All Wet…Squid, in general, is baffled by humanity. It’s the big things, like your resistance to do anything meaningful about climate change, which threatens the very future of your civilization. And it’s the little things, like bacon soda.
Locally, there’s no issue that has Squid scratching Squid’s head more than water. Like, how did you let a privately owned corporation take ownership of one of the few things you need to survive? And then not vote to take that water back when you had the chance?
Some of the leading cephalopod think tanks in the Monterey Bay blame money—the $20 million California American Water took out of their shareholder’s hides to fight Measure O—but others look at it with a wider lens, and say that humans are simply imperfect creatures, not evolved for the long haul.
Plenty of humans share Squid’s sentiments, in part, and when Cal Am’s board of directors announced they would hold a public meeting at Pacific Grove’s Chautauqua Hall Aug. 19, many locals jumped at the opportunity to air their many grievances.
After the board briefly introduced themselves in an attempt to make themselves seem human, and not part of some soulless, profit-hungry machine, dozens of people lined up to tell the Cal Am board just what they think.
“I never thought I’d have the chance to tell you in person what I think of you,” said Dan Turner, who railed against the fact that the more money Cal Am spends on a project, the more profit it reaps, whether or not said project succeeds.
“These slant wells must seem like a gift from heaven to you,” Turner said, and then later dropped the zinger: “The scum of the earth couldn’t have been more of a scourge to the Monterey Peninsula than you people sitting here.”
Ouch.
The next speaker, an older, white man whose name Squid couldn’t make out, took the opportunity to tell the board how much he’s loved being a Cal Am customer over the years. He even added, strangely, that he doesn’t like to filter his water. “I just drink it straight,” he said.
But after that bit of loving, it was rant after rant after rant.
“This desal plant is likely to cost something in the order of a billion dollars at the rate it’s going at the moment,” said Monterey’s David Beech. “We pay for it all, and we would not own a penny of it.”
Luana Conley, who said she lives by the Carmel River, was tired of water bills she found incomprehensible, and appeared on the verge of tears as she tore into the board.
“Some people might say you’re really nice people individually, but I don’t think so, because I know how much harm you’ve caused a lot of people,” she said.
Later came local water gadfly Ron Weitzman, a longtime advocate of public water ownership and critic of Cal Am.
“Let me say that we residents share your pain. We winced when we heard our region has failed to provide your shareholders the profit they deserve,” he said, referring to the $40 million of profit Cal Am failed to garner over the past years, an amount approved by the California Public Utilities Commission and the reason Cal Am is attempting to raise its rates. “If only we would have known [our conservation] efforts would have caused you such bad problems.”
Then later came Bill Carrothers, who doesn’t live on the Monterey Peninsula, but who seems to show up at random meetings just to piss off the people who do live there.
“We’re going to just have to endure an incredible amount of bitching,” he told the board. “I urge you to have thick skins and carry on, I encourage you to persevere. You yet shall succeed.”
Just before the meeting broke for 15 minutes at 7pm, the Cal Am board got to hear from Margaret Anne Copperknoll, who spoke directly to board member Walter Lynch, a graduate of West Point.
Copperknoll brought up the West Point honor code, “duty, honor, country,” and finished her rant with: “Character does matter.” As she stepped away from the podium, the hall erupted with applause.
Squid didn’t stay for the meeting when it reconvened at 7:15pm, even though Squid was tempted to hear what Cal Am shill Carlos Ramos—who sat in the back of the hall with a smug grin—might say.
The whole affair was absurd, in Squid’s opinion, because the board wasn’t offering responses to any of the comments. It was a PR stunt where people got the opportunity to stand up and shout at the wind, thinking their voices might matter.
Squid’s got a newsflash for those people: Unless they own shares of Cal Am stock, those voices don’t matter to Cal Am.
Humans. Such strange creatures.
(3) comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMwYJ4vAx4ASee the river flow, and know we are being ripped of by our officials.
FREE CARMEL RIVER MOUNTAIN WATER - we never ran out
Squid! What an excellent job of reporting what did in fact take place at the meeting. Great job on your observations. Some additional content: I too spoke. Even though NONE of our local media reported on Carmel River water flow over the past four years of drought WE DO HAVE LOTS OF WATER. In December 2014 the Carmel River flowed into the ocean (MEDIA SOURCE CLAIMS IT DIDN'T - BUT IT DID). IT WAS AN AWESOME AMOUNT OF FLOW, 5 years of water supply in about 8 days. The CARMEL RIVER is awesome! It continues to have the same capacities it had in the past to supply our needs. The media, HOWEVER, continues to support the government and political decisions which are ruining our collective lives. REBUILD THE DAMS and storage reservoirs , AND RESTORE OUR LIVES. END THE TRUTH AND WATER EMBARGO.
The Carmel River flowed to the ocean from December 2014 to April 2015. An estimated 10 years of free water went out into the ocean.
In 1995 50 years of Carmel River mountain water flowed to the ocean in 5 to 10 days along with the highway 1 bridge. STOP THE WATER FRAUD!!! The Carmel River has the capacity to supply our water needs. Stop lying.
Discussion on MontereyHerald 4 comments
Editorial: Drought will force cooperation
boboliver
boboliver 3 months ago
Watch this video with multiple commentaries from President John F. Kennedy on WATER THEN, AND HIS PROJECTION and caution FOR THE FUTURE.
"... no water should flow to the ocean without being used. It will take the dedication of those in the west..."
Bob Oliver 831 383-2676 boboliver9@gmail.com
Edit View in discussion
boboliver
boboliver 3 months ago
SIMPLY - In the PAST water was FREE. In the PRESENT water is free but everyone is PENALIZED for using it. In the FUTURE it will be OWNED.
Build and dredge dams for 100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars and create the infrastructure to house free water and create free recreation areas). Build the desalinization plant for 1 billion dollars (1,000,000,000 is one hundred times the cost of the dam), and water is no longer free. It is now 60 times the cost of the average free water systems in California.
Who came up with this idea? Please remove them from office and file charges
against them for theft of a public free resource!
Build the DAMS AND WATER for FREE WATER. Is anyone out there besides the crooks aware that the Carmel River has been flowing to the ocean (Stewart's Cove / Carmel Lagoon since December. That is roughly ten years water supply!!!! Where is the storage for our water? It has been systematically removed or allowed to be ruined for over 40 years. Time to start thinking smart and build the dams, UNLESS THE PLAN IS TO DESTABILIZE THE PENINSULA SO ONLY WEALTHY PEOPLE CAN LIVE HERE. YOU THINK? See UFOs with third generation PVS-7 night vision goggles - we have been lied to about everything. www.edgrimsley.com
Bob Oliver 831 383-2676 boboliver9@gmail.com 5/10/2015 1:50 pm
Edit View in discussion
Discussion on MontereyHerald 4 comments
Chris Shake: Wharf rents mischaracterized
boboliver
boboliver 3 months ago
Good commentary and to the point. There are some waterfront leases that are not being charged according to market value, BUT you make it clear that Mc Crone is out of line on the wharf leases. Thanks again for all the positiveness you and your family have offered to us all. Boboliver - now for another subject WATER ..please watch this.
http://archive.larouchepac.com... .."...no drop of water west of the 100th parralel should flow to the ocean without being used"..." affects the security of the United States..." President JF Kennedy.
Edit View in discussion
Dear Squid,
Humans are no stranger than any other animal, just more cerebral. In the case of sounding aggressive with no actual aggression intended (such as at the CAW public meeting) there are numerous examples: Small dogs bark at big dogs; cats arch their backs and hiss to make them appear bigger and more dangerous than they are; from the safety of tree branches squirrels chatter noisily at intruding humans. Hurling insults at the CAW Board members is just another example of this phenomenon…part displacement behavior, part fear, part frustration. Squids also display this type of behavior by changing color or releasing harmless melanin (“ink”). As for the tendency of humans to do nothing collectively and cooperatively about preserving their environment, no other species does either. Humans are in the same waiting line heading towards extinction as are all other species. The very first species appeared about 3.6 billion years ago. All of the millions or perhaps trillions of species that evolved between then and only 450 million years ago are extinct. We Homo sapien sapiens managed to extinguish all our hominid relatives in fewer than 50,000 years. We’re on track for total hominid extinction. Relax!
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.