14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY september 14-20, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com The Rent is Too Damn High A rental registry will not produce one more rental unit nor will it lower the cost of renting a home (“Monterey City Council is set to vote on a proposed rental registry,” posted Sept. 4). Quite the opposite. It doesn’t take a graduate degree in economics to understand the concept of supply and demand. The City of Monterey has failed to keep up with the need for rental housing. A rental registry will decrease the availability of rental units on the market. Rental units will become more scarce and rents will increase. As one Monterey City Council member said publicly, “I am not an economist. I don’t really understand this.” Passing a rental registry ordinance confirms his ignorance. Kelsey Sayer | Monterey I’m not understanding what the property owners’ argument is against the registry nor how it would lead to rent control. It seems like it’s saying this apartment complex, owned by _____, has 86 units with 40 being one-bedroom and 46 being two-bedroom, etc. What’s concerning about that? Yvonne Martinez | via social media I’m having a hard time understanding what problems this solves. This is a program that ends up costing the landlords, which will definitely be passed along on top of the already ludicrously high rents, but then it doesn’t do anything to help the landlords or the renters and just exposes both to a lack of privacy? I don’t get it. There’s definitely a rent and real estate issue locally, where costs are high and short-term rentals and vacation properties are a big problem. This doesn’t solve any of those problems. At best it goes toward concretely identifying market prices, but I’m not sure how useful that is. Frederick Jack Nelson | Seaside Mind the Gap It’s interesting that the only sitting politician mentioned in this story, Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, just gutted the state’s annual Pride proclamation by removing all reference to LGBTQ+ people (“Braver Angels brings people together from across the political divide to get us to do a seemingly simple thing: talk to each other,” Aug. 31-Sept. 6). This is what gets lost in each of these routine, unimaginative articles about partisanship: Real people are causing real harm, and no amount of decorum will change that. The problem isn’t the way we listen to each other; it’s the sclerotic government that doesn’t listen to any of us. When he introduced his “Disagree Better” initiative in July, Cox said he would urge Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, to “be nicer” as though manners— and not the mountains of malicious legislation he’s signed—were the problem. Alec Barton | Monterey I loved this article! Please try to emphasize more like this. My best friend for life and my nephew are staunch Trump fans. I despise Trump. But reading this article will seriously help me maintain a better relationship with my friend and my nephew. John Haller | via email Outside the Lines This is so wrong (“Soledad City Council moves forward with a five-district council map, prompting community outcry,” posted Sept. 7). Kat Deering | via social media Scrambled Eggs This isn’t the area to try and put a chicken farm (“A planned chicken farm in Corral de Tierra is facing fierce community opposition,” Aug. 31-Sept. 6). This is where homes and lots can exceed $4 million. There are areas where this would make much more sense. They should have understood the surrounding area when they bought into it a few years ago. This can potentially be something that causes surrounding areas to lose value. I don’t want a neighbor that potentially could cost me money. Joe Ash | Prunedale People suck. All the beautiful, rich ag land on this side of the Peninsula has been ruined and zoned residential. More local farms and farmers please! People complain about the quality of food, then do everything possible to dissuade people from actually being able to farm. Don’t move to the country if you don’t like the county. Can we complain about what an eyesore a housing development is? Iris McGilloway | Carmel Valley Losing a Leader I enjoyed your piece on Lou Calcagno and how his passing represents the end of an era (“It’s the end of an agricultural era as we bid farewell to one of Monterey County’s last dairymen,” posted Sept. 6). Lou was a mentor to me, but most importantly, he was my friend. He was essentially responsible for my appointment to LAFCO in 2003 and he took flak for it. At the time, appointing a real estate developer to LAFCO was like the “fox guarding the henhouse.” But Lou knew I would be a custodian and not a “yes” person for development. I recall with fondness a time in the mid-2000s when Lou arranged to have a pilot friend of his fly us up and down the Salinas Valley in a Cessna, during which Lou pointed out various swaths of land from Salinas to King City and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the significance of each. He stressed the importance of conservation and LAFCO’s role in adopting responsible spheres of influence, a lesson I took to heart. Despite him being very busy, I was always able to call him for advice or a last-minute lunch—it was a side of him few people saw beyond the local headlines. Vince DiMaggio | San Diego Music to the Ears I loved hearing Aga Popeda interview Cindy Wu with thoughtful, well-chosen questions, and Cindy sharing her entertaining stories with honesty, at the Press Club (Mic’d Up at The Press Club event, Sept. 7; “Violinist TienHsin Cindy Wu is rethinking what Monterey County’s classical music scene can be,” Sept. 7-13). Thanks, Monterey County Weekly. Christian Mendelsohn | Seaside Correction A story (“The design for an affordable housing project on Laurel Drive in Salinas moves forward,” Sept. 7-13) inaccurately stated construction is set to start in 2025. It is actually 2026. 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. Please include your full name, contact information and city you live in.
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