People's Court

PEOPLE’S COURT… Fun fact: Squid once appeared on an episode of Judge Jellyfish as the plaintiff in a small claims case against Squid’s neighbor Montgomery Mola. Squid foolishly loaned Monty a few clams and the selfish sunfish wouldn’t pay Squid back. Squid had the receipts and won. So Squid empathizes with the city of Monterey, currently the plaintiff in a small claims case officials filed on April 20 against Ryan Murphy asking for $498.24 in fines after Murphy allegedly violated the city’s ordinance against advertising short-term rentals.

In a court document, the city states Murphy was cited in October 2021 for advertising an apartment he owns on Lighthouse Avenue for a three-day rental. That comes with a $100 fine. The second violation is $150, the third is $200. Each day the rental was advertised was a separate fine, totaling $450, the city determined. They gave Murphy 30 days to appeal, which he did not. Fast forward to March of this year, when the city sent Murphy a letter demanding he pay the $450, plus a late penalty. When he didn’t pay, they took him to court. (Squid was unable to reach Murphy for comment.)

Monterey officials apparently have a long memory and are not afraid of getting litigious even for a few hundred clams. When they face off against Murphy on June 22, Squid expects city officials will bring the receipts.

SINKING IN… When a sinkhole sinks, does it make a sound? Squid doesn’t know the answer to that question, because neither Squid, nor Squid’s colleagues, have been able to get any firsthand accounts of how things went down when a sinkhole sunk on March 23 in the Safeway parking lot in Del Rey Oaks. (Thankfully, there were no injuries.)

The sinkhole happened around an underground drainage main where stormwater drainage pipes from three cities – Del Rey Oaks, Seaside and Monterey – converge, and then get channeled out to Laguna Grande. Squid has been trying to figure out: Which city was the sinkhole in? And whose leaky pipe is to blame? And who will have to pay for it?

Monterey Peninsula Engineering did the emergency repair work in the immediate aftermath, before it was sorted out whose pipe was to blame, and whose land it was on. Del Rey Oaks City Manager John Guertin says DRO paid about $34,000 for that work, but his understanding from MPE workers is that the sinkhole was in Seaside, and that the problematic pipe was Monterey’s.

But when Squid’s colleague talked to Monterey Acting City Engineer Tom Harty, he was unaware: “That’s all news to us. This is the first I’ve heard of anything about this.”

So maybe sinkholes don’t make a sound. Maybe try email?