“It’s the largest arts and crafts show in the tri-county area,” Ammar said. “We have top-name bands and entertainment. Look at downtown on Lighthouse. It’s a zoo.”
A throng of people walked along the noisy, smoky Lighthouse Avenue surrounded by the smells of cooking corn dogs, bratwurst, garlic fries, Thai sticks and calamari. The food vendors shared space with arts and crafts booths, children’s face painting, bounce houses and rides.
Some Good Old Days vendors’ wares show real class:
First reported diver death this year.
Two teenagers drowned Saturday while scuba diving in Monterey Bay.
The divers were reported missing after others in their group surfaced and returned to their charter boat, the Monterey Express.
“Nineteen divers went down, two were reported missing,” said Felix Colello, a division chief for the Monterey Fire Department.
They were reported missing about 12:25 p.m.
“The two gentlemen were found on the bottom of the ocean,” Colello said. “They were brought up in cardiac arrest. We did CPR all the way to the hospital.”
The teens, 16 and 17 years old from Carson City, Nev., were pronounced dead at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
NIMBYs on Spazier lose that one.
Citing common sense, a judge Thursday settled a long-running dispute between the city of Pacific Grove and Canterbury Woods, ruling three off-site cottages owned by the retirement community did not violate residential zoning laws.
Judge Tom Wills said residents who lived in the homes did not use them in a manner that differed from their neighbors on Spazier Avenue and 19th Street.
“I really think it turns on whether it’s a commercial use,” he said after listening to lengthy arguments from both sides, “and based on the way the ordinance is drafted and to some extent the historical treatment of these properties, and just common sense, I don’t consider these to be commercial uses.”
He thought they were feral strays. Right.
The man trapping cats and turning them in may have run afoul of a Pacific Grove ordinance prohibiting the trapping of domestic cats, said Elizabeth Yeo, city animal control officer. His case has been referred to City Attorney David Laredo for review.
The law does not allow domestic cats to be trapped, but does allow trapping of feral cats by the city if authorities are notified first, Yeo said.
She said the trapper in this case did not appear to be acting maliciously, thought he was trapping feral cats, and was unaware of the municipal ordinance.
Loan or campaign contribution. Either way it’s money given to politicians to do what for the giver?
Attorneys for both men announced a quiet settlement Friday of a lawsuit Agha filed in April 2010 that accused Potter of misusing a $10,000 campaign contribution Agha said Potter solicited from him in January 2004.
In a one-sentence statement, the attorneys said the dispute “has been resolved to the satisfaction” of Potter, Agha and Russ Carter, a business associate of Potter, who Agha claimed was the intermediary for the alleged campaign contribution.
Not enough room on the lot for a P.G. Remodel?
A historic building that was once part of a military school in Pacific Grove has been tagged for demolition.
Brokaw Hall is “in a dilapidated condition and is now considered unsafe and a danger to the public,” said city building official John Kuehl. The building is at 363 Grove Acre Ave.
After a March 21 inspection, Kuehl issued an order requiring that the property be fenced off immediately and demolished by April 29.
Instant idiot, jut add alcohol.
A judge increased a former Pacific Grove man’s bail to $1 million Friday, saying he was “just waiting to kill” his ex-girlfriend.
The woman, who previously was reluctant to testify, told the court that in October, a drunken Michael Dooley became enraged that her 11-year-old daughter left food on the kitchen counter. He punished the girl by ripping apart her pet hermit crab in her presence, pointed a gun at her mother’s face and threatened to kill them, their dog and himself if the woman tried to leave.
“You’re a danger,” Judge Russell Scott told the 47-year-old man at the conclusion of his preliminary hearing. “You’re just waiting to kill her and you don’t have control when you drink.”
A Million Dollar Bail Set In P.G. Man’s Domestic Violence Case
Soon this “monument” will be fenced off from access, just like the sand dunes we used to “picnic” in. All you can do now is crawl into your spirit nest and get poked by twigs.
The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History plans to collaborate with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to help build public awareness about the rocks, islands, reefs and marine-life habitats under the stewardship of the California Coastal National Monument.
The goal is to generate support for the monument, which consists of more than 20,000 offshore rocks, small islands and exposed reefs along the 1,100 miles of California coast from San Diego to the Oregon border.
“The role of the museum is one of public education, and our partnership with the bureau is a perfect example of how that can work,” said Lori Mannel, executive director of the museum. “The message we’d like to spread to the public is how to value, preserve, protect and enjoy” the monument.
Mvsevm Purpose: Gain Support For Monument Of Shoreline Rocks
Somehow that phrase “proper lease and code enforcement” sounds like turning Fisherman’s Wharf into another fake charm like the ‘Row.
The leases, some of them for 50 years, run too long and don’t bring in rentals at the market rate, said Commissioner Willard “Bill” McCrone. The council should seek to change them, he said.
“The public,” he said, “is not getting a fair shake.”
Wharf businesses aren’t being charged enough to cover utilities and wharf repairs, he said. In many cases, properties leased from the city long ago have been subleased to others at much higher rates, with the original lessor pocketing the difference, he said.
The city owns the buildings on the wharf, McCrone said, and with proper lease and code enforcement, its revenues could double from $1million to $2 million a year.
Can we all say ‘money pit’?
In the case of Point Pinos Grill at 77 Asilomar Blvd., which serves Pacific Grove Golf Links, the council voted 5-2 to transfer the city’s lease from operator Chris D’Amelio to Aqua Terra Culinary, a Peninsula-based firm.
A condition laid on the transfer was that Aqua Terra not provide off-site food catering from the grill.
Transfer of the beer and wine license for the premises from D’Amelio to Aqua Terra would be up to the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board, said City Attorney David Laredo.
D’Amelio’s lease was due to expire at the end of this month, but it carries a provision allowing a five-year renewal.
Another condition of the transfer was that the city forgive a debt of $106,142 owed for back rent and penalties. Councilman Bill Kampe defended that as necessary to ensure continuity of operation at the golf clubhouse.