Monterey gets defensive over leases

Jody Hansen

Some in the business community are trying get Monterey City Council to change its mind over new leasing policies but it doesn't seem to be working.

You may remember back in March that the governing body made sweeping changes to lease policies that will likely have drastic changes for Fisherman's Wharf. The gist is wharf businesses get long-term leases on city property and often sublease that property to someone else, making a lot of money on land that belongs to taxpayers.

An example: Leaseholder Mary Alice Cerrito Fettis pays the city around $79,000 a year to rent a spot on the wharf but then charges a subleaser $264,000 a year to rent it from her.

However, wharf operators say they work very hard, bring tons of tax revenue into the city, are a gem for the community, take all the risk when subleasers go belly up and are being demonized.

Old Fisherman's Grotto owner Chris Shake lays out a cohesive argument here.

Trying to get City Council to change its mind has been mostly subtle so far, such as a letter writing campaign to The Herald and one or two business leaders addressing the council.

Monterey County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jody Hansen tried to appeal to the council Tuesday night to tell the council that businesses need flexibility to succeed. Part of that flexibility would be longer leases, as opposed to 10-year limits recently imposed.

Here she is:



Then, Monterey Commercial Property Owners Association immediate past president Mike Mosebach said the Monterey Bay Aquarium would have never come to the city if current leasing policies had been in place.

Councilman Alan Haffa did not take kindly to the remarks. He said the whole point of the changes was to give Monterey flexibility and predictability.

"What we have are leases in which politics determine who gets what. That's wrong," he said. "Predictability is the goal. So, you ask us about our goals? Predictability. No. 2: Flexibility. Each lease is negotiated independently. Unique considerations will be taken into consideration. They are guidelines."

He said the City Charter required Monterey to go for market-rate rents the goal was to generate enough revenue so that in the future the city doesn't need a sales tax, like Measure P, to pay for infrastructure.

"We specifically added a policy that gives a preference for local and independent vendors," he said. ". . . We certainly don't want Hooters. We don't want Applebee's on the wharf. However has been distributing that misinformation should be ashamed of themselves."

You can see some videos of his comments below:




Councilwoman Libby Downey backed him up and said an editorial from a local TV station was out of line by saying Monterey did not have all the facts:


 Councilman Ed Smith disagreed with both of them and said he appreciated the business community coming to the council meeting.

"It is important we hear from all sides of the coin," he said. ". . . You're (Haffa) offended by them coming forward and using this forum but I'm not sure what other forum they would have available to get their word to us. We use the power of the microphone and the TV to convey our expressions, so I'm not offended by somebody coming here and using their time to give us their opinion."