Letters to the Editor 06.30.22

Swimming with Sharks

I loved your article. It was such a great balance between how amazing and beautiful Monterey Bay is but how we are also playing where some amazing ocean creatures are just trying to survive. I appreciate that you didn’t demonize the sharks (“The ocean is a beautiful place – it’s also wild and sometimes scary,” posted June 22).

I grew up in Monterey, two blocks from the ocean and I have a respect for the ocean and just how unpredictable it can be. I come home quite often and this still won’t stop me from enjoying the ocean. It’s a reminder that you never know what can happen, so know the risks and enjoy life.

And I’m so happy to hear that the swimmer is going to be OK (“Swimmer is recovering after shark bite at Lovers Point,” posted June 22). Tamara Hammer | via email

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I always enjoy your articles, but especially today. You put the right message out there to the public that by entering the ocean we are entering their world, and we need to assume some measure of risk with that. If swimmers want no risk, go to the swimming pool.

We humans have taken far too much advantage over the years of not only the ocean and the environment, but of Mother Earth. Great article. William Merry | Monterey

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Wow, I swim or snorkel there half a dozen times a year, and just did two weeks ago, from shore out to the orange buoy and then to the seawall and back, doing laps. I swim or surf around Pleasure Point during the summer where the outside kelp bed seems to keep sharks away. There is no kelp bed offshore at Lovers Point anymore because of the urchins. Lawrence Denis Freitas | Aptos

I just had a book come out a few weeks ago, The Ominous Ocean: Rogue Waves, Rip Currents and Other Dangers Along the Shoreline and in the Sea. I write about potentially dangerous animals in the ocean (including sharks) as well as many other hazards – from the perspective of not trying to scare people from going to the beach or getting into the ocean, but just to provide some perspective on potential dangers and how to be safe.

It is interesting to know that in the roughly 200 years of recorded history of Monterey Bay there has just been one fatality from a shark bite. Nationwide, for all U.S. waters, on average only a single person dies annually from a shark bite.

There are many, many other far more dangerous issues – like rip currents, drowning, getting stung by a bee or wasp, bitten by a dog… Gary Griggs | Santa Cruz

Griggs is a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz.

FORTAG FTW

I’m for FORTAG (“Measure B, the Del Rey Oaks ballot initiative that could have killed FORTAG, is officially defeated,” posted June 24). Any opportunity for this community to increase recreational opportunities and spaces, I’m for it.

Salinas needs to step up their game too. The Salinas River is not our river, but it should be. California as a whole is lacking free, public, clean recreational spaces. Let’s dream and think big. Jacky Estrada | via social media

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Doesn’t Del Rey Oaks deserve its own little path littered with tents and trash? David Palmer | Pacific Grove

That’s why I voted for Measure B – build it and they will come. Money could be better spend for resources for the homeless. Lisa Hogan | Del Rey Oaks

Dining Out

Dining out has become a rare occurrence for us. We simply cannot afford it more than occasionally (“As rising costs drive restaurant prices into the stratosphere, will midscale restaurants disappear?” June 23-29). Martha Diehl | Big Sur

Sadly small businesses are struggling, larger food chains have the ability to purchase massive quantities for cheaper, yet they increase prices for bigger profits. We need to support local businesses. Ericka J. Perez | via social media

Market Madness

Thank you for your story on how the farmers market is impacting the merchants on Main Street (“Salinas pauses Oldtown Farmers Market expansion as businesses push back,” June 23-29).

As one of the largest retail merchants on the 300 block (Kerri’s Co-Op Chicks), I wanted to offer a rebuttal to [market manager] Jerry Lami’s comments.

We were excited to have the market come to our block, and had received a verbal promise that they would not block our store when they asked for our signature to support moving it down here. We were quickly disillusioned when they set up big food trucks blocking our awning and windows and placed a tent directly in front of our front door.

We finally took matters into our own hands and came in on a Saturday at 5am to beat the vendors and set up a table in front of our store. We have been doing it now for the past three weeks. As a result, our sales are up 75 percent, back to where we expect. More needs to be done to help the merchants on our block with this issue. Kerri Peterson | Salinas

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The farmers market was founded to benefit the businesses in downtown Salinas. It does not benefit us in its current iteration.

The market was originally on Wednesday evenings (the slowest retail and restaurant day of the week) and featured only food from downtown restaurants. Saturday is – or was – our busiest day of the week. My store (Downtown Book & Sound) required three team members on staff. Now it only requires one person, with sales down by 75 percent.

If this event does not support and elevate our businesses, it does not belong on Main Street.

That said, I personally love having a farmers market in Oldtown and shop there every week; I’m a big supporter! But ADA-compliant bathrooms for vendors/attendees and other changes are a must to allow the market on Main Street. Trish Sullivan | Salinas

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I think Trish Sullivan’s comment, “This market is supposed to benefit the downtown businesses” is off base. The farmers market is supposed to benefit area residents, is it not? With all due respect, I never imagined that the farmers markets are there to drive business to local brick-and-mortar stores. A smart business person who saw sales decline during these few hours would offer some farmers market specials and do a better job to engage with the people visiting the market instead of complaining about them.

For me, as a farmers market shopper and a local resident, I walk downtown Saturday mornings to get myself a box of strawberries, buy what local fruits and veggies are available, and sometimes grab lunch. Thomas Gray | Salinas

The farmers market drew me there, and now I’m aware of more businesses. Rosa Rodriguez | via social media

These complaints are understandable. Hope it all works out so it can keep expanding. The farmers market has gotten so much better once it moved away from Gabilan Street. Ritchie Salinas | via social media

Higher Office

It takes more than fresh perspective to be mayor. It seems [Tyller Williamson] needs more experience before he’s ready (“In a new era of district elections, a councilmember prepares to run for mayor,” June 23-29). Scott Cunninghman | Carmel Valley

[Mayor] Clyde [Roberson] isn’t in tune or watching out for the young working and middle-class renting residents in Monterey. He is a good human and has done good things overall, but it’s time for leadership to better represent the demographic of its citizens. Lindsey Knight | via social media

Salt in the Water

We don’t need more privatization of our precious resources (“Desalination can now be owned and operated by private entities in Monterey County,”June 23-29). Frederick Jack Nelson | via social media

History Revisited

I write to correct a piece in the Weekly which misrepresented my background and my work (“Salinas finally gets the biography its past and future deserve thanks to a local historian’s deep dive,” June 2-8). I was born in Brooklyn, but my parents moved back to California before my first birthday and stayed here. I did not say writers do not get to do what they want. That was a misquote.

The nuance that was so important in my work is missing from this brief summary. For example, I did not argue in my book that there were deep divisions in Salinas. I argued the opposite. Despite racial differences, Salinas residents created a community based on comity albeit one that might have been more facade than real. Intermarriage happened, but was uncommon and contested, not the norm.

The 1930s were about inclusion and labor strikes, with complex alliances on both sides. The 1940s were economically profitable, but hardly glorious. I focused on the incarceration of innocent Americans of Japanese descent.

Most importantly, the new demographic and political leadership in Salinas today came from the postwar era of civil rights activism and the farmworker movement. This was the critical turning point in the history of the city and the region and was overlooked in the piece. Carol Lynn McKibben | Carmel

McKibben is author of, most recently, 'Salinas: A History of Race and Resilience in an Agricultural City.'

Wrong on Rights

Like most Americans, I share Tajha Chappellet-Lanier’s eloquent lament over the loss of freedom for women and girls to decide their own medical care after the [June 24 Supreme Court] decision to permit states to ban abortions (“It was expected, but the official overturning of Roe v. Wade still feels like a punch to the gut,” posted June 24).

What I don’t understand is how Republicans can object to wearing masks during a deadly pandemic – as an affront to “freedom” – yet celebrate when the Court allows a state to force a 12-year-old child to give birth to her sibling. (Thirteen states currently have trigger abortion bans which do not exempt rape, incest or the health of the mother.)

It would be great if the Weekly can include reporting on steps we can take locally to ensure California remains a safe haven for women’s freedom. Christina Lund | Pacific Grove

Bench Battle

When Donald Trump was in office, he and Mitch McConnell made three lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. McConnell went so far as to defy Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish – that the next president appoint her replacement – by packing the Court with Amy Coney Barrett just eight days before the 2020 election.

The result? Today’s Supreme Court has been taken over by a hyperpartisan supermajority that just dismantled abortion care in America.

But there’s something we can do. The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four seats to the Supreme Court bench – restoring balance to the court. It’s the solution we need to move away from the extremely partisan rulings that now threaten our fundamental freedoms. Recent polling showed that the majority of voters support expanding the court.

Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times already in our nation’s history. It’s time to do it again. I’m urging our representatives to back this important bill now so we know they want to protect the rights of the American people. The stakes are too high to stay quiet on this important issue. Janet Snodgrass | Prunedale

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This is a scary moment. The Supreme Court just dismantled abortion rights across America. As a result, 26 states could outlaw abortion, including 13 that have passed “trigger” laws to take effect immediately after the Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

This news should set off alarm bells for all Americans. Our fundamental freedoms are coming under attack by a hyperpartisan supermajority on the Court. And this could just be the beginning. But there’s a way to fight back, which is why I’m urging Congress to pass the Judiciary Act of 2021.

The Judiciary Act would rebalance the Supreme Court by adding four new seats, giving us 13 justices in total. It’s just what we need to move away from extremely partisan rulings and restore the legitimacy of the Court. It’s past time for Congress to get on board with this crucial bill. Cate Mulligan | Seaside