City of Pacific Grove Government News

The burning of a Chinese fishing village on the shores of Pacific Grove in 1906 continues to reverberate through the town’s history to the present – two years ago, P.G. City Council issued an official apology for the fire and racism endured by Chinese immigrants and their descendants. It’s a story known to locals, but it remains largely unknown beyond the Monterey Peninsula. A new film aims to change that.

In what could be a big upset the Pacific Grove City Council election, Tina Rau pulled ahead of incumbent Councilmember Luke Coletti in the latest round of vote counting. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, she was 41 votes behind Coletti who was in third place. As of an update by Monterey County Elections officials on Friday, Nov. 8, she was 130 votes ahead.

The lights went out for a big swath of Pacific Grove and Monterey during an outage on Election Night about an hour before the polls closed at 8pm, but thankfully power was still on downtown where two watch parties were…

The Pacific Grove City Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday, Oct. 16 to vacate Sloat Avenue and sell it to landowner Foursome Development for $1.9 million, a crucial step toward the construction of a 222-unit luxury hotel where the American Tin Cannery currently sits along Ocean View Avenue at the gateway to the city.

Pacific Grove is a beautiful place to live, but there are tensions that can make it challenging. Debates over the last several years have exposed fissures between those who want the small town to stay the same and those who want enough change to make P.G. more welcoming and livable, including for young families and workers.

On a hot day it's only natural to want to head to the beach to cool off. That's apparently as true for mountain lions as it is for humans.

For about a year, Pacific Grove Police Chief Cathy Madalone has been out of the spotlight, reportedly working from home due to an undisclosed injury, followed by a medical leave that began back in April.

Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake seemed determined to run for a fourth term—he took out candidate filing papers on the first day of the nomination period, July 15, according to the P.G. City Clerk's office—but about a week later he returned those papers, withdrawing from the race.

Anyone who has encountered the five-way stop intersection of Sunset Drive, Congress Avenue and Cedar Street in Pacific Grove knows how baffling it can be figuring out who has the right of way.

One of the most popular outdoor dining parklets in Pacific Grove and two of its neighbors will be dismantled later this year, to be replaced by extended sidewalks and "light footprint" structures at an estimated cost of $400,000.

A four-member majority of the Pacific Grove City Council on Wednesday, June 5, rejected Mayor Bill Peake's request to remove Economic Development Commissioner Mike Gibbs from his position.

A member of the Pacific Grove Economic Development Commission and persistent critic of the city's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, Mike Gibbs, is facing removal from his position.

For years, opponents of a proposed luxury resort hotel to replace the American Tin Cannery contended the project was too large and not properly vetted by the City of Pacific Grove.

The proposal to convert an employee parking lot at 16th Avenue between the Pacific Grove Fire Department and Youth Center into a smooth surface with wooden ramps for a three to six month trial was denied over cost.

The Pacific Grove City Council voted 4-2 on Wednesday, March 20 to once again stop a proposed skatepark project.

The City of Pacific Grove is on its way to switching from at-large to district elections, after the P.G. City Council voted 5-0 on Wednesday, March 6, to hire a demographer to study the makeup of P.G. residents—the first step…

Former Pacific Grove city manager Ben Harvey is currently the top candidate for the same job in Ojai, in Ventura County, less than six months after he agreed to a mutual separation with the P.G. City Council.

Pacific Grove officially said goodbye to the Feast of Lanterns, the town’s troubled faux Chinese pageant. Now the Monterey Bay Chinese Association wants to build a traditional pavilion and a moon wall to honor the history of Chinese Americans.

A majority of the Pacific Grove City Council in April all but killed the idea of a permanent skatepark in the town with a 5-2 vote, bowing to pressure by residents who feared such a facility would bring noise.

The city councils of Monterey and Pacific Grove have each approved ordinances allowing retail cannabis in the past few weeks, with Monterey best poised to issue business licenses on a faster timeline than its neighbor. Monterey could begin reviewing cannabis…

The city councils of Monterey and Pacific Grove have each approved ordinances allowing retail cannabis, with Monterey best poised to issue business licenses on a faster timeline.

Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake has decided to end Zoom call-ins to meetings two weeks after an organized group of white supremacists call-bombed a council meeting.

Confusion over how city code meshes with state liquor licenses was the reason given by members of the Pacific Grove Planning Commission for why they wanted to review the approved administrative use permit.

A new luxury boutique hotel in downtown Pacific Grove—over a decade in the making—finally broke ground on Sept. 29.

A chorus of conflicting wants and needs are crashing together on a research building of the former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.

Over 60 people showed up to Pacific Grove City Hall, both in person and online, almost all to support a proposed downtown all-ages live music venue.