This Week on the Central Coast
Central Coast recreation sees a bump in usage, Walking School Busses come to Monterey County, and a sibling team is producing a local magazine
Summit at the Plaza Hotel talks about outdoor recreation
The Sea Otter Classic Summit (not to be confused with the cycling event invited outdoor industry leaders from around the world to the Monterey Plaza Hotel. The group discussed how to improve recreational services and how to address climate change.
During the pandemic shutdowns, state parks saw an increase in usage. In response, Wade Crowfoot, the California Secretary of Natural Resources, is leading the “Outdoors for All Program”, which wants to increase access to outdoor activities. The program includes providing transportation to recreational areas for disadvantaged communities. In addition to the program, the state just launched the California State Library Parks Pass. The pass will let library card holders check out state park passes for a specified amount of time. The state parks have been increasing maintenance and staffing to help with the increase in visitors.
Crowfoot also talked about climate change, saying we need to use “nature-based solutions to address the growing crisis”, including controlled burns and planting native species to help damaged habitats. “Nature needs us like never before, but we also need nature. And we need to put nature and the outdoors at the center of addressing these challenges.”
TAMC will start leading “Walking School Busses” in Monterey County
The Transportation Agency for Monterey County started offering Walking School Busses, which are adult-supervised walks to school. The walks are provided as a safe and active way to get to school.
This week’s walking busses were provided with helmets for any bike or scooter riders who didn’t have one, traffic safety lessons, snacks at school, and a costumed Spider-Man to escort the group.
So far, the walking busses have been a success and TAMC is seeking to expand the program to Salinas next. The agency also wants to create sidewalk murals to visibly mark the routes.
Unfortunately, the guided tours provided by supporting groups are only through this month. After, parents are encouraged to take over for the remaining 2021-2022 school year.
Local siblings share their art-based indie magazine
Lowpass Magazine was created by Karina and Fernando Beltran. It’s contents include interviews with local artists as well as informal articles and quizzes.
The pair’s first physical print was in 2019. Since then, they have published four more issues and printed about forty copies of each.
The issues are available at the Monterey Museum of Art or Old Capitol Books.