Colangelo Kicks Ass

I am the sustainability intern for the city of Pacific Grove. I would like to explain all of the projects that we are working on. I began my job in early November.Within one week, [City Manager Jim Colangelo] and I worked with the city planner, as well as city planners in the surrounding area to investigate the permit fees for solar panels on residential homes. Upon realizing that the fees in PG were exorbitant, we passed a motion at the Dec. 19 council meeting to lower them.

Since November, we have been working to get the stormwater management project into action. Pacific Grove lacks water credits and the city has yet to conform to the California Water Board’s requirements for stormwater runoff. The mayor has proposed a plan to utilize the existing reservoir near David Avenue as a storage and remediation site for stormwater runoff. We have already received a $45,000 grant from the Packard Foundation that will fund the feasibility study.

In spring of this year Pacific Grove will initiate its first farmer’s market. The desire for this market came from the community.

I believe Mr. Colangelo is doing an excellent job. He is working to cut the city’s costs by incorporating sustainable projects into the city’s plan. He is working to create a real “community,” instead of one that complains about the lack thereof and does little to change it. Sustainability means improving the social, environmental and economic aspects of a community. – Ashley Camhi | Pacific Grove

Mccain Will Conquer

It is a curse to be the bearer of bad news to both Democrats and conservative Republicans alike [somewhere in there is Weekly Editor Tina May, who wrote “The McCain I Know: Why he never should be elected president,” Feb.7-13]: John McCain will be the next president of the United States. There are many reasons for this eventuality but I will narrow it down to just a few: 1) Real men will never vote for Hillary; 2) The “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” will never allow anyone to forget all those marvelous scandals (Whitewater, cattle futures, missing documents, refusal to open her own files to the public, failed attempt to nationalize medicine) – even Democrats will learn to hate her; 3) If it’s Obama, he will be proven to be the lightweight that he is (not the man for serious times); and 4) The most important reason, McCain represents the very last chance for a Silent Generation (Ted Kennedy, et al.) to be elected president. This is the post-WWII generation, masters of process. Yes, as much as I hate to admit it, my parents’ generation has some wisdom to hand down. If McCain loses, it would be the first time in our nation’s history that a generation will not have contributed a president. That’s not going to happen so let’s all begin crying in our beer early. He is going to be a royal pain in the ass… just like our parents. – Tom Dominy | Salinas

Even Peaceful Armies Are Evil

Recently calls have come from the Democrat side to either renew the military draft or to conscript America’s youth into some sort of brainwashing mandatory “national service” program. Both calls are wrong. Fundamentally, to live in a free society one must respect the concept that living free is just that – to be free from the coercion and force of involuntary servitude to the state.

One of the most eloquent protests against the draft or the notion of mandatory national service was written in 1962 by a former U.S. congressman. Here’s what he said: “In its abolition of freedom, peacetime conscription overshadows all other collectivism and regimentation. When the American government conscripts a boy to go 10,000 miles to the jungles of Asia without a declaration of war by Congress… what freedom is safe at home? Surely, the profits of U.S. Steel or your private property are not more sacred than a young man’s right to life.”

Republican Congressman Howard Buffett said those words as the Kennedy administration revved up the state’s war machine for the disastrous misadventure of Vietnam. In his opposition to the draft, Buffett tied together the whole bundle. Imperial foreign policy is costly, reduces liberty, and risks war and militarism, which in turn reduce liberty while increasing costs. We would be wise to heed his counsel. – Mark Carbonaro | Marina

Correction

“Greening the Greens,” [Feb. 7-13] incorrectly stated that the Forest Lake Reservoir stores rainwater. The reservoir stores reclaimed wastewater produced during the non-irrigation season.