Fort Ordnance


The EPA says it’s “paperwork” that keeps the Keep Out signs up (“Vets snub Fort Ord rules with new sign honoring soldiers,” July 5-11). I wonder how fast the paperwork will shuffle calling this parcel safe enough for mini-mansions and a horse race stadium? The powers that be know full well that the more people get out to see and experience this gorgeous land, the more public pressure there will be to preserve it. Thus the “Do Not Enter” signs placed by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, in the pockets of developers.


Paperwork is often more dangerous to public health than unexploded ordnance. We’ve suffered and struggled with and been strangled by gov’t paperwork. It’s best not to be a trailblazer on Fort Ord, but thousands have been hiking, bicycling, running, for about 20 years now with no disasters. Public Land for Public Recreation! - Maenad | via Web


I have personally watched three different ordnance searches on the track site and in addition I have multiple photos of their equipment working there. They had a surface search by an ordnance removal team several years back. The Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement has carried out another surface search and a depth search with excavations dug to six or seven feet of depth. Nearly everything they found was like barbed wire. I would like to enter this as a letter to the editor in response to the statements made by Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Rusty Harris-Bishop and Fort Ord Reuse Authority Assistant Executive Officer Steve Endsley. If this area is not absolutely safe as of now, they have wasted $80 or $90 million and nothing they have done is adequate.


I would ask why these people are making these assertions. - John Hutcherson | Monterey


Yay Monterey


Our family is behind the revitalization idea and can’t wait for the plan to help our downtown to begin (“Monterey trials downtown revamp, with street seating in place of parking spots,” June 28-July 4). We would love to walk around after dinner at Full Moon Cafe, or Rosines and have a fro-yo or a Pinkberry, but the street feels kinda like a freeway. When my 10-year-old is hungry, “circling the block” takes us halfway back home instead or leads to TJ’s… easier to grab groceries and go home to cook rather than parking and eating out. Hurray for two-way streets! - montereymom | via Web


Rock the Vote


Not sure what they are complaining about (“Tea Party-backed effort threatens California voter rolls,” June 28-July 4). Allowing “illegals” to vote is in itself, “illegal.” It’s called voter fraud. If they’re worried about some legal residents being afraid to register, then bore in on that problem. But letting “illegals” vote so you won’t lose some legals registering is bass-ackwards thinking. - Dennis Chambers | San Jose


Risky drinking


I appreciate that this article did a good job of conveying the debate over the Ag Waiver for the last few years, but I am left asking why it devoted only one paragraph to the human health effects (“Farm politics mean no one’s happy with a plan to clean up Central Coast waters,” June 21-27). Why didn’t this article interview people whose health has been affected by nitrate contaminated water? Unfortunately, by casting this as an issue of environmentalist vs. farmer, rather than sick families vs. farmers, we end up thinking that birds and otters are the only ones impacted. According to the UC Davis report cited in this article, 10% of the people in Salinas Valley are at risk of nitrate contamination in their delivered drinking water – mostly people with small wells. I’ve been involved with this issue for two years because people I care about have had severe health consequences from nitrate -contaminated drinking water. These effects include hair loss, gastrointestinal problems and rashes. There are many accounts of these symptoms clearing up when they have access to safer water. I would recommend watching this video to hear from people who live in the Salinas Valley and whose health has been impacted with nitrate-contaminated drinking water: http://tinyurl.com/6r2mco4. - Santa_Cruz_Resident | via Web


Adobe Venture


I spent a lot of my childhood at the Cooper Molera Adobe (“Trader Joe’s developer looks to historic Cooper Molera Adobe as future project site,” July 5-11). Its summer program for children, in addition to the State Park system’s excellent interpretation of California history at this site, was a fundamental part of my education. I cannot imagine it transforming into a commercial venture. This is an outrage and I am shocked that the proposal is even under consideration! - Breana George | via Facebook


Wonderful… hopefully the developer doesn’t hire another spatially challenged 2-year-old to design the parking lot… and that may be an insult to all 2 – year-olds out there reading this. - Rob Weiher | via Facebook 


Sayonara La Playa


Although La Playa Carmel has been our favorite local bar and restaurant for many years (we are Monterey Peninsula residents since 1976), we will not again set foot within its doors, nor will we recommend it as a destination for our many friends and relatives who spend vacation time here, unless and until the Grossman Company decides to treat La Playa’s many long-time employees with respect. And this does not look to be a likely outcome of the continuing conflict (“Former workers call for boycott,” posted July 6). 


In fact, we will emphatically recommend against the use of any of the services that the “new” La Playa Carmel may offer. The decision not to carry over, nor to even give employees a chance to be re-hired in an equable manner, was callous and insensitive in the extreme, along with being a most questionable business decision. We use the word was deliberately. As far as we are concerned, La Playa Carmel is no more. It is clear that the Grossman Company has grossly miscalculated the nature of our community.


Over the years, La Playa Carmel’s day-to-day revenue can be directly attributed to its status with local residents. Locals’ weddings, other special events such as the Annual Garden Party to support local charities, visiting friends who want to have dinner with us at a special place, small business luncheons, the happy hours frequented by (guess who?) the locals, locals dropping in for a drink after taking in a concert at Sunset Center; the list goes on. The insult that Grossman represents to us who have loved and supported La Playa Carmel over the years will not be forgotten. - Dan and Claudia Rico | Pacific Grove