Geographic Logic

Your redux of real estate pricing was only mostly correct (“Salinas housing prices are about to plummet,” Aug. 25-31). “Salinas” in federal government number crunching means the whole of the Salinas metropolitan area; the feds correctly noticing that Salinas is, by far, the largest municipality in Monterey County. Thus the feds’ “Salinas” includes everything from Pajaro to Bradley, meaning Carmel, Pacific Grove, and Monterey as well. The more delicate question is just where in statistical Salinas will real estate prices fall the most in the near future? My answer is not the city of Salinas, where prices are already pretty much dead at the bottom of the lettuce box. Similarly the beautiful, ocean-view lots in Pacific Grove, Monterey, Pebble Beach and Carmel have always been truly rare and subject to the financial follies of the uber-rich. So their prices will continue to fluctuate without wider logic.

By the way, the desalination issue is the most fundamental for “coastal Salinas.” In simplest terms it pits different models of the future against each other. Without more water, there can be no further “real estate development.” And without more real estate development, the key financial anchor of coastal Salinas sinks into the salty depths. ~ David Helgren | Salinas

River Run

The protectors of the fish in the Carmel River Lagoon are operating under two flawed assumptions (“Vinyl barriers brokers truce between enviros, homeowners on the Carmel Lagoon,” Aug. 25-31). First, there is the quote from Frank Emerson, who says that when bulldozers breach the sandbar the water “drains like a bathtub.” That’s true, but he implies that a natural breach would occur slowly. That’s absolutely false. Many years ago I saw firsthand what happens when a small trickle of water starts across the top of the sandbar. Within five minutes it grew from a two-inch trickle to a small stream a foot wide and a foot deep. Sand is no match for running water, and within thirty minutes the trench grew rapidly until it was six feet deep and ten feet wide! It was actually running FASTER than if the bulldozers had opened it. This could be a hazard to beachgoers.

The second flawed assumption is that the river would naturally breach at a northward angle. Wrong again. The water will take the path of least resistance, straight across the sandbar. Exactly where it breaches will depend on how the sandbar built up during the summer. The water will flow directly across the lowest part of the sandbar, wherever that happens to be. It may be at the north, or just as likely at the south or in the middle somewhere. ~ MrToy | via Web

Sweet and Low

To the SugarAssociation: Thank you for not trying to hide the source of your bias (“Letters,” Aug. 25-31). If this isn’t a stock PR-spinning response to the health risks posed by the over-consumption of your product, I don’t know what is. To say that Dr. Lustig (a UCSF scientist) is out of line for publishing the facts as he understands them is pretty dumb of you. (“Sugar is not only making America fat, it’s poisoning the people,” Aug.18-24). To Pam: Good luck finding carb-free foods. (“Letters,” Aug 25-31). Excess protein is converted to fat too, because humans evolved under feast and famine conditions. Eat as much as you can when you can, ‘cause who knows when the next meal will come around. To disregard new, compelling scientific evidence behind the detrimental effects of fructose is extremely foolish for a country that spends so much skrilla on the treatment of obesity-linked diseases. I believe in carefully weighing the evidence, but to disregard it offhand (as one would expect of an industry raking in profits on their addicting, unhealthy food) is weak sauce. ~ Westside_OG | via Web