22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY april 20-26, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Wheels Off There are other perspectives (“Skateboarding is Not a Crime…but Pacific Grove City Council seems to think it is,” April 13-19). Many people spoke about wanting to keep the open space we have left for wildlife and they were booed and laughed at. The fact is that the time and energy put into making a skatepark happen for some P.G. kids has used up staff time to the extent we haven’t yet opened our Youth Center that can serve all our youth. My children are adults now and I did all kinds of schlepping to sports events and practices, art and music and sailing lessons; I get that it takes a lot to raise a child. But you don’t role model how you want them to be as adults by cutting down other folks’ viewpoints or the validity of others’ desires and saying they wronged you because they didn’t give you what you want. I fully agree that our youth need attention. I’m going to volunteer at the Youth Center to make it a safe and known place for all. To me, that is the foundation, the cake, and a skatepark, like all the other sports offerings, is like icing, a great bonus. The City Council acted wisely to look for a different kind of site that is paved and away from residences. If they now drop the ball and fail to get a thriving Youth Center open very soon, then councilmembers haven’t kept their promises and done their job. Rebecca Lee | Pacific Grove Not only is skateboarding not a crime, but it’s also a very healthy activity both for body and mind that we should make available to our youth, not discourage it. Cat Stevens said it best way back in the ’70s: “But tell me where do the children play.” Daniel DeCamp | Seaside What’s proposed in P.G. is a competitive, arena-like concrete facility available to anyone wishing to hone skating skills during unstated hours with little interest in its noise impact affecting surrounding neighborhoods. Several years after CSU Monterey Bay first opened, I recall an effort was underway by students declaring skateboarding “was not a crime.” The university cited risks, noise and impact on learning involving other students; they lost the battle. Note the university’s current restrictive policy: Rollerblading, skating, and skateboarding are permitted on university grounds only for use as transportation and only during designated hours in designated areas. If P.G.’s youthful skateboarders expect to enroll at CSUMB and use their boards in any way they wish, they might want to consider attending another university. Don Porter | via email What Sara Rubin said about skateboarding can equally be said about pickleball. Embracing change is hard; supporting the status quo is easy. In the case of pickleball, where the status quo wins, many, many children and adults who want to play pickleball in Pacific Grove are the losers because we don’t have enough courts or days to play. Jane Wynn | Pacific Grove Water Main Good work, Del Rey Oaks PD! (“Del Rey Oaks PD arrest suspect alleged to have stolen over 600 fire hydrant caps,” posted April 10.) Karen Minami | Del Rey Oaks Months ago while walking a dog in Ryan Ranch, I noticed all [hydrant caps] seemed to be missing there. That explains it. Jon D. Bui | via social media I just don’t get it. If criminals would simply put that same effort into gainful employment, they would be way ahead in the long run. In any case, thanks and a job well done to those responsible for locating and apprehending this crook. Derek Dean | via web Crisis Team The amount of beds for minors is even fewer (“A lack of psychiatric treatment beds in California puts an enormous strain on patients, staff and the community,” April 6-12). We had an experience with our daughter back in 2014, and they thought they were going to have to send her to Los Angeles because there was nothing close to Monterey for her. Barbara Pereira | via social media Speak Out Alex Miller is a much-needed voice to our City Council (“A Seaside councilmember spoke up on social media, and the mayor didn’t like it,” April 13-19). Keep up the good work. Mark Sears | Seaside Water War Thanks for writing this (“After months of delay, Cal Am signs water purchase agreement for Pure Water Monterey expansion,” posted April 7). The Peninsula was actually waiting for years for Cal Am to sign the agreement, because the expansion took many months to get approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) before Cal Am delayed the signing for many months thereafter. That is why the public buyout offer of Cal Am is so important. It’s not just Cal Am, it’s the two-headed monster that includes the CPUC. If the [Monterey Peninsula Water Management District] runs the water distributorship, the CPUC disappears from the ratemaking and regulating that they do so spectacularly poorly. Michael Baer| Santa Clara County Paddle Power This 87-year-old grandma salutes you for venturing to kayak a narrow, fast river in an inflatable kayak! (“Floodplain restoration projects on the Carmel River hold promise to protect against future floods,” posted April 10.) Having kayaked with orcas and humpback whales in Vancouver Sound and in Alaska, albeit in a sturdy and solid kayak, I would never enter an inflatable to do a short run on a river full of spiky branches that could puncture it. It is also nice to hear that the authorities will address the issue of returning the artichoke fields back to a possible spill-over for future flooding. That is not a space to build more housing. Tania Grant | Carmel What an exciting adventure! Who needs to go to the Grand Canyon? Marilyn Brown | Pacific Grove Letters • CommentsOPINION Submit letters to the editor to letters@mcweekly.com. Please keep your letter to 150 words or less; subject to editing for space. 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