A blog dedicated to public records requests and Monterey County news.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Holman Building goes up on auction

The historic Holman Building has been put on auction but how serious the attempt is remains to be seen.

Peninsula businessman Nader Agha bought the 120,000-square-foot Pacific Grove building on Lighthouse Avenue in 1995 and has put it up for sale before.

In 2008, he was asking $17.5 million for the landmark hotel. He said, at the time, he put it on the market because he was frustrated by years of delays to build a luxury hotel.

His latest attempt, posted last week on Auction.com, said indicative bids are due by 5 p.m. on Halloween. From there, prospective buyers will be selected by him for a final auction and required to post a minimum deposit of $100,000.

The final auction for the 90-year-old building will be held Nov. 19.

Foreign buyers are permitted to participate but any purchase must be in cash unless otherwise approved by Agha.

The rules for the auction may raise some red flags for potential buyers. In the fine print of the agreement, it says Agha has “sole and absolute discretion” to accept the winning bidder’s offer.

Most people I called about this auction seemed jaded after years of rumors about new buyers for the Holman Building, as well as the frequency it seems to go up for sale.

So far, efforts to reach Agha have been unsuccessful.

Given the importance of the building to downtown Pacific Grove (which even resulted in a 2012 election) it isn't a situation that is likely to go away anytime soon.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

More women for Naval Postgraduate School?

Rear Admiral Jan Tighe, former NPS interim president, looks on
at a press conference in 2012 (Dave Royal/Monterey Herald).
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced a plan Wednesday to increase the amount of women in Navy and Marine Corps, according to Reuters.

Monterey's Naval Postgraduate School counts just ll percent of its student body as women, said school spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Greg Flores.

It is slightly better, 18 percent, for non-resident students; that's civilian and foreign exchange students, as well as those completing degrees with distance learning.

Mabus made his comments at Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington, D.C. He said women represented 18 percent of the Navy and 8 percent of the Marine Corps.

"I don't know exactly what the goal ought to be, but I know those are too low," he said.

Mabus said the Navy was coming up with ways on its own to get more women but some measures would need congressional approval. No word on what that could mean for NPS.

I asked Flores if NPS does anything to encourage women to attend and this is what he said:
"We encourage all interested candidates who meet our enrollment criteria to apply to one of our Graduate or Doctoral programs. Gender is not a criteria for enrollment at NPS. Selection for the Navy's fully funded graduate education program is based on outstanding professional performance, promotion potential and a strong academic background. Officers interested in this program contact their assignment officers to determine their  professional qualification and assignment availability.  Upon determination of academic qualification, individuals may be eligible for consideration and assignment at NPS."
In 2013, there were 1,633 full-time resident students at the school. Of that, 180 were women and 1,453 men. That's eight men for every one woman.