12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com BUILT OUT This is developing into a Netflixworthy saga (“A small version of Carmel City Council sends a Pastor project back to the Planning Commission,” Sept. 11-17). The scenery! The personalities! The palaces! The money! The knockdown-dragout of Carmel politics might need to be condensed a bit for dramatic purposes, as they say, but there would certainly be no need to invent dramatic characters. Using the local scenery would actually be quite cheap. Carmel charges $590 for the filming permit, $110 for nonprofits or students, with two weeks’ notice. Filming in the Principality of Monaco could be trickier. There’s no fee for the permit, but “there may be an ‘occupancy fee’ for using specific public areas. The process is highly regulated, and the government must approve all projects at least 15 days in advance,” according to Google. Lord only knows what “highly regulated” means in Monaco, never mind the occupancy fee, but maybe it would be cheaper to build a soundstage and use local palaces and our own very photogenic ocean. Arnold Seibel | Pacific Grove As one of the appellants, I’m writing to say that we don’t oppose the project; we simply want it to comply with Carmel-by-the-Sea’s municipal code and general plan. These exist in part to protect the intimate human-scale nature of our village and to promote responsible planning decisions. The 11 appellants include two former city council members, three former planning commissioners, long-time business owners, and residents who grew up here. We’ve been studying our municipal code and general plan for a long time. These laws aren’t as byzantine as some believe. For example, it was obvious that this project never qualified for the in-lieu parking fee program. Parking is a serious issue in our village. New buildings need to accommodate the parking demand they will create. Why the law in this regard wasn’t followed from the start is certainly worth a discussion, but our insistence that it be followed isn’t a delay tactic. More and more people are visiting our little world-famous village. Taylor Swift was here recently. So were the Obamas. Carmel is an internationally-known treasure, one that needs and deserves responsible stewardship. That means planning for new developments, especially large ones, needs to follow the law. Ian Martin | Carmel I grew up in Carmel in the ’60s and ’70s when it actually was a village with community spirit. I remember being chastised for my errant frisbees and baseballs landing in neighbors’ yards, usually with a smile. I would not choose to live in Carmel today—it’s just impacted. Please face reality and consider what Carmel really is today: a holiday and luxury party destination. At least let Mr. Pastor make it beautiful. Figure out how to provide year-around shuttles. Quit living in the fantasy that Carmel is a bohemian enclave. Fewer people actually live in Carmel now than 100 years ago. Kevin Gilman | Carmel Valley BUS STATION Incredible that bus road planners could take this long to realize the Fort Ord Dunes State Park has its own vehicle circulation plan for their new campground (“State Parks complicates plans for MontereySalinas Transit’s ever-evolving SURF! busway,” Sept. 11-17). Meanwhile, in Marina tree removals and other preliminary work commence even though the revised bus road plan has not even been finalized and has received no final approvals. And what is the real transit necessity of connecting the bus road to the east side of Highway 1 anyway? Tina Walsh | Marina OUT OF TUNE Lame! (“Nonprofit Guitars Not Guns disbands four regional chapters, including Monterey County’s,” Sept. 4-10.) Glad to hear a new organization will be created for our local students. The red tape gets too sticky. Haven Brearton | Marina Interesting how the national organization can just drain the coffers. That does not send a very good message regarding the overall solvency of the parent organization. Greg Hamer | Salinas Bringing these important, inspiring classes back to kids in our communities is of utmost importance! Kids need this musical opportunity so much. Suzanne E. Gravelle | via social media FLIGHT PATH I enjoyed your piece on Marina Airport, formerly Fritzsche Airfield (“From war training to a center for aviation innovation, we have witnessed a swords-to-plowshares moment at Marina’s airport,” posted Sept. 10). Interestingly enough, no one ever discusses the bombing on Oct. 31, 1975 and how the story was controlled with journalists stating minor damage. The blast was heard eight miles away. Bradley Higgins | via email TRAIN TRAVEL Rail opened our West and it needs to get back to being part of our lives and solving some gridlock. Great news and good work! (“A passenger train is close to stopping in King City after decades of rolling through,” posted Sept. 9.) Leslie Rice | Garden Grove, Calif. VAMPIRE WEEK Well written article about the bats and cats (“A dead bat and a rabies freakout are a reminder: Vaccinations save lives,” posted Sept. 12). Not preachy, but logical and responsible. And a reminder that vaccines save lives. Sue Ortenburger | Denver, Colo. About a year ago we had bats get into our house. Our 1-year-old son had a scratch we couldn’t identify so were told by the doctors to start the vaccine process immediately. Off we went to get the first dose. It’s a series of four shots over a week or two; the only place to get the vaccine is at the ER, so four hospital visits for a family of four. The total billed amount by the hospital was $500,000. Luckily, we had insurance—we hit our deductible right away—but the whole situation has bothered me ever since. It just doesn’t seem right. Philip Barrientos | Salinas 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.
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