Monterey County Local News Search

The City of Marina is known for its coastal access, diverse community and an array of international food options, but it’s missing a well-defined downtown area.

When the Marina City Council meets Jan. 17, Councilmember Cristina Medina Dirksen plans to announce her resignation, effective Jan. 28, with almost a year remaining on her term.

Between 2000 and 2010, Marina’s population dropped by 21 percent. During that same time, the city’s downtown flagged.

There aren’t many hurdles left to clear for Monterey-Salinas Transit’s SURF! project, a rapid transit busway between Marina and Sand City.

City expenditures are split among essential needs and quality-of-life benefits in a budgeting process. And with the fiscal year beginning July 1, government entities, including Monterey County’s 12 cities, are in various stages of tweaking and finalizing their annual budgets.

The prospect of a second cardroom, which allows games like blackjack and poker, has become a lightning rod of controversy.

The city of Marina joined the CSU Monterey Bay campus in becoming friendly to electric scooters after the council approved an agreement with Bird Rides Inc., a Miami-based bike and scooter rental company.

In the only contested council race in Marina, Liesbeth Visscher, chair of the group Citizens for Just Water, has an 8-percent lead against Les Martin, a Navy retiree, to represent District 4.

Elections this year will be different than last time voters went to the polls. For jurisdictions like the city of Marina that use districts, the 2020 Census means new district lines.

At the corner of 2nd Avenue and Eighth Street in Marina sits a 55-acre asphalt wasteland, a vestige left over from Fort Ord days, now an unused part of the CSU Monterey Bay campus.