CRA News October 2009

Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association

Mary Ellen Thomas, Barry Swift and Kathleen Swift

Posh and Jim Emery and Sunee Jines – taken at CRA's Indian Village Fiesta

CRA General Meeting:
What's next for Monterey County?

Jane Parker and Dave Potter

Thursday, Oct. 22
	4:45 p.m. Carpenter Hall, Sunset Center (Mission at 8th)

Between water, development and financial issues, there is so much happening in Monterey County these days that it is hard for the average person to stay on top. In order to keep ourselves informed, we decided to bring the experts to Carmel. CRA's Oct. 22 general meeting, in Carpenter Hall at Sunset Center, will feature Supervisors Jane Parker from the Fourth District and Dave Potter, who represents our Fifth District, talking about "What's Next for Monterey County?"

Sworn in as a Monterey County Supervisor in January, 2009, Jane Parker grew up in Monterey, graduated from Monterey High School, attended UC Santa Cruz, earned her Bachelor's degree in International Economics from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a Grand Diplôme de Cuisine from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris.

Prior to her election to the Board of Supervisors, she was associate director of the Action Council of Monterey County addressing unmet needs in the county and improving the quality of life for residents through the pursuit of economic and social justice. She served for over five years as vice president of development for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest Planned Parenthood in the country, raising over $5 million annually. Prior to that, she founded and managed a small business providing healthy meal preparation service for working families and homebound seniors.

In 1999, Jane was elected to and served as chair of the Monterey Peninsula College Board of Trustees and, a past president, she continues to serve on the Monterey Peninsula College Foundation Board of Directors.

A Massachusetts native, Dave Potter has been a resident of Monterey County since 1970. Owner and operator of Potter Construction since 1974, he was first elected to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors for the Fifth District, representing Big Sur, Carmel, Carmel Valley, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and Salinas, in November of 1996. Now in his fourth term, he has served several times as chair and vice chair. Appointed to the California Coastal Commission in 1997, he served on that body, both as chair and vice chair until 2009.

Dave's public service career began with the City of Monterey's Architectural Review Committee, the Monterey City Planning Commission and the Monterey City Council. He serves on and has chaired the Transportation Agency of Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District and is currently chair of the Natividad Medical Center Board of Trustees. Dave also serves on Board of Supervisor committees including Legislative, Capital Improvements and Fort Ord. He represents the supervisors on the Equal Opportunity Commission, the California Oak Mortality Task Force, the Cultural Council for Monterey County and the Monterey County Convention and Visitor's Bureau and is an alternate for the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District and the California State Association of Counties Board of Directors.

EDITORIAL

There is no knight in shining armor – it's up to us

When our City Council, with great fanfare, adopted its Local Coastal Plan (LCP) in 2003, the Coastal Commission relinquished control of Carmel's land use policy in exchange for the city's agreement to follow very specific rules, among them, the Forest, Shoreline, and Mission Trail Nature Preserve Management Plans.

Unfortunately, these very detailed and specific management plans, integral parts of the city's LCP, with their implementing policies, goals, objectives for the city to incorporate for the future benefit of all our citizens, are not being followed. So, what exactly do citizens do when they see important elements of the LCP being ignored?

Many expected a knight in shining armor to arrive in the form of CRA's Sept. speaker – Coastal Commission Senior Deputy Director Dr. Charles Lester. After all, he was directly involved in putting together the LCP. And, he told us, the Commission spent extra time on the "specificity of the standards" in Carmel's LCP because Carmel has so much more community character to protect than most places.

But, Lester told us that the Coastal Commission is under severe financial stress with budget cuts and staff on forced furloughs. Instead of being able to oversee how cities are doing with their LCPs, the staff is in triage mode.

Rather than the Coastal Commission coming to the rescue, Lester said, "If you want the LCP to work, it is up to you – the community–to make it happen." That, of course, means that concerned citizens who want to see their valuable resources protected need to do whatever is required to convince the City Council to fulfill the obligations they made to the Coastal Commission.

So what parts of the LCP aren't being followed? Carmel's Shoreline Management Plan is a prime example. The city has failed to meet few if any of its LCP obligations mandated in the policies of the Plan. These obligations relate to monitoring, maintaining, repairing and improving our coastline assets – including natural amenities, clean sand, healthy trees and landscapes and stable beach bluffs.

The city promised and is obligated to take care of its protective infrastructure – stairs, seawalls, retaining walls, revetments, water conservation systems and storm-water outfalls and to properly manage beach fires to reduce their negative impacts on our renowned white-sand beach. Instead, this infrastructure is deteriorating and much of the white sand is covered with charcoal.

These requirements should all be budgeted for and regularly scheduled to ensure that our shoreline is as prepared as possible for the inevitable – whether gradually worn down by ongoing public use or by the impacts of the ravages of severe winter storms. El Niño is coming!

Many critical requirements of the Forest and Mission Trail Nature Preserve Management Plans, as well, have been ignored by the city. This will be the subject for future CRA News articles.

For now, citizens should understand that, since no knight in shining armor is coming to the rescue, it is up to us. We need to tell our City Council members that the status quo is not an option. Allowing these valuable assets to become severely degraded will cost the city far more in the future than it would to fulfill these critical obligations now.

What will be our legacy?

Visionary cities buy parkland; they don't sell it!

Recently we had the privilege of watching the extraordinary public television series by Ken Burns on America's national parks. Our visionary forefathers were able to overcome the many who saw no value in preserving precious resources and convince Congress to create national parks for all to enjoy in perpetuity.

On a smaller scale, Carmel-by-the-Sea voters will be asked on Nov. 3 to decide on Measure "I," whether or not to sell a piece of one of our city's precious natural resources – Mission Trail Nature Preserve.

The General Plan, which guides all city actions, says Carmel should:

Protect, conserve and enhance the unique natural beauty and irreplaceable natural resources of Carmel ...
Use, maintain and enhance publicly owned land for the benefit of Carmel residents; and
Investigate potential acquisitions as opportunities arise to obtain land and/or facilities within the Carmel city limits and/or surrounding environs.

It does not say that the city should sell its valuable park land.

We have said in these pages before that it makes no sense to sell public parkland to plug holes in the city budget. It didn't make sense when the city proposed it and it makes even less sense now, when the mayor and the council tell us that the city is in even better financial shape.

So let us restate again why we don't think this piece of Mission Trail Nature Preserve should be sold off:

It would gut our city's largest park. – Mission Trail Nature Preserve is one of the most popular and widely-used parks. Such a sale would remove the heart of the park from public use.
It's irreversible. – This amounts to selling our city's precious inheritance to plug short-term budget holes. The city would never be able to buy it back.
It is unnecessary. – There are sustainable ways to fully fund our city without selling precious public park lands.

Let's hope that in the future our descendants will be able to look back and see that Carmel-by-the-Sea was a visionary city, a city which did not sell off its natural assets.

Let's not sell our Parkland – Vote No on Measure "I"

President's Message
Looking forward – the CRA Board's vision for Carmel's future

by Barbara Livingston

Annually, the Carmel Residents Association Board gets together to reaffirm our vision for the future and establish new goals. This year our facilitator was former Carmel City Administrator Doug Schmitz, now city manager of Los Altos, CA.

The board agreed to focus efforts this year in three areas: Design Guidelines and Village Character; Natural Resources – Parks, Beach, Forest and Open Space; and Disaster Preparedness. To this end, chairs and committee members have been appointed from the CRA board membership and meetings have begun. As an example, the Disaster Preparedness Group would like our citizens to plan where to meet family members in case of an emergency. Two likely places are Sunset Center and Vista Lobos Park. Both have space for supporting people with kitchens, water, sanitary facilities and parking. Both can be reached via MST bus service.

At our September general meeting, Coastal Commission Director Charles Lester warned that global warming could cause great havoc to Carmel. If the predictions do come to pass, he said that not just Scenic Drive would be in danger of collapsing, but the city's storm and sanitary sewers in that area would be destroyed, shoreline homes would be in jeopardy and 25% of our $10.5 million in reserves would be eaten up in repairs. The CRA has long advocated for proactive measures to shore up the bluffs by repairing damaged and defective seawalls and retaining walls now rather than waiting for a disaster to occur. [See editorial above.]

A concern of the Natural Resources Group is that there should be a fire-fuel brush-abatement project in Mission Trail Nature Preserve and Forest Hill Park similar to what was recently done in Pescadero Canyon. We need to convince our public policy makers and property owners adjacent to these park lands to begin a well-planned and methodically-managed approach at thinning out dense flammable brush so that any fire will have little chance of becoming an out of control wildfire – a threat to our entire village.

Charles Lester mentioned also that people from the Central Valley will be driven in greater numbers to our village to escape the increasingly hot climate of their cities. This brings up our efforts to reforest the village to keep it cool and bearable for residents as well as visitors. Have you ever been to that charming Canadian village, Niagara-on-the-Lake? Every summer the heavily-forested town hosts a George Bernard Shaw Festival, which draws huge crowds. The village manages to stay relatively cool because of the trees, which provide shade for the town.

Village character comes under heavy fire at the planning commission, where developers, architects and home owners try to convince the commissioners to overlook the city's carefully-crafted design guidelines. Issues arise, as simple as the right windows for different styles of architecture, or as complex as the excavation of home sites to allow for underground garages, which create a three-story look to our neighborhoods. It's all about what size or style house or building is appropriate for the block, the neighborhood, the downtown, the urban forest and ultimately, the city. These and other issues will be studied by our CRA Village Character/Design Guidelines Group.

You will hear more about the work of these three groups as they continue to meet, study, research and bring forward ideas to the CRA board and then, hopefully, on to the appropriate commission and finally to the City Council for consideration and adoption.

Don't forget to vote on Nov. 3!

Be sure to exercise your democratic right to fair elections.

Return your absentee mail-in ballot or go to the polling place listed on your sample ballot.

Carmel residents should show their strength in numbers on election day.

City Birthday festivities set for Oct. 31

Watch for CRA witches in city parade!

You are invited by the City of Carmel and the Carmel Celebrates Community Committee to enjoy the city's 93rd birthday on Saturday, Oct. 31. We thank helpful city staff member Cindy Lopez for providing us with this information.

The parade begins at 11 a.m., winding its way down and back up Ocean Avenue, ending at Sunset Center, where a delicious lunch will be served from noon to 1 p.m. For the bargain price of $5 per person, participants will receive a hot dog, chili, chips, soda and birthday cake. Coffee will, as always, be donated by the Carmel Chapter of the American Red Cross. Tickets are available at City Hall or at the event.

Entertainment will be provided by the Carmel Rotary Blues Band.

For more information, call 620-2020.

The CRA will be represented in the Halloween Parade by board members Mary Ellen Thomas and Kathy Fredrickson, dressed as two witches. Be sure to turn out on Ocean Avenue to cheer their chariot and see which is the "good" witch and which is the "wicked" one.

Beach Cleanup

Saturday, October 24
10 a.m. - noon

* Volunteers meet at foot of Ocean Avenue
* Please bring gloves
* Coffee and cookies served courtesy of Carmel Coffee House and Safeway Stores, Carmel.
* Thanks to the Pine Cone for the ad donated each month!

Great new help for cleanup

Helen and Mark d'Oliveira are going to take on a major role in the Beach Cleanup. Starting in October, they have agreed to do the heavy lifting – setting up for the monthly events, manning the table and putting the equipment back in the shed behind the rest rooms. We appreciate Public Works Director Stu Ross's offer to let us use the storage space. Judy and Mike Cunningham will pick up the cookies from Safeway and Kay and Harvey Kuffner will pick up the coffee from Carmel Coffee House. Peggy Purchase will continue to bring and hand out the vests. Clayton Anderson will remain as "beachmaster," handling publicity, keeping track of needed supplies and finding substitutes when the d'Oliveiras can't be there. Heading the list of substitutes are Barbara and Dick Stiles and Jane and Tony Diamond.

VILLAGE PROFILES

Craig Hohenberger – a local hero and more

Behind Carmel Middle School on Carmel Valley Road, there is an area of ten acres devoted to environmental education. It is called the Hilton Bialek Biological Sciences Habitat. Students range in age from nine to eighteen. Started in 1995, the site includes a state-of-the-art native plant nursery with a greenhouse, shade shed and staging area for large-scale plant propagation. There is also an organic garden with an outdoor kitchen and wood-fired pizza oven as well as an amphitheater and modular classroom. In the future, a green classroom will be built with start-up funding from a 2005 district-wide school bond. A few weeks ago we were invited to the site to meet and chat with teacher, environmentalist, cheerleader and guru, Craig Hohenberger. Here was a man passionate about what he does and what his programs return to the community and the world at large. Modest, forthcoming and dedicated to the cause – a sustainable environment – and to his love for the youngsters he strives to inspire.

Speaking of inspiration, where did this passion for environmental issues come from?

I graduated in zoology from UC Davis. Found myself in Alaska as both an ornithologist and biologist. Picked up a degree in education and wended my way down to the Peninsula. Even then, in the 80's, I was determined to share my knowledge and commitment to young people.

The Bialek Habitat Project is an award-winning program. What exactly is the program; how do you define it?

We break it down to four areas of study and hands-on work and experience – organic gardening, "Seed to Table." A native plant restoration program. Watershed program. And bio-monitoring, which is both bird-banding and small mammal tagging or marking.

And the award?

The Governor's Award for an outstanding outdoor education program.

Can you define "sustainability" in terms of building or creating something new and environmentally sound?

Simply, very simply, it means the use of recycled or reused materials.

With school children and high school students, you have improved and created parklands and commercial areas of the village.

We have, I should say they have. The program is called ROP or Regional Occupational Program. Some of our ten to twelve-year old youngsters have done a fair amount of relandscaping in and around Carmel.

Is it true that you've raised the funds to build a new "green building" right here at the Habitat? This is your current project?

That's right. We'll begin very soon. The building will be about 1,700 square feet and it will house a physics lab, an organic cooking kitchen and a good sized classroom. And we plan to add a living green roof.

In a perfect world what would you like to see accomplished on your watch?

I would hope to see the country recognize the absolute need for education through implementation of environmental, sustainable teaching standards, grades K through 12.

Thank you, Craig. To us at CRA you're an inspiration. We don't often meet many local heroes.

The impetus behind the creation of the Bialek Habitat, Craig Hohenberger taught science at Carmel Middle School for 18 years before becoming the Habitat's full-time director in 2004. He has also been an ornithology instructor at Monterey Peninsula College, president of the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, executive director of the Big Sur Ornithology Lab and executive director of the Ventana Wilderness Society. Hohenberger has received many awards in recognition for his extraordinary teaching skills and contributions to environmental education, including the Lori Flagg Excellence in Teaching Award for Monterey County, the Chevron Environmental Award and the Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Environmental Award from the Garden Club of America.

by Tom Parks

[Tom is a CRA Board member and a well-known writer, actor and producer.]

Tom's at it again – another show on the horizon

Something to which we can all look forward! Tom Parks has just begun rehearsing a new musical for this Spring at the Carl Cherry Center – Hooray for Hollywood, Songs and Tales from the Golden Age of the Movies. More details to follow.

Making sense out of City Council meetings

Do you feel like a fish out of water at Carmel City Council meetings? Confused when reading an agenda?

At the request of a Carmel Residents Association board member, Barbara Livingston, with the help of Deputy City Clerk Molly Laughlin, put together a clear explanation of each segment of the meeting. We thought it might interest you and, hopefully, encourage you to attend.

The first part of each agenda is self explanatory: Call to Order, Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance.

Extraordinary Business has to do with honoring people or organizations for something related to the city.

Appearances is the time when anyone wishing to address the council on matters not related to the agenda may speak for three minutes at the podium. No action will be taken and no interaction with the council will result at this time. People are not required to do so, but should state their name for the record. [The Brown Act prevents the council from taking action on any matter not on the agenda to protect the public from surprise moves.]

The Consent Calendar covers items (generally routine) not intended for public discussion, which are grouped under this heading. They include minutes of previous meetings, agreements, items relating to expenditures of under $5,000. Any member of the City Council or the public may "pull" an item off the Consent Calendar so it can be discussed. Pulled items, unless only a quick comment, are usually moved to the end of the meeting.

Public Hearings on various subjects are open to public input when the mayor opens the hearing. People state their name and may speak at the podium for no more than 3 minutes. After all members of the public have spoken, the mayor closes the public hearing and no one may approach the council on that subject again unless the mayor reopens the public hearing. The council will then vote on the issue.

The Ordinances section is the most binding of all City laws. They comprise the Municipal Code of the city. Ordinances require two readings and do not become effective until 30 days after the second reading. The public may speak to the particular ordinance when the mayor opens the meeting to the public. The public is limited to 3 minutes and it is proper to first state your name. A timer alerts the mayor as to when to cut off a speaker.

The Resolution section contains items that require City Council discussion, debate and direction. Decisions that are more formal and take the form of a Resolution are placed in this category. The public is allowed to speak for 3 minutes when the mayor opens the meeting to public opinion.

Orders of Council are often items where the staff requests or requires council direction and guidance before proceeding. These items frequently come back to council for further refinement or action in the form of an ordinance or resolution. The mayor uses Orders of Council to get approval for her appointments to boards and commissions.

Adjournment, again, is self explanatory, and sometimes late depending upon the length of the agenda!

Get ready for winter storms

Thanks to the Carmel Foundation, here is a helpful list of items to have on hand in an emergency kit to prepare for power outages caused by severe winter storms.

Battery-powered radio or television for news media updates on when power will be restored
Flashlights or battery-operated lanterns
Extra batteries
Matches
Bottled water
Manual can opener
Nonperishable food
Disposable plates and utensils
Additional paper products
Wind-up or battery-powered clock
Corded telephone. Cordless phones don't work when the power goes out and your cell phone may not work if cell towers are affected or could lose its charge.
Emergency supply of fuel or wood o Blankets
List of emergency phone numbers

Carmel Beach Sunset

by Sunee Jines

The sky burns fires in the evening awed by the setting sun
lapping waves
cool the earth
saving it.

In addition to writing poetry, CRA member Sunee Jines is a calligrapher and accomplished, award-winning artist.

Our Favorite Places

Carmel Cashmere & Company

Barbara Livingston writes, "When I walked into the Carmel Cashmere & Company, of which I had heard so much, I immediately started thinking of Christmas gifts. The merchandise is appealingly displayed in a beautifully-designed shop with lighting that should be the norm for all Carmel stores. The soft lighting showcases the clothes during the day, but at night does not brilliantly illuminate the interior as at so many other downtown businesses.

"Owner Kathleen Million, daughter of The Scotch House's former owners, is there to greet you and help make your selection. Gifts for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day – whatever – surely you can find the perfect sweater or scarf for yourself, a friend or member of your family. Claudine Van Vleet bought a gorgeous 3/4 length sweater coat and Joyce Stevens found a lovely scarf, to keep them both warm year round in our mostly cool climate.

"Take a look at the stunning Carmel Cashmere & Co., north side Ocean Avenue between Lincoln and Dolores. Easier to remember – it is up the street from our library."

Camera shop reopened

We are very pleased that the long-time location for a camera store on San Carlos and 5th is now Green's Carmel Camera Center. You can find everything you need, as well as expert advice, at Green's. Marty Sloop is the manager.

No dinners at Em Le's

A resident's staple – dinner at Em Le's – has come to an end. For the time being, only breakfast and lunch will be served. They lost a chef and the dinner hour was slow. Hopefully this evening tradition will resume closer to the holidays.

SPOTLIGHT ON MEMBERS

Marion Robotti volunteered 20,000 hours at CHOMP!

CRA member Marion Robotti has recently retired after 40-plus years of service in the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) Auxiliary. She was one of three active members who had worked an astonishing 20,000 hours! Referred to in a CHOMP publication as a "legend," Marion has served the auxiliary in every leadership position, including that of president..

QUOTABLE QUOTES

"To exist as a nation, to prosper as a state, and to live as a people, we must have trees."

Theodore Roosevelt

Remember that your City Council is on T.V.
and on the Web

City Council meetings are taped and re-broadcast
Sundays, 8 a.m. - 12 noon on
KMST Channel 26
In addition, webcasts of council meetings can be viewed live or
at a later time on the city's web site: http://ci.carmel.ca.us/carmel/
[Unfortunately for Mac users, this technology really works properly only on PCs. On a Mac, you can run the webcast start to finish, but can't pause it or search for a special section.]

Carmel Residents Association
P.O. Box 13
Carmel, CA 93921
Phone: 831-626-1610