08 MPD towed 6 cars from Cannery Row and Alvarado for the Big Sur Half Marathon.
11/9/08 Victim reports a strong arm robbery by an unknown Suspect in the 500 block of Hawthorne.
11/10/08 Victim reports a vehicle driven by an unknown driver to have struck and damaged his vehicle at 406 Lighthouse.
11/11/08 R/P reports finding a bindle of cocaine in the 300 blk of David.
11/11/08 Santa Clara County SO was aided in the arrest of GAMEZ, YVONNE for having a no bail traffic warrant. Occurred in the 600 block of Archer.
11/11/08 Victim reports theft of an Apple I-touch from the 400 blk of Foam..
11/12/08 SPROULE, THOMAS was arrested for public intoxication in the 700 blk of Lighthouse.
11/13/08 GONSALVES, ROBERT was arrested for public intoxication at the Coast Guard Pier and Recreation Trail.
11/13/08 R/P reports unknown to have tried to fill a prescription by phone at a business in the 600 blk of Lighthouse.
11/14/08 Victim reports vehicle burglary while parked in the 800 blk of Irving.
11/14/08 COLUM, SHONTA was arrested for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant out of L.A. county in the 600 blk of Wave.
11/14/08 COLUM, SHONTA BMA was arrested for misappropriation of found property, in the 600 blk of Wave.
11/14/08 WINGROVE, THOMAS was involved in a solo traffic collision, struck a parked vehicle in the 600 block of David then collided into the complex at 601 David. WINGROVE was treated for injuries at CHOMP, later arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and possession of hypodermic needles.
11/15/08 Victim reports commercial burglary in the 300 blk of Foam.
11/15/08 Victim was aided in receiving medical aid after a diving incident at Breakwater Cove.
11/15/08 Subject was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold for being a danger to others in the 1700 blk of Whithers.
11/16/08 Harcarik, Lauren was arrested for DUI at Foam and Hoffman.
11/16/08 MPD aided Monterey Fire Department in forcing entry into a home in the 300 blk of Spencer.
11/16/08 GONSALVEZ, ROBERT was arrested for public intoxication at 95 Prescott.
11/16/08 Victim unknown to have taken two satellite dishes from the 400 blk of Oak.
11/17/08 CALDERON, CHUCK was cited for driving on s suspended driver license, suspended for a DUI, after a traffic stop in the 300 blk of Cannery Row.
11/17/08 MALONE, MICHAEL was arrested for vandalism after destroying 4 park benches with his skateboard at 32 Cannery Row.
11/17/08 GONSALVEZ, ROBERT was arrested for public intoxication in the 800 blk of Lighthouse.
11/17/08 SCHAFER KENNETH was arrested for public intoxication in the 800 block of Lighthouse.
11/18/08 Victim reports hit and run to his vehicle at Irving and Lighthouse.
11/18/08 GONZALVES, ROBERT was arrested for public intoxication at the intersection of Cannery Row and Reeside.
11/19/08 MPD towed a vehicle from the 400 block of Pine for expired registration.
11/19/08 DIAZ, EVELIA was arrested for DUI and driving on a suspended drivers license in the 100 block of Foam.
11/19/08 MCSO was aided in the arrest of CURTIS, LISA for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant at the intersection of Foam and Hoffman.
11/20/08 PARIGI, MEGAN was arrested for public intoxication in the 400 blk of Oak St.
11/20/08 MCSO was aided in issuing a citation for a misdemeanor warrant to COOPER, RICKIE at 398 Lighthouse.
11/20/08 Victim reports unknown to have struck and damaged his vehicle at David and Lighthouse.
11/20/08 HICKS, JASON was arrested for public intoxication in the 600 blk of Cannery Row.
11/21/08 Victim reports theft of property in the 600 blk of Lighthouse.
11/22/08 Victim reports residential burglary in the 2000 blk of David.
11/22/08 Hendricks, John was arrested for public intoxication in the 500 block of Hawthorne.
11/23/08 Victim reports unk to have cut holes in her car cover in the 700 blk of Devisadero.
11/28/08 MCSO was aided in the issuance of a citation to HUDSON, GLENN for an outstanding warrant at 280 Dickman.
11/29/08 Subject fell off his bike on the recreation trail near Foam and Cannery Row.
11/29/08 Subject was placed on a 72 hour hold in the 600 blk of Dickman.
11/30/08 R/P reports finding property somewhere on Cannery Row.