1/31/2023 - 10:00 AM

MISSION: We seek to provide timely, informative updates on regional topics relevant to our members.

Recap:

City of Monterey. Monterey City Council held study session last week to review staff work program. City Council has central theme (4 members) about housing: rental registry and other ideas. Major initiative of rental registry. Vacancy tax. Property transfer tax. Adams Street project. Staff report in April. Wireless ordinance. February 7. Cannabis ordinance. March. Mild interest in the council to extend to include special events or another operator/dispensary on North Fremont. Search for revenue for housing regulations. Budget process in city. Lively discussions. Joint meeting of Planning Commission and City Council - February 21. Offer opinions on 6th RHNA housing cycle.
SBA. U.S. Small Business Administration, Barbara Nitis, working with FEMA. Low-interest government loans for businesses affected by flooding - physical damage and economic injury/losses (for example, can’t serve customers). March 16 is the deadline for physical losses. October 16 for deadline for economic losses. Resource: Disaster Response Resources for California Business
Healthcare. CHOMP taking down respiratory triage tent. Tent was erected for the second time when a wave of respiratory illness hit community, including COVID, flu, and RSV. Tent was precautionary measure to be available for use when the Emergency Dept. was full and staff needed a way to separate those who had respiratory symptoms from other emergency cases. Respiratory illness is still present in our community, numbers have decreased, eliminating the need for tent. Still recommended, especially for those with medical conditions and our older population, to mask while in crowded places/ indoor places when outside the home as we still have many cases in our community requiring hospitalization. (7 COVID inpatients yesterday).
Aquarium. Unexpectedly high response for Community Open House event January 21-29 - free admission for locals. 92,583 visitors qualified under local status. 62,666 Monterey County residents - 15% of population about 22,000 Santa Cruz County about 7,000 San Benito County. No major incidents. Students built their weekend around that event. 44,000 was highest visitor count for the free tri-county entrance dates in past years Ecology Action and Surfrider had tables/booths there
Monterey County Fairgrounds. The shelter at Fairgrounds has closed now. Having meetings with County and Red Cross. Served 100% homeless people.
Non-Profit. United Way-Monterey County. The AT&T Pro-Am is this week and through the Monterey Peninsula Foundation brings significant support to the charity sector of Monterey County. United Way hosting the state association annual conference at Embassy Suites this week.
Hospitality. Storm updates: MCCVB went into Crisis Communications and worked with OES, County Communications, and the hotel community. That collaboration brought together nearly 4 dozen hotels offering evacuation rates. The full three-day weekend results show county-wide occupancy at 42%, down from 65% last year with a $2.6M decline in hotel revenue and an estimated $7.4M decline in visitor spending. We are beginning to see a trend year-over-year results showing transient business down but group business up. One tide coming in and one tide going out. A big opportunity for the destination is CalTravel Summit (Sept 19-21). While the event will take place at the Monterey Conference Center/Marriott/Hotel Pacific, we’ll showcase some aspects from the entire destination.
Monterey Airport. A Year in Review and Vision 2035. Vision 2035 reflects over 10 years of master planning to arrive at a program of work that will result in the Monterey Regional Airport continuing to provide a safe, efficient airport for our users and the aviation needs of our region.

Key Links:

Next teleconference will be held Tuesday 2/14/2023 at 10:00 AM.

If you are interested in participating on the teleconference or being added to the list please contact monica@montereychamber.com.

montereychamber.com

RIBBON CUTTING: Disaster KleenUp Specialists

Thursday, February 9 | 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

567 Ortiz Avenue | Sand City

Please join us for the DKS 40 Year Anniversary Ribbon Cutting! There will be interactive displays, drinks, food, and raffle giveaways! Meet the people and see the equipment necessary to clean-up almost any disaster, small or large. See why, when disaster strikes, the Central Coast trusts the specialists.

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