General Plan Update Forum

Have a say in what Monterey County will look like at the next Community General Plan Update Forum, at 6pm on Oct. 14 in the Santa Lucia Room in the Salinas Community Center, 940 N. Main St., Salinas.

The Community GPU effort began in August, following the Board of Supervisors’ decision to throw out the draft plan and write a new one, behind closed doors—after spending five years and $5 million in taxpayers’ money on the process. A total of 18 local community organizations, including LandWatch and Líderes Comunitarios de Salinas, decided to continue working on the growth plan in public, based on objectives that would create affordable housing, protect the County’s natural resources, preserve agriculture, and improve water and air quality.

At the end of the community forum process, the sponsoring groups will present the Supervisors with a General Plan.

“Now’s the time to say, ’okay, if the Board didn’t take leadership, we’re going to go out and find another way to solve the problem,’” Supervisor Dave Potter told attendees of a September Carmel Valley forum. “There were less than a dozen controversial issues the Board could have voted up or down. [The General Plan] had an opportunity at the Board level; perhaps it ought to go back to where the Board comes from, which is the public.”

For a complete forum schedule, visit www.8of10monterey.com. [JL]

Schwarzenegger at Hyatt

As part of the Panetta Lecture Series, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will have a live talk with former Congressman Leon Panetta on Monday, October 18, on “The Challenges of Leadership in California.”

Last Tuesday, Monterey County experienced another Schwarzenegger presentation at the Hyatt Regency, where he promoted Abel Maldonado’s campaign to become this district’s new Republican Senator.

The Panetta Lecture Series works to bring local voters slightly more in touch with the people who make their decisions. With a record of informative lectures by former Senator Hilary Clinton (D-NY) and Congressman Richard Gephardt (D-MO), the talk should help bring perspective to voters.

Schwarzenegger’s lecture will be held at the Panetta Institute, 100 Campus Center, CSUMB in Seaside, at approximately 8pm. It will be broadcast at www.panettainstitute.org, 582-4200. [BG]