WHO’S IN TOWN?
In news from the conservative echo chamber, the Monterey Peninsula Republican Women Federated May 10 luncheon features documentary filmmakerAnn McElhinney. Her topic: “Environmentalism and the Global Warming Hysteria.” McElhinney produced Not Evil Just Wrong, a documentary to challengeAl Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. She also produced FrackNation to counter Gasland, a documentary about the impacts of fracking on rural communities. McElhinney is advertised on the Young America’s Foundation website as a speaker for hire at $5,000-$10,000 per appearance, with a list of anti-environmental policy themes she will expound on.
11:30am Thursday, May 10. Rancho Cañada, 4860 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel. $25/members; $28/guests. 484-1104, [email protected], montereypeninsularwf.org.
FREE SPEECH
First was the Los Angeles Times, now the Chicago Tribune. For the first time in the newspaper’s 171-year history, employees voted to unionize, and parent company, Tronc, announced May 6 it will recognize three bargaining units in the Chicago Tribune Guild. According to a report in the Tribune, the union is expected to include most newsroom employees. In an email to Tribune staff, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Bruce Dold wrote: “As we move ahead, we need to be united as one organization with an important purpose – to help the company transform and thrive as a business, and to serve our readers world-class journalism,”
After the historic LA Times unionization vote in January, Tronc sold off that paper – as well as the San Diego Union Tribune – for $500 million to biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong. Other papers owned by Tronc include the Baltimore Sun and New York Daily News.
GOOD WEEK / BAD WEEK
GOOD:
Seaside is rolling into the future. On May 3, Seaside City Council authorized City Manager Craig Malin to enter into an agreement with a dockless bike-share company named ofo. The revolutionary aspect of ofo’s model is that it won’t cost the city a dime, and ofo doesn’t install docks to house their bikes. Rather, riders download the ofo app to their smartphones and use it to unlock a bike, wherever they may find it, and rent it for $1 per 30 minutes. When done with a bike, riders park it somewhere in the public right-of-way (and out of the way), and using the app, indicate their ride is over. The bike then locks itself. The city is hoping to have the program’s launch coincide with the June 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly remade West Broadway in downtown (see story, p. 14), and will feature ofo bikes at the city’s “pedal party” May 10 from 5-7pm at 656 Broadway.
BAD:
As the legality of voter-approved Measure Z – a ban on fracking, wastewater injection and new oil development in Monterey County – is still working its way through the court system on appeal, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit May 3 in Monterey County Superior Court against the county over another oil-related matter. The lawsuit argues the County Board of Supervisors didn’t follow state law when granting an appeal April 3 toTrio Petroleum, LLC that gives the company a permit allowing it to drill oil and gas wells in an undeveloped oilfield in the Hames Valley. The lawsuit argues that an environmental impact report is required before granting the permit, as new oil development would result in “significant impacts” to things like air and water quality. The Monterey County Planning Commission denied Trio’s permit on Jan 31.
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