Tag Archives: Sustainable city

Newest TAMC Silliness – Put Buses On Railroad Right Of Way

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And who really thought that Measure X was going to improve roads for cars? Better spent on substainable things like slow empty buses and more unused bicycle lanes.

Would it not be easier to use those metal ribbons and come up with some sort wheeled vehicle that could ride people from one end to the other faster and safer than MST buses?

For Monterey County, the study concluded that a “bi-directional” busway along the branch line between Fremont Boulevard and Reservation Road would be the “most cost-effective alternative,” noting that it is supported by TAMC’s Measure X funding (about $15 million designated for bus rapid transit, along with potential grant funding). The project cost is currently estimated at about $33.4 million, according to a TAMC staff report.

Newest TMC Silliness – Put Buses On Railroad Right Of Way

Think You Are Saving The Planet By Recycling?

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Think again, substainable people.

Recycle The Cedar St Times

Feeling pleased that your conscientious recycling is helping to save the environment? Not so fast. Your yogurt container or takeout clamshell might end up in a dump thanks to a ban on discarded items that the United States had been sending to China for processing.

This year, China followed through with its threat to prohibit the import of U.S. plastics, mixed paper and other materials that it says were turning the country into the world’s garbage dump. The repercussions from the new policy have been quick and nowhere close to sorted out in communities across the U.S.

Think You Are Saving The Planet By Recycling?

Straws Banned On Wharf

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Making the wharf substainable. First the bags, then the straws and the cup lids. Next thing you know there will be cloth napkins and no more plastic toy souvenirs.

60s wharf at night

“It’s one thing to have a ban on plastic bags, but once you go to plastic straws it takes it up one more level,” said Mary Alice Cerrito Fettis, a board member and past president of the Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf Association. “We’re very excited that all the beverage serving businesses on Fisherman’s Wharf have figured out an alternative to using plastic straws.”

According to Ted Terrasas, the city’s sustainability coordinator, it was an effort to get early stakeholder input, especially by those most affected, the restaurant owners. About 30 attended the gathering, which included Monterey Bay Aquarium officials and local non-profit representatives.

Straws Banned On Wharf

Oregon: Recycled Materials End Up In Landfill

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Why bother?

Oregon is serious about recycling. Its residents are accustomed to dutifully separating milk cartons, yogurt containers, cereal boxes and kombucha bottles from their trash to divert them from the landfill. But this year, because of a far-reaching rule change in China, some of the recyclables are ending up in the local dump anyway.

In recent months, in fact, thousands of tons of material left curbside for recycling in dozens of American cities and towns — including several in Oregon — have gone to landfills.

Oregon: Recycled Materials End Up In Landfill

P.G. Pays Consultant $274K To Say “Fence Off The Shoreline”

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Shoreline Management Plan = shoreline restriction rules.

Remember when you could park on both sides of Ocean View at Asilomar and take your sweetie and a blanket to the dunes? Now it’s all going the don’t touch just look from over the fence rule.

closed for plants

The initiative, which is aimed at looking at ways to protect future public access along the shoreline while enhancing the area’s natural and cultural resources, will examine both challenges and opportunities involved in that endeavor moving forward.

The City hired Bay Area urban planning consultant Eisen/Letunic, which specializes in healthy and sustainable communities, for the preparation and development of the plan at a cost of $274,400.

P.G. Pays Consultant To Say “Fence Off The Shoreline”

Zero Net Change

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Bike stations would be located at places such as Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Presidio of Monterey.

Councilman Alan Haffa was very supportive of the program, noting that his students at Monterey Peninsula College were enthusiastic about it while Councilman Ed Smith had concerns that people wouldn’t spend money on such a program when they can purchase their own used bike for a reasonable cost.

The city on Tuesday also approved its Climate Action Plan, which has been in the works for several years.

This makes sense – more bicycle riders exhaling more CO2 into the fragile atmosphere. Bicycle riding is causing global warming.

Zero Net Change

What Stores Have In Store At ATC Hotel

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Parking Meters Ocean View

Now that Pacific Grove residents have passed Measure X, the detail design, approval process and environmental study are next in line for Project Bella, the five star hotel which could be built after the American Tin Cannery is bulldozed.

“We have made a commitment to make this if not the most sustainable building in the United States, certainly the most sustainable buildings, not just hotels but buildings in general,” said Crall.

As developers map out the 225 rooms and suites, shops and more, businesses inside the American Tin Cannery are wondering what’s in store for them next.

Next? The highest substainable rent for an art gallery or restaurant in the substainable states of America. Substainable Substaining Substainability.

What Stores Have In Store At ATC Hotel

P.S. Substainable!

Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing

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I think that we as Americans have really come to expect inexpensive food. We spend a very small amount of our disposable income on food, and restaurateurs have to cope with that. They have to figure out how to offer food to us at a price we will pay, while buying the best ingredients that they can. And often, as in any other business, it’s buy low and sell high.

You confronted a lot of chefs about this, and a lot of them gave you the same answer.

[They said] “I guess that should come off the chalkboard.”

There were plenty of people who were honestly surprised to find something was still on the chalkboard or still on their menu many months after they’d purchased that product, and many others that were just caught red-handed.

NPR
Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing

Moe Hates The New Garbage Company

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Greenwaste’s mandatory recyclables sorting rules are not making the trash creators happy. Was he old way any better?
hollys cafe

And what a typo – Ron Shank!

Ron Shank with St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store said a centralized location to deal with the cardboard isn’t what the businesses are paying for.

Shank said he’s paying more money under GreenWaste for less service.

“I don’t mind paying a few more dollars, I realize costs are going up. I expected that,” he said. “I did not expect to have poor service and in my opinion, it’s poor service.”

Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said a lot of work needs to be done for the sides to reach an agreement. He criticized GreenWaste’s claims of being environmentally friendly, saying some businesses will end up just driving to the dump or putting recyclables in the trash.

“The only thing that’s green about that company is money,” Ammar said.

Moe Hates The New Garbage Company

Pacific Grove Taking Away Property Rights?

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Resident being forced to comply with someone else’s idea of appearance or risk having his home taken away.

On Sept. 12, Pacific Grove’s code compliance division heard from four residents who live near Jack Van Bebber, a resident on Grand Avenue they say has been a problem for years. They asked a hearing officer for the city to take action against Van Bebber, including placing a lien on his house.

Grand Avenue? Same street where “ground zero” for the Sustainable Pacific Grove’s shining example of green living, the old drive through bank building on Grand and Pine.

Not Van Bebber's Yard

One person’s trash is another mayor’s “sustainable society”, I guess.

Pacific Grove Taking Away Property Rights?