The Buzz 04.27.23

FREE SPEECH

Social media posts often have a flippant tone, but when does it go too far? In Salinas, City Manager Steve Carrigan decided in February that the Salinas Police Department had missed the mark at humor: “I didn’t think it was funny.” The department’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages routinely take a glib approach to public safety advisories or suspects who have been arrested. In February, SPD’s social media presence abruptly disappeared, Carrigan emailed the City Council to say: “I was not happy with two of their recent posts. I gave PD a warning and said if it happened again that I would take their pages down.” (The Weekly obtained emails connected to the social media pages via a California Public Records Act request.) The accounts were basically reinstated, and Carrigan says that decision comes after all city public information officials received additional training. Recent posts continue to use the same lighthearted tone, such as this one from April 15: “So you may have asked yourself what do you get when two drunk drivers crash? Well, other than many bad decisions let us tell you… a free ride with a sober driver to jail.”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“As of right now, being Youth Poet Laureate is one of my biggest priorities.” - Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate Mahi Shah of Notre Dame High School in Salinas, who was celebrated with an installation ceremony on April 22 (see story, mcweekly.com).

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

Good news for Salinas youth comes on wheels. The Salinas Community Science Workshop inaugurated its Salinas Science Workshop on Wheels on April 15. The mobile unit will allow kids and teens to learn about science by playing and building objects like electric cars, catapults, scooters and more – all for free. The nonprofit started the project last summer with a grant from the Grower-Shipper Association and a bus donated by Monterey-Salinas Transit. SCSW Director Curt Gabrielson and Bus Coordinator Salvador Lua learned how to drive the 40-foot bus, which has been transformed into a mini-workshop with tools and materials. ”We are expanding fast,” Gabrielson says. The science bus will be at Martin Luther King Jr. Family Resource Center every Saturday during the summer from noon-2:30pm, and it’s also touring Salinas Public Library locations (salinaspubliclibrary.org/events).

GREAT:

Congratulations to the Monterey Peninsula Gospel Community Choir, directed by Seaside native John Nash Jr. The choir has been invited to perform at an international workshop in London that runs from April 27-29. The event is called the Global Edwin Hawkins Gospel Music and Arts Event and is led by gospel star Donald Lawrence. Lawrence is an American gospel music songwriter, best known for his Grammy Award-nominated songs “The Blessing of Abraham” and “Encourage Yourself.” Hawkins was an American gospel musician and was one of the originators of the urban contemporary gospel sound. Lawrence has led global events in the spirit of Hawkins’ legendary music and arts seminar before, but never in London. MPGCC, which just celebrated its 15th anniversary, will be the only American choir invited to perform at this event.