Work In Progress

WORK IN PROGRESS… Being a cephalopod columnist, Squid knows the value of getting work done in advance. But Squid also keeps Squid’s rough drafts out of public view – that public including Squid’s editor. But the owner of Nami in downtown Monterey sees things differently.

Not aware of Nami? The restaurant concept is being phased in – the name went up on outside walls in the final days of December, but the menu is a few weeks away – to replace Cibo. The Nami website – namimonterey.com – went live well in advance, with stunning stock images of food, a cobblestone road overlooking a foggy coastline, two views from floor-to-ceiling windows of uninterrupted ocean views and the like. However, from inside of Cibo, guests look out upon Alvarado Street and Portola Plaza.

Nami owner Dudley Ashley, who is also responsible for Pangaea Grill and Sur in Carmel, tells Squid’s colleague that revealing a rough draft website served a purpose, creating intrigue. “People have been calling, stopping by,” he says, wanting to know what was really behind those unlikely images. “I like that.”

So it turns out that artificial can be intelligent. Given Ashley’s track record, Nami will be an exciting restaurant. And Squid is now rethinking Squid’s attitude toward rough drafts. Squid will try telling Squid’s editor what the Nami menu page promises the public: “The wait will be brief.”

SLOW FLOW… In Squid’s undersea lair, the Gregorian calendar is observed only by creatures with deadlines set by human editors. In the world of California American Water’s desalination plant in Marina, it’s a new year, same old thing.

That includes a 2020 lawsuit against Cal Am and former sand mining company Cemex, in which the City of Marina and Marina Coast Water District argue that Cal Am does not have the water rights needed to pump brackish water from the former mine property to the Peninsula. A trial before Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills is ongoing, with various legal debates along the way about who can testify. (When Marina Coast’s attorney called Public Water Now founder and chief Cal Am antagonist George Riley to the stand, Cal Am was opposed, and Wills agreed. Riley was dismissed.)

The latest hiccup came when Marina moved to disqualify Robert Abrams, a technical expert Cal Am intends to call to the stand, on the basis that he previously worked for the city. (It appears to Squid that there’s a relatively small pool of water consultants.)

On Dec. 29, Wills denied the motion and ruled that Abrams can testify. That means turning the page to a new calendar year, for more of the same saga. Squid will refill Squid’s bucket with shrimp-flavored popcorn to watch it all slog out.