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SUPES’ TIMING IS SUSPECT

In the current issue of the >>Weekly you give kudos to Supervisors Smith and Calcagno for “proposing a moratorium on all new projects requiring General Plan amendments.” Now, I may very well be wrong, but the way the timing played out to me was this:

The supes approve GPU 4, offer us a chance to vote for a repeal in June, but between now and then it would be in effect. Landwatch launches a petition drive to put a stop to this. If we get to vote, we want to vote. We don’t want GPU 4 to go into effect until we have our say.

Landwatch announces that they have collected the 9,000 signatures required, but are shooting for 15,000 before turning the petitions over to the County. After—and this is the important part—after Landwatch makes this announcement, Smith and Calcagno make their fake gesture of proposing the moratorium. They were essentially going to be forced into this action once those petitions were turned in. It’s all smoke and mirrors and trying to deceive the public by making it look like they really care what we want.

As I said—maybe I am wrong about the timing. But that was what it looked like to me. —Sandy Ferguson | Spreckels

FOURTH OF JULY PROTEST IS PATRIOTIC

Pity the poor Monterey Rec Department, which must deal with over-whelming success. The hugely popular 4th of July parade, in the last several years, has included a lively and spirited mix of organizations peacefully celebrating our nation and community. Instead of commending and celebrating this diversity, the city of Monterey proposes banning the participation of any group they deem as “political” under the guise of keeping the parade “family friendly.”

For some reason the City has decided that citizens carrying paper peace doves are threatening to children but soldiers driving tanks and Humvees and carrying guns are not.

Apparently Monterey officials have forgotten that the point of the 4th of July, also known as Independence Day, is to celebrate patriot rebels who declared independence in order to found a nation built on freedom, not censorship. —Celia A. Bosworth | Pacific Grove

Q: WHY DIDN’T THE FENCE CROSS THE ROAD? A: THE LIGHT WAS GREEN!

I never thought I’d be writing a letter like this, but I’m sick of the traffic signal light problems just as much as all other drivers. Maybe someone reading this might know someone that can solve the no-cars-are-crossing, signal-light-changing-for-no-reason, traffic-hold-up.

I drive around the Peninsula from sunup to sunset. I don’t mind waiting at red lights to change green when cars are traveling through intersections. Living here in the area for 20 years, I have never seen so many light signals change red while driving up to the four-way lights. There’s no automobiles or pedestrians coming in any direction to make lights change. The signal lights will change red on you when traffic is only going east-to-west and the south-to-north are blocked off by construction fences. No cars or trucks can pass through the intersection and the light is green for the blocked-off area. Me and all the drivers behind me are probably waiting for the fence to cross the road on a green light that takes a long time to change. Traffic gets more and more backed up as the day goes on and cars are bumper to bumper from one edge of town to the other edge of town.

Do officials in the transportation department drive a car to work or do they fly in on a magic carpet? Maybe this is just a test for the rest of us. Or they just don’t know this is going on, or they don’t care about the traffic tie-ups.

This is a solution that can be fixed with a little teamwork. Speaking for all drivers on the Peninsula, I say fix this problem or fire and hire the staff of people that can solve it. With all the drivers in the road today, and more coming, we would like to see the traffic move just a little bit smoother than it has been! People are angrily speeding through signal lights all the time; that’s another problem solved. —J. Weighill | Pacific Grove

P.S. The obvious solution is to fix the automatic relay timing boxes, unless they never hooked them up, and that would be a whole different issue!