Letters to the Editor 05.02.19

Downtown, Uptown

I could see Marina rising like a little jewel (“Marina is fixing its development process to put downtown plans into motion,” April 25-May 1). The beaches there are beautiful. It’s kind of shocking it’s stayed the way it is. Joyce Ortega | via Facebook

Stop increasing rent! We can’t afford basic survival needs in Monterey off jobs provided. This isn’t about enticement! Surrounding students are broke and can’t afford gentrified prices! Stop targeting the poor looking for houses – we don’t want a downtown, we want to be able to afford feeding ourselves and having money to save without it all going to extreme housing prices.Nicole Joyce | via Facebook

Use Condoms, Please

Stats like these the same week a group is trying to stop students from learning about sexually transmitted infections and condoms (“The continued rise of STDs spurs a public health battle seeking money and political will,” April 25-May 1). We need factual information for everyone to get these statistics down. Kathleen Lee | via Facebook

Students aren’t getting any sex ed in schools here. Public health doesn’t go to the high schools at all. It’s up to us to educate our kids. Jody Renee Lee | via Facebook

My son’s junior high provides a week-long class held in their phys ed class. It was very informative for him. He then came home and talked about it with us. Melissa Muñoz | via Facebook

Draw The Curtain

I was enjoying this week’s Squid until I came across the final line: “Squid also believes in equity and justice, on both sides of the Lettuce Curtain” (“Squid re-reads a local politician’s social media meltdown toward Monterey County Superior Court officials,” posted April 29). Does theWeekly still use the term Lettuce Curtain? We banned it from usage in about my second week of working at the Community Foundation for Monterey County. The more people say it or see it in print, the more it reinforces a county divide that does no one any favors. It also is a term that has historically biased connotations against Salinas and the Salinas Valley, since the long-held perception is that the so-called LC was meant to keep Salinas out of the Peninsula, not the other way around. My suggestion is that the Weekly’s stylebook jettison this term going forward. Dan Baldwin | Monterey

Editor’s note: Baldwin is president/CEO of the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

Getting Salted

Many citizens served by Cal Am are upset about the approval of Cal Am’s permit to start constructing the desal plant in Marina (“Monterey County Planning Commission grants Cal Am’s desalination plant permit,” posted April 25). All four commissioners in Districts 4 and 5, which serve Cal Am customers, voted either to delay and possibly oppose Cal Am’s permit. Commissioner Keith Vandevere questioned the need for building this desal now when we are already paying the highest water rates in the country. Commissioner Martha Diehl brought up the hidden costs to ratepayers and residents of Marina.

This desal is a clear attempt by Cal Am to circumvent the will of the majority of voters expressed in the passage of Measure J to increase their already-inflated purchase price and put their buyout cost into the stratosphere. Walt Notley | Carmel

The Planning Commission’s approval of Cal Am’s desal plant was based on misinformation and lack of information, and something more: a systemic problem that plagues Monterey County. In the 6-4 vote, the six commissioners who voted to approve Cal Am’s desal represent Districts 1, 2 and 3, not the Monterey Peninsula. Residents in those districts won’t have to pay for this unnecessary desal plant and see their water bills double.

The four commissioners representing the Peninsula voted no. They asked for more time to read the 12,000-page EIR. They asked how this would affect the ratepayers who will actually pay for it.

Cal Am and its supporters repeatedly argued this was urgent, that rationing would result if the project were delayed even a few weeks. This is blatantly untrue. We only need another 750 acre-feet to meet the state order to stop over pumping the Carmel River by December 2021. Pure Water Monterey is on track to expand recycled water production by 2,250 acre-feet by that date.

A decision that will affect the Peninsula for decades was make carelessly by those with no stake in it. Don’t even ask how this is fair. It’s not. Melodie Chrislock | Carmel

Editor’s note: Chrislock is managing director of Public Water Now.

Partnership Power

Appreciate creative efforts and ideas to reach out. Thank you, Monterey Police Department, for being supportive of inter-agency solutions (“Monterey Police partners with four agencies to help homeless people get off the streets,” April 25-May 1). LisAnne Sawhney | Seaside

How about we HOUSE FIRST. Follow the model of town like New Orleans that are providing dignity to their citizens. Shanneen Kirkpatrick | via Facebook

Monterey hasn’t seen shit compared to Salinas and Santa Cruz. The rent’s so high though, it’s no wonder people end up on the streets. Angela Dorado | via Facebook

Correction

In Local Spin (“Distributing Narcan kits for free aims to save lives – and end stigma,” April 25-May 1), the cause of a toddler’s death was incorrectly described. He did not accidentally ingest prescription opioids; they were given to him by a parent.