The Buzz 11.19.15

WHO’S IN TOWN?

The Peace Officers Research Association of California represents some 65,000 public safety officials and 900 police associations across the state, and convenes in Monterey for an annual conference this week. A lot of what they’ll talk about is how to brace for scrutiny and criticism. Workshop titles include “How Technology and Social Media Have Destroyed the First and Fourth Amendment Rights of Cops” and “Good Shoot – Bad Press. Officer Self-Preservation in a Coarsening Culture.” They’ll also cover things like benefits negotiation skills.

Friday-Sunday Nov. 20-22. Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza. $295/members; $365/non-members. (800) 937-6722, www.porac.org.

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT

A reader observes a swell in the homeless who hang by Monterey Bay Kayaks on the west end of Window on the Bay in Monterey, and wonders how the city deals with them. Monterey Police Chief Dave Hober reports they offer those with mental health and addiction issues as many resources as they can through the Monterey Peninsula Homeless Exchange; seek transitional help for recent homeless; and arrest those committing crimes (like a recent theft). He adds anecdotal observations that some have relocated after Salinas’ Chinatown sweeps, but not many.

Email whatsupwiththat@mcweekly.com.

OVERHEARD

“I’m going to be blubbering through this.”
- A longtime supporter of Congressman Sam Farr at his announcement that he will retire next year, after 23 years in Congress.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

Good: The rain is good for gardens, and so are grant funds and recognition from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA bestowed its first-ever “Ocean Guardian School District” title Nov. 12 on Carmel Unified School District, in recognition of its ocean conservation environmental stewardship efforts, on display at the Hilton Bialek Habitat, operated by nonprofit MEarth at Carmel Middle School with an organic vegetable garden and native plants. CUSD is also developing an oceans literacy curriculum for all schools. NOAA also awarded a $4,000 grant to Washington Middle School, part of Salinas Unified High School District. WMS students and teachers constructed raised beds where there’d previously been sod and built a school garden Nov. 14 – just in time for the first real rains of the season.

Bad: It was a bad, bad week for the Monterey County Weekly’s old websites. They went the way of the dinosaurs and dodos, replaced with one integrated, so-called “responsive design” site. Previously the mobile and desktop MCW websites were separate. One symptom, among many, of that technological divide was that the smartphone version contained only about a tenth of the content as the desktop version of the website did. It’s also been a long couple of months for Kevin Smith, theWeekly’s director of new media, who’s been on the front lines of working out the kinks to make the systems soar. Now the unified website works on all screen sizes, with a slick contemporary look and simple, intuitive and outright easy-to-use navigation bar. While this tech upgrade spells bad news for the now-extinct older versions, it’s good news for readers.