SIGNS AND STONES… Squid appreciates the civic spirit of the old-timers with Citizens for Transparency in Government. They’re taking on Seaside City Hall – particularly City Manager Ray Corpuz and Mayor Ralph Rubio – the way activists used to: with labor-intensive mailers, voter information packets and little decorative plastic flags. (And a Facebook page too, liked by nine people the last Squid checked.) But CTG’s banner no longer waves outside its Fremont Boulevard headquarters; not since a late July visit by code enforcer Vanessa Alcaraz (yep, the same officer whose sexual harassment complaint likely initiated the events that led to former police chief Steve Cercone’s contentious ouster, which outraged CTG into existence). Officer Alcaraz and her colleague informed CTG folks they didn’t have the required 30-day permit for temporary signs. Four days later, the signs were down. Then the officers flagged the CTG office for not having an occupancy permit, so landlord/organizer Al Glover plunked down the necessary fee.

“We feel they’re bullying us,” Seaside activist Helen Rucker told Squid, noting that there are banners all over Fremont that appear to have been up for months. But Corpuz says Rucker’s got it all wrong: A citizen came in and complained about the CTG banner and a number of others on the same block. “It wasn’t us who targeted them,” he says, noting that Rabobank had to take down its banner too. “We respond to complaints.”

Fair enough – but the formula works both ways, especially in the runup to a city election. If the CTG crew keeps complaining loudly enough, Seaside voters might respond, too.

BAD TRIP… Squid’s Deadhead pals always mark the anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death – he left this vale of tears on Aug. 9, 1995 – with a deep sigh and, sometimes, other refreshments. But all is not peace and love in the Garcia legacy battle. First, Rolling Stone reported that a biopic of Garcia’s life, based on Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia, by Carmel author Robert Greenfield, was in the works. “I don’t think Jerry is easily understood,” Greenfield told Rolling Stone. “This film is about who he really was before people made him what they wanted him to be. I think a lot of that has been lost since his death.” Sounds groovy to Squid, but apparently less so to the executors of Garcia’s estate and Grateful Dead Productions who have flatly denied requests for the Dead’s music to be used in the picture. Bummer. Greenfield was unavailable for comment, but a source close to the production said the project is moving forward, citing the old Dead maxim: “It’s better to ask for forgiveness afterwards than permission before.” Works for Squid.