Comcast is raising cable rates by 5.7% for nearly all Bay Area communities in the new year, according to the SF Chronicle. This follows rate increases of 5.9% in November 2003 and 6.5% in January 2003, for an average annual increase of nearly 10%. Comcast has 1.6 million Bay Area customers in 128 municipalities, including the Coastside.

While some communities, notably San Jose, will be exempt from this increase, Comcast has not released a complete list of all the affected customers. Expect to be notified by mail whether the Coastside will get hit with an increase.

Comcast cited as justification availability of more programming choices, improvements in customer service and investments in technical upgrades to justify its price increase.  Consumer groups suggested it might have something to do with the fact that Comcast is an unregulated monopoly.

The California Department of Fish and Game has issued a letter recommending suspension of disking [pdf] and other potentially damaging agricultural activity at the Wavecrest site pending further evaluation by state and federal agencies.  Two weeks ago, the California Coastal Commission also asked for the disking to stop.

Addressed to Wavecrest attorneys and copied to a number of city, school district, state and federal authorities, the letter was prompted by extensive mowing and disking at the Wavecrest site two weeks ago in preparation for the cultivation of hay.

The property owners’ attorney says that the disking was monitored by a biologist and that they are “trying to be extra-specially careful”.

The Department says that at this time of year any San Francisco garter snake on the property would likely be underground in burrows not visible to observers and unable to escape disking. The Department said that the biologist would have no real impact on the risk of killing snakes.

“(Our) concern is reinforced by reports that at least three garter snakes (species unknown) have already been killed by the discing carried out to date,” wrote Robert Floerke, DFG regional manager for the Central Coast Region in the DFG letter, dated Nov. 22.

Under federal law, harming or killing an endangered species such the Red-Legged Frog (which has been found in a different part of Wavecrest) is illegal without a specifically designed plan that assesses and mitigates for “take” of protected animals. Under state law, any take of a San Francisco Garter Snake is illegal, except for scientific study or recovery purposes.

“Based on this information, the Department recommends that discing activities cease," the letter said, until the developer, the state DFG and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service evaluate the situation and agree upon a management plan consistent with applicable local, state and federal laws.

The letter in closing also clarified that putting the Wavecrest property into agricultural production did not “significantly change the Department’s existing evaluation that the site should be considered habitat ... based on a number of factors, only one of which is the actual physical condition of the property.”

The Chamber of Commerce has posted a list of restaurants open on Thanksgiving.  As someone who has spent a couple of Thanksgivings looking for dinner, I think this is a great idea.  You should probably call now for reservations.

• Cetrella - (650) 726-4090


• Half Moon Bay Joe’s - (650) 560-9260


• Moss Beach Distillery - (650) 728-5595


• Navio at The Ritz-Carlton - (650) 712-7050


• Pasta Moon - (650) 726-5125

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has assumed leadership of a new audit of Coastside sewer services. And the new EPA standards could have a significant financial impact on the Coastside, including the city of Half Moon Bay, Granda Sanitary District, and Montara Water and Sanitary District.

HMB Mayor Mike Ferreira and Council member Sid McCausland raised this issue at the November 16th meeting of the Half Moon Bay City Council.

Ferreira expressed his concern that a portion of the EPA mandate could call for major capital improvements to increase the ability of the system to accommodate major storms or to provide drinking-water-quality treatment of the sewer plant effluent.  Given the Coastside’s economic base, he doubted that the Coastside has the financial capacity to undertake some of the major capital improvements that could wind up being proposed by the EPA.

The audit report, which is expected sometime after the first of the year, is likely to recommend that the Coastside sewer agencies get tough with homeowners whose sewer lines from the house to the street are in need of repair.  The audit is also likely to call for actions to strengthen the cooperative management of Coastside sewers, standardize procedures for responding to emergencies and strengthen programs for maintaining the sewers.

But the EPA could also insist on expensive infrastructure improvements.

The biggest shock to homeowners could well be an EPA requirement that Montara Water and Sanitary District, the Granada Sanitary District and Half Moon Bay develop rigid inspection procedures and enforcement programs for those sewer lines from run from caostside homes to the street.  EPA wants to stop rain water and ground water from seeping into the sewer system and to keep flushes from leaking out.  During storms, many Coastside sewer spills are the result of too much storm runoff and ground water infiltrating broken and poorly aligned sewer lines and, thereby, overwhelming the capacity of the collection system.

“That’s a huge source of the inflow we experience,” says Scott Boyd, president of the Montara Water and Sanitary District and one of the District’s two representatives to the Sewer Authority Midcoastside.

The biggest shock to the sewer agencies is likely to be EPA’s announcement that they have moved the goal posts.  Under EPA’s new mandate, major fines can be imposed for sewer spills that previously were not even required to be reported.  For decades the Regional Water Quality Control Board set the standard for Coastside sewer discharges and spills.  The current standards require the reporting of all spills that may enter environmentally sensitive areas as well as spills greater than a certain number of gallons.

In general sewer agencies were expected to limit the number of reportable spills to ten per hundred miles of sewer lines per year.  Under the EPA, it appears that the limit will be reduced to four spills of any size.  The EPA’s new standards are expected to essentially make every spill an offense that may trigger a fine.

“What we hope is that the EPA will require us to do what we already know we need to do,” said Boyd. “But, with the EPA, it doesn’t really matter what we want.”

McCausland noted that the Sewer Authority Midcoast (SAM) and its three member agencies welcome the opportunity to strengthen their management of Coastside sewer system, but that the resources to make improvements are limited.  He noted that under the current governor, all property taxes have been diverted away from the Montara and Granada districts on the assumption that those sewer special districts can replace the lost property tax revenues by raising the fees charged to their users.

“SAM’s directors and our member agencies are looking forward to cooperating with the EPA on improving our management of all of our midcoast sewers,” McCausland noted.  “Every one of us and our agencies are dedicated to enhancing the quality of our Coastside environment.  We just have to make certain that everyone understands that the lemon has already been squeezed by many forces that have been in play ever since the passage of Proposition 13.  I simply don’t know where the money would come from to pay EPA’s potential fines or build an EPA mandated pipe dream.”

This weekend’s windstorm kept Southcoast firefighters very busy. Starting Saturday evening, Firefighters from CDF, Half Moon Bay, La Honda and Kings Mountain Fire Depts. responded to multiple wind related calls, four involving fires.

The first fire at Bean Hollow Rd at Highway 1 was reported at 9 pm. Once there, firefighters discovered an approximately 30 foot spot burning in roadside vegetation. It was as a result of downed power lines.

The second fire was reported 9 minutes later and located at 210 Pigeon Point Rd. This fire resulted in damage to a storage barn as well as burning a about a 40-foot spot of the surrounding vegetation. The cause is under investigation.

At 5:49am Sunday, a structure fire was reported at 901 Bean Hollow Rd with a second report of a structure fire in the area of the Cascade Ranch several miles to the south. Firefighters were sent to both locations, however only one fire was discovered at the Bay City Flower facility on Bean Hollow Rd. This fire was also the result of downed power lines that burned stored PVC pipe, plastic sheeting, agricultural equipment and approximately 1/4 of an acre vegetation. No structures were involved in this incident.

Separately, State Highway 84 in La Honda was closed for over 20 hours as a result of downed power and communication lines.

Should the Half Moon Bay Review be required to file as an official Political Action Committee? The actions of this coastside publication beg that question. Following is my experience with them.

During the recent campaign season, I was the campaign manager for school board candidate Jonathan Lundell. During the campaign, the Half Moon Bay Review systematically manipulated their letters page and ad placement to promote an outcome that favored the Wavecrest development.

Along with Lundell, John Moseley and Charles Gardner were running for three seats on the Cabrillo Unified School District board.

This is a chronological account of my experience with the Review:

In early September, I met with the Review’s advertising staff. I reserved space for the entire campaign on page 3A, next to the space already reserved by Charles Gardner, except for the last issue before the election when Gardner had reserved the entire available space on 3A.

Sept 22—John Moseley used the space reserved by the Gardner campaign. We used the space we reserved.

Sept 29—Moseley and Gardner shared the space reserved by the Gardner campaign. We used the space we reserved.

Oct 6—Gardner used the reserved space. Moseley ran no ad. The Review published a letter to the editor by Jolanda Schreurs, school board member, “Wavecrest woes can be overcome” in support of building the Middle School on the Wavecrest property.

Oct 13—Moseley used the Gardner reserved space. Gardener used space on 7A. We used our reserved space.

Oct 16—Jonathan submitted a letter to the editor regarding building a middle school on the Wavecrest property. On Oct 18 the Review rejected his letter and he was told that no editorial letters regarding the campaign would be accepted this year. This is a change in the Review’s prior policy of accepting letters to the editor until the last issue, and inconsistent with the publication of the 10/6 Schreurs letter.

Oct 20—the Review printed an attack ad in Gardner’s reserved space, adjacent to our ad.  In an endorsement titled “Vote for Gardner, Moseley for CUSD”, the Review cited the middle school at Wavecrest as the deciding issue.

Oct 27—In the last issue of the Review before the election, Moseley and Gardner shared the reserved space.  The Review again prints a pro- Wavecrest letter, this time from Jim Larimer ["Make Wavecrest Happen Already”, no link available], but no letters from anyone else about the campaign.

Nov 3—On the day after the election, the Review’s managing editor Clay Lambert evaluated the attack ad in and editorial called “An ad that added absolutely nothing”.

Nov 10—The Review prints a story on page 3A “Ad writers say ends justify means of CUSD campaign” by Clay Lambert. It identified Jolanda Schreurs as coordinating the attack ad with the Gardner campaign and Jim Larimer, Chris Mickelsen and Kirk Riemer having paid for the attack ad.

Throughout this entire time Jonathan’s supporters were sending letters of support for Jonathan and his positions. None of them were printed.

Meanwhile, the Review printed two letters from Gardner’s supporters promoting the Wavecrest development, the very issue identified by the Review as the most critical to their endorsement.

Here we see the Review’s systematic manipulation of the school board election to the advantage of the two candidates promoting the Wavecrest development, and the silencing of any support for the Lundell campaign.

Because the attack ad was not independent of the Gardner campaign, the campaign is required to report this ad as a nonmonetary contribution under California campaign finance law. Because the ad was paid for on or before 10/14, it should have been included in the reporting period ending 10/16. It was not. I have filed a complaint with the FPPC.

The ad raised enough eyebrows that the San Mateo County Times did a page 2 article on the Review’s behavior [No longer online, but reported on Coastsider]. The Review didn’t follow up until after the election.

Unfortunately, election manipulation has become the standard practice of the Review. In the last candidate election in the fall of 2003 the Review scheduled candidate interviews for endorsement then called the candidates cancelling the interviews stating that the Review would not be doing endorsements then did “recommendations” for the voters with no interviews of the candidates. This was misleading to the candidates and unfair. Even candidates who received recommendations from the Review considered this to be an underhanded practice, unfair to the candidates.

It is unfortunate that the Review is beholden to the real estate developers, real estate agents and construction firms here on the coast. Perhaps if they had adequate revenue from another source they would be an ethical publication. They are not now and there is no reason to expect them to change in the near future.

The Sanctuary Advisory Councils of the Monterey Bay and Gulf of the Farallones marine sanctuaries will hold a joint public meeting Dec. 3. The meeting will discuss the sanctuaries’ management plans and policies on personal watercraft at Maverick’s.

The meeting will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Costanoa Lodge and Resort, 2001 Rossi Road at Highway 1, Pescadero.

We won’t be posting as much news on Coastsider during Thanksgiving week.  I am using the reduced pace of the holiday week to work on a couple of new features for the site. I will still be posting news and editing the site, so free to post your own stories.

A magnitude-3.9 earthquake hit Parkfield in Monterey County on Thursday night at 6:56pm. There have been no reports of any injuries or damage. Parkfield had a 6.0-magnitude quake in September.