Category Archives: Monterey Herald

Point Pinos Pedestrian Plucked From Perilous Perch

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Seaweed Rocks

Like that one? Better headline than man rescued from rocks. And don’t try to get there in your all wheel drive Subaru, either.

The rescue took about 45 minutes at about 5 p.m., according to Pacific Grove Police. Sgt. Jeff Fenton was patrolling the beach front when he was flagged down about an injured person on the rocks off the shoreline in the 1400 block of Ocean View Boulevard. “I got there and did a quick assessment about where he was located on the rocks,” said Fenton. “Then I requested (the fire department) and suggested they bring the ladder truck from one of their special rescues that we’ve done.”

Upon their arrival, police officers assisted Monterey Fire and American Medical Response by helping to hoist the 54-year-old man in and up from the rocks using ropes and pulleys. The man, who is from New York, was then transported to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

Point Pinos Pedestrian Plucked From Perilous Perch

What’s In The Bag, Chum?

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Fishing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A shark attacked a man spearfishing Friday afternoon in Stillwater Cove, Cal Fire said.The incident, which occurred at 1:38 p.m., left a significant bite to one of the man’s legs.
A Monterey County sheriff’s deputy who arrived at the scene applied a tourniquet to stop what was described by the Sheriff’s Office as massive bleeding.
The victim was transported to Natividad Medical Center, where his condition is currently unknown. His name or age has not yet been released.

What’s In The Bag, Chum?

Zombie Butterflies On The Loose

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Zombie Butterflies

Probably birds. Wouldn’t it be odd if it was hawks brought in to control sea gulls finding the town’s symbol more tasty than gulls.

The butterflies are often found clinging to life — their abdomen removed with seemingly surgical precision.

“Their abdomen is just severed clean off, like you took it off with a scalpel,” says Stong, who is also the regional coordinator for the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count.

Connie Masotti, a docent at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, has also found several of the gutless butterflies. Based on their observations, Masotti suspects that the predation happens just before sunrise, since the butterflies are still alive when the docents get to their stations in the early morning.

Zombie Butterflies On The Loose

Feel Free To Sell Out P.G. To AirBnB

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Stop STRs

No lottery to ration out the licenses for weekend rental of homes. The mayor sides with other newcomers to pimp houses to short term rentals and further degrade the quality of life for permanent residents. Remember all this when election time comes around, non resident owners can’t vote.

That was the decision made Monday night on a 4-2 vote at a special meeting/workshop held at the Pacific Grove Community Center to clarify the short-term rental lottery procedure. The four-hour meeting had upward of 100 in attendance, many of whom were short-term rental owners. Council members Bill Peake and Nick Smith were those that remained in favor of keeping the lottery. Councilman Robert Huitt was not in attendance Monday.

It was in October that council members approved the first reading of Pacific Grove’s amended short-term rental policy. That ordinance incorporated the use of a lottery system that would siphon out short-term rentals in areas where their numbers exceed density requirements.

The ordinance, which will now have a new first reading at the Dec. 6 council meeting, allows only 15 percent of housing per block dedicated to short-term rentals and for that number to include both Type A (owner doesn’t necessarily reside at site) and Type B (owner resides on site) licenses. Other changes include adopting a 55-foot zone of exclusion to address density problems of short-term rentals and that the total number of STRs be capped at 250 citywide.

Feel Free To Sell Out P.G. To AirBnB

P.G. Councilwoman Really Was Not In It For The Residents

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Casey Lucius For Congress

Moves to P.G. signs on to be city council, wins thinking that everyone loves her, gets the illusion that she can go further, runs for congress and gets trounced, quits and leaves town. Goes back east where she came from to run some odd company.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat P.G. These newcomers keep getting elected but do nothing for the town or its longtime residents.

Can you figure out just what her new job really does?

Her company works with groups, including municipal staffs, state agencies, military personnel, and civil servants, and provides training to empower staffs, develop new leaders, encourage management to think differently about ongoing challenges, in interesting and entertaining ways

P.G. Councilwoman Really Was Not In It For The Residents

Still No Weed Work In P.G.

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Butterfly weed

Can still grow your own and not have to deal with storefronts with guards or crime associated already with medical dispensaries.

Noting the difference that medical marijuana had made in her life, Karen Owen asked council members what would be served by banning the delivery of cannabis to the city.

“I’m sad to not see the tax dollars coming here to P.G.,” said Owen.

“I remember within 1,000 feet there was not a liquor store in P.G.,” said Owen, noting that it often found its way across the border of Monterey. “It’s the same situation now.”

“Why is Pacific Grove throwing away foot traffic, business and tax revenue for something that is going to be legal and never illegal again?” asked Chris Mitchell, who also spoke publicly before the council.

Former mayor Carmelita Garcia said background checks should be required for those growing pot plants.

Like Pacific Grove, Carmel, Monterey, Sand City and Soledad currently prohibit commercial cannabis activity.

Still No Weed Work In P.G.

Short Term Rental Apps To Collect Taxes

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Should also collect licensing fees and share the profits with inconvenienced neighbors.

“We wanted to enter into an agreement with Airbnb because they’re the biggest platform in the vacation rental market,” said Pacific Grove City Manager Ben Harvey. “What this will do is require anybody who is renting (a short-term rental) through Airbnb to remit the (transient occupancy tax) at the time they book their rental with Airbnb collecting it at that time.”

As agreed upon, Airbnb will collect transient occupancy tax for every listing in Pacific Grove’s 93950 zip code

Short Term Rental Apps To Collect Taxes

Custom House Plaza Cracking

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Gods may be angry over the removal of the fountain to make room for more fake events.

Eric Abma, Asilomar superintendent with the Monterey State Historic Park office, said: “We’re investigating the cause but we’re not entirely sure – it’s possible that there’s a water leak under there.”

While the cracks were initially noticed on Sunday when the Monterey History Fest vendors were set up, Abma said they’re not the first crevices to appear there.

“We’ve had other cracks down there,” said Abma. “They’re not entirely new but definitely more significant on Sunday then we’ve seen before.”

Custom House Plaza Cracking

Two Years After Massive Sewage Spill, MRWPCA Believes Pump Is Fixed

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MRWPCA Slogan

City Councilman Rudy Fischer also serves as Monterey Wonder Water’s chairman of the board. Didn’t know that.

Also, MRWPCA changed it’s name to Monterey One Water sometime after the sewer spill. We have some creative and corporate savvy people there I’d say.

In all, nine pump stations exist in Pacific Grove with seven of them belonging to the city and two, including the one along Ocean View Boulevard, belonging to Monterey One Water.

While Jennifer Gonzalez, engineering manager for Monterey One Water, wasn’t quite as optimistic as Fischer in terms of the project being done by Sunday, she said when it is finished it will provide more reliability.

“We want reliability in all or our pump stations,” said Gonzalez, noting that the pumps need to be operational for the wet weather season, which Monterey One Water considers to officially begin on Suday. The station “is approaching 35- to 40-years-old at this point. Some of the valves have gotten to the end of their useful life.”

Fischer also noted the renovation is in response to the sewage spill that occurred in May of 2015.

Two Years After Massive Sewage Spill, MRWPCA Believes Pump Is Fixed