Move Lapis Road RVs to college campuses

Monterey County extended the overnight parking approval 90 days while staff tries to find a more suitable location. Funding will be required for port-a-potties, trash collection, sheriff patrol, etc. More suitable locations than Lapis Road are available on college campuses. There is existing infrastructure, ample parking, security and an opportunity to learn higher paying job skills. College students are adept at providing support for worthy causes and know how to crowdfund their efforts.

— Scott M. Cunningham, Carmel

Cal Am not to blame for past failures

Michael Baer’s Aug. 29 letter made reference to the “failure” of “all previous Cal Am new water supply projects.” Let’s get the history straight. Cal Am has been the lead agency on only one water project, the current desalination plan. Earlier projects that failed were overseen by public agencies, not Cal Am.

The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District was in charge of two viable projects, a desalination plant in Sand City and a new Los Padres dam on the Carmel River. Taxpayer advocates and environmental groups convinced voters that these projects were too expensive, environmentally damaging, and growth inducing so they were killed at the ballot box.

More recently Marina Coast Water District was the lead agency for the Regional Desalination Project. It involved three public agencies (none of which represented Peninsula ratepayers), each designated to operate separate components of a single desalination plant which would sell water to Cal Am. A conflict of interest problem brought the whole thing crashing down.

Cal Am took the reins only after it became clear that the public process was unable to deliver a water supply project. And while this may not be saying much, Cal Am has made more progress than any public agency ever did.

— James B. Toy, Seaside

Give MPC teachers their deserved raise

The other day Monterey Peninsula College teachers were protesting at the intersection in front of the college. My son has been a student there for two years. His experience has been extraordinarily positive, enriching, and satisfying. To whom does he owe this high praise? To the highly-skilled and devoted teachers he saw in the intersection protesting the fact that they have not been granted a raise in four years! I urge MPC to maintain the excellent quality of education it has established by giving those gifted teachers the raise they deserve and need.

— Robin Gregory, Carmel

Monning water tax yet another outrage

From October 2013 through July 2016, 27 unconstitutional gun control bills were signed into law in California. The battles to overturn these have moved to the courts.

Ignoring the First Amendment as well, the Legislature attempted to censor speech through its laws, but the Legislature’s efforts were fortunately stricken down by the California Eastern District Court, which ruled on Feb. 27 in Publius v. Boyer-Vine that “content-based laws — those that target speech based on its communicative content — are presumptively unconstitutional.”

In April of this year, Gov. Brown signed into law a gas tax (SB1).

Now, Sen. Monning proposes to tax your drinking water. SB 623 would tax homes and businesses for what you are already paying for your drinking water. Don’t want to pay the new taxes and fees? Then you don’t get your drinking water and you get a lien, of which you would be notified by none other than your water agency.

Let’s ensure that when the election next happens that we have someone running of the opposing party who is capable of beating Monning.

— Colin Gallagher, Monterey

Trump misses the boat in Texas visit

“What a crowd!” What a turnout!” said the President of the United States as he waved to hundreds of people gathered in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was wearing a USA hat that he sells to anyone with $40, and in the middle of an epic flood, he was, as usual, missing the boat. He did however make a gesture toward restraint by postponing congratulating himself “until it’s all finished”.

Right in the middle of all that Houston development, proudly spurred on by lax zoning ordinances, were a lot of chickens coming home to roost.

— Bob Hogue, Pacific Grove