Track Suit

TRACK SUIT… Squid oozes around the courthouse regularly, but not being a trained lawyer and all, Squid’s never had a good sense for which side holds a stronger hand. It probably doesn’t help that when Squid reads the word tort, Squid initially thinks of cake.

So Squid kept an open mind last year when Todd Clark, co-owner and founder of Museum of Handcar Technology, the Marina-based business that offers handcar tours on the rails of the Monterey Branch Line, sued the Transportation Agency for Monterey County and the City of Marina in federal court for violating the company’s First Amendment rights, arguing the agencies didn’t renew Clark’s lease on the tracks – which TAMC owns – because of retaliation against his vocal opposition to Monterey-Salinas Transit’s SURF! busway. But April 14, Squid got some clarity when a federal judge granted the museum a partial, preliminary injunction against TAMC that will allow the company to remain operating on the tracks until TAMC can show evidence that the SURF! project is fully funded, has all the necessary permits and that construction cannot begin until the museum is evicted.

The judge cited statements posted on Nextdoor by Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado, a TAMC board member, in validating Clark’s claim: “TAMC hasn’t handled handcar lease termination well but from my inside view I’m not surprised. You poke the bear and bear is not always kind.”

That may be true, but a bear – unlike TAMC – doesn’t have to abide by the U.S. Constitution.

BIG AND BIGGER… Squid’s lair is a simple place. That was especially evident to Squid upon attending a Monterey County Board of Supervisors meeting, where Squid quickly realized that lair means different things to different people, most notably Amy McDougall and Rene Peinado, who want approval to build a six-story, single-family dwelling on Oakwood Circle in Carmel Valley.

There were conflicting claims about the size of the lair, hovering around 15,000 square feet, as well as differing interpretations of builder’s remedy, a state policy intended to spur low-income housing projects forward.

Laura Strazzo, the attorney representing McDougall and Peinado, threatened litigation, but the supervisors were unimpressed. “I always think it’s a weak argument when you’re trying to make the threat of litigation override all the many concerns we have about the substance of the application itself,” Luis Alejo said.

Maybe McDougall and Peinado thought Chris Lopez would be a sure yes vote, but they would have thought wrong. “I was recently accused of never seeing a housing project I didn’t like,” Lopez said. “Well, here we are today. That day has arrived.”

The board voted unanimously to send the project back to the Planning Commission, where there’s a second chance at a smaller lair.