SQUIDFRY: Breaking Bonds

Breaking Bonds… Squid’s English bulldog, Rosco P. Coltrane, isn’t much of a watchdog. Maybe it’s because Rosco doesn’t really bark but grumbles, more like a purr. The sound of watchdogs barking about North Monterey County Unified School District, on the other hand, came across loud and clear.

According to taxpayer group School Bond Watchdogs, a group of California voters who are – you guessed it – against school bonds, NMCUSD’s Measure E and Measure F are illegal and shouldn’t go on the ballot this November. Measure E is a $36 million bond that would help re-open the Moss Landing Middle School and Measure F is a $40 million bond that would help refurbish older schools and replace portable classrooms with real buildings. But as Richard Michael, a spokesperson for SBW tells Squid, the district “did not follow protocol.” 

The group’s primary gripe is procedural, according to an Aug. 28 letter they sent to Monterey County Registrar of Voters Claudio Valenzuela: They claim the only years school bond measures are allowed to go on the ballot is years when “all of the electors of the school district… are entitled to vote” – meaning, in short, that when just two trustees, rather than all five, are up for re-election, it’s not good enough. (By that logic, the school board can’t ever put a bond on the ballot – next time around, the three other trustees will be up for re-election.)

County Counsel Charles McKee sent a reply letter: “We are unable to accommodate your demand.” 

Because, um, democracy. It’s one of those things they teach in schools. 

Off Sides… Squid’s not much of an athlete, but appreciates a good pickup soccer game. So Squid was delighted to see on Sept. 12 the Monterey County Board of Supervisors finally – after years of litigation over land-use issues – approve plans for a soccer complex at Laurel Drive and Constitution Boulevard in Salinas. But Squid wonders who, exactly, will get to play there. 

Under the 50-year agreement, the county will lease land to the city of Salinas for $1 a year, and the city will sublease it to nonprofit Salinas Regional Sports Authority. Expect the authority to create a shiny new soccer complex – an indoor arena, two lighted turf fields, eight grass fields, picnic areas, a snack bar – and to host tournaments and cool athletic events. 

The only catch: Where will pickup games go when the shiny new complex is built on their zero-cost spot? The protocol, according to county documents, is that the new fields “be available to the general public as much as possible” – one of those vague standards that’s hard to referee. Squid hopes the definition of “as much as possible” turns out to be a win for the public so neighborhood kids can continue to claim those fields as their own.