INSTANT GRATIFICATION… A month into Squid’s low-carb diet, Squid is slowly cultivating a thing called patience. It means, for example, passing up Halloween candy to make a Niçoise salad.


Squid thinks Seaside Mayor Felix Bachofner could use a little of the same. He’d asked Squid to prematurely spill the beans on the Weekly’s Oct. 11 endorsements issue so he could put it on his mailers. When that didn’t work, he lurked in front of Squid’s office the day the issue came off the press. 


Now Bachofner’s asking why he hasn’t gotten the updated roster of registered voters from the Monterey County Elections Department. He wants to hit up Seasiders who haven’t voted with more mailers, and he’s irked it’s late. Squid turned the question to Monterey County Registrar Linda Tulett, who pretty much had kittens right there.


Nearly 3,000 county voters registered on the Oct. 22 deadline, she says; her department had until 5pm Oct. 30 to process them all and send them to the Secretary of State for validation. What comes back from Sacramento, she explains, is the full county voter roster used at polling places on Election Day.


“We’re not gonna rush that because someone wants their hands on it,” she says. “Why isn’t it ready? Hello, that’s 3,000 things I gotta do. It takes a while.” Tulett adds that her department did meet its state deadline. And Squid won’t mind if this means no more Bachofner campaign mailers, even if they do make a tasty low-sugar snack.


POWER OUTRAGE… When Squid got word from Squid’s Atlantic cousins they were OK after Sandy, Squid sighed in relief. But then Squid got to thinking: Who would be Monterey Bay’s stone-faced Michael Bloomberg in the event of an emergency? 


Maybe Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Chuck Monarque, champion of Next Gen (a high-falutin’ way to connect emergency walkie talkies). Pebble Beacher Jameson Halpern is suing over a Planning Commission approval of the county’s $24 million Next Gen plan, which includes a communications tower in his hood. Ron Perez, president of the Lewis Acres Homeowners Association, also appealed – but failed to pay the $5,040 fee, so the complaint got tossed. 


It’s less a war against the county than it is among neighbors. Steve Snodgrass, a Graniterock VP whose 3-acre property was slated to host a tower, thought no one would notice it. He was negotiating a lease with the county when the association soured on the tower and turned on Snodgrass. He says one neighbor threatened to sue him over a long-standing retaining wall, out of spite. So he told the county to find another site, or try eminent domain. 


It’s classic rich-folks NIMBYism. Still, Squid’ll take drama in the sands of paradise over Sandy.