Category Archives: Pacific Grove

Miller Time For Mayor

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Miller Time

Dan Miller would be way better than STR loving K(r)ampe

Kampe’s opponent, Dan Miller said there is another challenge more pressing than water.

“Financial stability mainly, and I have tried to do that for years, even before I was on the city council, and trying to convince the councils to keep control of spending,” Miller said.

Miller is a third generation Pacgrovian and has served six years on the city council.

Pacific Grove has long been burdened with problems related to the public employee retirement system and Miller said as mayor he would be against exorbitant pay raises and retirements for city staff. Currently the city has about $4.7 million a year budgeted annually for public employee retirement related expenses.

Miller Time For Mayor

Now Ex-Cop Suing PGPD And The DA

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Strange Night In Pacific Grove

Prosecutors closed the investigation for lack of evidence.

In May 2013, Gill was terminated from his position at the Seaside Police Department. Six months later, he sued the Pacific Grove Police Department and the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office, the two agencies charged with the investigation of the stabbing, for lost wages, slander and allegedly botching the investigation with malicious intent. In essence, he’s alleging his firing was based on prosecutors’ “feelings and suspicions” that he made up the story.

Now Ex-Cop Suing PGPD And The DA

Assemblyman Visits Pacific Grove

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Number one party of fees, bureaucracies and regulations hears cries from downtown businesses about fees, bureaucracies and regulations.

Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, made a short visit to Pacific Grove on Wednesday to hear the concerns of local business owners at a town hall style meeting. The purpose, said Stone, was to improve the communication lines between the Legislature and local entrepreneurs and business owners.

“One of the biggest concerns that they raised is that they feel that small-business owners have very little voice in Sacramento,” said Stone, noting the majority of complaints he heard centered on fees, bureaucracies and regulations. “They explained some of the issues that they’re facing that make it more difficult for their business and ways they think I can communicate that better in Sacramento.”

Assemblyman Visits Pacific Grove

Cross Bay Swimmer Gives Up

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No wetsuit. Swimmer got cold, no kidding.

Eric Gutierrez was swimming through the darkness, in chilly ocean waters, with only swim trunks and a head-mounted light.

His goal was to become the first person to ever cross the Monterey Bay while swimming without a wetsuit.

“I’m really optimistic that I might be able to do this. It’s a long way, straight across it’s 24 miles. It’s really a mind game to endure that long,” Gutierrez told KSBW before diving in.

Gutierrez swam 17 miles as a support crew followed him in a kayak. At one point, he was surrounded by a school of dolphins.

He abandoned his cross-bay attempt around noon when he was a few miles offshore from Moss Landing.

Cross Bay Swimmer Gives Up

Trenching Begins For Wastewater Delivery To P.G.

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Toilet to Tap

Raise a glass. And hope they don’t dig up your phone line.

Streets will be torn up — some more than once — through the heart of three Peninsula communities. The pipeline will run from Seaside’s Hilby Pumping Station over a new Monterey-Salinas Highway bridge through downtown Monterey and the Presidio of Monterey to an existing pump station and pipeline on Sinex Avenue in Pacific Grove.

Approved on Sept. 15 by the state Public Utilities Commission along with a water purchase agreement for the $85 million Pure Water Monterey groundwater replenishment project, the new infrastructure is expected to be complete and operational by the end of next year, in advance of the availability of recycled water in early 2018. It will be used to transport the new 3,500-acre-foot annual recycled water supply, along with aquifer storage and recovery water.

Trenching Begins For Wastewater Delivery To P.G.

No P Posse Proselytizes People

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Coalition against citywide admissions tax. But that Half Fast Marathon. That thing blocks the streets.

Besides the aquarium, the coalition includes the Big Sur International Marathon and the Friends of the Pacific Grove Public Library, among other area nonprofits.

Proponents of the tax say that a 5 percent fee attached to aquarium admissions, for example, is only fair because of the city’s need to pay for the repair and maintenance of the city’s infrastructure, including city roads, sidewalks, paths and the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail.

No P Posse Proselytizes People

Cops Want Higher Salaries AND Health Care

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Can’t they remember that they chose $$ rather than health insurance originally?

PG Hpol Police

“They’ve been operating under our old contract that’s now expired,” said Kampe, noting that the decision to cut medical benefits goes back to 2006 when during labor negotiations with the department, employees were given the choice whether to give up health care benefits in exchange for a higher salary. They opted for the higher salary.

“Part of the reasoning was because many on the force had spouses who were providing health care coverage,” explained Kampe. “For most of the police force, it was better deal to get a higher salary.”

But Kampe also noted the move has been controversial.

“Now, they’ve been provided with higher salaries but some are saying they really need health care,” said Kampe, who noted that city administrators are now working to make some accommodations for health care coverage at slightly lower than market cost.

Cops Want Higher Salaries AND Health Care

Seaside’s Wastewater Is Going To Cost You

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Why the water companies are so happy with the project. It used Other People’s Money so it’s no risk to them.

Customers are going to see a change on their bills as a result of the project. In an interview earlier this month, Stedman said to expect a 15-percent increase this year to pay for the pipeline construction and water purchase.

Seaside’s Wastewater Is Going To Cost You

Politics And Pigs Par For P.G.

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Pet owners looking for pro pig politician.

The Pacific Grove candidates forum provided a mix of pigs and politics Thursday night at the recreation center when Bruiser the pet pig showed up with his family, the Hanes.
The Hanes family handed out Hershey Kisses and Hugs from Bruiser to forum goers and had a bright pink poster reading #SaveBruiser on display.

“We have a lot of confidence that hopefully we are going to win this appeal, we’ve been pleading with the city again, and again, to say please change this, let us keep him,” Lisa Hanes said.

Politics And Pigs Par For P.G.

Bruiser The Pig Sent Home From The Farm

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Homeless Pig

Bruiser was originally supposed to acclimate to his temporary new surroundings, which includes horses, a baby pony and the other pet pig on Thursday, but the transfer was delayed a day because his new caretaker had to contend with some of those animals being colicky.

“I felt bad — she already had her hands full with another brood of animals,” said Hanes, “so we kept him another night.” The delay, however, cost the Haneses $500.

That’s because the daily fee the Haneses had been ordered to pay since Aug. 22 when they were ruled against in a third-party hearing before the city rose this week from $50 to $500 a day.

Bruiser The Pig Sent Home From The Farm