[From the press release] The San Mateo County chapter of Surfrider Foundation will be joined by founder Glenn R. Hening at the “Endless Winter” benefit event commemorating two decades of working to preserve our oceans, waves and beaches. 

The event will feature tasty fare, libations, a special presentation by Mr. Hening on the upcoming release of his new book Waves of Warning, and live surf sounds from local Bay Area bands. The event is sponsored in part by Pedro Point Surf Club and the Pacifica Beach Coalition.

Glenn is recognized for having earned a unique reputation as modern surfing’s most eloquent and incisive provocateur according to The Surfers Journal, the industry’s premier magazine. 

Click on “Read more” to see the press release.

The economics of the crab fishery and the struggle of crab fisherman to organize to negotiate a price for their catch is the subject of a good story in The San Mateo County Times.  Fishermen not only face dissension within their own ranks, but competition in their fisheries from larger operators from Oregon and Washington. Maintaining discipline is not always pretty:

In 2002, local fisherman John Dooley—widely despised for his blatant disregard of association action—refused to participate in a three-week crab-fishing strike. The lines to 400 of his traps were cut.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) has chosen to divide up the coastside between two existing wards. The downside to this arrangement is that it splits the already small coastside community into really tiny constituencies.  From MROSD’s press release:

A total of about 30 people attended the public meetings and personally gave input on the redistricting alternatives to include the Coastside Protection Area, and another 20 people provided input via a survey on the District’s Web site. Results of the public comment clearly showed the one-Ward and two-Ward scenarios were the top choices of coastsiders for democratic representation of their community.

Ward 6 Director Larry Hassett, whose ward would include San Gregorio and La Honda under the new plan, said “Although the one-ward scenario was a consideration among coastside residents, the two-ward scenario is a tribute to the coast. Receiving many inquiries from the public during this process made me realize that having two directors represent the coastside would allow the sharing of the workload and provide greater Board availability and access for coastside residents.”

According to MROSD, the San Mateo County Farm Bureau echoed a similar opinion and supported the two-Ward scenario because under this configuration there would be a Board member election every two years, rather than every four years, providing greater opportunity for a coastside resident to become a District Board member.

Reading between the lines suggests that coastsiders who expressed an opinion preferred the one-ward alternative. The upside of this arrangement for the MROSD board is that it assures bayside control of the wards and decreases the likelihood any incumbents needing to campaign on the coast. Director Hassett’s explanation of this as a “tribute” to the coastside sounds patronizing to my ear and I’d like to talk to some folks at MROSD about it. With the holiday tomorrow, I may not be able to get them on the phone til Monday.  I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, please share your reaction to the new ward boundaries in the comments on this story.

Click on the “Read more” link to see the MROSD press release.

Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) purchased a conservation easement, as well as a trail easement, on the 624-acre Redgate Ranch for $1 million. POST describes the price as “an amount well below market”. The land is immediately adjacent to another POST property, Driscoll Ranch [annoying but useful Flash map of POST land].

“When POST purchased the neighboring Driscoll Ranch, I decided to look into what this organization was all about,” said Greg Jones in the POST press release. “We found that POST’ s vision of land preservation and conservation is closely align with our own, so we approached them to explore how we might work together.”

According to POST, the Redgate Ranch is a highly visible stretch of land along Highway 84 that contains open grasslands, encompassing a major ridge and a narrow interior valley, , northern coastal scrub, coastal oaks, and mixed conifer woodland.  Part of the San Gregorio watershed, the property is bounded by two direct tributaries to San Gregorio Creek: Bogess Creek to the east and El Corte de Madera to the west [topographical map of the area]. San Mateo County has identified these waterways as containing habitats for a number of rare and unique species, such as the federally threatened steelhead trout.

Click “Read more” to see the POST press release.

The Coastside Chess Club will kick off its 2004-2005 season with an open chess meet at the Adcock Center in Half Moon Bay on December 12, from 1pm to 5pm.  Chess sets and timers will be provided.

In order to encourage participation, we’ve lowered the fee to a requested five dollar donation, so that all of our local kids can take part. This is a great opportunity for local chess players to meet and even receive some free coaching.

Until recently, chess has been available at most Coastside schools. Right now, chess is only offered in the GATE program at Farallone View. To compensate, the Coastside Chess club will try to have more frequent meetings to meet the needs of all of the young players on the Coastside. We hope that some scholastic groups can be set up to offset the loss of chess in the schools this year.

Coastside Chess Club is directed by Dr. Eric Schiller, the Coastside’s only professional chess player, and an internationally ranked chess master. He’s written dozens of books on chess and taught in Coastside schools.

The club is looking for some help from parents, both to spread the word about our meetings and also to help a little bit with setup. Anyone who is interested in helping our club grow should contact Dr. Eric Schiller at

Coastsider was designed to be created by contributions from the community.

We’re looking for all kinds of contributions: links to coastside-related stories on other Web sites, first-hand accounts of coastside events (especially if you have pictures), descriptions of recreational opportunities (hiking, biking, picnicking, surfing, etc) on the coastside, opinion pieces from all viewpoints, and news. The only requirement is that it be directly related to our community.

To contribute all you have to do is join the site—it’s free and it’s private—by clicking on the “Register” link at the top of the left-hand column.  You can then send us your story by clicking on the “Submit a story to Coastsider” link that will appear once you’re logged on.

Once we’ve reviewed your story and checked your spelling, it will appear online.

If there is anything I can do to make this easier or less intimidating, email me using the “Email Barry Parr” link on the left-hand column.

SamTrans will offer round-trips to see northern elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Reserve.

The $13 trips leave from Albertson’s in Half Moon Bay from January 15 through February 27. People who hope to see the seals during their winter breeding season are urged to make reservations early. Reservations will be accepted beginning Nov. 15.

Pregnant seals come ashore to give birth from late December to early February. Mothers nurse their pups for about a month before mating and going back to sea. Most of the adult seals are gone by early March. The pups remain until April, basking in the sun and learning how to swim.

The two-and-one-half hour walk is conducted rain or shine. The entire trip, including the ride to the reserve, takes approximately six-and-one-half hours. Visitors traveling to the reserve by private car cannot use tickets purchased from SamTrans for their tour.

For more information or to request a reservation form [PDF], call the SamTrans Año Nuevo hotline at 650-508-6441. People with hearing impairments may call (TDD only) 650-508-6448.

On Monday morning, 25 employees of the Cabrillo Unified School District, parents, students, and community representatives will assemble for a marathon strategic planning process.

I’ve got a call in to Superintendent John Bayless, but since I didn’t find out about the meeting until the Friday before Monday’s meeting, I may not be able to talk to him before the meeting.

CUSD board member Dwight Wilson says the goal is to lay out the “educational strategic planning issues for the next five years.” It’s not a facilities planning meeting.

Since the CUSD Board approved the process last spring, it has been out of the public eye. The District has been working on this without publicity or calls for volunteers. It’s unclear how Superintendent Bayless chose the members of the group (click on the “Read more for a complete list of members) or when they were chosen. Although they have already held one orientation meeting, no one seems to have heard about this process.

Armed with a binder of statistics about the community and the school system, the group will meet at Elkus Ranch from 8:30am to 8:00pm on Monday and Tuesday and until midafternoon on Wednesday—and that’s just the beginning. Committee meetings will follow for months until the final document is presented to the district in the spring.

The agenda for the first three days is ultra-generic planning stuff. The group will come to a consensus on a statement of beliefs, mission statement, strategic parameters, objectives, and strategies.  The team will also list internal and external factors, competition, and critical issues affecting the strategy. The process should generate enough material for a year’s worth of Dilbert strips.

Over the next three to four months, the group will break down into teams that will flesh out the strategies with tasks, timelines, responsibilities, and cost/benefit analyses.

In the spring, the group will reassemble and prepare the final strategic plan for the Board.