Category Archives: KSBW News

Short Term Rentals A Burglar’s Delight

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Do all Airbnb customers rifle through your mail other personal items? Or just burglars pretending to be looking for place to stay?

The thief had walked up to the house and rang the doorbell at 6 p.m. Tuesday, police said. When no one answered the door, she began snatching mail from a mailbox.

The woman was surprised when the homeowner’s voice came through an intercom.

“Can I help you?” the homeowner asked to make the woman realize she was being watched.

“Oh! I’m sorry I think I have the wrong address. Is this a Airbnb place?” the thief replied.

Short Term Rentals A Burglar’s Delight

Sea Lion Posse Wants Your Tax Dollars

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Animal lovers want tax money to protect seals. Liken it to feeding stray cats. Keep protecting them and the population quickly increases, outstripping the food sources and attracting more predators.

Harbormaster with the city of Monterey, Steve Scheiblauer said last spring the number jumped to about 700 and with it came a lot starving juveniles.

“At that time the animals were young and thin very emaciated looking,” Scheiblauer said.

For many it was hard to watch the animals, which can be an annoyance to many boaters and fisherman but are also endearing.

“It’s hard to witness this kind of thing, but you know I have seen a lot of it and this is nature appears to be unfolding,” said Scheiblauer about the event in 2015.

Delong said the population is seeing its first big disturbance in decades thanks to the warm blob which has been pushing food sources farther out to sea.

Sea Lion Posse Wants Your Tax Dollars

Californian Tests Positive For Zika Virus

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Not to be confused with Zito Virus which causes one to hug disease releasing raccoons.

The resident had recently traveled out of the country and contracted the Zika virus. Zika is spread through mosquito bites.

We think it’s only a matter of time before the viruses and the mosquitoes in California get together, and that we have infected mosquitoes, and that there’s local transmission. But this won’t be a very frequent occurrence,” Santa Cruz county mosquito and vector control manager Paul Binding said.

It’s possible that a traveler infected with the virus could be bitten by a local mosquito and that mosquito could bite someone else, further transmitting the virus.

Californian Tests Positive For Zika Virus 

Dumb Criminal Sends Selfie to Victim

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And gets a thumbs up from the cops.

Pacific Grove armed robbery arrest

Victor-Almanza-Martinez

Just after 1am, Pacific Grove Police Officers responded to Lovers Point Park. Three Hispanic males had approached four victims sitting inside a vehicle, and ordered the victims out of their vehicle at gun point. The men robbed the victims of their property and stole their vehicle.

One of the men took a selfie with one of the victims, and sent it to his victim as a text message. The picture was examined by authorities, and that led them to their man, Victor Almanza-Martinez, 18, who was arrested later that morning a in the 10000 block of Axtell Street in Castroville.

Almanza-Martyinez was arrested without incident and charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, possession of stolen property, conspiracy, violation of probation, and gang enhancements. Almanza-Martinez was transported to the Monterey County Jail with bail set at $170,000.

Dumb Criminal Sends Selfie to Victim

P.G. Cougar Gets Evicted

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Frightened resident calls 911 to report a wild animal.

Mountain Lion If Attacked

On Monday morning, residents were surprised when they spotted a cougar climbing up trees and over the rooftops of homes along Acacia Street, Eardley Avenue, and Line Street. The mountain lion chose a large oak tree to lounge in.

Some observers were nervous, because a day care with small children inside was nearby. “When I called 911, the first dispatch operator told me to call a biologist! I kept calling back,” resident John Kendrick said.

Pacific Grove police officers were eventually dispatched, and wildlife wardens decided to tranquilize it.

“The mountain lion was unharmed and transported away from the scene for relocation,” Acting Police Chief Rory Lakind said.

P.G. Cougar Gets Evicted

Cannery Row Road Rage Results in Reckless Ruling

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Goofy Road Rage

On October 6, 2014, two vehicles were racing on Cannery Row.

The driver of the second vehicle, the defendant, was driving in the wrong lane on a two-way street and nearly collided with a patrol vehicle.

Officer Richardson initiated a traffic stop on both vehicles and determined the incident was motivated by road rage. Carlo Aiken, 55, was found guilty for reckless driving.

Cannery Row Road Rage Results in Reckless Ruling

Moe Says More Tourists Will Solve Everything

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Never mind the minimum wage workers and those that prey on tourists that follow.

The Holman renovation will include four ocean-view penthouses, eight new stores, and 25 2,000-square-foot luxury condos.

The condos are expected to cost between $550 and $700 per square foot.

“We have never had condos built in this price range on the Monterey Peninsula with the exception of the Inn at Spanish Bay,” Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar said.

Ammar said he believes even though it’s a first for Pacific Grove, the development will be successful.

“We know it’s going to work because the demand is there,” Ammar said. “Everybody wants to live on the Central Coast. Everybody wants an ocean view. And ocean view development just doesn’t exist anymore.”

At the Tin Cannery, a 160-room hotel is being planned across the street from the aquarium.

Still in the early stages of the project, the development needs approval by the Coastal Commission. But first, the city’s voters will have to approve zoning changes that allow for a hotel.

The Chamber of Commerce predicts the hotel could bring in $30 million a year, or 25 percent of the city’s budget.

Moe Says More Tourists Will Solve Everything

Forest Hill Too Good, Let’s Ruin It

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Traffic Calming
Coming soon to Forest Hill. Roundabouts, bumpouts, unused bike lanes, and other “traffic calming improvements” to bring the war on cars to another Pacific Grove roadway much like Central Avenue. Just the thought is costing taxpayers $150,000.

Some of the design solutions on the table include extending sidewalks and slowing down vehicle traffic with narrower turn lanes.

Leaders charged with making Highway 68 a safer place for everyone in Pacific Grove took to the streets Wednesday to identify key problems.

Recently a $150,000 Cal Trans grant was allocated to study ways to improve all modes of transportation along Highway 68 within Pacific Grove city limits.

“We are looking at the physical corridor to see where the issues really lie and where the problems are,” Ariana Green with TAMC said.

“It’s really sad all of the accidents, all of the fatalities. Just in the last year there have been three fatalities and seven accidents with pedestrians getting hurt, so it’s pretty bad,” Moe Ammar with the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce said.

Forest Hill Too Good, Let’s Ruin It

Shared Police Chief Quits P.G.

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Was it too quiet for Vicki in Pacific Grove?

PGPD Help Wanted

After three years as police chief for both Pacific Grove and Seaside, Chief Vicki Myers is stepping down as top cop in Pacific Grove so that she can devote her full attention to Seaside.

Myers made this decision about a month after both city’s police officer associations voted that they have no confidence in her.

When we asked Myers about the votes of no confidence, she said it was one of the many reasons she is switching to solely focus on Seaside.

Shared Police Chief Quits P.G.

Pacific Grove Residents Turn Against The Tourists

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Wha wha what? The very leaders the residents elect and the goofus Moammar have all been working hard to bring tourists to the town. Suddenly the town is becoming popular with visitors and people are all mad about it?

Why act so surprised? First there was the come-heres buying up all the funky rental houses, they remodeled them and stayed in them for a few weeks a year. Now they are renting them out to total strangers they find on the Internets.

Be careful what you ask for, tax loving P.G. politicians. You may get something slightly different than you wanted.

The program has been around for the last five years, but in the last year the city has seen an explosion in requests for short-term rental licenses.

Longtime Pacific Grove resident Thom Akeman has owned his home for 27 years, and he said thanks to sites like Airbnb his street has taken a turn for the worse.

“The last year it’s ceased to be residential, very few people live on this street because the short-term rentals that started about five years ago just in the last year went crazy,” said Akeman.

Pacific Grove Residents Turn Against The Tourists

And 27 years for the tree posse sheriff? He’s still a come here.