july 11-17, 2024 montereycountynow.com LOCAL & INDEPENDENT School Numbers Crunch 8 | Bach is Back 28 | Super at Laguna Seca 31 | Religious History 32 Local painter David Ligare combines a classical style and large formats for big, bold artwork—and lots of perfect shapes. p. 18 By Agata Pope˛da Spheres of Influence
2 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com july 11-17, 2024 • ISSUE #1876 • Established in 1988 Gary Robinson (iPhone 15 Pro) Sailboats stored on the dock in Monterey Harbor stand ready for kids to take them for a ride. Monterey County photo of the week Send Etc. submissions to etcphoto@montereycountynow.com; please include caption and camera info. On the cover: Painter David Ligare holds a golden sphere, the central motif of his exhibit now on display in the Monterey Museum of Art. Cover photo: Daniel Dreifuss etc. Copyright © 2024 by Milestone Communications Inc. 668 Williams Ave., Seaside, California 93955 (telephone 831-394-5656). All rights reserved. Monterey County Weekly, the Best of Monterey County and the Best of Monterey Bay are registered trademarks. No person, without prior permission from the publisher, may take more than one copy of each issue. Additional copies and back issues may be purchased for $1, plus postage. Mailed subscriptions: $300 yearly, prepaid. The Weekly is an adjudicated newspaper of Monterey County, court decree M21137. The Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Visit our website at http://www.montereycountynow. com. Audited by CVC. Founder & CEO Bradley Zeve bradley@montereycountynow.com (x103) Publisher Erik Cushman erik@montereycountynow.com (x125) Editorial editor Sara Rubin sara@montereycountynow.com (x120) associate editor Erik Chalhoub ec@montereycountynow.com (x135) features editor Dave Faries dfaries@montereycountynow.com (x110) Staff Writer Celia Jiménez celia@montereycountynow.com (x145) Staff Writer Pam Marino pam@montereycountynow.com (x106) Staff Writer Agata Pope¸da (x138) aga@montereycountynow.com Staff Writer David Schmalz david@montereycountynow.com (x104) Staff photographer Daniel Dreifuss daniel@montereycountynow.com (x102) Digital PRODUCER Sloan Campi sloan@montereycountynow.com (x105) contributors Nik Blaskovich, Rob Brezsny, Michael Dadula, Robert Daniels, Tonia Eaton, Jesse Herwitz, Jacqueline Weixel, Paul Wilner Cartoons Rob Rogers, Tom Tomorrow Production Art Director/Production Manager Karen Loutzenheiser karen@montereycountynow.com (x108) Graphic Designer Kevin Jewell kevinj@montereycountynow.com (x114) Graphic Designer Alexis Estrada alexis@montereycountynow.com (x114) Graphic Designer Lani Headley lani@montereycountynow.com (x114) SALES senior Sales Executive Diane Glim diane@montereycountynow.com (x124) Senior Sales Executive George Kassal george@montereycountynow.com (x122) Senior Sales Executive Keith Bruecker keith@montereycountynow.com (x118) Classifieds business development director Keely Richter keely@montereycountynow.com (x123) Digital Director of Digital Media Kevin Smith kevin@montereycountynow.com (x119) Distribution Distribution AT Arts Co. atartsco@gmail.com Distribution Control Harry Neal Business/Front Office Office Manager Linda Maceira linda@montereycountynow.com (x101) Bookkeeping Rochelle Trawick rochelle@montereycountynow.com 668 Williams Ave., Seaside, CA 93955 831-394-5656, (FAX) 831-394-2909 www.montereycountynow.com We’d love to hear from you. Send us your tips at tipline.montereycountynow.com. now [nou] adverb at the present time or moment Monterey County Now Local news, arts and entertainment, food and drink, calendar and daily newsletter. Subcribe to the newsletter: www.montereycountynow.com/subscribe Find us online: www.montereycountynow.com
www.montereycountynow.com JULY 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 3
4 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JULY 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com THE BUZZ FREE SPEECH The New York Times reported July 6 that Deb Gruver, a former reporter at The Marion County Record, a weekly newspaper in Kansas, reached a $235,000 settlement from the county stemming from a lawsuit she filed over a raid last August by law enforcement officials—local police and sheriff’s deputies—on the newsroom, and the homes of a city councilwoman and the paper’s publisher, Eric Meyer, whose 98-year-old mother was living there at the time. She died two days later, the Times reports, “in part because of the distress caused by the raid on her home, Mr. Meyer said.” Gruver resigned from the Record last fall, and in her resignation letter wrote, “I no longer wanted to work in a town where the majority of ‘leaders’ clearly don’t respect the Fourth Estate or the U.S. Constitution.” Gruver’s suit alleged that then-Marion police chief Gideon Cody injured her fingers when he grabbed her cell phone out of her hand during the raid, and then reportedly told the sheriff that taking the phone “made my day.” Four other employees at the Record also filed lawsuits in federal court; they remain pending. Good: Major road work always causes short-term headaches, but commuters who frequent Alisal Road in Salinas will look back later this year on Monday, July 8 as the beginning of a good week. Work to reconstruct the crumbled road between Sconberg Parkway to Hartnell Road adjacent to agricultural fields began this week. According to the County of Monterey, the road will be rebuilt using a method known as “fulldepth recycle/reclamation.” The existing pavement and road base will be pulverized, mixed with cement and compacted/ graded in place. Officials say it eliminates the need to haul material on- and off-site. An asphalt concrete layer will be placed on top, and is expected to last for 20 years. The $3.8 million project, awarded to Watsonville-based Graniterock and funded by the 2016 voter-approved Measure X, is expected to wrap up by the end of September. GREAT: A project to restore the floodplain on the Carmel River got a major boost in funding. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, announced the Rancho Cañada Floodplain Restoration Project was awarded $35 million in grant funding from federal, state and local sources. The project calls for widening and restoring the riverbed and banks where the river flows through a 40-acre, mile-long stretch of Palo Corona Regional Park through the section that was reclaimed from part of the Rancho Cañada Golf Course in a purchase facilitated by the Trust for Public Land, Trout Unlimited, the Santa Lucia Conservancy and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2025. Panetta and others are scheduled to highlight the funds during a tour of the river on Friday, July 12. GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK THE WEEKLY TALLY That’s how many fluffy pancakes were served during the July 4 Charity Pancake Breakfast at Fire Station 11 in Monterey. The event, which benefited MY Museum, drew record numbers of attendees. Source: Matt Murphy, Monterey Firefighters Community Foundation 2,000 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “People are advised to leave the dead fish alone.” -A notice from the County of Monterey on Saturday, July 6, advising of a large-scale fish dieoff at Lake San Antonio due to the heat (see story, montereycountynow.com). 2024 ASSESSED VALUE NOTICES Property owners may view their value notices this year at: www.countyofmonterey.gov/assessor Owners can also request an electronic version of their notice by emailing assessor@countyofmonterey.gov with the subject as “VALUE NOTICE REQUEST”. Please allow 48hrs to receive your notice. Tax bills will be mailed in mid-October and property owners will have until December 2, 2024 to file an assessment appeal. For more information, contact the County of Monterey, Office of the Assessor (831) 755-5035 AVISO DE VALORES 2024 Las Notificaciones de valores estarán disponibles por Internet, www.countyofmonterey.gov/assessor Propietarios sin acceso a una computadora, favor de llamar a (831) 755-5035, oprima opción 3 para dejar su información. Propietarios también pueden solicitar una versión electrónica de su aviso enviando un correo electrónico a assessor@countyofmonterey.gov con el sujeto “SOLICITUD DE AVISO DE VALOR”. Por favor permita 48 horas para recibir su aviso. Facturas de impuestos serán enviadas al propietario a mediados de Octubre y los propietarios tendrán hasta el 2 de Diciembre 2024 para presentar una apelación. Para mas información, llame al Condado de Monterey Oficina del Assessor (831) 755-5035
www.montereycountynow.com july 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 5 summersplasH! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Void where prohibited. The sweepstakes is open only to California-American Water Company water customers in the Monterey County District of California who complete and submit a Summer Splash Water Challenge Giveaway entry form (“gameboard”) with correct answers by mail postmarked by August 17, 2024 to MPWMD Summer Splash, P.O. Box 85, Monterey CA, 93942 or online at www.montereywaterinfo.org/waterchallenge by August 17, 2024 and who are at least 18 years of age as of the date of entry. Start: 12:01 a.m. PDT on 7/1/2024; deadline: 11:59 p.m. PDT on 8/17/2024. Prizes: Two (2) Winners will receive a High Efficiency Clothes Washer (ARV $650), one (1) Winner will receive a High Efficiency Dishwasher (ARV $600), two (2) Winners will receive an Apple iPad (ARV $470), two (2) Winners will receive a $200 gift certificate/card to a local plant nursery (ARV $200), two (2) Winners will receive a $200 Home Depot Gift Card (ARV $200), eleven (11) Winners will receive a $150 Visa Gift Card (ARV $150) OFFICIAL RULES: www.montereywaterinfo.org/waterchallenge_officialrules.pdf SPONSORS: Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, 5 Harris Ct, Building G, Monterey CA 93940 and California-American Water Company, 511 Forest Lodge Road, Pacific Grove CA 93950 WinBIG! play now! get started! MontereyWaterInfo.org/Water Challenge High Efficiency Clothes Washer 2 winners (ARV $650) Apple iPad 2 winners (ARV $470) High Efficiency Dish Washer 1 winner (ARV $600) $200 Gift Card 2 winners - Low water use plants at local nursery $200 Gift Card from Home Depot - 2 winners $150 Gift Card from Visa - 11 Winners ENDS 8.17
6 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY July 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com 831 Scattered under the trees at Patriot Park in Greenfield, a group of Triqui Indigenous women stand out from the greenery with red huipiles and dozens of thin white strands that make them look like they are attached to the trees. They are there to learn backstrap weaving in a class sponsored by Celebration Nation, a San Jose-based nonprofit that supports farmworkers and undocumented immigrants, called “Cultura Triqui Sin Fronteras”—Triqui culture without borders. “Tap, tap, tap” is the sound the machete o tzotzopaztli makes every time it hits the weft. It seems like a simple up-and-down movement to push the thread down to ensure closegrain weaving; however, backstrap weaving is a little more complex than pushing strands. It involves different factors, such as having the right distance between the weaver and the tree for warp tension. Backstrap looming is one of the oldest forms of weaving that can be traced to the bronze-iron ages. It has been a traditional artisanal practice among Indigenous peoples around the world; including Mexican Indigenous people. The Triqui huipil is 100 percent hand-made; it can take up to a year to finish one. This traditional piece of clothing is full of symbolism. It represents rebirth and a caterpillar’s transformation to a butterfly. The collar, made of triangular-shaped ribbon, symbolizes the sun; the hanging ribbons on the back, the rainbow; the red strips are the caterpillar’s path and the figures and patterns that symbolize a butterfly’s flight. Adelaida Álvarez, who volunteers with Celebration Nation, says she talked with Flor Martínez, Celebration Nation’s executive director, about bringing new programs to the Greenfield community. “I want something for my Indigenous community,” Álvarez recalls saying. Álvarez says in Spanish the goal is “to preserve our culture and without forgetting where we came from and share what we know with other women.” Álvarez notes the class provides women with a space to socialize and practice Triqui or Spanish while learning a new craft. The news about the class was spread by word of mouth and Facebook posts. They chose the day and time based on the women’s availability; most of them are farmworkers and work in the early morning and afternoons. Many Triqui women learn this craft at a young age. Cirila Martínez, the backstrap weaving teacher at Patriot Park, says in Triqui she began when she was 8 years old. Martínez specializes in huipil-making and once the harvesting season is over, she dedicates her time mainly to backstrap weaving. In six months she can weave two huipiles. The women meet nearly every Saturday from 4-6pm under the shade of the trees at Patriot Park. Many of them come to relax and work on their huipiles or napkins. Celebration Nation provides all the yarn, imported from Mexico. The women bought and prepared sticks of various widths to form the backstrap loom including the loom bars—the width of the work—and a heddle stick to separate the warps. Cousins Elizabeth, 21, and Alberta Merino, 24, joined the class in April. Elizabeth says she likes learning her traditions. “Besides learning, I’m spending time outdoors and de-stress,” Merino says, adding she’s making her first huipil. “I think it’s going to take me a long time,” she laughs. Alberta, wearing a red huipil that was a gift from her mother-in-law, says she hopes she will soon wear the one she made. Álvarez says she’s working on expanding the class in August—17 women are on the waiting list. The weaving class is currently on sabbatical, and will return once the harvesting season slows down and kids return to school. For information on the weaving class in Triqui and Spanish, call Adelaida Álvarez at 737-4302; for Spanish and English, call Flor Martínez at (408) 310-8002. Common Threads A group of Indigenous women are weaving a community through an ancient tradition. By Celia Jiménez Anastasia Martinez is among the Triqui Indigenous women who meet every Saturday at Patriot Park in Greenfield to learn and master their skills in backstrap weaving. The goal is to preserve their culture while sharing their knowledge with other women. Backstrap weaving is more complex than pushing strands. TAlES FROM THE AREA CODE CELIA JIMÉNEZ SAVE THE DATE Thursday, July 30 • Quarterly Business Insights Breakfast with Dr. Steve Packer, CEO of Montage Health Ferrante’s Bay View Room at Monterey Marriott Thursday, September 5 • Leadership Luncheon Portola Hotel & Spa Thursday, October 10 • Monterey Bay Business Expo Embassy Suites by Hilton Monterey Bay Seaside 2024 UPCOMING EVENTS See the full schedule of events and register today at montereychamber.com REGISTER TODAY!
www.montereycountynow.com July 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 7 the original since 1988 Nominations Are OPenv v best of monterey county®
8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 11-7, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com news The U.S. pandemic emergency ended in May 2023, but the Covid-19 virus continues to mutate and spread, recently due to a highly infectious family of variants dubbed FLiRT. The variants aren’t causing a high number of hospitalizations or deaths but it is producing more severe fatigue and sore throats, according to infectious disease experts. The very drug that can alleviate those symptoms and shorten the illness, Paxlovid, is in short supply. It’s not that the company that makes the drug, Pfizer, isn’t producing enough of it. It’s that it’s charging an enormous amount for it. The average wholesale price as of July 8 was $1,743 for a five-day course. “It’s unreasonably expensive,” says Jasmine Chan, pharmacist and owner of Central Avenue Pharmacy in Pacific Grove. If Chan wants to carry it, she has to purchase it up front. The federal funding that enabled Chan to be reimbursed for its cost ended last November, and now she depends on insurance companies to reimburse her, but it’s usually a small amount. “Some are even underpaying,” she says. “Now I’m paying your insurance for you to have Paxlovid.” As a small business, Chan says it’s nearly impossible to afford keeping it in stock, although she says she wants to. “It’s the right thing to do,” she says. There was a run on Paxlovid locally in midJune, which is around the time Pacific Grove’s own infectious disease expert, Dr. David C. Wright, began seeing more patients with Covid. He says no drug store in P.G. carried it but found it at larger chain stores elsewhere. The drug is still free this year for those who qualify, and available at a reduced price for others. More info is available at paxlovid. com/paxcess. Short Supply The one drug available to treat Covid is hard to find as the virus is on the rise again. By Pam Marino In June, California approved its $291.5 billion budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The state, facing a $46.8 billion deficit, tapped into its reserves, moved expenses outside of the general fund and reduced $16 billion in funding from areas including an affordable housing program and state operations. Public education was spared from reductions—lawmakers approved around $8 billion in cuts but they added back from Proposition 98 reserves, to fill a hole in the education budget. PK Diffenbaugh, superintendent at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, says he’s grateful education didn’t suffer dramatic budget cuts. “I think the challenge is they used up most of the education rainy day fund,” Diffenbaugh says, noting if the optimistic revenue projections don’t come to fruition there won’t be a cushion to fall back on. The community school program will continue but will prioritize districts with implementation grants. It eliminates $500 million for vouchers for hybrid and zero-emission vehicles, which made it more accessible to transition from gas-powered buses to electric. It also suspends school districts from firing certified and classified staff for the upcoming school year. School districts will only receive a mere 1.07 percent cost-ofliving adjustment (in the two previous years, they received a 13 and 8 percent COLA adjustment). Jim Koenig, Alisal Union School District’s superintendent, says the district will be fully funded, but since it will receive a low COLA, “we’re having to adjust how much each of the departments receive in terms of their funding,” Koenig says. He highlights these cuts don’t compare to the ones they faced during the Great Recession of 2008. These budget cuts further impact school districts that are more dependent on state funds since a chunk of their funding sources come from the state instead of local property taxes. Student enrollment in many school districts across California face a downward trend. MPUSD loses between 100 to 150 students every year while AUSD lost 200 last school year. (AUSD’s trend is expected to reverse once the housing is built in the West Area and Central Area specific plans). On one hand, there is the state deficit, and on the other, local student enrollment is decreasing, there is a high cost of living and the Covid-19 relief funds are exhausted. Diffenbaugh says a “perfect storm [is] brewing” and education could face cuts if budget projections don’t materialize next year. Carmel Unified and Pacific Grove Unified are entirely funded by property taxes. MPUSD and AUSD receive state funding since both have highneed students with about 85 percent and 95 percent, respectively. MPUSD loses about 100 teachers every year and at AUSD, the district currently has more than 30 vacancies. To help retain teachers and staff, school districts are turning to building affordable housing for their workforce. Last year, Salinas Union High School District opened its workforce housing. MPUSD has considered a similar approach, and on July 23, the board is scheduled to vote on whether or not to include a bond measure in November to build staff and teacher housing. The state budget eliminates $1.2 billion in school facilities including building and renovating classrooms for preschool to kindergarten students. Cloudy Outlook Education is spared from drastic cuts in the new state budget, but the future seems uncertain. By Celia Jiménez Paxlovid has been difficult to find locally since June. Some larger drug store chains carry it, but it’s expensive, even with insurance. People on Medicare and Medi-Cal can receive it for free. “A perfect storm is brewing.” Daniel Dreifuss shutterstock
www.montereycountynow.com JULY 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 9 * Borrowers must be members of Bay Federal Credit Union and your business be eligible for Bay Federal membership. Qualification of membership is defined as the business headquarters is located within Santa Cruz, Monterey, or San Benito Counties. Must meet membership and account criteria, all loans subject to approval. Only commercial properties located within the state of California are eligible for financing. Rates and terms will vary based on collateral and credit. Programs, rates, terms, conditions, and services are subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply. 831.479.6000 • www.bayfed.com • 888.4BAYFED Federally Insured by NCUA | Equal Housing Lender 1524 N. Main Street | Salinas Now Offering Commercial Real Estate Loans No pre-payment penalties Purchase or refinance Loan amounts up to $5,000,000 Multi-family units, farm & agriculture, office space, warehouses and other properties Visit a branch today! (831) 718-9041 • merrillgardensmonterey.com 200 Iris Canyon Rd, Monterey, CA 93940 From the communities we create to the connections we make with residents, everything we do is rooted in our history as a fifth generation family business. Family means everything to us. SENIOR LIVING Lic #275202591 Proud to be part of Merrill Gardens Senior Living Visit And Enjoy A Meal On Us! www.cfmco.org • 831.375.9712 Design your giving plan. We can help. Donor Advised Funds • Charitable Estate Planning (CGAs, CRTs) • IRA Charitable Distributions • Family and Business Philanthropy Scholarships & More 831.375.9712 | cfmco.org/MOCI | Plan your giving A Memorandum of Charitable Intent helps you direct gifts from your estate or charitable fund at the CFMC to benefit the nonprofits of your choice. Creating this simple, flexible document is a complimentary service designed to give you peace of mind knowing your wishes will be fulfilled. When you name the Community Foundation for Monterey County as your charitable beneficiary, you create a lasting legacy. Scholarship Fund Holders Michael and Gloria Ipson cfmco.org/Ipson
10 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 11-7, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com Just as the sun was going down July 4, dozens of people gathered atop a stairwell in Seaside’s Mescal Heights neighborhood to take in the view. For hours, onlookers gathered to watch illegal fireworks, which fired into the sky in haphazard salvos all across the city, and even some being shot off in Monterey’s North Fremont District, while nearby at the top of stairs on Skyview Drive someone would periodically ignite legal, groundbound “safe and sane” fireworks. The spectators gathered offered numerous oohs and aahs after the particularly impressive explosions, and a vibe of celebratory chaos infused the air, as did the faint smell of sulfur. Seaside Acting City Manager Nick Borges, also the police chief, was up at Mescal Heights for a time as well, and he struck up a conversation with a woman from the South Bay who heard, while at a conference in Monterey, that Seaside was a great place to watch fireworks. “She said, ‘It’s so beautiful,’” Borges says. But he told her that’s not the situation down on the often narrow neighborhood streets, where there are parties of 50 to 60 people, sometimes in the road blocking passage, while fireworks are popping off and there’s possibly debris on the street. While Borges has heard from some residents this was the worst year ever, he believes the past two years have shown a decrease in fireworks— Seaside PD’s detection technology logged over 500 explosions on July 4, he says (they’ve since decreased to about 30 to 35 a day). And as for the 335 pounds of illegal fireworks Seaside PD confiscated from a residence last week, he says it made only a slight impact in that specific neighborhood. In all, Seaside PD issued 55 citations for illegal fireworks on July 4, but footage captured by drones pinned every address where fireworks were sent off, so that number is expected to climb in the coming two weeks. Salinas Fire Division Chief/Fire Marshall Chris Knapp, who’s been with the department about 16 years, says this was the busiest Fourth of July for the department for the last three or four years. Two structure fires could not be determined to have been caused by fireworks, though at least one of four vegetation fires is believed to have been. Additionally, two of seven trash can fires were confirmed to be fireworks-related. Knapp says the department hasn’t yet processed all its data, so he can’t yet speak to how many citations will be issued as a result. Leslie J. Flores, 58, of Monterey, has been on the run since Feb. 14, when he was supposed to appear in Monterey County Superior Court on multiple misdemeanor and felony warrants. When he didn’t show, the judge issued a no-bail arrest warrant, and the search was on. Flores managed to escape Monterey Police on three separate occasions in April and June but he finally lost his independence on July 4, after literally holing himself up under his house, requiring chainsaws to extricate him. Efforts to finally capture Flores began around 6:15pm, July 3, after officers confirmed he was at his home on Cielo Vista Drive, according to an MPD press release. After realizing the police were there, Flores ran out the back, where he was confronted by an officer. Flores climbed a tree at the back of the house and disappeared through an open window. MPD called on mutual aid, and over 30 officials responded from eight law enforcement agencies, as well as the Monterey Fire Department and Monterey County Behavioral Health. Officers used loudspeakers to advise Flores he was under arrest and needed to come out. A crisis negotiations team attempted to contact him, to no avail. After several hours they breached the front door and used indoor drones to help clear the home, finding no Flores. A roomto-room search yielded nothing as well, including inside a hiding area under the house. Then an officer noticed a fresh handprint on a wall of the hiding area. They discovered a tunnel, but it was blocked. It took a chainsaw to remove several floorboards of an adjacent room to find Flores in a sixfoot hole. Flores was arrested at around 2:15am, July 4, and was taken to Monterey County Jail. He was returned to court on July 8. His next hearing is scheduled for July 17. Flores has other troubles. In February, Monterey officials filed for a receivership of apartments he owns on Larkin Street, after he reportedly refused to make repairs to dilapidated units condemned by the city. Boom City Illegal fireworks continue to dazzle and terrorize local residents. By David Schmalz news Housing for All City of Monterey presents a workshop on how to improve access to housing. The gathering will discuss factors such as cost and discrimination. 6-7pm Monday, July 15. Gathering for Women, 147 El Dorado St., Monterey. Free. 646-3995, monterey.gov/housing. Temporary Spot County of Monterey Department of Social Services is remodeling its community benefits lobby in Salinas, and is moving into a temporary location with limited services. The remodel begins Monday, July 15 and will take two months to complete. Temporary lobby is located at 1000 S. Main St., Suite 216A. 877-410-8823, countyofmonterey.gov/government/ departments-i-z/social-services. Gears of Government Monterey City Council meets and accepts public comment. Tell your elected officials what they are doing well and what you think they can do better. 4pm Tuesday, July 16. Colton Hall, 580 Pacific St., Monterey. Free. 646-3799, monterey.gov. Get a Job Monterey County Works hosts an online job fair to give employers a chance to meet job seekers. 1-4pm Wednesday, July 17. Virtual. Advance registration is required. 7963335, montereycountyworks.com. Police Equipment Soledad Police Department discusses the military equipment in its inventory and related training and costs. The annual report is required by state law. 6pm Wednesday, July 17. Soledad City Council Chambers, 248 Main St., Soledad. Free. 223-5120, cityofsoledad.com/police-department. Going Electric Monterey Bay Air Resources District launched its electric vehicle incentive program for the upcoming year. This year’s program also includes rebates for those who qualify for the purchase of used fully electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Online applications are available at mbard.org/electric-vehicle-incentive-program. Ride up The Greenfield Community Science Workshop is hosting a bike repair shop. People will have access to tools to repair and adjust their rides. The event accepts bike donations and will have a stock of used bikes to fix and take. 4-7pm Friday, July 12. 220 Elko St., Greenfield. Free; all ages welcome. 233-8335. Got ‘Em Monterey Police use wits and a chainsaw to extricate a wily felony suspect from a secret hole. By Pam Marino Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges says the 1500 block of Yosemite Street, seen above in 2023, is an annual hotspot for illegal fireworks; it’s just a block from the fire station. e-mail: toolbox@montereycountynow.com TOOLBOX A vibe of celebratory chaos infused the air. Daniel Dreifuss
www.montereycountynow.com JULY 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 11
12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY July 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com In October 2016, as a tugboat was towing a derelict drydock, YFD-70, from a shipyard in Puget Sound to Ensenada, Mexico to be recycled for parts, YFD-70 began to list. Off the coast of Half Moon Bay and less than a mile into the northwestern border of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the crew of the tugboat cut loose of the drydock, which then sank into Pioneer Canyon, just off the continental shelf. Earlier that same year, marine scientists, using an ROV, had identified a diverse array of deep sea corals, sponges, sea pens and sea whips in the canyon, among other species. A subsequent damage assessment conducted at the site in 2018 estimated a minimum loss of 1,713 to 3,672 organisms (fish and invertebrates), of which 646 to 1,305 were estimated to be corals. As marine life in a marine sanctuary is a public trust resource, MBNMS was required to repair the “injury” caused by the incident; a legal settlement stemming from it paid out $8.7 million to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries to do so. But it was decided that trying to repair the injury at Pioneer Canyon was infeasible—the slope was steep, the water very deep, and salvaging the drydock would be too dangerous and cost prohibitive. So ONMS set out to find “compensatory” restoration projects, which culminated in two prongs: Over $6 million would go to removing target objects from the seafloor at up to 150-feet depth, and $2.5 million to restoring coral by transplanting up to 300 corals from healthy colonies. Over the past year-plus, Sanctuary officials narrowed the locations to outplant coral to three potential locations within MBNMS—Ascension Canyon and Ano Nuevo Canyon, west of Santa Cruz, and Sur Ridge, west of Big Sur. The point of controversy, however, with that proposal is that MBNMS wanted to prohibit bottom-contact fishing gear—pots, traps—to protect the coral plants. Once the local fishing community caught wind of the proposal last year, they were largely dismayed—with the cancellation of the salmon season for the second consecutive year, the recent closure of the near-shore groundfish fishery to protect quillback rockfish, and the months-long curtailment of the crab season due to the presence of whales in the bay, fishermen are reeling. Sanctuary officials brought their proposal to the Pacific Fishery Management Council for a vote at their June meeting. It was contentious: nearly all of the public comment advocated to reject the closures. Those opposed included Thomas Nyugen, who submitted a comment on behalf of a group of VietnameseAmerican fishermen in Moss Landing, writing, “We have become 100-percent dependent on black cod for our livelihoods,” adding that closing those northern canyons would increase fishing concentration elsewhere. After much discussion and debate, the council voted 7-6 on June 9 to close only Sur Ridge to bottom-contact gear, where coral outplanting has already been successfully underway in recent years, and which hasn’t been fished in years. Making Amends Officials sought to close off areas in local waters to bottom-contact fishing gear. Fishermen fought back. By David Schmalz An octopus hanging out among deepsea corals, at a depth of 6,473 feet, in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. NEWS “We have become 100-percent dependent on black cod.” NOAA/MBARI PETER B'S BREWPUB PRESENTS SUMMER MUSIC SERIES Join us every Thursday from 6PM to 9PM Indoors at Peter B’s Brewpub or Outdoors in our pet-friendly Beer Garden* 7.11 RYAN SESMA 7.17 TIMOTHY HUTTEN 7.25 DJ FREDO 8.1 RYAN SESMA 8.8 DJ FREDO *Outdoor dates subject to weather conditions. LOCATED BEHIND THE PORTOLA HOTEL & SPA | COMPLIMENTARY PARKING (831) 649-2699 | PETERBSBREWPUB.COM Prevention•Education•Treatment•Recovery Preventing alcohol and drug addiction by offering education, prevention, treatment and recovery to individuals and families regardless of income level. “Prevention is important to me because I’ve experienced how mental illness can lead to drugs and alcohol and how it’s affected my family and I don’t want anyone else to experience that kind of struggle.” -Leyah, STEPS Student Youth Leader from Soledad High School Support youth prevention services! www.SunStreetCenters.org
www.montereycountynow.com JULY 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 13 FOR MORE INFO + REGISTRATION MONTEREY.ORG/REC (831) 646-3866 SCAN ME! REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN! THE CITY OF MONTEREY BEST SUMMER EVER! CAMP QUIEN SABE OVERNIGHT CAMP WHISPERING PINES DAY CAMP TINY TOTS SUMMER CAMP SPORTS CAMPS SPECIALTY CAMPS LEGO, GYMNASTICS, WOODWORKING AND MUCH MORE!
14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com Voting Matters Thank you for your editorial on our presidential candidates (“Biden and Trump should both drop out. Our country is too important,” July 4-10). I respectfully disagree. Trump will never drop out. Who on the red team will utter dissent? Biden must decide; the people voted overwhelmingly to nominate both these guys. Unless he quits the race, a brokered convention is a pipe dream. Biden will beat Trump...like a drum. The women of America will see to that. This is the first presidential election since Dobbs. Now the rogue Supreme Court is making law, not interpreting it. They just rewrote the Constitution by adding presidential immunity for criminal action while in office. The Supremes just put their thumb on the scale, but opposite of how they intended. We, the people, are the last line of defense. Vote! Michael Baer | San Jose If Donald Trump were not campaigning for the presidency for a third time, I believe Joe Biden would be happy to retire from public service, again. Biden is the only candidate who has ever won against Trump, and he if wants to stay in the race he’s got my vote. An open Democratic Convention as you rightly state “would be wild,” and the certain mudslinging among contestants would no doubt turn off a lot of people who are infrequent voters to begin with. This year like no other we need everyone to be involved and engaged, and in my opinion your assertion that Biden can’t beat Trump is wrong. Tony Amarante | Seaside To suggest Biden drop out of the presidential race without alternatives is nonsensical. Who would replace him? Winning candidates do not magically appear. Who are the next generation of Democrats? They are relative unknowns. Of course there must be viable people but we are too close to November. We have an old horse yet we are past mid-stream. This talk is reckless. Steve Parker | Salinas Go Boom I LOVE fireworks, and appreciate the efforts of the Seaside renegades who entertain me every July Fourth in spite of the expense and risk of arrest (“Another Fourth of July, another round of illegal fireworks,” posted July 3). The only problem is that July Fourth is the height of the fire season, a problem made worse by the need to light fuses in hidden private places, rather than in safer public places. It makes me wonder what would happen if fireworks were made legal on some safer day, the obvious candidate being New Year’s Eve. Would the renegades switch their attention to the safer day, thus pleasing both me and the firemen? If any reader is wise on that question, please write another letter. Alan Washburn | Monterey Road Ways As a daily commuter on Boronda Road, I am very excited about the approved Boronda Road Congestion Relief Project (“Salinas City Council approves first phase of the Boronda Road widening project,” posted June 28). This project is critical because this road is a vital arterial route that connects East Salinas to North Salinas and vice versa. As a supporter of safe biking and walking, and a member of the TAMC Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, I am thrilled that the project will include buffered bike lanes. These lanes will make it safer for people to bike. Moreover, the new roundabouts will also make the road safer for motorists. I want to applaud the City Council for approving this project. The approval of the project shows the council’s commitment to our safety and well-being, and I can’t wait to see the project completed. Victor Manuel Tafoya | Salinas Next Gen I applaud the Monterey County Weekly for the support you are giving this initiative (“The Weekly is proud to join the California Local News Fellowship, among 37 newsrooms statewide,” posted June 25). To inspire young people to seek a career in journalism, and to inspire a whole new generation of thoughtful journalists. Brian Gingerich | Carmel Power Down As an advocate for the safe, reliable, abundant, cost-effective, and zero-emission Diablo Canyon Power Plant, I write to rebut the misleading claims of opponents in this article (“PG&E’s grace period at Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is costing billions,” June 27-July 3). DCPP’s typical annual generation is equal to five Hoover Dams from a land area covering roughly one square mile. That generation costs a modest amount of money per kilowatt-hour, hence the costs are denominated in billions of dollars each year. DCPP typically undercuts the cost of California natural gas fired generation. California’s power grid needs huge amounts of synchronous grid inertia (SGI) to keep the power grid stable 24/7, despite the destabilizing effects of solar, wind and batteries that contribute negligible SGI. If DCPP is needlessly retired, it will be largely replaced with Wyoming coal-fired generation to supply the necessary SGI, as was the case when the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station near San Clemente was needlessly shut down in 2012. DCPP has been continuously upgraded since it began commercial operation about four decades ago. It is typically in the top quartile of U.S. nuclear plants as surveyed by the independent Institute for Nuclear Power Operations. Keep Diablo Canyon running. Gene Nelson | Arroyo Grande Note: Nelson is senior legal researcher and president of Californians for Green Nuclear Power, Inc. A Photo’s Worth Your photographs were so delightful to look at (“Living Well” magazine, available at various locations throughout Monterey County). You really showed what goes on at the various senior programs and residences. Good job! Rosemary Robert | via email Letters • CommentsOPINION Submit letters to the editor to letters@montereycountynow.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.
www.montereycountynow.com july 11-17, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 15 Dirrick Williams is all too familiar with racism. As a Black man and native of majority-white Pacific Grove, he knows what it feels like to look different and be treated horribly for it. In 2018, he was accosted and physically attacked by a white couple outside of a Monterey bowling alley; she called him the n-word, and he punched Williams’ jaw, breaking it in three places. More recently, while attending a fundraiser in Carmel, he met a white man and they began to make small talk. When Williams said he had five children, the man responded with a racist trope: “Oh, by the same mother?” It’s hard to imagine anyone would utter the n-word or punch someone in the face at such an affair. But that the casual utterance reveals something else—that racism is indeed still here, pernicious if subtle. “Just because nobody is getting hung doesn’t mean the effects of racism aren’t continuing,” Williams says. “Microaggression—what a euphemism for acts of hatred. We have to understand there is no such thing as a microaggression—it’s macro. It always digs deep. There is always pain associated with it.” Williams feels that pain, and he invites you to join him in exploring it. As the founder of the Black Leaders and Allies Collaborative (BLAAC) in 2021, Williams—a minister, an Air Force veteran, a life coach, a rehab counselor and an activist—has built a nonprofit dedicated to advancing racial equity. And for Williams, a lot of that happens through expanding people’s awareness of the fact that yes, racism is still with us, even if it’s portrayed as micro. “The scope of our work revolves around the idea of people not understanding what racism is,” he says. One opportunity to begin that work is at the second annual Race Relations Summit hosted by BLAAC on July 12, a day-long conversation about race and racism. (Event tagline: Race is fiction, racism is not.) The summit will explore the institutional and workplace scale when it comes to addressing bias and racism, with guest speakers including Linda McKenzie, CEO of Global Empathy Training Academy, and Khuram Hussain, vice president for Equity & Inclusion at Middlebury College. But even at the institutional scale, the practice of deconstructing the fiction of race and the reality of racism leads Williams back again and again to what might be the most basic possible solution: investing in relationships. “Everything happens in relationship. If we fix relationships, racism goes away,” he says. His vision for graduates of BLAAC’s intensive 14-week course, Euro-Centric Cultural Reflectionism, is for people to probe their own feelings and experience with race and racism—and then to get to a point where they can look at people of different races as whole people. Or as Williams puts it, “People who look at people who don’t look like them with a sense of curiosity, rather than disdain.” That sounds simple, but Williams knows it’s not. He sees and lives his own identity as a Black man as something less than simple. In moments of relationship—when someone at a fundraiser invokes a racist trope about infidelity—what is his response? In another recent incident, Williams was dining at The Club at Pasadera, when he ran into a friend who introduced him to another guest. They made small talk about their lives for a couple of minutes. After Williams told the new acquaintance about his work in race relations, the man raised the same insulting, racist stereotype: What are you going to do about all the Black fathers that don’t take care of their kids? Williams turned the question into a mini lesson—about socioeconomic disparities, mass incarceration, what it means to be Black in America, and despite all of those structural inequities, statistics and examples to reveal how much Black men are thriving in spite of it all. “What do you think we should do about all of these things?” Williams asked. There’s not an easy answer to that question other than ending racism in schools, prisons and institutions. But perhaps the place to start addressing any of those big, unwieldy things is by talking to people who look different than you do. The Race Relations Summit takes place from 9am-3:30pm Friday, July 12 at Embassy Suites, 1441 Canyon Del Rey Blvd., Seaside. $75; includes lunch. 337-8995, blaac.org/events. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com. Truth and Fiction A summit aims to help people recognize myths and realities around race. By Sara Rubin Measure Up…As a college student, young Squid excelled at penmanship—thanks to that self-replenishing ink supply. But Squid’s undersea alma mater (and Squid’s excellent handwriting skills) did not help Squid’s lair when it came to WalletHub’s 2024 rankings of the most and least educated cities in America. Out of 150 metro areas, Squid found Salinas near the bottom, 142 out of 150 (Visalia was last). Squid knows more than a few people who moved to the region specifically for educational purposes, whether to study or as educators, or both, so Squid decided to read up on the methodology. WalletHub took into account the percentage of adults with at least a high school diploma, a college degree or graduate degree. It also took into account the percentage of students enrolled in a top university—by referring to WalletHub’s own ranking report on colleges and universities. That list starts with Yale, MIT and Princeton—and ignores most of Monterey County’s educational institutions, including two community colleges and plethora of graduate-level institutions (Naval Postgraduate School, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories of San Jose State, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, Hastings Natural History Reservation of the UC system, etc.) Squid did not attend a top 10 school or even top 500, but Squid’s educational attainment is enough to give Squid the skills to read through WalletHub’s methodology and raise Squid’s eyebrows. Beggars and Choosers…Of all the dysfunction Squid has witnessed from elected officials on local councils and boards, the members of the Monterey Peninsula Community College District Board of Trustees might just take the crab cake. They have been squabbling during meetings for months—even a professional mediator couldn’t help. Recently three complaints were filed by trustees against other trustees, the details of which have not been disclosed to the public. In November three seats are up for grabs, which means voters have an opportunity to clean house. Just to make sure everyone knows, MPC sent out a press release on July 2, advertising that three of five seats are open, providing info on the candidate filing period (July 15-Aug. 19). The seats available are currently held by Chair Libby Downey and trustees Loren Steck and Debbie Anthony. Downey and Steck have recently resisted attempts to follow board policy to resolve the outstanding complaints. Anthony has been argumentative with the rest of the board since she was elected in 2020. Elections matter, and while it isn’t democracy in the balance, the MPCCD election could restore peace to the district, tentacles crossed. the local spin SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “There is always pain associated with it.” Send Squid a tip: squid@montereycountynow.com
16 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JULY 11-17, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com Game of Chicken Joe Biden needs to realize that the election isn’t just about him. By Jeet Heer FORUM The distressing truth about Joe Biden isn’t just that he’s visibly aged as president, but also that, as he fends off calls to give up being the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, some of his worst personality traits have come to the fore. In his successful campaign for president in 2020, Biden displayed a winning modesty that helped secure his role as a consensus candidate who could hold together an often rambunctious Democratic Party coalition. Speaking at a rally in March 2020, Biden addressed a crowd while three potential vice-presidential running mates stood behind him (then-Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer). Biden said, “Look, I view myself as a bridge, not as anything else. There’s an entire generation of leaders you saw stand behind me. They are the future of this country.” Two months later Biden at a fundraiser said, “I view myself as a transition candidate.” Yet in his interview with George Stephanopoulos on July 5 on ABC News, Biden discarded the modesty of portraying himself as part of a larger political movement. Instead, he took on the messianic and megalomaniacal pride of a Trumpian political celebrity who believes everything is about himself. At one point, Biden said, “I’m running the world.” He acknowledged that this “sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.” In other words, the United States is the essential nation (something that billions around the world might dispute) and Joe Biden is the essential man (something that no leader in a democracy should ever believe about themselves). It’s notable that Biden nowhere mentioned Harris in the Stephanopoulos interview. He no longer sees himself as a “bridge” or “transition figure” to the future but rather as the irreplaceable leader who will oversee an inflection point. Biden is framing the election in purely egotistical terms, throwing down the gauntlet to his critics in the party, daring them to come after him. In the past, I’ve described this as the Samson Option, whereby Donald Trump threatens to destroy the Republican Party if they don’t give him what he wants. Implicit in Biden’s self-centered interview was the danger that Biden, like Samson before him, would rather bring down the temple around him rather than submit. Samson was a biblical hero, but this type of destructive martyrdom is at odds with democracy, which is always a project of collective action, not ego satisfaction. At one point when Biden called in to Morning Joe on MSNBC, he said, “I’m getting frustrated by the elites in the party, ‘Oh, they know so much more.’ Any of these guys that don’t think I should run, run against me. Announce for president, challenge me at the convention.” You can hear Biden playing a dangerous game of chicken with elected officials in his own party: either they give up or he’ll crash right into them. This is the Samson Option—with a twist. Biden is willing to bring down the temple of his own party, becoming not a heroic martyr but an epic villain of pure selfishness. Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, where this story first appeared. OPINION Biden is playing a dangerous game. ♦ 3 Card Poker ♠ Century 21st No Bust Black Jack ♣ Texas Hold’em ♥ Baccarat FULL BAR! BLACKJACK BONUS POINTS PAYS UP TO $20,000 SMALL TOWN BIG PAYOUTS! 1-800-Gambler • Gega-003846, Gega-Gega-003703, Gega-000889 Gega-000891 Gega-002838 The Marina Club Casino ensures the safety and security of all guests and team members at all times, while providing exceptional service. 204 Carmel Ave. Marina 831-384-0925 casinomonterey.com ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ Just minutes from Downtown Monterey Where Monterey Comes To Play ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES Stop By To Shop And Find Your Vintage Treasure OVER 100 DEALERS 21,000 SQUARE FEET The Largest Antiques and Collectibles Mall on the Central Coast 471 WAVE STREET MONTEREY (831) 655-0264 P M canneryrowantiquemall.com Open Daily 11am-6pm ’23 Voted Monterey County's Best Antique Shop
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==