School Spirt, eh.
The California American Water break occurred after noon in the bus parking zone which parents also use to drop off and pick-up their kids on Sunset Avenue. Former P.G. City Councilman Dan Miller said that about two years ago — before Mogensen was city manager — he complained to city officials about a significant bulge in the pavement in front of the high school, but nothing was done about it. The pavement bulge turned out to be where the water main-break occurred.
Uses her vote allowing loud music at a bar she owns.
Pacific Grove officials are mum one week after a member of the city council voted on a new city rule that some residents say amounted to a conflict of interest. At the March 19 council a council meeting, councilman Joe Amelio proposed an ordinance to allow louder music at downtown businesses and restaurants. The revised noise law would benefit several establishments that host live and recorded music, including a venue called Pop & Hiss at 215 Forest Ave.
But just before the council was to deliberate on the proposal, a resident said during the public comment period that councilwoman Tina Rau should recuse herself from the discussion since she owns the building that Pop & Hiss occupies. Rau did not do that, and neither she nor the other five council members addressed the issue. Minutes later, Rau made a motion to allow louder music. The city council passed the measure 4-2.
Kung Fu Chief starts soon.
City manager Matt Mogensen said he selected Casey Day, a law enforcement officer with about 25 years of experience who’s spent the last five years as the chief for the City of Fortuna in Humboldt County. Day will start the job March 31 and will be sworn in April 2 in P.G. City Council chambers.
Day will replace former PGPD Chief Cathy Madalone, who said on Sept. 27, 2024, that she was retiring after five years at the department. Madalone’s retirement came after she suffered an undisclosed injury in late 2023 and worked from home for months. Madalone, 56, eventually went on paid leave for about six months before retiring. She declined to disclose the nature of her injury. Brian Anderson has been the acting chief since her departure.
At the March 10 meeting of the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, members OK’d the list, which includes mainstream events like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Christmas and Yom Kippur, but also lists lesser-known observances such as International Pronouns Day and World Hijab Day.
The new version contains the Christian and Muslim events. While the calendar lists Mexican Independence Day, it does not include the United States’ Independence Day.
Can’t make stuff up any funnier than the truth. LighthouseAvenue.com tried last year
January
National Big Forehead Day
My Way Day (A favorite of DEI members)
Extraterrestrial Culture Day
National I LOVE My feet Day
February
National Bad Poetry Day
Measure Your Feet Day
National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day
Talk Like William Shakespeare Day
March
National Griper’s Day
Alien Abduction Day
Send an Electronic Greeting Card Day
National Lumpy Rug Day
April
Create a Great Funeral Day
National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
National Rubber Eraser Day
No Socks Day
May
Cow Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day
Stay Away From Fresno Day
National Emo Day
Invite an Alien to Live with You Day
June
Take it in the Ear Day
Hurray for Buttons Day
Call of the Horizon Day
A’Phabet Day or No “L” Day
National Ugly Truck Contest Day
July
Do a Grouch a Favor Day
False Confession Day
Dumbstruck Day
Festival for the Souls of Dead Whales
August
Clashing Clothes Day
National Name Your Car Day
Curmudgeons Day
Hawaiian Shirt Day
September
Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day
Barbie-in-a-Blender Day
National Reach As High As You Can Day
Gorilla Suit Day
October
Haunted Refrigerator Night
Keep Off the Grass Day
Fill Our Staplers Day
Jump Over Things Day
November
Sock Monkey Day
Kyrgyzstan National Hat Day
Blah Blah Blah Day
Quitters Day
National Paranormal Day
December
Hobbit Day
Look for Circles Day
Thumb Appreciation Day
National Handcuff Day
Everything You Think Is Wrong Day (DEI founded on this day)
Middle Name Pride Day
DEI Group Busy With Inclusional Delusional Holidays
About declining enrollment. And Therapists? Didn’t we used to call them counselors or is this some other made up non-teaching job?
school board last week voted to lay off several teachers
and therapists to help close a nearly $3 million deficit.
Pacific Grove Unified School District chief human resources officer Buck Roggeman told the board that the layoffs are due to decreases in student enrollment in kindergarten through fifth grade. Pacific Grove’s two elementary schools are Forest Grove on Congress and Robert Down on Pine.
House was empty.
The Feb. 23 structure fire began at about 2:10 p.m. at 133 Lighthouse Ave, near Eardley Avenue. Monterey Fire crews responded two-and-a-half minutes after dispatch notified the department and saw thick, gray smoke pouring from the roof vents and eaves of the single-story home. It took fire crews about 30 minutes to extinguish it.
The damage to the structure is estimated to be about $200,000, and another $40,000 in property loss, Monterey Fire Division Chief Justin Cooper told The Pine Cone. The cause is believed to be electrical in nature.
Flock camera led police to the van used in the thefts.
A woman from Pebble Beach and a Seaside man were arrested by Monterey Police after two ATMs were stolen last week, including from a business the same man burglarized four years ago, police said. On Feb. 21, at 3:47 a.m., offcers were called to investigate a burglary at Randazzo’s Wash and Dry on the 2200 block of North Fremont Street. Surveillance video depicts a person driving a van up to the business and throwing a “heavy object” through a glass window, entering the laundromat, and dragging an ATM out. Police said it was loaded into the suspect’s vehicle.
The thief fled the scene before officers arrived. The next morning, though, a passerby walking near Asilomar Beach discovered the stolen ATM, which had been cut and
forced open and the cash removed. On Feb. 24, at 4:13 a.m., Pacific Grove Police were called to a burglary at The Grove Laundry, a laundromat on Forest Avenue. A suspect driving a van that appeared to be the same one in the Monterey burglary pulled up to the back of the business and threw an object through a glass door before entering.On Feb. 26, Monterey Police, with help from Pacific Grove and Seaside police, issued a search warrant on the 1800 block of Luzern Street in Seaside and detained Sage Keller, 23, of Seaside, and Pebble Beach resident Julia Spears, 26. Keller — who was convicted in 2021 of burglarizing the same PG. laundromat — was arrested on suspicion of burglary, possession of burglary tools, being a felon in
possession of a firearm, drugs, an assault rifle, ammunition and a large capacity rifle magazine.
But councilwoman Cynthia Garfield appears to be a fussbudget over “Weed Barriers” about the whole thing. And Chaps Poduri can’t figure out how much city staff time it will take for non-city staff.
The group’s proposal has the blessing of PG. Public Works director Daniel Gho and city manager Matt Mogensen, and it received unanimous approval from the city’s beautification and natural resources commission in January. Gibbs said Gho and Mogensen have offered “encouragement, support and guidance” for the idea.
At the Feb. 19 council meeting, though, councilwoman Cynthia Garfield requested the item be pulled from the consent agenda for discussion. While Garfield said she was in favor of the idea, she wanted more detail on how much staff time might be spent on the projects.“We’ve not had a full report on all the things that staff will be doing,” Garfield said
The councilwoman also pointed to unresolved “procedural things,” challenged the type of weed barrier proposed and questioned other aspects of the proposal In response, Gibbs said her group is not taking any city funds nor having city employees do any hands-on landscape work.
An elderly woman from Monterey shot herself to death Tuesday in a Pacific Grove park, according to authorities.
Pacific Grove Police said that a passerby found the body of the 77-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, in Higgins Park at Forest and David avenues at
about 7:40 a.m. Police responded after getting a report of an “unconscious subject lying on the ground.” “When officers and firefighters arrived, they found a female subject suffering from a gunshot wound and unresponsive,” police said. “Paramedics declared the female subject deceased at the scene, and officers held the scene until the coroner arrived.”
It’s what neighbors get their ears filled with.
But the city is hopeful that a newly installed device will not only minimize the sound, but also the number of complaints.
It recently installed “sound fencing” on a portion of the courts’ chain link fence. The material is purported to attenuate the loud “whack” when players’ paddles strike
the hard plastic ball. Many say the activity’s repetitive sound is more noticeable — and more irritating — than tennis.The sound fencing, manufactured by company Acoustiblok, and other work to the courts were estimated at $47,000