The Buzz 10.12.17

WHO’S IN TOWN?

For four decades, architects and design leaders from around the world have visited Asilomar Conference Grounds for their biennial Monterey Design Conference. The buildings, designed by architects Julia Morgan and John Carl Warnecke, keep calling them back for gatherings with speakers, architectural tours and discussion about the latest industry trends. They’re back this week to hear from designers like Dominique Jakob from Paris, Sou Fujimoto from Tokyo and Dorte Mandrup from Copenhagen. Speakers from the U.S. include Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi of New York City and Laura Crescimano of San Francisco.

Fri-Sun Oct. 13-15. Asilomar Conference Grounds, 800 Asilomar Ave., Pacific Grove. $110-$570. aiacc.org/mdc.

FREE SPEECH

For years, journalists and citizens have relied on states’ public records request acts to help them unearth information from government at all levels and public institutions like school districts and universities. But in recent years, those entities have become increasingly resistant to granting requests, and are resorting to taking journalists to court, according to media experts. It can prove costly for small newsrooms with few resources or freelance reporters, creating a chilling effect on seeking information. One recent case: Portland Public Schools sued a reporter over a request for employee records, despite the district previously providing similar records. University of Missouri journalism professor Mark Horvit told the Education Writers Association, “It’s the journalists’ job to keep the public informed about what public officials are doing in their name, and with their money. Open-records laws are an important check and balance on government power.”

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

North Monterey County High School athletes have long done football drills and soccer practice on a patchy, pothole-filled field. The track and cross country teams used to run around a dusty all-dirt track. That changed on Oct. 4, when a ribbon-cutting ceremony revealed a brand-new athletic field. The project was funded using Measure H, a $23.8 million bond North Monterey County Unified School District voters approved in 2003. The improved field was a five-year feat, jumping through bureaucratic hoops from numerous agencies, and surviving construction setbacks from winter storms. This season, the Condors can play games and scrimmages on their own turf. Come spring, the award-winning track and field team can host the full range of events – without having re-draw their lanes between races.

BAD:

It’s the end of the legislative session in Sacramento, which also means it’s veto season. Gov. Jerry Brown sank AB 696, authored by Assemblymember Anna Caballero, D-Salinas. (Assemblymembers Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, and State Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, were co-authors.) The bill would have directed Caltrans to use revenues from surplus property sold in the course of the Prunedale Bypass project along Highway 101 toward local highway projects in Monterey County, rather than going into the state’s general fund. One of the local uses specified in the bill was widening Highway 156, a regular traffic chokepoint, from two lanes to four. Brown’s veto means those revenues will keep flowing to the state, rather than the county. In an Oct. 4 letter to the Assembly explaining his reasoning, Brown wrote: “Maintaining this funding stream to the general fund is even more necessary when the state’s budget remains precariously balanced.”