Small Town
Okay… Here is your Squid Row Public Service Announcement: VOTE!
With all that is on the line in the upcoming Federal and Local elections, we can choose the outcome by voting. And in general, we influence situations in one of two ways…or both… with our voices and/or with our wallets.
Today’s toon has been brewing for a good month or so. It involves what’s happening in one of my local communities. I used to live in Pacific Grove… and don’t feel shy about voicing my opinion on the current goings on there. The scenario in PG is just as it is depicted here in today’s comic. I sooo wish I could vote on F.
That boutique hotel development issue is a mixed topic for me.
On the one side the building will be scaled up to encompass it’s entire sloping block (it sits on maybe 1/3 of it now with the rest being split between parking and a small single-story commercial strip building), but, on the other side, the old-style front of the building will be fully retained and the height of the building will actually be reduced (new elevators will be installed that don’t need the raised overhead tower required for the current ones).
If you walk in the existing building all you see is an enormous flea market rummage sale. Folks hawking junky stuff everywhere. The little city deserves better than its largest commercial building being a mostly vacant hulk. The place needs to raise tax money too, it already shares police and fire staff and duties with its neighbors and continuously agonizes how to further cut its spending. A new development will bring in an extra million $s a year for city services, customers for its oft neglected main street and needed jobs for its residents.
Will the town’s contingent of bed and breakfasts (small to grand-sized color-coordinated, ocean-front Victorian complexes) be hurt by a 230 room luxury boutique? More like the opposite. Restaurants and retailers (cheap and pricey) tend to do better in the company of others than alone by themselves. We had a Krispy Kreme move in right next to a small neighborhood donut shop in Sacramento. The shop painted up its window that its donuts are bigger and cost less than it’s flashy neighbor’s variety. The customer traffic actually increased its business. And when all was said and done, the Krispy Kreme closed down (it’s a Burger King now) and the mom and pop donut shop is still going strong.
brig… I’ll give you that the quaint town of Pacific Grove can be hard to get into and out of due to only two connector roads, which both tend to get congested. Hmm. That Holman hotel would rock with a helipad on its roof for easy access in and out. But I guess that helicopters can be noisy, polluting and folks won’t want them flying over their homes.
<——- Did someone say "vote"?
stick… The Holman Resort has a few other flaws you didn’t mention… Pacific Grove has an antiquated sewage system… with all those new toilets flushing away, I see a sewage overload waiting to happen. And water? Somebody’s pockets got fatter for the City to overlook that one!
I don’t think that a hotel downtown is a bad idea, necessarily… I just dont’ think THIS project is the right one for PG. It’s HUGE… too huge for little Pac Grove. AND why a Texas developer? A smaller hotel wouldn’t be out of character.
As far as Mom & Pop places. Locally, how many places did Border’s put out of business before going belly up itself? All of the bookstores are gone now, save one.
Yat… YUP! Good on ya!
brig… Just playing a devil’s advocate role as you were leaning so much with the con side.
Having originally majored in Architecture, building designs always interest me, and those for this project are no different. I might have been a bit off base with the boutique designation, though, especially with the town’s most smallish bed & break houses, but there are some pretty tall buildings in its vacinity, like across the street (on the hillside).
Yes, water is an issue. The developers have put forth tapping into a supposed underground stream below the lot and arranging to build a desal facility to support it and others in the city. I don’t know about sewage problems there, but do know that the town has no industry, no anchor stores to attract shoppers and a bunch of art galleries struggling to stay open. The project may be large and the financier may be Texan, there is a local developer involved who brought in the guy with the fat checkbook, but the town needs jobs and shoppers, and the expected million dollars the project is expected bring the city per year in taxes can go far in upgrading the sewage systems for everyone’s benefit. If the system breaks down without the hotel project, the city will not be able to fix it.
Oh, and I was kidding about helicopters circling overhead waiting to land much like the seagulls do around the town. The whirlybirds would be far too noisy and intrusive, although, on the plus side, they wouldn’t be dropping poop on everything.
pagrovia doesn’t have enough water credits for a few new houses, yet they’ll let the creep who wants to turn the holman building into a luxury hotel.
what on earth is wrong with this picture?!?!
The bottom line is vote! Let your voice be heard. Pacific Grove doesn’t need
giant Texas sized hotels. There is nothing wrong with the Holman building.
Down with Texas developers, and down with Nader Ahga!
Having lived in a coupla small towns over the years (McFarland, WI; Tompkins Cove, NY; N. Chelmsford, MA; and even now in Jeffersonville, PA) I can FULLY sympathize with you, Brig.
As a historian, however, I know that “charm” has always been exploited. While the locals of a small town can prevent GiNormous Corp. from moving it, the price that comes with it – economic stagnation and potential death of the town – can be too high.
What’s needed is a significant change in either the population (much lower) or in industry and economic drivers. All boring stuff, but simply put: There must a REASON for small towns to exist and that reason must cause the creation/rebirth of more small towns. I can see a path where that could happen and I hope it does.
Take this encouragement to heart: Big cities haven’t been the norm for all time. Virtually everything is cyclical; small towns may once more be the right thing for our ever changing cultures and societies.
One of the problems Pacific Grove has, Pete… is that many of the homes there are second and third homes. The residents live there a few months of the year. PG also suffered for years with a good ol’ boy network. Super high salaries for such a small community… big pensions. That money should have been used to update the sewers and the infrastructure. The income for PG is mostly tourism… and they’ve been hurting the last several years.
Firedome… Yah… kinda funny, isn’t it? You have to jump thru hoops to get permits and water credits (or until recently, cut down a tree… which I’m actually kind of okay with)… unless you have the big bucks. THen it’s smooth sailing.
Squid… I agree. Leave it be or build smaller and within the character of PG.
Land of the free, home of the brave…
where whiny people gather en masse to conspire to tell another human being what they can and cannot do with their own property.
Ahh, the voice of dissent.
Reality… Freedom has its limits. Wouldn’t you agree?
If someone built a casino on the property right next to yours, inches from your home, you’d have something to say about it! Yes? And if your property is in town, you have neighbors. You cannot simply exist in a vacuum… You have a community to think about. You have to do business with those around you. If you are saying “This is my property and I’ll do whatever the &$## I want with it… you aren’t a very community minded individual.
And “whiny people” are people exercising their right to free speech… covered in some important document somewhere.