Drag It Out

DRAG IT OUT… When Squid wants to bask in a little Marina fog, Squid oozes onto Fort Ord Dunes State Park. Squid has had to dodge bulldozers and dump trucks recently, with multiple projects happening simultaneously: a new campground and the SURF! busway. (Previously, Squid only had to dodge out-of-towners taking selfies on the Monterey Bay Branch Line in carts operated by the Museum of Handcar Technology.)

The saga of Todd Clark, co-owner of the handcar company, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County and the City of Marina has been well-documented. Clark sued those agencies over alleged First Amendment and state law violations after he got evicted. Marina was later dropped from the lawsuit, and in October, Clark settled with TAMC when he realized the track would be torn up anyway.

Squid thought the court drama was over. Clark did too. But Marina didn’t.

The City felt it was entitled to attorney fees, and demanded Clark pay $146,400. That meant an additional three-plus months of court dates, with U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee finally saying on March 9: No, you don’t, Marina.

Squid doesn’t need to remind Marina that it now has a bigger bill than if it had just dropped the matter. But like everything with the SURF! project, money keeps getting spent like water flows.

LAWN GAMES… Speaking of the flow of water, Squid has watched with admiration as humans on the Monterey Peninsula learn about conservation. Gone are most lawns, replaced with decorative rocky landscaping. But that has not stopped the California Legislature from pursuing a crackdown on lawns; Assembly Bill 1572 takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027 and will give water retailers the ability to impose penalties on anyone irrigating a nonresidential lawn.

Squid thought the case was closed and water cops were empowered, but then Squid saw draft legislation that’s all about Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, giving it the same power that others would have if Senate Bill 1139 becomes law. Why does MPWMD need its own special legislative carveout to do something water retailer California American Water already has the authority to do?

In this region, MPWMD gets to play water cop. As a utility that everyone loves to hate, Cal Am certainly doesn’t need to do anything else to piss off its customers. (Cal Am has no position on the bill, which is scheduled for its first committee hearing on April 7.)

It’s a lot of legislative effort for one little water district that may not need to flex the authority it gets anyway. “We don’t have any intent to upset the applecart,” MPWMD General Manager Dave Stoldt says, noting the general lack of decorative, nonfunctional turf. “It’s not about coming for your lawn.”