Presidio of Monterey's questionable FOIA response

Presidio in May 2014 (Molnar)

The Presidio of Monterey continues to be cagey about an incident that caused the evacuation of the base back in mid-August.

After months of silence, The Herald was able to determine hundreds of students, faculty members and military personnel fled because officials believed an instructor intended to blow himself up.

This newspaper was only able to figure that out using a California Public Records Act request for all communication from law enforcement to dispatch at the Monterey County Emergency Communications center in Salinas. All the Army said was  that a  "real world incident" took place, a suspect was in custody and there was no danger to the public.

A Freedom of Information Act request for the Presidio, made at the same time as the state request, came back empty.

The Herald asked for: "All emails, reports and correspondence concerning the
Aug. 8, 2014, incident at the Presidio of Monterey that required an emergency
drill to be halted."

What we received was three press releases without an explanation of why nothing else was included. This would mean: 1) No one sent any emails, made any reports or sent any letters on a major military instillation, and home to the Defense Language Institute, about a basewide evacuation or 2) It ignored the law in its response.

FOIA law says government agencies must give "the reasons therefor" not granting a request. The Presidio's response just says "please find enclosed partial response." The fine print of the act is on the Department of Justice's website.

You can view the Presidio's response below:

What do you think of the Monterey Conference Center design?

Above is a high resolution image of the initial design of the Monterey Conference Center that debuted last night.

Architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP sent me the photo around 1 a.m. last night, so it was not able to make print. Designs are not set in stone but the next meeting is fairly soon  -- Dec. 23 -- so it is not as if there is no urgency.

There was a lot of concern raised by the business and hotel community at the meeting to get something done because of groups trying to book events. At the same time, the City Council, Planning Commission and Architectural Review Committee are under pressure because of the $32 million price tag.

As the only reporter at last night's meeting, I have already received some backlash for having the gall to put in print some objections by elected officials to the design.

Monterey city manager Mike McCarthy wrote this to my boss: "The article in today's paper left the impression that it was very negative--I think early in the meeting it appeared negative, but by the end of the meeting, it was pretty clear that most agreed the drawings were right on track."

The video of last night's meeting should be uploaded here in a few days for those that want to see comments from officials for themselves.

The hotels might want it done soon, but it is something residents will need to see almost everyday and tourists are paying for.

Three hotels surrounding the center will cover the majority of the cost, with the other 65 hotels, motels and inns implementing a 1.6 or 0.8 percent tax on each bill. That means if you visit Monterey, and stay in a hotel, you are paying for this thing.

I have set up the comments on this site to not require a sign up on Blogger.com or anything like that. Please post your opinion! You might not own a hotel but your opinion is valuable (to me, anyway). Do you think the building is "right on track"?

NOTE: In the comment section, the easiest way to post is to select "Anonymous." But, feel free to leave your name if you want.

UFO in Monterey?

I was at Del Monte Beach around 6 p.m. Sunday when one of my friends noticed something in the sky.

It was red and orange and seemed to be moving much slower than a plane, helicopter or drone. I am at least 90 percent sure it was one of those flying Chinese lanterns.

My three friends there were pretty excited about whatever it was so I sent the video to Monterey Regional Airport.

"Our Operations Officer had seen a drone recently but the only other explanation is Santa?" said spokeswoman Jennifer Hickerson.

Unlike the Monterey Bay sea creature that turned out to be a whale carcass, this mystery (probably a Chinese lantern) continues.

Holman Building gets $5.5 million offer

Nader Agha stands outside the Holman Building in Pacific Grove in 2005. (David Royal, Monterey Herald)

Another day, another million.

The online auction for the historic Holman Building continued Tuesday with a bid of $5.5 million. The auction ends Wednesday.

On Monday, a bid of $4.5 million was registered on Auction.com. Mike Bitar of Executive Commercial, which is running the auction, said he is prevented from disclosing names of bidders.

The property and 5-story building is valued at $6.5 million, according to the Monterey County Assessor's Office. Owner Nader Agha put the building for sale in 2008 for $17.5 million.

Bitar said most bids come on the last day. He said he is getting several calls a day about the property.

The 120,000-square-foot property was home to the former Holman's department store. It was featured in John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" with the story of a man roller skating above the store as a promotion.

Agha has “sole and absolute discretion” to accept the winning bidder’s offer, say legal documents posted on Auction.com.

Holman Building gets first bid

The historic Holman Building in Pacific Grove has received an offer of $4.5 million, according to an online auction that started Monday.

The bid is $1 million more than the starting bid. The auction ends Wednesday.

Mike Bitar of Executive Commercial, which is running the auction, said he is prevented from saying yet who made the bid or if there has been more than one.

"God willing, it will be sold this time," Bitar said Monday night.

It appears that the auction is off to slow start; Owner Nader Agha put the 5-story building up for sale in 2008 for $17.5 million. Bitar said most bids come the last day.

Two potential bidders have gone public: Some members of the Shake family (who envision turning it into a marketplace like the San Francisco Ferry Building) and NxGen Capital (that wants to turn it into an assisted living/memory care facility).

Agha has owned the building since 1995 and put the property on the market several times. In 2012, an attempt to rezone the building to allow for development of a 200-plus-room hotel was defeated by Pacific Grove voters.