Category Archives: Monterey Herald

Gas Powered Leaf Blower Ban Will Hurt The Landscapers

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“There’s been a slow but steady stream of complaints by many residents about leaf blowers, particularly with the noise level,” said Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake.

Landscapers and gardeners decry the move but acknowledge that banning blowers seem to be inevitable. Geovanni Oseguera has owned and operated Greener Bay Landscaping for 20 years. The company serves customers from the Monterey Peninsula to San Francisco, including Pacific Grove. He has seen bans go into effect in Palo Alto, Redwood City, Los Gatos, Los Altos and Sunnyvale.

He said he has had to explain to his customers that he will need to charge higher prices because his crews will need to stay on-site longer to clean up leaves that otherwise would have been removed faster with a leaf blower. But he said his customers have been accommodating about the need to raise prices.

I got a fix for that.

Take this approved electric leaf blower:
electric leaf blower

and plug in to a nonbanned electrical source:
Gas Generator

Problem solved.

Gas Powered Leaf Blower Ban Will Hurt The Landscapers

Congressman Jimmy Panetta Will Ban Single Use Plastics

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What a single use plastic might look like:
Jimmy P Plastic

Local communities have taken the necessary steps to reduce unnecessary plastic products. But now it’s time for the federal government to demonstrate leadership and address this problem,” said Panetta. “The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act sets out a marker to show the need to rein in waste, improve recycling, decrease harmful emissions, and help stop plastics from ending up in our oceans.

Congressman Jimmy Panetta Will Ban Single Use Plastics

No Privacy For Monarchs

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Now people are encouraging others to peep into what the butterflies are doing and send paparazzi pics.

Monarch Molesting No Touch

The challenge seeks to fill a “data gap” in recorded sightings during March, April and May when monarchs are passing unseen between breeding sites.

Those looking to participate in the challenge can submit photos through the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper project on iNaturalist — a crowdsourcing naturalist app jointly sponsored by the California Academy of Science and National Geographic — or by emailing them to MonarchMystery@wsu.edu.

No Privacy For Monarchs

Jimmy Panetta Using Butterflies To Get More Taxes

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Awwww – congresscirtter wants to help the butterflies.

The Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act, introduced during last week’s session of Congress, would establish a western monarch butterfly rescue fund of $62.5 million released over five years. Funded projects would fill in information gaps and focus on the restoration of sensitive overwintering and breeding habitat to guard against future extinction.

Ohhhhh – by spending tax dollars for more government consultants.

When asked what the city of Pacific Grove might do with a portion of the proposed funds, Public Works management analyst Caleb Schneider said the city would be keen to hire additional consultants to assess their current conservation efforts and to invest in infrastructure such as irrigation for the sanctuary.

Jimmy Panetta Using Butterflies To Get More Taxes

Ecofarmers Ecomeet At Ecosilomar

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Sounds scary. Are they set up to take away farms from white farmers and kill them?

The Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm) is a nonprofit educational organization whose mission since 1981 is to promote health, social justice and ecologically sustainable farms. Noting the often lack of diversity among the presenters, EcoFarm four years ago formed a diversity advisory committee to address the problem.

Ecofarmers Ecomeet At Ecosilomar

I’d Disagree With Ron Schenk

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Letters from the editor:

Over 20 years ago I opened the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Forest Avenue in Pacific Grove; both to provide residents with quality second-hand goods, and to raise St. Vincent de PaulSt. Vincent de Paulmoney for the poor. For 20 years I ran the store, rounded up volunteers and solicited donations. Recently, however, the Board removed me as they felt I had been rude to a few customers, a position I don’t agree with.

Here I was in 2010 at the Holiday Parade Of Lights, waiting to get video of my children in the parade . . when Mr. Schenk walks in front of me and proceeds to yap it up. That’s rude, I say.Ron Schenk Hpol 2003

I’d Disagree With Ron Schenk

From Those People That Brought You The Bike Lane To Nowhere

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Wouldn’t a rail-like system work on existing rails? Only in service during rush hours and sits empty the rest of the day?

Newsom Robbing Gas Tax

The project calls for constructing a 12-foot-wide reversible busway with shoulders along a six-mile section of the TAMC-owned rail line right of way parallel to Highway 1 from Del Monte Boulevard and Palm Avenue in Marina to the Contra Costa Street intersection in Sand City/Seaside, allowing buses to operate in both directions.

The project already has $15 million in allocated Measure X funding, and TAMC and MST are expected to seek about $25 million in state grant funding to cover the remainder of the project’s total capital cost.

From Those People That Brought You The Bike Lane To Nowhere

S.T.Rs Keep On Losing

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And lawyers keep on charging

In essence, the short-term rental supporters allege that the lottery randomly singled them out without providing a cause for why their licenses to operate short-term rentals were not renewed. The city counters that it was stated in writing when the property owners signed the license application that it was good for only 12 months and might not be renewed.

Case watchers agree that Goldwater wants to lose as soon as possible so they can then appeal the verdict to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case is more far-reaching than just Pacific Grove. If successfully appealed to the Ninth Circuit, then the outcome of that court’s decision, one way or the other, could have significant ramifications for cities’ ability to legislate short-term rentals up and down California.

However, the Ninth Circuit earlier this month upheld the city of Santa Monica’s ban on short-term rentals. That decision can now be cited in lower court cases such as the lawsuit against the city of Pacific Grove.

S.T.Rs Keep On Losing

Coastal Commission Plan or Forced Demolition?

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There goes my plan for Six Flags Over Asilomar.

Asilomar Gardens

But not all Pacific Grove residents are thrilled about the approval. Members of the Asilomar Dunes neighborhood came out in force for Friday’s commission meeting to protest portions of the coastal program they believe are draconian and infringe on their property rights.

Among the debated issues has to do with driveways. The just-approved program requires that development be capped at 15% coverage of dunes that houses sit on, including driveways. Asilomar residents argue that driveways should not be part of the 15% and instead be excluded.

Other contentious parts of the plan include height limits that homeowners say would require portions of their second stories to be removed, restrictions that would prevent them from rebuilding after natural disasters and the inability to replace damaged sections of houses.

Coastal Commission Plan or Forced Demolition?

Feast Of Lanterns Takes A Step Off The Pier

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New story line will be Chang and his lover Prince Seagull escaping the evil unsubstainable blogger and running off to hide in various STRs.

FOL mug

Coleman said the annual event should celebrate the history of Pacific Grove and hopes changes to the pageant and story will teach the community more about the cultural groups that contributed to the Monterey Peninsula and P.G.

The board president said the festival would have a stronger emphasis on the history of the area, including the Chinese fishing village that stood for 50 years on the shoreline where Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station now resides.

Educating the community through Gerry Low-Sabado’s annual Walk of Remembrance is a good place to start and the Feast of Lanterns board has participated the last four years Coleman said.

Feast Of Lanterns Takes Steps Off The Pier