When we moved home to the Monterey Peninsula three years ago after some twenty years of travel, we were delighted to find a small rental home right in the heart of Historic Old Monterey, just behind Colton Hall. We felt it was like living in Europe; we could walk to shopping and to cultural events and it was often very quiet in the evenings and on weekends. And passerbys generally were history buffs and we have come to know some very lovely folks who live here or are just passing through enjoying this cultural and historic jewel.
But shortly after we arrived we began to hear of the city wanting to build a $14 M office building adjacent to the Vasquez Adobe where the model for Zorro, Tiburicio Vasquez, often hid as it was said to be his sister's home and just across the street from the city's jail (until the 1950's). The city now uses the building for parks and recreation and if the darn office building gets built, it will be HQ for the builders. Egads.
The City has worked on this unneccesary building for years as a part of long time mayor, Dan Albert's legacy. Albert promptly announced his retirement last Friday after they finally pushed the council to approve this over priced and unnecessary building. While Albert has helped develop some good venues in Monterey over the years, he is very wrong on this one. Now, after The Albion Millworks and others have pushed for the building to at least be built "green", Mayor Dan is saying how good for the environment the project will be. No amount of lipstick will make this white elephant fit into an national historic area.
To hear more about our initiative for a referendum to be placed on the ballot, go to: www.montereyvoter.com and if you want to get the word out through your apparel and vehicle, you can buy some logo goodies from the Lived Learning Marketplace.
Please help save and care for a world class historic place in whatever ways you can. If you are a Monterey voter you can sign our petition at noon each day at the post office and we will have a table at the downtown Farmer's Market on Tuesdays until August 4. We need 1500 signatures. PLEASE SIGN IF YOU ARE AN ELIGIBLE VOTER!
