The Buzz 12.04.25

FREE SPEECH

Even if you wanted to, it would be physically impossible to attend every meeting of every special district in Monterey County – there are 42. (That’s not to mention other city and county agencies, and school boards.) But time and day can make it easier for members of the public to show up and the Monterey Peninsula Airport District is moving its meeting time in 2026 to hopefully become more accessible to more people. In response to concerns from the public about the meeting time making it difficult for them to attend, board members Dino Pick and Jonathan Ahmadi convened an ad hoc committee in October to review the options and recommended switching from 8am weekday meetings to an evening time of 5:30pm. On Nov. 19, the board voted 5-0 to adopt that recommendation, switching its monthly board meeting time. Tellingly, no members of the public attended the 8am meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 19 to weigh in, something Ahmadi said demonstrated the problem.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Kids walking by would say, ‘we really like your painting’ – that was the best thing ever.” - Artist Hanif Wondir, on a new mural he completed near Los Arboles Middle School in Marina (see story, montereycountynow.com/newsletter)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

It’s a win-win-win for tackling food waste, creating renewable energy and saving money. Monterey One Water is taking steps toward creating a circular economy – a system which keeps materials in use for as long as possible by regenerating, reusing and recycling. On Dec. 2, M1W celebrated the launch of a new co-digestion program designed to turn food waste – up to 51,000 tons annually – into clean energy. The project, supported by a $4.2 million CalRecycle grant, combines food waste with wastewater biosolids to increase biogas production, which will be cleaned and converted into renewable natural gas that will help move M1W closer to net-neutral operations. The facility, which sits adjacent to ReGen Monterey in Marina, will produce up to 800 cubic feet of biogas per minute, and support compliance with Senate Bill 1383, a state mandate for all jurisdictions to reduce organic waste.

GREAT:

When a city is small – population 350 – a little chunk of money can potentially make a big difference. That was the logic guiding Vibeke Norgaard, city manager of Sand City, in recommending a $10,000 allocation to support food relief back in November when it was unclear how long the federal government shutdown would last and what that would mean for CalFresh recipients. City Council agreed and on Nov. 4 approved up to $10,000 for a program for Sand City residents. “Our thinking was, even if there’s only one family, we want to be able to help,” Norgaard says. The week before Thanksgiving, city officials started passing out bilingual flyers encouraging eligible people to apply for an amount up to what they lost out on during the shutdown. If the city does not expend all of the funds, it will put it toward another allocation of $10,000 to the Food Bank for Monterey County.