SQUIDFRY 06.09.16: #SeeSeaside…

#SeeSeaside… After clocking out of work this past Monday, Squid oozed down to Seaside’s Oldemeyer Center to see how the future gets made. Specifically, Squid’s talking about “Seaside 2040,” which is the catchy title the city gave the process of updating its general plan. Below the title is an even catchier phrase: “Your city. Your future.” Boom! Let’s do this Seaside!

The average age of attendees appeared to be about 70 – Squid has to admire the optimism – and almost 100 people came out, so the attendance was good. Everyone split into groups and talked about what they loved about Seaside, and ways it can improve in the coming decades. Then they shared their ideas for improvement with the whole group. Their ideas were all over the map, but included prioritizing infill development over sprawl, and it was starting to sound a bit redundant. Squid’s interest was piqued by seeing Monterey Downs developer Brian Boudreau – not a Seaside resident – sitting at a table, and Squid couldn’t wait to hear that table’s thoughts about ways to make the city better. Among them were to turn the land east of Gen. Jim Moore Boulevard into tract homes and an office park, and doing more to make Seaside into a “tourist attraction.”

Because if there’s anything tourists want to see, it’s tract homes and office parks.

Woe City… Before exposing corruption and calling out idiots with ink, Squid used to make a living as a barista. While Squid thought Squid was artistic, Squid’s boss did not appreciate Squid’s latte art, with starfish that came out looking like sea cucumbers. Squid was fired from many of those jobs.

Now that Squid is older and wiser – in that order – Squid takes responsibility for Squid’s workplace actions. Squid hopes former King City Police Departmentemployees would do the same. In the latest from the King City saga, ex-cop Christopher Craig is claiming damages for being wrongfully investigated by the department after the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office found it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was connected to the towing scheme that crumbled the police force. After the DA declined to file criminal charges, KCPD launched an internal investigation into alleged misconduct, and Craig was ultimately terminated by (the also since-fired) police chief Ron Forgue. Craig filed a lawsuit May 20 seeking in excess of $25,000, arguing that because the DA didn’t find any criminal wrongdoing, there was no basis for his firing.

But Squid has been fired for more trivial things than being linked to the most widespread official corruption scandal in county history, like sloppy latte art, or taking too long on a bathroom break while the foam got cold. But maybe standards are different at KCPD.