WHO’S IN TOWN?
Sandy Froman bought a gun in 1981, the day after a would-be burglar attempted to break into her home. She’s since gone on to become an avid hunter and gun enthusiast and has served as a board member of the National Rifle Association since 1994 – and in 2005, she was elected as the NRA’s second-ever woman president. (As the NRA Foundation’s first woman president, she helped build a permanent endowment of more than $20 million.) Last year, Froman was appointed to the board ofSturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. She comes to town this week to talk about guns and politics, hosted by Monterey Peninsula Republican Women Federated, the education arm of the Monterey County Republican Party.
11am-2pm Thursday, Aug. 11. Rancho Cañada Golf Club, 4860 Carmel Valley Road. $30/includes lunch. 484-1104, www.montereypeninsularwf.org.
WHAT’S UP WITH THAT
A reader asks why cypress trees are being taken out in the vicinity of Lake El Estero in downtown Monterey. City officials report the trees are being removed by Pacific Gas & Electric (aka PG&E) as part of a project to target trees which impact or may impact natural gas transmission lines below them. The Community Pipeline Initiative is one of PG&E’s responses to the disaster in San Bruno, California, in 2010.
OVERHEARD
“It takes a lot of beer to make good wine.”
- A wine vendor speaking to a beer vendor at The Wharf Marketplace in Monterey.
GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK
GOOD:
It’s a good week for advancing the technological know-how of bilingual, low-income Monterey County families. They now have the chance to receive free computer training – and free computers. The city of Salinas is working in collaboration with
Loaves, Fishes & Computers to offer bilingual computer training for families, with an orientation plus 40 hours of class time over 10 weeks. Space is limited to 20 adults per class, and to qualify, families are required to have a kids attending first through ninth grade; live in a bilingual household; not have a functioning or modern computer at home; and receive social services or free/reduced-price school lunch. There are two 10-week sessions, one that began Aug. 8 at the
John Steinbeck Library, and the next beginning Aug. 12 at the
Cesar Chavez Library. (For information on how to enroll, call 758-7916.)
BAD:
It’s been a bad few years for business owners on
Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, as city officials have been under scrutiny for lease agreements that look to critics like sweetheart deals for long-time businesses. They finally rewrote their policy to reflect better-business practices. But after months of failed lease negotiations, the city sent an eviction notice in July to
Sam Balesteri, whose leased property is home to three businesses: his
Balesteri’s Wharf Front Gift Shop, his son Ben’s
The Coffee Houseand
Paluca Trattoria. (Eviction notices to those two subtenants followed Aug. 4.) There’s already backlash: A petition on
change.org called “Save Our Wharf: Prevent a Strip Mall by the Sea” had 1,428 signatures as of press time, calling on Monterey city officials to go back to the old way of doing business, granting wharf businesses decades-long leases.
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