FLY BYS… Squid’s primitive ears were already ringing in recent weeks with the large, powerful waves that came crashing down like sonic booms upon the lair. Then came what sounded to Squid like an unusually large volume of aircraft afterburners emanating from the Monterey Regional Airport flightpath in recent weeks.
Turns out Squid wasn’t the only one who thought there were more planes than usual. At the Jan. 25 board meeting of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, airport district board memberBill Sabo reported an uptick in military traffic in and out of MRY, noting that the traffic included C-17 transports, F-18 fighters and U-2 spy planes. He said the district had received some noise complaints as a result. “All of those things are legal, we’re working with them as best we can to get them to turn out over the water, but afterburners are afterburners, and they have every right to use this airport because it is a federally funded airport,” he said. In Sabo’s opinion, he added, the sound is “no worse than a Harley going down the street.”
He offered no explanation for the increase. Airport Executive Director Michael La Pier tells Squid’s colleague he doesn’t have any explanation either, and adds there’s nothing newsworthy about it – which only makes Squid’s ear flaps perk up even more. Sabo’s assurance to TAMC, that the military is “doing this all in the defense of the country,” gives Squid cold comfort in uncertain times.
GET IN LINE… Squid has tried for years to cultivate patience, but it’s one of those virtues – like temperance, particularly when it comes to shrimp-flavored popcorn – that Squid seems simply unable to adopt. So too, it seems, a couple of Monterey business owners are lacking in patience. On Feb. 7, Monterey City Council was in closed-door negotiations with Chris Shake’s Old Fisherman’s Grottoon Fisherman’s Wharf and Ted Balestreri’s Surfside Enterprises, which leases to Sapporo Grill and London Bridge Pub. While other businesses are operating on expired leases from the city, these well-connected guys get to cut to the front of the line.
In a different kind of waiting game, local mayors are watching to see if former Greenfield Mayor John Huerta resigns from his seat on the Monterey County Water Resources Agency board. Voters recalled Huerta in a Jan. 24 election, but his appointment on MCWRA lasts through December – unless he resigns first. That left the county’s mayors confused when they discussed what to do at a Feb. 3 meeting at Growers Pub in Salinas. Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter, a prime candidate to be appointed to the influential seat, said, “We may have to reach out and ask him to resign.” Squid imagines how awkward that phone call could get, and hopes the mayors have a more evolved sense of politeness than Squid.