 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
CRA News Nov. 2005
Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association
 Wayne Kelley, left, was catching up with old friends Sandy and Ed Thornton after the Oct. 27 CRA meeting. Dr. Thornton won raves for his talk on beaches, sand and wave action. He had trouble eating at the "Dines Out" at Chianti Ristorante because so many stopped by his table with questions. |
CRA Meeting -- Planning for Life's Transitions
| Thursday, November 17 -- CRA Meeting | |
| 4:45 p.m. -- Shary Farr Planning for Life's Transitions -- How to make the most of your personal and financial resources Carpenter Hall, Sunset Center (Southwest corner of Mission and 8th) |
|
We know we're not immortal, but many of us would rather talk about almost anything but end-of-life issues. Our Nov. 17 speaker, Shary Farr, is a well-known, sought-after authority on improving the quality of lives by facing and dealing with these financial and emotional decisions which are best made far ahead of time.
Shary began her commitment to life planning in 1977, when she started working with terminally-ill patients and their families. She has her own business, Financial Transitions Institute, which provides planning, guidance and resources for aging, illness and death. "Making peace with death," Shary says, "can diminish our fear around it, enhance our lives, and enable us to live in the moment. Once we plan for our death, there really isn't a whole lot of room for fear. We're too busy living."
No matter what your age or circumstances, it is extremely important to plan for life's transitions. Taking steps now while you or your loved one is healthy and strong can ease the impact of any major life change, especially for those whom you designate to handle your affairs if at any time you are unable to do so. "Creating a personal 'road map' of instructions and choices," Shary suggests, "will provide your loved ones with a sense of security and confidence that they are representing your interests and carrying out your wishes."
Our speaker has been a life planning specialist for Hospice of the Central Coast, has initiated and conducted life planning seminars and has been honored with several awards including being named one of Ten Outstanding Women of Monterey County in 2002 and receiving the Women Helping Women Award from the Soroptimists International of the Monterey Peninsula.
Shary and her husband, Congressman Sam Farr, live in Carmel. They have a grown daughter, Jessica, and a granddaughter, Ella.
COUNCIL WATCH
City Council takes decisive action to protect beach
Carmel Beach will be a whole lot cleaner
thanks to the commendable efforts of City Council members, who voted in
October and November to ban smoking on the beach and the beach pathway.Carmel Residents Association President Sherry Shollenbarger spoke on behalf of the Association Board of Directors: "We are very supportive of the idea of making Carmel Beach smoke free. For over 13 years, our beach cleanup volunteers have picked up thousands and thousands of cigarette butts. Cigarette butts are by far the largest polluter of our beautiful white sand beach. We understand that the Police Department will not be standing on the beach 24/7 asking people to douse their cigarettes. However, appropriate signs will make many people think twice before lighting up and your action would be a powerful message to the public that Carmel-by-the-Sea values its beach environment and expects others to do so as well."
Taking the lead to protect the beach at the Oct. 4 City Council meeting were Gerard Rose and Paula Hazdovac, who agreed with a suggestion by Barbara Livingston to have the proposed ordinance expanded to include the Beach Bluff Pathway. Mayor Sue McCloud wanted to also prohibit cigars and pointed out that this ordinance would help with the mandate to clean up storm-drain outflow.
Erik Bethel, the lone no vote, vehemently objected to the ordinance, saying, "I don't want to live in a totalitarian society where everything is regulated."
Mike Cunningham initially argued against the ordinance suggesting that since the beach is "one of our first assets" the Council should also be addressing eating, drinking and cooking. He thought that the city should ask the state to pass a law making all California beaches smoke free. However, after Michelle House, coordinator of the county's Tobacco Control Program, pointed out that the reason the state has a smoke-free work place law is because a few forward-looking cities first passed their own ordinances, Cunningham voted with the majority. However, at the second reading of the ordinance on Nov. 1, Cunningham changed his mind and voted no, saying that it would be difficult to enforce and that cigarette butts are only a small portion of beach litter. And, Paula Hazdovac said she had changed her mind about banning smoking on the pathway although she ended up voting for it. The vote was 3-1 with Erik Bethel absent.
The County will help pay for signage and Hazdovac suggested that the information could be added to existing signs. The ordinance will be enforced in the same manner as the city's other anti-litter ordinances -- on an incident-by-incident basis.
Pacific Grove will take over Carmel Fire Chief duties
In a perfect world, Carmel would have its own fire chief and assistant fire chief. But, the City Council lacks the political will to raise the revenue this would require. However, in the eyes of the Fire Department staff, their operation has just received a mega shot in the arm.On Oct. 4, the Council voted 3-2 (Bethel and Cunningham dissenting), to increase the City's contractual agreement with the Pacific Grove (PG) Fire Department from $20,000 to $90,000, giving PG Fire Chief Andrew Miller and his assistants the duties contained in Carmel's fire chief job description. Erik Bethel thought that Carmel should have its own chief, estimated at $155 - $165,000, while Mike Cunningham wondered if $90,000 was too much, asking "Are we spending the city's money wisely?"
Chief Miller said his city could "give Carmel the systems they need. There is nobody overseeing the systems that run behind shift commanders." He went on to explain that there are Federal, state and local training requirements which must be met and that it is "not safe to have only shift commanders." [Carmel's current staffing arrangement]
Fire Department Shift Commanders Mitch Kastros and Ian Watts were enthusiastic about the new contract and expressed trust and confidence in Miller. Kastros said the new contract is a "financial bargain when you look at what is provided. Andrew Miller will be Fire Chief. It is a win-win for the city."
Our Fire Department has had some rough years since Chief Bill Hill retired, including a diminished staff, fewer volunteer fire fighters and a management contract with the Carmel Valley Fire Protection District, which few deemed successful.
In June 2004, administration of the Carmel Fire and Police Departments was merged under Police Chief George Rawson, whose title was changed to public safety director. While the fire staff has great respect for Rawson and appreciation for his stabilizing influence, there is a major problem -- Government Code 38611, which requires fire departments to be managed by someone who has training and experience with fire fighting, which Chief Rawson lacks. Thus the $20,000 contract for the past year with PG for "technical advice" and recognition that to be in compliance, the more involved $90,000 contract was needed. According to the staff report, "The gap in time off simply makes it impractical to expect any one shift commander to assume a higher-level management responsibility of the Fire Department. With no fire-experienced management resources in place to directly supervise the three different shift commanders, a challenge occurs in ensuring all shifts maintain consistency and uniformity in their operations, training and practices."
Sherry Shollenbarger asked the Council several questions on behalf of the Carmel Residents Association board of directors:
How does this action before you today fit into your long-term vision for the Fire Department? Are we moving in the direction of never having our own fire chief and assistant fire chief? If you are considering a regional approach...how do you see that organization working?
There was no clear answer other than details in the new contract. Council members Bethel and Cunningham asked questions about the City's vision for the future but Councilwoman Paula Hazdovac suggested that "councils come and go ... we can't tie future councils down" by deciding what to do in the future. Mayor McCloud said various options had been explored and the Council needed to give this new system a try.
If a major Peninsula catastrophe were to occur, such as a massive earthquake, with roads to Pacific Grove cut off from Carmel, how would Chief Miller coordinate his efforts to assure that Carmel's immediate needs were met? Will a PG supervisor be in Carmel 24 hours a day?
Chief Miller or one of his three assistants will be in Carmel from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week with additional coverage available for "significant emergency incidents." If there were a Peninsula-wide disaster, Chief Miller said that Carmel's Emergency Operations Center (EOC), with Chief Rawson in charge, would manage the city's response and PG would be an available resource. Miller will be looking at the EOC system and we will address it in the January newsletter.
What is Carmel's present ISO (Insurance Services Office) rating and when was it last evaluated? Will this arrangement with Chief Miller have any effect on our ISO rating?
According to ISO Media Relations Manager Dave Dasgupta, the most recent Carmel Fire Department evaluation was in Feb. 1995, giving the City a Class 4 rating on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the highest. Mr. Dasgupta said that is considered a good rating. The scoring is: 50% on the fire department; 40% on the water supply; and 10% on the communication system (911). For comparison, Pacific Grove and Monterey both have Class 3 ISO ratings.
When asked why Carmel had not been re-rated in the past 10 years, he said that "every 24 months or so each city is sent a Community Outreach Program Questionnaire and, based upon the city's response, we schedule a field survey."
According to Chief Andrew Miller, ISO evaluations usually run on a 10-year cycle. The Carmel Fire Department completed a Community Outreach Program Questionnaire a year or two ago and should be contacted in the near future for a field survey and re-evaluation.
Is our fire department now in compliance with all educational, safety and training requirements? Who will oversee the training and will we be in compliance in the future?
The comments during the Council hearing implied that the City is probably not now in complete compliance with all requirements but will be under the new contract.
President's
Message
From the Heart
by Sherry Shollenbarger
"Dream on, dream all these joys,
life might look shrunken
In lack of dreams. Give your wish light, give it room----"
Robinson Jeffers
This quote is on the front of the Carmel 2016 Committee Report,
thoughtfully prepared by a broad-based committee in 1991 at the request
of Mayor Jean Grace and the City Council. The year 2016 will mark Carmel's
centennial. If you have not seen this visionary report, I urge you to
request a copy from City Hall.
As we approach Thanksgiving, a time set aside for celebrating our blessings,
followed by the frantic commercialism of the December holidays and the
end of another year, I find the concept of a vision statement very appealing.
Where have we been? Where are we going?
Perhaps it is no more than part of the aging process that prompts my need
for reflection, or perhaps it is my involvement in the ongoing politics
of our village. Regardless of the impetus, I will write about what I feel
is the need for community involvement.
There exists for me an ever-present awareness of the results of courage
and care that one generation can bestow on another. Now, I see an opportunity
in my life to leave my children, hopefully grandchildren, and all future
generations a Carmel that has grown gracefully into the 21st century.
A Carmel that is financially healthy, environmentally sound and has maintained
its unique place in the history of the Monterey Peninsula.
What is our beauty? Do we want to frantically dance to the tune of the
others -- resort destinations from the East to the West coast?
Do we want to compete with communities that continually attempt to re-invent
themselves for commercial gain? Do we need more lights, noise, decorated
medians, greater numbers? My vision for Carmel is straightforward:
I will work to leave to future generations what was given to me: the balance
of man and nature in the protection of the urban forest and the beaches;
the balance of village life in the diversity of businesses and facilities
for performance art; the respect for the needs of the residents in securing
their safety and welfare as the number one concern of the City Council.
To this end, I hold our elected officials to a high standard.
All of this I will attempt, engaging my neighbors respectfully but with
determination, to secure Carmel as a place of quality, touched as little
as possible by the baser part of mankind, but sustained by our finest
efforts.
How can you help?
1. Be informed
2. Know your council members, your mayor -- how they vote, their visions
for Carmel.
3. Demand openness on all community issues.
4. Contemplate your vision for Carmel.
5. And, share your talents!!
May you find your blessings many this
Thanksgiving and enjoy a Holiday season filled with peace.
Council asked to overturn historic designation of Scout House
Last May the city's Historic Resources
Board determined that the Scout House, NE corner of Mission and 8th, qualifies
as an historic resource. In July, City Administrator Rich Guillen asked
the board to reconsider its decision. They did and again voted that
the building is historic. Now, the city administrator has appealed
the Board's decision to the City Council, asking them to reverse the historic
determination. Originally scheduled for the Nov. Council meeting, the
item has been continued until December.
The most logical explanation for this action is that the city wants to
sell the property and an historical designation would make that more difficult
and controversial. The building has been closed to the public because
it is not up to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) code. A comprehensive
Master Plan to renovate the building and bring it up to code was prepared
in 1999 but has not been funded.
Carmel has a very short supply of adequate meeting spaces for sizeable
groups. With Vista Lobos taken over by the Fire Department, the only adequate
room is Carpenter Hall, which has become more expensive under the new
management. It seems short sighted to consider disposing of an historic,
charming Carmel meeting space, especially when it is just across the street
from Sunset Center, making it a natural extension of that facility for
extra conference space.
Following a visit to Carmel by Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout
movement, the structure was built in 1931 by well-known Carmel builder
M.J. Murphy as a meetinghouse for Scouts. This craftsman-style facility
has been an integral part of Carmel's social fabric. It played an important
role during the childhood of many Carmel residents and in later years
has been the center of scouting and civic events. The majority of preservation
experts who studied the building have deemed it historic. Even the independent
expert hired by city staff and cited as saying that the building is not
historic, concludes that with more specific documentation on contributions
to Carmel of the Boy Scouts, "the property would qualify as historic."
The fact that it is a Murphy should be reason enough to retain and restore
this city treasure to its former glory.
Those interested in the outcome of this appeal and the future of the Scout
House should attend the Dec. 6, 4:30 p.m. City Council meeting.
Beach Cleanup
Saturday, November
19
10 a.m. - noon
-
Volunteers meet at foot of Ocean Avenue
-
Please bring gloves
-
Coffee and cookies courtesy of Caffe Cardinale and the Carmel Safeway
(Third Saturday because of Thanksgiving)
CRA PROFILES
by Walter Gourlay
Marv Silverman -- anything but dull
"Why me? But I've had
such a dull life!" he said, when I told Marvin Silverman I wanted to
interview him for a Profile. Dull life? Surely he can't believe
that about himself. Fortunately for this article, he's an excellent
raconteur and quickly dispelled any illusions I might have had about
his "dullness."
Marvin ("Marv") is an attorney-at-law (inactive) and a litigation consultant
who gives expert testimony in court cases involving real estate transactions.
A veritable pillar of society. But get him talking and you soon realize
his life has been full of changes. Let him tell it in his own words:
"I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where I went to high school. Then I
attended Cornell to study hotel administration, thinking I'd go into
business with my father, who owned a few hotels. But after graduation
I was attracted to Miami Beach, where I stayed for five years, working
as assistant manager of the Deauville Hotel.
"That was an interesting period in my life. In addition to my job at
the Deauville, I was paid on the side to run "gambling junkets" from
the East Coast to Vegas. I'd take a chartered plane from Miami to various
places in the East and Midwest, and contact bookmakers, who'd give me
the names of various big gamblers. I'd pick them up and fly them to
the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, at the hotel's expense. Their meals
and rooms were on the house. After four days, I'd fly them home. I've
been told I was the first American to run gambling junkets to Vegas."
"Quite a job!" I commented. He laughed. "There I was, between my twenty-fifth
and twenty-eighth birthdays, mingling with assorted professional gamblers,
Mafia members and some just generally bad guys. I remember one Miami
Beach police detective walking off arm-in-arm with the guy taking care
of the mob's interest in the Fontainebleau Hotel, both using aliases.
Then there was the United States Senator who traveled under an assumed
name. But I knew enough to keep my hands clean and steer clear of any
illegal activities."
After five years he tired of flying with gamblers and entered into a
completely different life style, becoming sales manager of a company
in L.A. that imported Dutch pipe tobacco and smoking accessories.
"About five years later, after I'd left Miami," he recalls, "I learned
that my former boss and many of my former acquaintances at the Flamingo
Hotel had been indicted and convicted of 'skimming off' some twenty-three
million dollars." The Feds, he explains, were after the notorious Meyer
Lansky, who had arranged the sale of the Flamingo to his boss.
After ten years the pipe and tobacco business "stopped being fun," so
at the age of 37 Marv enrolled at Loyola University to study law. By
hard work, he got his degree in two and a half years, and after being
employed by a small firm for six months, he became a stock broker for
15 months.
Then he began a still different career: real estate. After getting a
broker's license, from 1979 to 1990 he was executive vice- president
and in-house counsel for a large real estate brokerage firm in L.A.
that had 17 offices and 900 salesmen. But in 1990, he tired of this
as well, left the firm and went into business for himself, as a consultant,
an "expert witness" in real estate litigation. "It has become the most
enjoyable part of my career," he says. "Nothing beats working for yourself."
In March 1996 Silverman moved to Carmel. He'd been here many times before
and "I just wanted to get away from L.A." A part-time consultant specializing
in real estate litigation, he plays golf two or three times a week,
and divides the rest of his time between reading, volunteer work and
travel. A member of the CRA, he's a director of the Carmel Public Library
Foundation and of Legal Aid for Seniors, where he's a consultant on
such issues as senior abuse, conservatorships and the like. He's proud
to be part of that organization, which, he estimates, "has helped some
sixty thousand elderly people in its twenty years of existence."
Only through a chance remark did I discover he's a talented photographer
and has lined his hallways with striking photos taken during his travels.
He has been to all seven continents and all the oceans on the planet.
Silverman gives the impression of "a man in full" who has put his life
together and is pleased with what he has. "Carmel," he says, "is a great
place to live because I've met so many interesting people. All I hope
for now is good health and the ability to continue my good mix of working,
contributing to Carmel, and pursuing my pleasures."
Remember to check smoke detectors and change the batteries
Mitch Kastros, Public Education Coordinator
of the Carmel Fire Department, sent out this reminder: "With changing
our clocks back to Standard Time, please take a moment to inspect and
clean your smoke detectors and change the batteries."
"ICE" (In Case Of Emergency)
Downloaded from "News
Now" on the
Carmel Fire
Department website
The Carmel Fire Department has received
many inquiries regarding the acronym ICE, which stands for In
Case of Emergency. This is becoming a well-known term for obtaining
pertinent information that may be needed in helping emergency responders
and hospital personnel treat medical patients.
After much research, we offer the following information, in simple terms,
to help you learn how the ICE system operates.
Imagine a person in need of immediate medical care who is carrying a cell
phone. If this person is connected to the ICE system, the word
ICE would have been programmed into his or her cell phone directory
to connect with the phone number of the person designated as the ICE
contact. This person should be an immediate family member or relative,
a close personal friend, legal representative or involved with the individual's
care, who can provide information to emergency responders and make necessary
notifications on behalf of the patient.
This designated person must have the following patient information: name,
address, phone number, birth date, family doctor, allergies to medication
and pertinent medical history.
In the event a patient is unable to provide this information due to being
unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, having a designated ICE
contact can be a tremendous help to emergency responders.
It is important to organize a plan if you wish to use ICE as a
tool. First, ask your contact if he or she is willing to be listed as
your ICE designate. Make sure to include the contact's area code
with the phone number when you list it. And your designated contact must
either memorize the pertinent information described above or keep it nearby
in a wallet or handbag.
In addition, if you have a particular medical condition or history, this
information needs to always be with you, either in your wallet or purse
or spelled out on a medic alert tag. There will be times when your designated
ICE contact may not be available to answer the phone. In these
cases, having the information with you and easy to find is important.
Emergency responders will try to gather information about a patient who
is unable to provide it, if it will not cause a significant delay in treating
and transporting the patient to the hospital. They are aware of ICE
and will attempt to use this system.
If you do not have a cell phone or don't know how to program yours,
it is important that you have vital information available for use in any
emergency.
Emergency responders have an awareness and sensitivity to privacy issues
and laws, and ICE is no exception.
If you have any questions about this program please contact Mitch Kastros
at Carmel Fire Department, 620-2030.
OLD CARMEL
by Connie Wright
Paul Dougherty: the golden one
Paul Dougherty was born
in Brooklyn, New York, in 1877, the eldest of six children. His father
was a leader of the New York Bar and wanted Paul to join him in his firm.
Paul, however, had painted constantly from his earliest youth, and at
eighteen had one of his paintings shown in the annual exhibition of the
National Academy of Design in New York, the oldest art organization in
the United States. As a kind of compromise, evidently, Paul graduated
from the New York Law School and passed the bar exam in 1898 at the age
of 21, but never practiced law. Instead he studied art for five years,
largely self taught, in Paris, London, Florence, Venice and Munich. He
met a Swedish music student, Antje Bertha Lund, in Paris. They were married
in 1902 and came to America, where their daughter Lisa was born. Less
than a month later Antje died of appendicitis.
Dougherty was generally regarded, however, as a man for whom everything
came easily. He was artistically successful in his own time, his paintings
sold and all of his wives were glamorous. He became an Associate National
Academician in 1906, and a full National Academician in 1907, the highest
award an American artist could receive.
Always devoted to music, he married Marthe Wisner, a concert pianist,
in 1907. They lived in Paul's posh studio on West 67th St., with northern
light, and Marthe's grand piano. She played for him wearing tea gowns
in the evening and a hat covered with violets in the daytime. Finally,
however, tired of fighting for her career, she and the grand piano left
for St. Petersburg.
His third wife, Marian Clark, was a socialite of the most glittering kind.
Fellow painters said she was bad for his painting, which was not true.
He was spectacularly successful. He also crewed for international yacht
races, painted in Maine, Cornwall and Brittany, all areas with enormous
waves, spent six months on the Serengeti Plain and went to Greece with
the millionaire Otto Kahn. Meanwhile Marian instituted divorce proceedings.
Then Paul married Paula Gates, an actress, and they moved to the Carmel
Highlands in 1932, near William Ritschel, a fellow National Academician.
Because of steadily worsening arthritis, Paul had to have a warm climate
and they spent part of their time in Tucson and Palm Springs.
Although he painted many different subjects, Dougherty was primarily a
marine painter of spectacular waves on large canvasses. He was favorably
compared to Winslow Homer.
He won innumerable awards, including a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition in 1915. His works are part of the permanent
collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, the
Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Carnegie Institute and the Monterey
Museum of Art, among many others.
Dougherty was actively involved in the formation of the Carmel Art Association.
In 1931, when it was experiencing financial difficulties, he and three
other local National Academicians, Armin Hansen, William Ritschel and
Arthur Hill Gilbert, showed at the Denny-Watrous Gallery, which increased
support for the Art Association and its membership. He served on the Association's
board of directors for ten years and as its president in 1940.
Dougherty's Coasts of California hangs in the lobby of the Harrison
Memorial Library and his bust by Jo Davidson is nearby.
He died in Palm Springs in 1947.
Carmel institution La Bohème Restaurant is closing
The following message appeared on the
La Bohème Restaurant web site:
Au revoir nos amis,
With considerable esteem and affection for you, we announce the closure
of La Bohème Restaurant, anticipated to occur mid-November. Our lease
is up for renewal at the end of that month, and we can no longer accept
the annual increases demanded by the landlord. We will take a sabbatical
of an undetermined length, and will decompress, experience life outside
the restaurant business, and decide what Act II and the next course will
be.
Alan and Kati Lewis
La Bohème has been a class act in Carmel since 1975 and all who have enjoyed
dining there will be disappointed at this news. It is also a reminder
to all of us that we shouldn't take our favorite places for granted, because
one day they might be gone.
We wish Kati and Alan Lewis well and thank them for the many years of
wonderful service and ambiance they have given to Carmel-by-the-Sea.
READABLE READS
Journalist Thomas Friedman's best-selling
book The World is Flat is a fascinating account -- dense, but readable
-- of the globalization and interconnection resulting from 21st Century
technological, social and economic changes. The book's final words, advice
to Friedman's children, gives a sense of his message --
"The world is being flattened. I didn't start it and you can't stop it,
except at a great cost to human development and your own future ... If
it is to be for better, not for worse, then you and your generation must
not live in fear of either the terrorists or of tomorrow, of either al-Qaeda
or of Infosys [an Indian company]. You can flourish in this flat world,
but it does take the right imagination and the right motivation. ... The
world needs you to be forever the generation of strategic optimists, the
generation with more dreams than memories, the generation that wakes up
each morning and not only imagines that things can be better but also
acts on that imagination every day."
Remember that your City Council is on T.V.
City Council meetings
are taped and re-broadcast
Sundays, 8 a.m. - 12 noon on
KMST Channel 26
