The Weekly Buzz 02.25.16

WHO’S IN TOWN?

The $2.3 billion hospitality industry in Monterey County is some 23,000 employees strong. They’re repped by the Monterey County Hospitality Association, an influential trade association fighting for a desalination plant (water rationing could spell doom for hotels) and widening Highway 156 (to minimize traffic jams at peak tourist times). This week they throw a black-tie gala and honor two hospitality heavyweights: The Hospitality Professional of the Year award goes to Janine Chicourrat, GM of Portola Hotel and Spa, and a lifetime achievement award goes to Lawson Little, former pro golfer and Quail Lodge president.

6pm Friday Feb. 26. Portola Hotel, 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey. $150. 626-8636, www.mcha.net.

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT

Evoking Shel Silverstein, a reader wonders why the sidewalk on General Jim Moore Boulevard runs through Seaside and ends in Del Rey Oaks. DRO City Manager Daniel Dawson reports it ends along with water, recycled water and other underground utilities because those projects were completed with federal Fort Ord grant monies. The next FORA-funded capital improvement project will be South Boundary Road (where the sidewalk ends); bike lanes, sidewalks and utilities will also be installed. Groundbreaking is expected in early 2017.

OVERHEARD

“I agree with a lot of the things Donald Trump says, but I wouldn’t have him over for dinner.”
-An Iowa tourist talking to locals from the front porch of his Pacific Grove vacation rental.

GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK

GOOD: $3.17 million was raised for local nonprofits in the 2015 Monterey County Gives! campaign. Two nonprofits won another $2,500 each with Ingenuity Awards announced Feb. 25. Loaves, Fishes & Computers in Salinas provides free or low-cost computers and tech support. Their Big Idea is to distribute 99 dual-language (Spanish-English) computers to low-income families. Meanwhile, Gathering for Women-Monterey provides homeless and at-risk women with food and services, operating a day center out of the Unitarian Universaliast Church and a food pantry for anyone in the Diocese of Monterey’s archive building. They want a dedicated space for both. Gives! is a special project of the Weekly’s donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation for Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation.

BAD: After a year of fighting for the right to operate her taco truck, El Volcan, on Cannery Row, Berenice Gonzalez Contrera of Salinas finally took the hint that neither local businesses nor the city of Monterey want her or her delicious food there. She withdrew her application for a long-term vending permit on Feb. 16. With city staff recommending that Monterey City Council deny the permit and only two City Council members (Alan Haffa and Timothy Barrett) sympathetic to her cause, the permit likely wouldn’t have been granted anyway. It concludes a year of Gonzalez Contrera lobbying on her own behalf, despite numerous roadblocks. Numerous Cannery Row merchants spoke against her pursuit. Now she’s giving up on the process, making it a bad week for diversity of merchants and food offerings.