Updates

CSUMB GOES SOLAR… First Chartwell, then York, now CSU Monterey Bay: Local schools are tapping the sun’s power. On Oct. 21 CSUMB announced it will be part of a statewide plan to install photovoltaic arrays on 14 Cal State campuses. The project is expected to generate nearly 2 million kilowatt-hours of power, 16 percent of CSUMB’s annual energy use. SunEdison will finance, build and operate the system over 20 years, and the school will purchase the power. [KA]

OLDTOWN RENEWAL TURNS IFFY… In March we reported on a promising proposal from Widewaters Group and Carmel’s Robert Leidig to revitalize downtown Salinas with housing, retail and a new city hall/police station. The developers, however, failed to make a $40,000 deposit and haven’t hired a consultant to collect community input, says City Manager Artie Fields. Widewaters and Leidig now have until Nov. 7 to meet the obligation or face termination of their exclusive negotiating agreement. The City Council will decide at its Nov. 18 meeting. [ZS]

JENSEN CAMP REHAB… When we last reported on Jensen Camp, a mobile home park in Carmel Valley, it was in bad shape. The Weekly’s May 1 cover story reported that the water was contaminated, the owners were facing jail time over code violations, and a maverick sheriff’s officer was threatening to shut the place down. Now the park appears to be on the up and up thanks to the new owners, Linda and Howie Hugo, who bought the camp in early September. Tenant Mike Jones, who owns a store/restaurant on the property, says Howie Hugo, a pastor at Shoreline Community Church near Highway 68, got off on the right foot by providing residents with filtered water and fixing the camp’s only clean well. [KA]

CARJACKING AND ROBBERY… A preliminary hearing for Assemblywoman Anna Caballero’s son Miguel Uranga is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24. Salinas police arrested Uranga on Aug. 23 for robbery and other charges after he allegedly held up a cell phone store and attempted to carjack an employee’s Corvette. Uranga is the adopted son of Juan Uranga, executive director of the Center for Community Advocacy and Caballero, Salinas’ former mayor who founded the gang-prevention group Partners for Peace and chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention. Although Caballero is an attorney and politically resourceful, Uranga is being represented by a public defender. [ZS]