The Buzz 06.25.20

FREE SPEECH

Members of the Monterey County press corps raised their eyebrows with concern on June 17 when, during a Pacific Grove City Council meeting, City Manager Ben Harvey told council members to defer to him when they receive media inquiries. The “official protocol for media inquiries,” he said, is to go through either his office or a city public information officer. “We’re a small media market so it is not uncommon for media to reach out to individual council members or even to individual staff members, but the best practice, the preferred method” is to contact city staff first. Harvey says this is “best practice,” not a policy, and that it’s been in place since he was hired in 2016. It’s the first the Weekly is hearing of the practice. It’s not uncommon for governments to require members of the press to go through PIOs to speak with employees, but not elected officials (like councilmembers), who serve constituents, not staff members. Inserting a PIO or other government employee between electeds and the press only blocks free access between the elected officials and the people they serve.

OVERHEARD

“It’s the longest day of the year, except for Election Day.”
-A musician performing at a small (and socially distanced) backyard concert on the first day of summer

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD:

You know the feeling you get when you find a $20 bill in your pocket? The Monterey Symphony just had one of those moments, except instead of finding $20, it was more like $7 million. On June 16, the symphony’s executive director, Nicola Reilly, announced that the organization received an undisclosed amount that brought their total endowment to the $10 million mark. The gift comes from a trust, left to the symphony in the early ’80s and represents just one-half of the total gift. The money wasn’t a total surprise and the symphony was always aware this money would eventually go to them – it was just a matter of when. The nonprofit symphony also received Payroll Protection Program money, allowing them to pay musicians for the remainder of the canceled season (for April and May concerts).

Correction: This writeup has been updated to reflect the new gift was $7 million, bringing the total endowment to $10 million; originally, it incorrectly stated the total endowment was $7 million.

GREAT:

Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, in which members of Manhattan’s gay community protested a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. It’s considered the seminal event of the modern-day LGBTQ movement; President Bill Clinton made June the official month for the celebration in 2000, and President Barack Obama expanded the title in 2011, dubbing it Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. Now, for the first time since Pride Month was conceived, a Pride flag is flying at Salinas City Hall. The flag was raised June 19, after Councilmember Scott Davis said “challenge accepted” in response to Facebook comments that Salinas would never go for it. Davis credits Mayor Joe Gunter and City Manager Ray Corpuz with immediately buying into the idea.