Carmel is beautiful…My mom lived there for a good portion of her childhood =)
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I’ve got my own history near there. There’s a twisted history behind Mr. Eastwood’s time as mayor.
He became the mayor for one reason: he wanted to build a hotel and the city absolutely refused any development or changes. In his words, “They won’t even let you cut down a tree.”
Given 40 million people, there is a lot of competition for water in California. The coastal region has not added to its water supply since the 1970s. Back then the State offered to add all regions to the general water plan for future growth. In turn, the ultra wealthy beach towns of Carmel and Santa Barbara discovered a clever way to block any changes: “We don’t have enough water to support any more houses.” End of discussion.
Water has been the standard means for blocking coastal development ever since. The Monterey peninsula (including Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel) has a lot of cheap post war beach bungalows – plus really tiny former tent camping sites in Pacific Grove. They often have 2 bedrooms and 1 or 2 bathrooms at most. So, given the water limits they’ll let the rich move in and rebuild but not add any more bathrooms. Tear down an old bungalow and build a McMansion on a tiny lot but still with 2 baths…
Blocking development seems to be the retirement hobby of the ultra wealthy. So, the middle class has left California in droves.
I knew a former member of the water commission who fought Mr. Eastwood and very nearly blocked his hotel plans. I was told he got the permit just hours before a new law went into effect. And Carmel looks pretty much the same as it did in the 1970s – plus new ultra expensive beach bungalows with million dollar ROOFs.
This is the hotel that resulted from Mr Eastwood being mayor:
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The biggest hurdle in building anywhere along the Pacific is The Coastal Commission.
My engineer buddy worked with a firm that would pull permits for construction in Malibu, which is famously difficult and expensive to build in. The biggest hurdle was always going through the Coastal Commision.
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Hey @generic
I am with you on the ultra wealthy ruining it for the shrinking middle class everywhere. Won’t get to political here.
Thank you for the information about the water plan, etc
Already had read about it.
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One good example…
The Amazon Video production “Goliath” with Billy Bob Thornton, as main character took the water topic and brought it to the point.
We can absolutely recommend the mini-series with 3 seasons.
The burnt out lawyer fights similar to Erin Brokovich vs the big players.
Won’t spoil anything.
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California’s water is an interesting topic. California actually owns water rights of two other states, I believe.
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Back when Hollywood made actual movies (vs. comic book adaptations), they released Chinatown (1974) with Jack Nicholson. It’s about water in Los Angeles and other twisted things:
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Los Angeles took all the water from the Owens Valley (what was once a lake is now a dust bowl), and the State runs a water pipeline all the way to Colorado (State) – they take their water before it dries up along the Colorado River. This river drains into the Gulf of Mexico, but dries up before hitting the ocean.
Golfers got to golf.
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This is a fact!!!
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I forgot whom I stole this from, but it’s funny.
(Found info, added credit)
Credit: Rhodey (@Rhodey)
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