This week features a warrant arrest, a breakin in Skylonda twarted by an alarm, a vandalized car in Montara, a DUI in El Granada, and an “incident” in Pescadero involving a temporary garage door, a VW beetle, and a freezer.

Click “read more” to get the details.

Another serious accident, this time fatal, has resulted from a vehicle stopped to make a left-hand turn on Highway 1 between Montara and Moss Beach.

Wednesday night, at about 7:30pm, Sherre Smith, 56, of Half Moon Bay was killed when her northbound car was forced into oncoming traffic while waiting to turn left. In April, at nearly the same location, a southbound car waiting to turn left was struck and forced into the opposite lane where it was hit by another vehicle, injuring seven.

Smith traveling north on SR-1 in a red Acura Integra. North of 16th Street in Montara, She stopped, preparing to make a left turn. (In the CHP press release, this location is described as “north of 16th Avenue in Moss Beach”).

While she was stopped, her car was struck from behind by a 1999 white Chevrolet Astrovan, driven by Brent Clark, 25, of Half Moon Bay. 

The force propelled the Acura forward and into the southbound lane of traffic on Highway 1.  As Sherre Smith’s Acura entered the southbound lane, it was broadsided by the gray 2004 Ford Taurus, driven by Carol Mitchell, 68, of El Granada. 

Sherre Smith was fatally injured in the collision.  Carol Mitchell, who struck her, sustained major injuries and was taken to Seton Hospital in Daly City.

This account is based on a press release from the California Highway Patrol. If you have any information regarding this collision please contact Officer Story of the CHP in Redwood City at (650) 369-6261.

I’ve been trying to find the time to walk around more on the Coastside. Every time I do, I’m delighted with what I find. I know that most of us are intimately familiar with parts of this place, but I suspect that we could all spend more time of out of our cars and walking around.

Every time I get out of the machine and walk around or ride my bike, it’s a revelation. The difference between traveling 40 miles an hour shrouded in metal and glass and two miles an hour is all the difference in the world.  For a long time, I didn’t understand why Marshall McLuhan considered the automobile to be a medium.  But experiencing the Coastside from your car is like watching it on TV.

• I didn’t really understand how huge and wild Wavecrest is until I biked across it, even though I’d driven past it hundreds of times by then.

 

• A few weeks ago, I walked out toward the quarry in Pacifica and was stunned—Highway 1 and its noise disappeared as I dropped below the grade, and I could see the hills, but not the houses to the east. 

 

• Last year, I wrote a story about what it was like to walk across Pilarcitos Creek alongside Highway 1 (it’s horrible). 

 

• And just a few weeks ago, I walked along the Pilarcitos Creek Trail for the first time. Even though it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s a vast improvement over the alternatives and is quieter and more natural than you might expect. And a surprisingly large large number of people were using it, too.

Unlike other Bay Area communities, there are very few parts of our community that aren’t walkable, or can’t be cycled. Last week, I found myself walking in Colma and was stunned by how many streets were inaccessible to pedestrians, and most of those that I could use were frightening and unpleasant. Of course, most of Colma’s residents are dead.

I’ve wanted to write about why we need to get out of our cars and walk around for a while. I was finally inspired to this piece when I heard an essay in Living on Earth on KQED, from a guy calling himself The Reactionary Pedestrian.

I found out there is no bridge anywhere in the state of Louisiana that you can walk across the Mississippi River. It is prohibited. It is becoming illegal to get across this country on foot. I can’t believe anybody building a bridge across a river for four lanes of automobiles and not even considering pedestrians and bicycles. Anyway. Waiting on a bus to get across the river. I don’t have the energy to get across any other way right now.

You’ve got to be out there, breathing exhaust fumes every day. You’ve got to walk down the road at night and step on a lump and not know whether it’s a piece of blown-out tire or another dead owl. That’s how you get to be a fanatic reactionary pedestrian. You can read all you want about the paving of America, about urban sprawl and smog and vanishing habitat and on and on, but that’s just theory. It’s awful out there by the side of the road! It gets worse every day!

The text of the essay is available online, but I recommend listening to the audio version, so you can hear his voice and the highway humming ominously in the background.

There are dozens of places on the Coastside that I know I have driven past heedlessly and want to discover.

What are your favorite places to walk on the Coastside?  What things are we missing by not getting out of our cars?  What are the hidden delights about this place?  How does your perspective change when you get out of your car?

The body found at Pescadero State Beach has been identified.  Steven Lee DeBrish was a man with a family, children and a home, who died homeless on the Coastside because his schizophrenia.  DeBrish grew up in Half Moon Bay and Pescadero, so he know the beaches well. There’s a moving story about his life and disappearance at InsideBayArea.com

DeBrish’s family will hold a ceremony on Thursday in the Pescadero State Beach parking lot off of Highway 1. Donations can be directed to Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Presidio Building, 1003 O’Reilly Avenue, P.O. box 29917, San Francisco 94129.

This year’s election on the Coastside will be huge and hotly contested. A total of 19 offices on seven boards are up for election on the Coastside on November 8. The majority of the seats on five of seven boards will be up for a vote this year.

Beginning today, candidates can file their paperwork with the county to declare their intention to run for office.  The deadline for candidacy papers is August 12. The deadline for a board will be extended to August 17 of an incumbent does not file by the first deadline.

If you’re interested in running, the county is holding seminar for potential candidates covering filing regulations, campaign finance reporting and other issues. Two seminars have already been held. The final seminar will be 6 to 7:30pm, Thursday, July 28, at county election headquarters, 40 Tower Road, in San Mateo.

There is also a great deal of information, including a 45-page guide for potential candidates [PDF], available on the county’s elections website.

The multi-agency staff meeting at HMB’s proposed Community Park site on Thursday morning was, in my estimation, a complete success.  Agencies represented by staffmembers were the City of Half Moon Bay, California Coastal Commission and California Fish and Game with the latter acting as an information conduit for U.S. Fish and Wildlife.  Also involved was the City’s park design consultant, MIGS, and the environmental consultant subcontracted to MIGS.

The desired outcome of the meeting was to sort through the many overlapping issues and rules of the various agencies in order to give MIGS a clearer idea as to environmentally acceptable areas and design features on likely developable areas as well as to distill a clear set of acceptable interim maintenance procedures for the City.  The depth of the discussion was excellent and ranged beyond agency policy and into the behavior patterns of threatened and endangered species.

The desired outcome was achieved.  Due to the environmental status of the site as operated by the previous owner - even with the presence of Red Legged Frogs in the pond - the preponderance of the site is very likely quite appropriate for a Community Park Site and is maintainable in its current condition until a Coastal Development Permit is obtained for the actual park construction.  I use the phrase “very likely” because guidance from staffmembers at this phase must always be subject to further environmental studies and permits.

The Community Park—from an environmental standpoint—is as much of a “go” at this stage of the process as any project on the Coastside can possibly be.

Mike Ferreira is a member of the Half Moon Bay City Council

This week, it’s graffiti, a concealed weapon at Pomponio State Beach, a theft from an unlocked car, a DUI arrested by Lt. Shiveley himself, and a DUI that just couldn’t get out of the way of the Sheriff.

Click “read more” to see the details

The Examiner features a story about a dream home for sale in the hills of Montara. You’ve probably already seen it on the hills to the north of town, where it looks like it’s bigger than its 2,557 square feet.  It is indeed a beautiful house, and its natural materials and curves make it a lot less ugly than the typical stucco and red tile box.

The property borders open space, which means residents can “basically go out the door and go on a long hike,” Stafford said.

The couple is proud of the sensitive design they will leave behind.

“Even the most ardent opponent of growth on the coast compliments us on how well the house fits into the environment,” Stafford said.

There might be a lot of claimants for the title of “most ardent opponent of growth on the coast”.

The asking price is $2.2 million.

The California Coastal approved a consent decree between the commission and Ocean Colony Partners “to address removal of unpermitted rocks riprap below 18th hole of Half Moon Bay Golf Links”.  The seawall has been a source of contention between the resort and public access advocates ever since it was erected.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez has re-appointed Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter to the California Coastal Commission, and appointed Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla.

The Sierra Club organized a campaign against Potter, reports the Monterey County Herald.

“I’ve been reappointed more than anybody in Coastal Commission history,” he said. But he said this particular round was a “challenge” because of opposition from some environmentalists.

As supervisor, his vote in favor of a Pebble Beach Co. plan that includes cutting down part of the Del Monte Forest has been unpopular with some conservation groups, especially the Sierra Club.

“That’s the trouble with making decisions,” he said. “They’re not always popular.”

Padilla spearheaded a huge waterfront plan for Chula Vista—a plan which will go before the Commission, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

Padilla, who was elected mayor in 2002, said he was approached by people in the labor and environmental community about the commission seat.
...
Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Baykeeper, said his environmental organization supported Padilla. The group was impressed with Padilla’s political savvy in winning support from different groups as he worked to develop the city’s bay front.

“I really think he’ll be an environmental leader,” Reznik said. “Right now, this is a really critical seat.”