Math Problems

MATH PROBLEM… Squid had plenty of shrimp-flavored popcorn ready when Squid curled up in the lair Oct. 10 to watch, via Zoom, whether the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s board would vote to pursue a buyout of Cal Am’s local water system, thus entering the fray of the eminent domain process (Cal Am is not a willing seller).

The board did, unanimously, and their comments before voting spoke to the benefits of a publicly owned water system versus one owned by profit-seeking investors.

That private system is calculating the potential hit. The morning after the vote, Squid’s colleague received a proprietary report from Northcoast Research, a Cleveland-based investment advisory firm for institutional investors, that already had an analysis for how the vote might impact the stock price of American Water, Cal Am’s parent company – Wall Street doesn’t sleep. Squid’s takeaway is that it won’t have much impact, in part because California represents just 5.6 percent of American Water’s customer count, and Cal Am’s Monterey system is just 22 percent of its statewide total. Doing the math, that means the local system includes about 1.2 percent of American Water’s customer count.

The report also notes the company’s estimated value of about $35 billion. So, 1.2 percent of that is $420 million, more than $600 million below what Cal Am claims its local system to be worth. There must be gold in them pipes.

BLACK AND WHITE AND GRAY… Squid is dusting off Squid’s finest for LULAC #2055’s black-and-white ball on Oct. 21. The “tuxedo and gown affair” serves as a 50th anniversary celebration and – at $125 a person or $1,500 a table – a fundraiser for the advocacy group’s ongoing scholarship program.

In some past years, the City of Salinas has sponsored a table – but not this year. Chapter President Chris Barrera wrote to city leaders in May asking that they consider sponsoring it. Two days later, he followed up: “Upon further consideration, I am withdrawing my request.” (Squid viewed various emails via a California Public Records Act request.)

There’s been a lot of innuendo and accusation in Salinas City Hall in recent months when it comes to paying for tickets for city leaders to attend events. “With all this hoopla, I didn’t want LULAC’s name to be dragged into it,” Barrera tells Squid’s colleague.

A lot of the hoopla is coming from Councilmember Andrew Sandoval, also a LULAC #2055 volunteer. Sandoval says for now, until the city creates a policy on event sponsorships, non-sponsorship is the best outcome: “We want to make sure there’s public trust.”

Squid is reminded of a saying that does not apply to Squid’s undersea lair: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.