Squid Speaks

FLASH FRIED… When residents hungry for a new restaurant organize to bring it to town, their efforts usually take the form of City Hall testimony or a polite petition. Squid likes Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado’s style better, and Squid’s not just talking about that little blue electric car he uses to zip down Reservation Road. Delgado has announced plans for a “flash mob” of Marina’s best and brightest to don red-and-yellow garb, take over the Target parking lot at The Dunes, and form a human In-N-Out sign. 


This is no mere double-double-driven free-for-all. No, this goofy gambit has a goal: to send an aerial photo of the hamburger helpers to the powers that be at In-N-Out, imploring them to put a franchise in the big-box shopping center (perhaps in rebound from Seaside’s recent snubbing of the cult burger chain). Squid’s hoping Delgado will deliver on Sept. 17. Animal-style cheeseburgers on the Peninsula? Now that’s quality Squid can taste. 


THE COLOR OF MONEY… There’s more than one shade of green. Don’t take it from a color-changing squid; the city of Salinas also thought so when it fronted a half million bucks for Green Vehicles, the EV company that couldn’t. After the car maker went belly-up in July, Salinas officials, including Mayor Dennis Donohue and Economic Development Director Jeff Weir, took some blame for failing to read the fine print. The city sued CEO Mike Ryan and former CEO Ehab Youssef. Days later, the company filed for bankruptcy. Squid’s no Pythagoras, but since there wasn’t any cash to start with, there’s even less now. Maybe Ryan can raise funds through Facebook. If there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s passive-aggressive social media. “I would bite off chewable pieces,” Ryan wrote in his farewell Facebook post. As long as it’s not calamari, Squid agrees that would’ve been a good idea. 


MELTING POINT… If there’s one time of year Squid’s inner conspiracy theorist comes out, it’s when considering the unanswered 9/11 question: the temperature gap. Never in the history of architecture and engineering has a steel-reinforced structure been brought down by fire. Steel softens at 2,777 degrees Fahrenheit, while the hottest known substance burning in the World Trade Center, jet fuel, burns at a maximum temperature of 1,517 degrees.


Squid’s tickled by groups like the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth; even after a decade, they insist on a thorough review of the WTC collapse. Given that we spent $40 million to investigate Monica Lewinsky’s involvement with Bill Clinton and only $4 million to figure out what happened on 9/11, Squid thinks that might not be a bad idea.