After a week of presenting Romeo and Juliet to local schools, the students of Cunha’s Drama Class are ready for their close up.  Tonight, from 7pm to 8:30, the public debut of Romeo and Juliet will take place in Cunha Middle School Multi Purpose Room.  Tickets are on sale at the door, but seats are limited, so come early.  Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for students/children. Click on the picture of dead Juliet to pictures of recent performances. 

Lynne Ruppel, Senior Coastsiders coordinator of volunteers, is leaving after eight years of service. She’s leaving to prepare for the birth of her baby in Mid-May, according to the County Times. She is also moving from her home in La Honda to the “central county”.  One of Ruppel’s big projects is the Senior Home Repair Day, which is June 11 this year, which requires year-round organization and the coordination of 200 volunteers working on 24 homes.

Seven people were injured in a head-on auto collision in Montara/Moss Beach at about 6pm Wednesday night. At least three of the injured are students at Cunha Middle School.

According to the California Highway Patrol,

a Toyota Corolla driven by Desiree Turner, a 38 year-old resident of Moss Beach was stopped on Highway 1 southbound approaching Carlos St. in preparation to make a left hand turn. A Brown Lexus driven by Kristen Shaw, a 45 year-old resident of Half Moon Bay was traveling southbound on SR-1 and failed to see the Toyota as she approached the vehicle from the rear. The Lexus collided into the rear of the Toyota sending the Toyota into the opposing lane of traffic. The front of the Toyota subsequently struck a Mitsubishi Mirage head on. The Mitsubishi Mirage was traveling northbound on SR-1 and was driven by 36 year-old Lothar Tuppan II, from Moss Beach. Seven people in all were transported to local area hospitals for minor to moderate injuries as a result of this collision.

If you have any information regarding this collision please contact Officer Suhl of the California Highway Patrol in Redwood City at (650) 369-6261.

Volunteers have posted a copy of the 1978 “Montara - Moss Beach - El Granada Community Plan”. This must have been a huge effort, because the original document was an 11 x 11 inch comb-bound monster—not a convenient size to scan at all. The plan was created by residents of the San Mateo coastal communities with the aid of County planners.  According to site creator Leonard Woren:

This led to the Land Use Plan which was approved by the Board of Supervisors and the California Coastal Commission. The LUP became part of the Local Coastal Program adopted by the Board of Supervisors and certified by the California Coastal Commission. This visionary Plan has held up through the years because current residents who have seen it have expressed appreciation for it.

In the late 1990’s, the County tried to collect all existing printed copies of the Plan, claiming that it was being updated and that they didn’t want obsolete versions floating around. Of course it was never updated and it seems as though the County is determined to undermine the Plan by allowing all-out development.

If you’re one of those people who can’t get enough of old planning documents (and you know who you are) the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) 1999 study of the challenges faced by Half Moon Bay, the Midcoast and Pacifica is still on ABAG’s site. This “Coastside Subregional Planning Project” plan specifically references the 1978 Community Plan in its footnotes for “For shoreline access, recreation, open space and resource conservation policies”.

Still not sure what you can do to keep the County from turning the Caltrans bypass in Montara’s back yard into an enormous suburb? You can sign a petition. The petition is located at Caffe Lucca on Highway 1 in Montara.

If you haven’t been there lately, the new owners have spruced the place up, and the screened-in patio is a nice place to enjoy the wonderful sunny weather we’ve been having lately. Why not stop by, sign the petition (which is right there on the counter), maybe grab a cup of coffee, and tell them you heard about it on Coastsider?

A summit of all the agencies responsible for water on the Coastside—in partnership with a host of other utilities, conservation organizations, and government agencies—will be held next Thursday in Half Moon Bay from 9am to 4pm.

The goal of the meeting is to balance the uses of the Pilarcitos Creek watershed. Coastside water use and quality is the responsibility of a bunch of agencies (Montara Water & Sanitary District, SF PUC, Coastside County Water District, and Sewer Authority Midcoastside—itself a joint effort of MWSD, Granada Sanitary District, and the city of Half Moon Bay) and the process of managing our water for home, agricultural, and the environmental use is complicated to say the least.

The people responsible for this complex system of water and waste will meet for a program that includes experts on water recycling, the current poor condition of Pilarcitos Creek, and how the creek can be restored. There will be an hour for Q&A, moderated by San Mateo County supervisor Rich Gordon.

The summit is produced by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Coastside County Water District, and Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside.  Partners, in addition to the producing agencies, include:

• California Department of Fish & Game


• City of Half Moon Bay


• Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary


• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary


• NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service


• San Mateo County Resource Conservation District


• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


• Committee for Green Foothills


• Peninsula Open Space Trust


• Pilarcitos Creek Advisory Committee


• Planning & Conservation League Foundation


• San Mateo County Farm Bureau


• Save Our Shores


• Surfrider Foundation San Mateo County


• Sustainable Conservation

This is a very important meeting—a watershed meeting in all senses of the word. I apologize for not getting this story online sooner, but I expected the Half Moon Bay Review to be all over it. The announcement flyer went out last Thursday and the press release on Tuesday morning.  There was nothing in yesterday’s paper, although the Review did run an announcement in February before the date had been chosen. It’s an all-day meeting, and most members of the public are going to need at least a week’s notice to get away from their jobs for this important meeting.

The meeting will be Thursday, April 28 from 9am to 4pm at I.D.E.S. Hall, 735 Main Street, in Half Moon Bay. Admission is free. And if you pre-register at 650.712.7765 you can reserve at free lunch.
You can download the flyer and the agenda for the meeting from Coastsider.

Tell your friends.

There is a person at Comcast who is working to get FM radio back on our system. Her name is Cecelia Kennedy, in Executive Compliance at Comcast. I talked to her today she has asked that people who want FM restored to their cable call her at 1.925.349.3397. She’s keeping a list of people who want FM restored and is forwarding it internally.

There is plenty of reason to believe this will work. Cecelia tells me that Comcast removed FM and restored it to cable systems in Oakland, Pinole, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Monterey, Santa Rosa, Concord, Danville, and Walnut Creek.

A member of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Board of Directors has asked the board to put an advisory measure on November’s ballot to guage citizens’ willingness to buy the the Peninsula water system. The sytem is owned by California American Water Co., which used to own Montara’s system. Alvin Edwards wants the board to vote now, so that if the board votes the ballot measure down, citizens will have time to gather the necessary signatures to put it on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Felton, in Santa Cruz County, has been exploring buying its water system from Cal Am for some time.

CORRECTION: The original version of this story confused Monterey Peninsula’s buyout with Felton’s. These are two separate efforts.

It’s one of those rare sunny Saturdays in Half Moon Bay, but the students of Mr. Ward’s drama class at Cunha Middle School are still in school. About twenty 7th and 8th graders are scattered around the multi-purpose room putting the finishing touches on costumes and set designs for their performance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. 

“By the end of next week, over 1,500 people will have seen our performance” says Mr. Ward, the play’s director and teacher of the drama group at Cunha. All this week these students will travel to local schools (Hatch, Farallone View) giving multiple performances of bring Shakespeare to younger kids.

This particular version, “Romeo and Juliet for young people” was specifically written to be understood and enjoyed by younger audiences.  While the play stays true to the original words of Shakespeare, additional staging and descriptions help further bring the story to life. Two announcers are added to introduce scenes and explain difficult passages, making it easier for audiences to keep up with the dialog.

Much to the excitement of the young Capulets and Montagues-in-training, a professional fight choreographer was brought in to help stage the intricate sword play required in the first scene.  Dexter Fidler, whose 20 years of experience spans from the San Francisco Ballet’s staging of Romeo and Juliet to artistic director for the Peninsula Youth Theater, spent about two hours this weekend, walking the kids through the parries and thrusts that make for realistic sword play.  “This is a truly challenging play, especially for this age group, and I’m very impressed with the energy the Cunha drama team is putting into this play”, said Dexter.

Many of the students are already tenured actors, having preformed in local and state theatre groups.  Assistant director, 8th grader Ben Romsdahl, has spent 2 years with the Young Actors’ Workshop and has performed in 2 plays before “Romeo and Juliet”. “I really like being able to help the other kids with staging and their parts.  Besides, it’s just fun to be able to hang out with my friends while working on the play.” Seventh grader Morgana Bowman, another seasoned performer, is also a member of the Young Actors’ Workshop, and started her career at the tender age of 4 in a production of “Snow White”. Morgana said, “Being in this play has been a great experience.  I love acting and I also get to spend more time with my friends!”

Among the veterans there are many first-time actors in this years production. Victoria Ortiz, a 7th grader in the role of “Princess of Verona” has showcased her singing talents in the Farallone View talent show, but his is her first acting gig.  “I’m really glad to finally be able to expand my experience to acting from just singing in local shows.  In some ways, singing is more difficult because you’re alone and everyone is focused just on you.  With acting you get to work with a whole group. If anyone makes a mistake, the others can just keep the play moving along.  It teaches you to really depend on your friends.”

Click on any of the pictures to the right for our album showing all the Cunha students getting ready for this exciting adventure.  There will be a final performance of the play for the community this Friday, April 22nd at 7pm in the Cunha Multi Use room.  Tickets are $5.00 for Adults and $4.00 for children/students. 

The connections between food quality & health, local food production and the “Edible Schoolyard Project” are the subject of the fourth event in the Coastside Livability Series from NeighborShare and The Livability Project. The speaker is Jeffrey Bruno Ph.D.

The event is Thursday April 21st at 7:30 PM at the historic Johnston House Depot Building, 1/4 mile east of Highway 1 on Higgins Purisima Road. Admission is $10 with a 20% discount for Livability Project members.

Click “read more” to see the press release.