FREE LUNCH… Even slippery Squid was taken by surprise to learn “invitation-only,” in developer-speak, means “crash the party and scout the opposition.” At LandWatch’s annual fundraiser, four uninvited developers joined the party. But Urban Community Partners principals Keith McCoy and Ian Gillis told LandWatch Exec Director Amy White they were there to get along. “Thanks for lunch last Friday,” McCoy emailed her. “We would like to meet with you soon and make a presentation regarding the Monterey Downs project.” White said no to the meeting, and no to the free lunches. Monterey Downs mastermind Brian Boudreau (who wasn’t there) agreed to pay back LandWatch for the four $18 meals. Squid thinks that’s an ironic donation to a nonprofit that’s asking the county to hold its horses before approving Boudreau’s racetrack-condo-stadium mini-city. 


SHIT FIT… Squid’s tentacles are in a tangle over recent news coverage of Occupy protesters. Take recent stories by Fox News about Oscar Ramiro Ortega Hernandez, who’s charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama. The “fair and balanced” network ran headlines linking Hernandez, who thinks he’s Jesus, to the Occupy D.C. movement – even though there’s no evidence to back that up. (Translation: Occupiers pal around with terrorists.) Closer to home, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported last week that Occupy Santa Cruz campers were infested with ringworm and responsible for a 200-pound pile of poop behind the county Veterans Memorial Building. Turns out neither report was true, but by the time they made national news, it didn’t matter. (Translation: Occupiers are disease-ridden douchebags.) There’s no shortage of YouTube videos showing Occupiers behaving badly, but Squid thinks painting all protesters as filthy anarchists is, well, shitty.


TMI, WTF… Squid’s eaten Squid’s share of alphabet soup; it’s hard to avoid, considering the jumble of tongue-twisting agencies around these parts. But Squid will gladly hand the title of BLAH – Better Lay off the Acronym Hype – to Seaside City Clerk Mari Hernandez, who mass-emailed a 10-page list of terminology used in city docs. You know, just FYI. Squid will try to fold the bulky list into Squid’s wallet just in case an ETOH with a bad FOG habit has an OJI and needs and AED. (That’s “an intoxicated person,” “fats, oils and grease,” “on the job injury” and “automated external defibrillator,” for the uninitiated.) But at a time when Seaside’s dwindling staff is sweating just to keep the city afloat, Squid might suggest cutting the CRAP (clearly redundant administrative procrastination).