WATER RUNS CLEAR… And in the spirit of that liquid transparency, ever-earnest activist Margie Kay of Castroville wants an itemized list of exactly what the Monterey County Water Resources Agency paid consultants RMC a half million bucks for on the Regional Desalination Project in the past six months. Agency counsel Patrick McGreal couldn’t help but chortle when, at last week’s board meeting, Kay presented a Public Records Act request that included some hand-scrawled notes. In pencil. 


That’s when Squid’s favorite waterboy asked, “Does anyone have an eraser?” But it turns out Curtis Weeks has a sense of humor! “Just kidding,” he continued. Squid has a feeling that arithmetic done by hand with pencil might be more transparent than bond reimbursement proposals.


FRICK FRACK FLAK… Squid was sleeping away the summer convention season when a Monterey enviro-PR firm brought it to Squid’s attention that there could be some get-togethers worth noting. Squid’s not sure if “unconventional oil & gas operators” is a compliment, but figures Venoco’s spokespeople will flock to the Media and Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011 in Houston, where they can learn Jedi skills to take down activists like Ventana Land Trust’s Steve Craig. One agenda item in the title: “Engaging with environmental NGOs.” That, it turns out, is code for how to “combat NGOs.” Squid imagines demos where angry flaks fling buckets of toxic fracking fluids at animals and children. In their free time, maybe they’ll detonate explosives that cause the earth to crack thousands of feet below the surface! 


SEEING RED… As Squid slinked through the shadows of the Car Week’s auctions and al fresco shows, Squid couldn’t help but notice an ongoing pattern: Every year, more and more of the world’s top car manufacturers pick Monterey to debut their new cars (note, for instance, the $1.2 million, made-to-order Pagani Huayara at Quail, or the Infiniti JX concept, the Lexus GS Luxury Sport, and so on). And auctions like Gooding & Co.’s Pebble Beach sessions set world records more frequently than ever, as they did this year with the $16.39 million sale of a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype. But Squid’s much more of celebrity slut than a motorhead, so Squid’s three hearts thumped much more mightily at word that Concorso Italiano drew Miley Cyrus than reports that a Lamborghini Aventador was on the premises (“Party in the U.S.A.”!) Another heart-fluttering Concorso moment: One Sir Mix-a-Lot materialized on the main stage. Only the Ferrari and Fiat freaks didn’t seem too impressed, offering him a silent reception. Squid ain’t down with that.