Tag Archives: Moe Ammar

Who Runs Pacific Grove?

Posted on by

In Letters From The Editor

Have other people noticed whenever there is a significant controversy, including this latest episode, the P.G .Chamber of Commerce is right in the middle, its president quoted in the newspaper. Frankly, I wonder who is running this city, the chamber or our elected representatives.
Ron Sanchez
Pacific Grove

Well, the one who thinks he does is Moammar. Clueless Moe.

Moe Ammar

The Pacific Grove year is marked by seasonal celebrations. The Feast of Lanterns celebrates the culture of the Chinese fishermen who used to live along the water’s edge.

Moe refers to Pacific Grove by the words, “It’s a Small-town Thing.” He himself moved here 20 years ago. After graduating with a Hospitality degree from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Moe honeymooned at Pacific Grove’s Bid-a-Wee Motel. The contrast between Pacific Grove and Las Vegas captured Moe’s heart. He couldn’t wait to get back. He returned in 1986 with the intention of never leaving.

“We’re about the same as we were 50 years ago,” Moe says. “And we’re going to be the same 50 years from now, if we can help it.”

“We’re keeping something alive that shouldn’t vanish forever from our world,” Moe says. Pacific Grove is filled with residents who would agree with him.

I was here about 50 years ago and it is nowhere near the same. Once Moe moved in and said the answer lies in tourism did the small town family atmosphere cease to be. P.G. once had service stations, several grocery stores, pharmacies, a department store, a dime store, a municipal pool, multiple schools, things that served residents and families. Now we have bistros, art galleries and boutiques that change owners with the seasons, all there to fleece the vagrants. Families have moved out – there’s little for them to do in a town full of tourist attractions.

And Feast of Lanterns had nothing to do with the the Chinese fishermen, it was to celebrate the end of the Methodists’ Chautauqua Assembly. Moe is just trying to be politically correct – the Chinese fishing village was burnt down, presumably by intolerant residents.

Who Runs Pacific Grove?

America’s Lost Hometown – Is Moe Without A Clue?

Posted on by

The Weakly takes a look at the perceived state of the city’s business. Mentions this website and the bulletin board at pacificgrove.com! But only talks about the sleepy downtown and it’s struggling storefronts. Does anyone acknowledge the existence of all the businesses that are on Forest Hill or Sunset Drive? They are the ones that are there for the residents or other businesses, tourists don’t matter there. The parking lots are filled. The stores for the most part have been there for more than a year. How do they all stay in business with no Chamber Of Commerce ads or traffic shaping signs?

Push for a business that locals will like, and visitors will want to be a part of it. Focus on tourists and the locals will avoid you.

But while the mayor dreams of using that water for affordable housing, Ammar is gung-ho for new hotels. Twice a week, he and his staff call each of PG’s 30 inns and log their occupancy rates. The state-run Asilomar Conference Center, with a third of the city’s rooms, keeps about 83 percent of them filled. The rest average a respectable 61 percent occupancy, Ammar says. As a whole, PG’s hotels sell out 42 weekends per year.

Attracted by the town’s quaint beauty and slow pace, King moved her business to PG a decade ago. But in recent years she’s found city planners to be “difficult” and the Chamber of Commerce too focused on tourism – a sentiment she says her neighboring business owners share. “I think they all have the same concerns and are disgruntled by the same issues,” she says. “We don’t feel supported by the city or the chamber at all.”

Critics are assailing city leaders for proposing new taxes, discussing parking meters, laying off staff, thinning the library and museum budgets, and moving to consolidate the public safety departments. (For a sampling of emotions, check out PG blogs lighthouseavenue.com and pacificgrove.com.)

America’s Lost Hometown – Is Moe Without A Clue?

Letters From The Editor

Posted on by

The battle is brewing between the come-heres and the been-heres. Do we sell out to tourist machines or hang on to the shreds of small town livability?

P.G. should not be L.A., Michael Zambory

in desperation an attempt is made to sell the city to an entrepreneur in exchange for the use of the golf course and various city facilities on a seasonal basis over an extended period of time. Never mind the effect on the city and its residents, just think of all that money. . . What price should we place on the peace of mind of the residents affected by visitors filling our neighborhoods?

Don’t trash our course, Roger Pasquier

The reason the Concorso Italiano didn’t make it in Pacific Grove had nothing to do with local residents. It was the Coastal Commission.

The chamber (of Commerce) seems to think the only way to get people into P.G. is to hold big events. Downtown business has been eviscerated by this mentality.

Letters From The Editor

“Black Friday” In P.G.

Posted on by

Black Friday

You could take a nap in the middle of Lighthouse Avenue. Bargains and gifts on everybody’s wish lists cannot be found in PG. Except for a precious few in search of some phony charm or cranked out paintings, people shopped elsewhere.

But Moe still gets in the pulpit and cheers on the citizenry to shop local.

Moe Ammar Dont Buy American

Go get ’em Moe. Mayor Cort listens with all his might.
Dan Cort Dozing

LighthouseAvenue.com recommends shopping in Sand City or the new center in Fort Ord for good selection, discount prices and safe shopping. Avoid Salinas if you value your life – gang violence is widespread this holiday season.

“Black Friday” In P.G.

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce Loses Bird

Posted on by

If you feel sorry for Moe, the next time you see him, give him a bird.

No Bird

A bronze bird that graced a memorial bench in Pacific Grove for the past few months is missing.

The bronze blue jay, perched on the end of the Harold Green memorial bench in front of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, was hacked off at the feet and stolen about three weeks ago. The missing bird is part of a rash of stolen items in the city, which include an entire bench on the corner of Forest and Lighthouse avenues and some speakers from a chamber storage closet. “I just bought another bench,” Ammar said, “And I’m really going to screw it in the ground so nobody can pick it up.”

Some pieces of another bronze sculpture at Lovers Point were also sawed off, said Ammar, who believes the thieves are melting the bronze down for other uses.

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce Loses Bird

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce, What’s Your Job?

Posted on by

By 7:30 a.m., however, Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, was already fielding phone calls from Measure A supporters wondering why news reports said the rally would take place at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.

Pacific Grove forbids political events in city facilities, let alone campaign signs on city property. City Manager Jim Colangelo said group events at the museum are supposed to benefit the facility.

Ammar, a 20-year resident of Pacific Grove, knows well the local rules. He said a news release announcing Thursday’s event apparently was misinterpreted. The rally was planned for the sidewalk in front of the museum — a public location perfectly acceptable for the event.

Measure A or no measure A, PG is not going to be growing much, given the degree of build out. But really, this should not be the PG Chamber’s focus.

Anyway, that unaccredited announcement was in the same paper reporting this story. It looks very much like the protest was going to be at the Mvsevm.

Campaigning At The Mvsevm

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce, What’s Your Job?

Council Warming Up To John Denver Memorial

Posted on by

John Denver Plane

A permanent tribute to musician John Denver may soon be built on the shoreline near where his plane plummeted into Monterey Bay nearly 10 years ago.

The Pacific Grove City Council has been asked by the California Friends of John Denver and Denver’s family to place a memorial rock between Acropolis Street and Asilomar Avenue near Point Pinos.

Moe Ammar, executive director of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said at least two people a week call or come by his office searching for the site of the crash. Some want to say prayers.

John Denver Memorial Map

Council Warming Up To John Denver Memorial

The Fleecing Of The Golf Fans

Posted on by

The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce will likewise host shuttle services to bring visitors into town and encourage them to linger. Last year, it transported more than 2,500.

Of the 1,110 guest rooms in Pacific Grove, all but 102 had been sold as of Friday afternoon, which is about the same as the past two years, Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce President Moe Ammar said.

Ammar said the impact of the AT&T goes beyond the event itself, as fans who enjoyed their time on the Peninsula later return to the area with family and friends.

Tell me, does this look like Last Home Town Hospitality?
Att Chamber Shuttle Checkpoint

Don’t you dare park in the often empty lot behind Holmans.
Holmans No Att

And please leave your valuables back in your parked car where it will sit on the street  for eight hours.
Att Shuttle Items Not Allowed

The rudeness does not stop in PG, here’s a bit from a letter in the Hear-old

2/15/07
Limiting snacks
We can understand the security reasons for limiting the size of bag people were allowed to bring to the AT&T golf tournament. However, we were turned away at the bus in Fort Ord for having snacks and water inside our bag that was smaller than the size limitation….

I guess last year was our last visit to the AT&T.

The Fleecing Of The Golf Fans

P.G. Chamber Of Commerce – What’s Your Job?

Posted on by

The Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce has launched three fundraising campaigns for various projects throughout the city:

• Furnish the teacher’s lounge at Pacific Grove Middle School.

• Funds for the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary for more trees in the center of the sanctuary and a new drip irrigation system<

• Funds to assess the antiquated streetlights on Candy Cane Lane that require special and expensive maintenance.

All noble causes. But shouldn’t the COC be working to bring some commerce to town? They are out begging for $$ while storefronts remain empty.

PG Chamber Of Commerce – What’s Your Job?

Good Old Days Aint What They Used To Be

Posted on by

Complaints have flowed in to Ammar’s office from residents who said the ad was tasteless and inappropriate for something promoting what is billed as a family event in, of all places, America’s Last Hometown.

The chamber’s mailer, which was sent to 12,000 Peninsula residents, features an advertisement depicting a couple lying in bed together, and a caption reads, “Ladies, are you feeling shy about taking it off for your husbands? Feel comfortable again about getting naked!”

“There was nothing about it that jumped out at me at first,” said Ammar. “Then the phone calls came in and I read it more closely. You would hope the ads would be more traditional.”

For the record, another ad inside the mailer depicts the backside of a naked woman sitting on a skateboard, with the upper half of her “backside” exposed.

 

68 Skate Ad

Frigid Lady
That’s one sad looking fat lady. You don’t see starving orphans in food ads or smelly drunks in beer ads, why do they use a sad fat person in a diet ad?

Good Old Days Aint What They Used To Be