Community bands together to build playground

Volunteers help construct Tatum’s Treehouse, an accessible playground in Carmel Valley. ORVILLE MYERS — SPECIAL TO THE HERALD

Tatum Bakker, the inspiration for some local accessible playgrounds, watches over work at Carmel Valley. ORVILLE MYERS — SPECIAL TO THE HERALD

The start of the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey IndyCar race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. T.M. HILL — COURTESY OF WEATHERTECH RACEWAY

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A community effort created a fully accessible playground in Carmel Valley, aimed at being an all-inclusive space for children and families.

Tatum’s Treehouse was built at the Carmel Valley Community Youth Center playground. A partnership between Tatum’s Garden Foundation and the Carmel Valley Community Youth Center, the playground is the second of its kind in Monterey County, after Tatum’s Garden was introduced in Salinas back in 2013. The playground is named after Tatum Bakker, who was born with spina bida and uses a wheelchair.

The foundation partnered with Leathers & Associates to spearhead a comprehensive community-led effort. All of the construction and building was done by volunteers with hundreds of people from all over the Central Coast chipping in.

“We have skilled volunteers and unskilled, our experts in the field Leathers & Associates come in and lead community processes like this, they assign tasks based on skill level,” said Amanda Bakker, Tatum’s mom and founder of Tatum’s Garden Foundation.

Bakker said the goal of the foundation was to meet or exceed traditional ADA standards.

“Surfacing is really important. With sand or bark on the ground, a child in a wheelchair might get stuck,” Bakker said. “It’s about thinking and being mindful of the needs of the community. We’ll have panels with braille and some with sensory features.” As for Tatum, now 14, Bakker said she has enjoyed watching her daughter embrace the role as an advocate.

“It’s really special to watch it come full circle,” Bakker said. “She’s got two young cousins who are very excited to try this playground. You can see that she’s appreciated having a space like this to play, and now she gets to share that with other people.”

National scandal in Monterey

The world’s media turned its focus to Monterey as word got out that Pete Hegseth, a popular Fox News host who is Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Defense, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey. No charges were filed in the case, but Monterey Police did release a redacted report of the incident. It was later revealed that Hegseth paid the woman who accused him to head off the threat of a lawsuit, according to Hegseth’s lawyer.

Laguna Seca

The California 6th District Court of Appeal upheld a decision in favor of the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula — SCRAMP — and Monterey County, that ended the legal fight brought about by a man who was injured in an accident at the Laguna Seca racetrack.

The State Court of Appeal affirmed Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills’ decision that found Monterey County — owner of WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca — was not responsible for the 2015 motorcycle crash at the track. Wills also noted in his 22-page decision that crashing while riding a motorcycle, on or off the track, is an inherent risk that riders take.

Later that month, it was announced that A&D Narigi Consulting, LLC was handing off management of the Laguna Seca Raceway and Recreational Area at the end of the year to the Friends of Laguna Seca, a local nonprofit.

A close election

It took awhile to certify the vote, but when everything was counted and double checked, Jean Rasch had won a seat on Monterey City Council by just 13 votes, Pacific Grove had a new mayor, Nick Smith, as did Carmel, Dale Byrne, and Seaside decided it would continue to allow limited use of safe and sane fireworks.