The Buzz 06.08.17

WHO’S IN TOWN?

Every good small-scale farmer or rancher needs to know how to nurture the soil, when to plant, when to harvest, how to take that harvest to market and, apparently, how to not get sued along the way. California FarmLink is offering a day of legal training in Salinas featuring agricultural law expert and current Minnesota Assistant Ag Commissioner Susan Stokes. The training focuses on managing small-scale farms and ranches. The morning session is aimed at attorneys, accountants and business advisors, covering food safety law, business formation, zoning and issues related to racially discriminatory practices in federal programs. The afternoon session presents the info in a less technical way for farmer educators and resource providers.

9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm, Thur June 8. Monterey County Agricultural Center, 1432 Abbott St., Salinas. $25. californiafarmlink.org.

FREE SPEECH

Journalists have long used police scanners to track police and fire calls in real-time, giving them the ability to race to the scene and get information to the public quickly. But over the past several years law enforcement agencies across the country have been switching from analog systems to encrypted digital systems – blocking journalists from access. In the past week Monterey County launched the first phase of its own Next Generation Public Safety Radio System, or NGEN. County officials said in a statement that for the safety of first responders, who may be in jeopardy if criminals are listening in before and after the commission of violent crimes, they would not allow non-law enforcement groups to listen in. Media legal experts consider the scanner information public. A spokesman for theMonterey County Chief Law Enforcement Officer Association says fire operations – which stage at almost every major event – will not be encrypted.

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT

A reader asks about a vacant commercial property across from Embassy Suites, wondering why it hasn’t been leased yet. A call to Professional Property Management Carmel reveals the Laguna Grande Center is ready to go: The outside is finished and the interior is (for now) a shell, to be furnished to the future tenant’s specifications. While there have been businesses interested in the site, the search goes on for best matches. Because the location is a dense intersection, with high visibility and exposure, management wants something “fresh, custom and fast.” Ideas include a specialty cafe or fast-casual restaurant, and potentially a drive-through.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

Good:

Pacific Grove hometown hero Ben Jealous is being the change he wants to see. The former NAACP president and CEO originally supported Bernie Sanders and his progressive platform. That didn’t work out so well. But now Jealous can keep those values alive in his own bid for governor of Maryland, seeking to flip that state from a Republican incumbent, he announced on May 31. He has a residence in Maryland, where he’s raising his kids and has been doing activist work. He told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! that it was Trump’s electoral victory that inspired him to step up, and that some of his positions include establishing a $15 minimum wage, quelling gun violence, advocating for voting rights, addressing climate change and supporting police reform. The man is a superb public speaker and a former journalist, and his political mojo is rising. Which makes for a good week for progressives in Maryland, P.G. and everywhere.

Bad:

It was a bad week for ignorance, as school districts impacted by the teacher shortage may get help from the state. AB 1217, from Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima), passed in the assembly in a 77 to 0 vote on May 31. Titled the California Teacher Corps Act of 2017: Teacher Residency Programs, it’s using solutions similar to those implemented by the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. That includes incentivizing teacher retention by helping pay back fees incurred by accreditation programs, with the added advantage of nine-month mentorship by teachers with at least three years experience. Bocanegra notes the state has one of the highest student-to-teacher ratios nationally, and that the “problem was only getting worse,” especially for special education students. A total of 1,700 waivers were granted last year for special education students, in response to their local public schools not meeting their needs.