Parklets Going Away

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Joe Amelio and Chaps Poduri voted against removing the donkey corrals,

Parklett Parking

A plan to get rid of three parklets to make way for a new outdoor dining configuration and a wider sidewalk in downtown Pacific Grove is another step closer to happening after the city council last week selected a contractor to do the work.

The P.G. City Council on Sept. 18 voted 6-0 to hire Marina-based Silicon Constructors Inc. to do the Lighthouse Avenue Widening Project for $242,360 plus a 25 percent contingency. The plan includes getting rid of the wooden dining parklets in front of Victorian Corner, Rudolfo’s Café and Wild Fish restaurants in favor of open-air seating areas separated by fencing.

Parklets Going Away

Police Chief Working At Home

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But does not tell why, not the transparency we should have.
Golf Cart safety

Cathy Madalone, 55, told The Pine Cone last October that she was injured on the job, though she did not elaborate, and that the city had given her a special accommodation to work at home “temporarily. ” That was the arrangement until May, when city manager Matt Mogensen announced she was on leave until at least June 7. Three days later, though, Madalone extended her leave to Oct. 1 “We expect to have the next update on her status on or before Oct. 1,” Mogensen told The Pine Cone this week. Members of  the P.G. City Council have been tightlipped on the chief’s arrangement because they’re barred from publicly talking about personnel matters.

Police Chief Working At Home

Chief Cathy Madalone Quits

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Timed it right. Diminished capacity until eligible for full retirement. Next time put DEI at the bottom of the list.

PGPD Help Wanted

Pacific Grove Police Chief Cathy Madalone — who has been on paid leave for months following a mysterious injury — announced today that she’s retiring on Oct. 12, after only five years in the role.
Madalone has faced criticism from residents for failing to disclose how she was injured, the nature of her injuries and why she was apparently able to work from home and not in the police department on Pine Street. She did not address her injury in today’s retirement message, either.
While several sources told The Pine Cone that Madalone was hurt in a golf cart mishap during an August 2023 car event in P.G., she never confirmed or denied it.

Golf Cart safety

Chief Cathy Madalone Quits

P.G. High Trespasser Threatens Staff

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Potential mountain lion meal. And this item it is not Riley Elvin.

Pacific Grove Police Department announced Tuesday that at approximately 11:40 a.m., there were reports of a transient person–identified as Todd Fields, 37, of Lancaster–trespassing on the Pacific Grove High School campus.

Police say that staff responded immediately by contacting the person, who then proceeded to threaten the staff member. School staff said that they didn’t see any weapons on the person but 911 was still called.

Staff said they continued to monitor the suspect by following him until PGPD officers responded from the area of Sunset Dr. and Congress Ave.

P.G. High Trespasser Threatens Staff

Ron Schenk Dies

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As I was standing on the sidewalk with my children to see the Holiday Parade Of Lights, Shenk stepped into the street in front of us and totally blocked our view.

Ron Schenk Hpol 2003

Former Pacific Grove City Councilmember Ron Schenk, a longtime resident and community volunteer, died Sept. 5 after a yearlong illness. He was 87. Schenk, who passed away at his home served on the city council from 2002 to 2006 and was the city’s board representative for the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, Transportation Agency for Monterey County Board and Monterey-Salinas Transit.

“With his signature cap and shorts, which he wore year-round, he was recognized around town for his large physique, matched only by his even larger heart,” his obituary said.

Ron Schenk Dies

Consistent Criminal Riley Elvin Might Get 3 Years

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Needs to be more. Oh, and school officials need to call the cops more when strangers wander into the school.

Riley Elvin

The Pacific Grove man who threatened to kill the principal of P.G. High last year has pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge in exchange for prosecutors dropping three other criminal charges against him. While the crime calls for a maximum of three years in jail, it’s possible he could get a reduced sentence.

Elvin repeatedly trespassed at P.G. schools, including walking inside P.G. Middle with a backpack while class was in session. School officials escorted him from the building but opted not to call police. A week later, after Elvin returned to P.G. High and threatened Garcia, P.G. Police officer Andrea Hill arrested him, and the DA’s office later charged him with the crimes. Earlier in the year, Pacific Grove Unified School District sought a restraining order against Elvin, based on a “credible threat of violence or stalking.” A judge granted the request. He has a lengthy criminal history and has been charged with dozens of crimes, including battery, assault, drug possession, lewd conduct and numerous instances of shoplifting.

Consistent Criminal Riley Elvin Might Get 3 Years

Library Hosts Talk About P.G.’s Digital Research

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IBM almost made DR’s CPM the operating system to ship with its new at the time IBM Personal Computer. But Kildall missed the meeting.

Digital Research SignDigital Research Plaque

“Years before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, in 1974, Gary Kildall booted the world’s first commercially successful personal computer operating system into life in Pacific Grove,” according to Laws, who also said Digital Research was “one of the brightest stars in the pioneering days of the PC revolution.” The discussion comes about a decade after Kildall ‘s daughter and son and approximately 30 former Digital Research Inc. employees gathered outside the company’s former 801 Lighthouse Ave. headquarters
for the unveiling of a plaque cemented into the sidewalk to honor his legacy.
Kildall died July 1 1, 1994, after a blow to the head at the Franklin Street Bar & Grill in Monterey.

Library Hosts Talk About P.G.’s Digital Research

Dionne Ybarra Tells Tall Tale

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Been a renter since moving out of mom’s house in 1989? Uhhh no. And throw in a race chip for some credo.

As a solution, Ybarra explained her in-laws helped them with a down payment on a house “so that our mortgage was affordable.” “This was the first time I was confronted by housing prices coupled with the responsibilities of home ownership,” Ybarra said, adding that she and her husband were “very lucky that we were able to buy when we did.” She credited her housing situation on “White privilege.” But in a social media post about two weeks ago touting her endorsement from a renters’ group, Ybarra, 53, seemed to contradict what she wrote in the book. “I’ve been a renter since I moved out of my mom’s house in 1989,” she said. “I’ve moved 20 times in 35 years.”

Dionne Ybarra Tells Tall Tale