Just 5 minutes before midnight turning into October 21, 2012 an Earthquake on the Eastern edge of the Salinas Valley gave buildings in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula a good shake.
Did you feel the earth quake shake our Peninsula at midnight? That’s the largest one I’ve felt in years.
Tree Scream: New Law – 3,000 Trees Could be Chopped Down without any Permit in Pacific Grove
Last night, Wednesday October 17, 2012 four City Council members voted to get rid of protection for trees on all residential property that are not Monterey Cypress, Coast live Oak or Monterey Pine. That loss of protection was estimated at 3,000 trees, but could be as high as 5,600 to 6,000 trees (1).
The tree destruction law was eagerly led and pushed by Mayor Candidate Bill Kampe.
Mayor Carmelita Garcia voted against this tree destruction when she was stunned to learn it would mean a death warrant for at least 3,000 trees as soon as next week.
Nader Agha’s and Leddy’s Holman’s Hotel Across from our Library (drawing is much smaller than proposed Zoning)
The first words out of Mr. Leddy’s mouth were appreciative greetings to “at least 50% of you in the audience with whom I have met before ” with nods to most of those sitting in the first rows. From the type of questions asked by audience members and an unwanted and disturbing NO rant by a person who had to be quieted, it became obvious this was the first time Mr. Leddy had experienced any opposition to the project. By the end of the talk he was visibly upset.
For those who were truly there to find out about the project, the project lost credibility when Mr. Leddy stated he was legally bound not answer any questions about WATER, mentioned discussions of a three story garage being built behind the theater level to Fountain Avenue, did not adequately address issues of increased traffic, what streets would be shut down during building (which might take 2 years), disruption to the Library and neighbors and the possibility of balconies overhanging some sidewalks.
There’s a lot of “Bad” up for a vote this season.
Perhaps the local area with the most to lose is Pacific Grove.
* Choose badly and it will cost the city tens of millions and cost You Personally thousands of dollars.
* Choose badly and our Pacific Grove forest-tree canopy is gone; we’ll lose most of what is left of our few remaining trees.
* Choose badly and Pacific Grove’ll get a gigantic hotel at Holmans and Fast Food – all over town.
Summary of Most Important Issues:
PG: Please Vote — NO on Kampe, No on Huitt and NO on Lucius.
and Yes on Dan Miller, Mary Norton, Robert Pacelli and PG Mayor Carmelita; and in Marina — Mayor Bruce Delgado.
PG: “F – NO !” Measure F –No on the Holman-Strosity. Its a Bait-and-Switch trick. You gotta give the developer credit for Texas sized arrogance with his mailer. – A Texas Developer telling Pacific Grove residents what we need – when we didn’t even ask for his opinion. (All the while Holman’s controversial property owner Nader Agha is hiding behind the curtains, knowing full well that the whole house of cards collapses when his name is mentioned.)
Both PG Mayor candidates Garcia and Kampe appear to support the hotel but in very different ways. Garcia voted to put it on the ballot so that we residents can choose if we want it or not, Kampe supports the giant hotel so much he voted to keep it off the ballot – but Kampe tries to disguise his secret extra-credit efforts to help the developers Nader Agha and Texas’ Leddy.
Yes on State Prop 37 = Will Require GMO (Genetically Modified) Food to carry Labels The only organized opposition to labeling our food is Monsanto and the other GMO manufacturers.
Details (for “Yes” votes – keep reading to the end)
Councilman Bill “Fast-Food” Kampe – the Tree Hater
My goal with this article it to help you avoid the worst voting mistakes by explaining what candidates DO versus what they Say.
Warning: If you don’t have a strong stomach – you might want to stop reading here.
PG: Kampe – NO ! For this voting season, electing Bill Kampe is the worst mistake any community could make. His political career is probably the biggest hoax I’ve seen around here in a long time. What he says contrasted to what he does as an official could not be more upside down to each other.
Gentlemen . . . Start Your ChainSaws !
Stumps – Pacific Grove’s Newest Industry Thanks to Bill Kampe
Pacific Grove has lost about half of its trees since 1986 – which is just short while ago.
You might think a town with reverence for trees in its very own name would try to stop that crisis. But no, Pacific Grove is now joining Seaside in the race to see which town can remove all trace of trees first.
Half of Pacific Grove’s evaporating forest canopy was chainsawed down since 1986. (The canopy was already down to only 33% in 1986 because the first two-thirds were chopped down in the previous 100 years.) This is because more than 700 trees a year are cut down every year. Few are planted; fewer still survive.
Carmel lost a great character this morning.
Priscilla Nesbitt at 100 (mph or years), Arriving at Carmel Library Friends Book Sale – Laughing at my shoes
Priscilla Nesbitt passed away quietly after leading a life of vibrant curiosity and deeply held passion for trees and wildlife, for caring people and knowledge.
You get an insight into Priscilla’s spirit with how she described her doctor to me. “Dr Kennedy is a tree hugger. I adore him.” I’m not sure she ever knew how much that endeared her to me.
I knew her as a lover of animals, trees and forests, and wild places topped off with a gentle but firm, courteous demeanor.
Pacific Grove newspaper Cedar Street Times’ Publisher Marge Jameson Censors all letters from a reasonable middle of the road citizen. Sends him two emails refusing to publish any of his letters to the editor.
Censor Kitty Denies Access
Sounds good right ?
Well that was my unarticulated understanding – until I got into politics.
“Well, the difference between theory and practice
is a lot bigger in practice than in theory.”
Its been an eye-opening and hard won lesson that leading Monterey Peninsula newspapers viscerally detest some opinions that oppose theirs. So they flat out censor those letters with views held by lots of local folks and the unarguable facts that support them. They employ all kinds of bogus excuses that are far more creative than “the dog ate it” – but just as counterfeit.
A Giant Snowball has finally left the Building and is gathering speed.
Last evening Pacific Grove’s City Council unanimously took a strong step forward to correcting a great wrong — which is currently costing the city tens of millions of dollars and pushing it towards bankruptcy.
Former Pacific Grove City Manager Ross Hubbard had Council Adopt Illegal Pensions – Is Now Long Gone
In fact City Manager Hubbard knew it would cost some 15 times more, some 800 thousand dollars that first year alone, because Hubbard had the legally required report from an Actuary, but he hid it from the Council – who merrily adopted the retirement raise (called “3 at 50”) without any discussion.
Of course it is horrible that Hubbard hid the actual cost, but it turns out he and the City Council seriously violated a state law in approving it.
This is an article about an Analysis(1) of a web article (“The anti-GMO campaign’s dangerous war on science”) genetic researcher Michael Eisen.
Eisen’s hypocrisy drenched assault on — Informed Consent, Food Safety proponents, and the possibility of harm from Genetically Modified (GMO) food includes one sentence expectorating six (6) Logical Fallacies.
It shows admittedly “mad scientist” and genetic researcher Michael Eisen’s impressive wholesale use of fallacious reasoning(2) while ironically brandishing the banner of “Science.” (And No, contrary to his claims, Eisen failed to provide any evidence of a war or attack on science by Food Safety proponents; nor did he show GMOs can be proven harmless.)
Michael Eisen “Pegs” the Hypocrisy Meter
An article on Genetically modified (GMO) food entitled “The anti-GMO campaign’s dangerous war on science“(4) is written by an admittedly “infuriated” genetic researcher in California named Michael Eisen claiming to support Open Science.
Eisen’s article initially attracted me because for a few decades I’ve been helping to inspire people with the wonders of science and promote science-based governmental decisions, I am concerned about attacks on science philosophy and its credibility, and I’m a bit familiar with environmental impacts — so sounds good right ?
Wow, was I ever in for a disturbing surprise. With deeply profound irony the admittedly angry Eisen falsely claims he’s fighting to defend science (“My vested interest here is science, and what I write here, I write to defend it”).
Instead his article pummels and batters science reasoning and logic so relentlessly I had to set it aside for a few days to recover from my shocked dismay.
Wildfire demonstrating Eisen’s False Claims
Proposed Holman-strosity across from our Library at Central and Fountain
(Click image to expand it – Just Like Developer Agha will do if we don’t Vote it Down.)
Controversial Developer Nader Agha wants to turn Holmans into a 420 room hotel; a giant hotel that goes from Holmans massive front on Lighthouse Avenue to our Library – street to street / block to block – and 85 feet high.
This would make it the largest building in Pacific Grove, possibly even larger than Monterey’s Hotel Pacific, or Seaside’s Embassy Suites – the largest on the Peninsula.
Here’s a few new and useful words and terms I’ve created out of my seemingly inexhaustible mental bookcase of ideas (out of thin air).
While another stunningly creative person may have used one of these words or terms previously to me, I made these up independently (as far as I know) and by employing studiously superficial research could find no earlier use. In a few cases the word was already in use – but mine is a new (meaning better) definition. So here (in no particular order) we go.
“Detrampulated‘ – the unbouncy, grounded feeling one gets upon returning to solid land after trampolining. It is a self-motion illusion, similar to the feeling of returning to ground after flying or doing gymnastics. Distinct from, but related to, Sea-legs the dizzy feeling of returning to land from a boat passage. (2015)
Fun-dalism – “Draw Bridge” is also a command
“Fundalism” – Altering or responding to a public sign with humor – in a graffiti manner. (2015)
“Ear-resistable” – Carefully prepared but repulsive sound.
The song “Horse with no name” has been voted as Earresistable (May 2009)
“Respectful Disagreement” (1990) – self explanatory, but seldom practiced – especially in politics. (I gave Leon Panetta a “Respectful Disagreement” button in 1994 when he accepted employ as Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff. He thought it should be useful and appropriate in DC.)
“Conflict Escalation” – Amplifying a disagreement, the effect police and military often have on a minor disputes. A near opposite to respectful disagreement.
“Denaissance” – Dumbing of a culture. While Renaissance indicates an enlightening age, Denaissance is when a culture loses wisdom. Created December 8, 2009. Synonyms: DeEnlightenment, Dunlightnment (duh-enlightenment) or Un-naissance (created at the same time).
Example: “Around turn of the century, 2000, the United States denaissance began and is now spreading with the rapidity of a pandemic.”
“Charmel” the town I call home. The term fits so well due to its human inhabitants general attitude. (I’ve been using this since the early 1990’s and, while my friends are helping, I still await its wide spread adoption . . .)
“Numerature” – communication or art primarily employing numbers.
“Godomobile” – the almost unconscious acceptance that the car is God, taking cultural priority over all other values. Particularly prevalent in Los Angeles with its 24 lane freeways.
Traffic Congestion – Los Angeles, Credit: LA Weekly
Example: “The Godomobile is responsible for LA’s abominable freeways.” (Jan 5, 2007)
“DREGs” – noun, a word and an acronym meaning “Developers, Resource Extractors and Governments” adds concision to identifying those who harm our environment for money, greed or power. (2002)
An English Agricultural Research Station called Rothamsted Research is preparing to harvest some Genetically Modified Wheat seeds in Spring 2012.
A food protection group (Take the Flour Back) is planning a rally for natural food on May 27th.
John A. Pickett is the spokesman for Rothamsted Research who penned a letter in NewScientist appealing to Food Protection activists not to harm his GMO project.
The Food protection group has appealed to the researchers not to harm our planet’s food system.
Here’s my response letter to Mr. Pickett —
Continue reading
Since a “Mad Cow” was found at a Hanford, California slaughterhouse last week – .jpg)
people are again raising concerns about dying from eating beef. (Hanford County shares a fence with Monterey County.)
This is an overview of the science of alarming Mad Cow Disease in plain English – and what you can do to prevent you and your loved ones from getting it.
“Millions of British television viewers watched the harrowing final days of 14-year-old Zoe Jeffries in October 2000. The ordeal of the young girl from Manchester, England, began more than two years earlier. First she cried for two weeks, then came the hallucinations and continuous screaming.
As the disease progressed, the pain in her legs worsened until she couldn’t walk. Bedridden, her brain wasting away, she was reduced to communicating through moans and grunts.” -FDA Magazine
The first government recognized death of a North American from Mad-Cow disease was on June 20, 2004 in Meridian, Florida. Some believe she contracted it by eating beef in England.
Transmissible
Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE) Overview
Mad Cow Disease is only one of a deadly family of diseases called Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy or TSEs (seemingly caused by Prions). TSEs are arguably more deadly than cancer, AIDs or biological or chemical weapons.
TSEs are 100% percent fatal to humans, are undetectable, untreatable, incurable, cannot be killed by cooking or even by burning and can live in your body for 40 years before acting.
Nerve Gas Methyl Iodide Sales Halted in US - for NowA former UC (agricultural) Field Station manager wrote a commentary in the Herald about Methyl Iodide that contradicts all environmental science about the nerve gas. (Janet Fulton: Methyl iodide a casualty of junk science)
Sorry Ms. Fulton —
1. Methyl iodide is recognized by all government agencies as a highly toxic nerve gas.
2. Methyl iodide is listed as a Known Carcinogen under California Prop 65. It is extremely difficult to get a chemical on this list.
3. U.S. EPA lists it as a Hazardous Air Pollutant.
Pacific Grove Resident's Debt from CalPERS 2007-2015
Here is a graph of the debt Pacific Grove residents are accumulating as a result of staying in CalPERs – contrary to the will of the voters.
The numbers from 2011 to 2015 are projections based on at least a 7.5 percent return on CalPERS investments.
If CalPERS fails to achieve 7.5 percent return (breathtakingly high these days) the debt will get even larger.
The data and notations are from Councilman Dan Davis who cites his references below (I just put it in a graph so you could see it easier.)
Pacific Grove City Manager Tom Frutchey
Tom Frutchey does not like criticism of his many failings as City Manager of Pacific Grove.
Recently, to intimidate a resident who told the City Council about her strong concerns about City staff insubordination – the City Manager hired a lawyer to write her a strong letter of reproach.
Continue reading
Hog Disguised with Lipstick, named Tom Gray
(c) Copyright 2000-2012 David Dilworth
“Smart Growth” is Doublespeak and an Oxymoron.
Along with “Postal Service“, “Jumbo Shrimp” and “Congressional Ethics” – “Sustainable Development” is a self canceling or contradictory phrase along with its new disguise called “Smart Growth.”
Happy Dog
As sudden as a meteor streak – flashing into my headlights trots a large dog with a nice smile – in the middle of my lane!
Pacific Grove City Mangler Tom Frutchey
“Things were much better [for developers] in the old days, in large part because staff didn’t follow the law.”
– Pacific Grove City Manager Tom Frutchey, April 2011
