This Week on the Central Coast...
Read to Me Project won Outstanding Nonprofit of the Year, PGHS plans to renovate its baseball field, Monterey Airport is getting a bigger aircraft, and Santa Cruz City Workers ended their strike
Monterey
Pumpkin Carving Contest at Turn 12
Turn 12 Bar and Grill will be holding its 8th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. The contest is free to enter and pumpkins will be provided. The restaurant will be running food and drink specials all night and, of course, offer plenty of Halloween candy.
The contest will be held on Monday, October 24 at 9:30pm. “Judging will take place at midnight, with prizes for best and worst pumpkins of the night.”
Read to Me Project named Outstanding Nonprofit of the 2022
The Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County named the Read to Me Project (RtMP) as the 2022 Outstanding Nonprofit Agency for Youth Development. RtMP trains parents and older siblings to read to younger family members, increasing their ability to read at a higher level.
A study showed that RtMP students’ reading scores increased significantly on standard assessments compared to students not in the program. “Students are taught how the brain works and that babies are born ready to learn. Through coaching sessions with RtMP staff, participating students learn how reading to their young family members sparks the child’s brain and inspires curiosity.”
Pacific Grove High School coach plans to upgrade the baseball facilities
Coach Craig Bell was hired as PGHS’s varsity baseball coach last fall. He spoke about a five-year plan to improve the school’s baseball facilities, including upgraded batting cages, field renovations, stadium seating, sustainable sprinklers, and eventually adding a concession stand and announcer's booth.
The district approved of his plans, but informed him there wasn’t enough money to complete the projects. However, nearly all the money needed was donated by the community. Bell hopes the field renovations will be done by the end of October.
“There’s more important things out there obviously, but they all see that there’s a value to helping the kids… It has very little to do with baseball. It’s just preparing them for life.”
Monterey Regional Airport is upgrading to a larger aircraft
Starting next February, American Airlines will use its larger A319 aircraft for its twice-daily flights to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The larger plane will provide fifty-two more seats to the flights, which estimates to about 37,000 more available seats per year.
“The move marks the first time in nearly 30 years that an airline has operated daily mainline service out of the Monterey Regional Airport.”
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County city worker strike ends with an agreement
Santa Cruz city workers were on strike for a portion of last week, allowing trash and recycling to pile up, in an effort to negotiate higher pay. The union representing the workers argued that current pay-rates were far from a livable wage in the county.
The new agreement guarantees a “12% raise over three years and an $1,800 payment, as well as pay increases that bring many positions closer to market rate.”