Category Archives: Monterey Herald

Peas In A Pod – Agha & Potter

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They all sound corrupt to me. Why would Nader support Potter when he is in cahoots with Goldbeck to get his gargantuan Holman Hotel approved?

Monterey real estate developer Nader Agha says he gave a $10,000 check more than five years ago to county Supervisor Dave Potter’s election campaign that was never reported by the campaign as required by state law.

Potter said Tuesday, “I have no idea what Nader is talking about. If he had given me $10,000, I would have reported it.”

Agha said Potter called him in January 2004 saying he needed financial help because his campaign was short of money. Potter was facing a formidable primary challenge that year in his bid for a third term from two challengers — Salinas Valley agribusinessman Stephen Collins and then-Pacific Grove City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck.

Peas In A Pod – Agha & Potter

Bankruptcy Knocking At The Door Again

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The city undertook a major staff reorganization in 2007, and in November, voters approved an increase in the city sales tax, which staved off shutting down city services, Bennett said.

But wage, benefit and retirement commitments to city employee groups are continuing to erode city finances, and “they’re not going down as our income and the economy is going down,” she said.

The council, Bennett said, should look at “what the downsides of bankruptcy might be and learn them before we’re in an emergency situation.”

City Hall Bk

 

Bankruptcy Knocking At The Door Again..

July 4th Weekend Not So Busy

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No way did the town seem crowded at all.

Budget cutbacks forced the city of Monterey to cancel its annual fireworks display, but thanks to a calendar coincidence, which moved the MotoGP race up two weeks to July 4 weekend this year, thousands of colorful bikes lined Cannery Row.

Police began closing the street to automobile traffic about 2 p.m. Lt. Leslie Sonné of the Monterey Police Department expected 8,000 to 10,000 people to be on hand by the evening — about what the event has attracted in past years.

By mid afternoon, attendance was below last year’s, possibly because an aggressive public relations campaign to discourage illegal fireworks in the city, Deputy Chief Mike Aspland said.

July 4th Weekend Not So Busy

P.G. Motels – Remember When You Could Gouge The Moto GP Fans?

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Some blame the July 4 schedule, some the economy. But I betcha there’s some bad mojo about those days when the crusty P.G. motels demanded $300/night 3 night minimums…

Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said the 1,163 rooms in Pacific Grove are 73 percent sold for the weekend. Hotels are offering rates as low as $99 a night, he said.

Pacific Grove’s hotels were sold out the past two years for the races, when they were later in July; the July Fourth holiday was 88 percent sold last year.

P.G. Motels – Remember When You Could Gouge The Moto GP Fans?

Lovers Point Restrooms Locked Up

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There once was a full time employee to do nothing but maintain bathrooms in the park? Where was that employee when it was “bad then”?

“It’s malicious, filthy,” she said. “There’s a very dirty, malicious group of people out there these days.”

Two years ago, the city had a person available all day to tend to the park restrooms, she said, and the problem was “bad then. It’s worse now.”

Lovers Point Restrooms Locked Up

Baby Drop Off Site: P.G.F.D.

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Unwanted babies in P.G?

State Senate Bill 1368, the “Safe Baby Surrender Bill,” adopted in 2001 and amended in 2005, exempts parents or people holding legal custody of a newborn less than 72 hours old from prosecution for abandonment if the child is surrendered to a hospital or other designated safe surrender site. Fire departments in Seaside and Monterey have been designated such sites because they are staffed 24 hours a day. On Wednesday, the Pacific Grove City Council designated the city fire station as a safe surrender site for unwanted newborns.

Baby Drop Off Site: P.G.F.D.

Our Mvsevm Is Gone

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Public-Private Partnership. Cradle of Corruption.

The Mvsevm

Opinion Piece in Hear-Old by our own esteemed judge of morons, Dan Cort.

Despite the museum’s cultural and scientific treasures, the city had cut the museum’s budget to a bare minimum and more cuts were on the horizon. But with the City Council’s vote Wednesday night, it looks like the museum will emerge from a chrysalis of under-funding and near-closure to a revitalized resource with an energetic future. What lessons can we learn from this success to help keep other community assets viable in these financially challenging times?

The answer is we need to reinvent our relationship with our government. We need to realize that government is very good at some things, and the private sector is very good at others. By forming partnerships between government and the private sector, we can strive to achieve the best of both worlds. In Pacific Grove we’re doing just that. The city and a private group of citizens formed a public-private partnership that was supported Wednesday night by the City Council..

Our Mvsevm Is Gone

P.G. Police Delay Their 9.8% Raise

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9.8% in times like these. Wow.

PG Cops On Break

Association President Ami Losinger said police are willing to forgo the 9.8 percent raise authorized in their contract with the city — that expires in December 2010 — until January, a move that would save the city approximately $275,000 this year and next year.

In return, she said, the police association asked that its contract be extended through 2012 and that raises be paid in steps starting next year.

P.G. Police Delay Their 9.8% Raise