Coastal Commissioner Steve Blank is a Democrat appointed to the commission by Governor Schwarzenegger, reports the Capitol Weekly. He opposed the toll road through a state park—a position that cost Clint Eastwood and Bobby Shriver, the governor’s brother in law, their seats on the State Parks Commission. He’s also a Coastsider, with a home across Highway 1 from Año Nuevo.

“The biggest misperception is that nobody understands that it’s zoning. It’s not that you’ve lost property rights, it’s just that zoning differs (in the coastal zone). It’s unlike any other place in the world. This is because 75 percent of the population lives within 25 miles of the coast, but it is still among the most pristine coasts in the world,” Blank said. “You share the coast with 38 million people.”

Using his own money—and before he had a lot of it—he purchased land from the state conservancy by mortgaging his home, and has since placed protections on that land, such as leasing it back to sustainable farmers of $1 a year. “His personal goal is to protect the land and keep it wild, but accessible to visitors so they can appreciate it and learn from it,” said Kassy Perry, a media consultant who has worked with Blank.

He and his wife –a Stanford business professor and who specializes in nonprofits—also donated $500,000 to the state-of-the-art Marine Education Center at Año Nuevo. The $3.2 million facility opened this month with a symbolic “kelp cutting” ceremony with donors and state officials that included state parks director Ruth Coleman, who lauded Blank. Without Blank’s “determination, vision and cash, this center would still be a dream trapped in the middle of two historic, but dilapidated barns.”

Supervisor Rich Gordon will be on the Coastside this Thursday, June 26 from 10am to noon at the Moss Beach Substation.

The Senate Local Government Committee hearing for AB1991, scheduled for Wednesday, has been delayed until Wednesday, June 25. This could be a significant inconvenience for all Coastsiders and others who made time to attend the hearing in Sacramento.

Half Moon Bay’s representative for AB1991, Lanny Davis, has joined the staff of Fox News, reports Alex Koppelman in Salon.

Davis has been trending Fox News’ way for some time now, first as a supporter of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman during his reelection fight in 2006 and then as a Clinton surrogate this year. During one appearance he made on the network in May, under prompting from conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about allegations of bias against Clinton, Davis said he “now know[s] what it feels like to be a Republican” and added that, in his view, Fox was the most balanced of the cable networks. Separately, Davis told the Politico’s Michael Calderone that one appearance he made on rival CNN was “the worst experience I ever had on television.”

And Davis fits with the general pattern of Democratic guests on FNC. In an article I wrote last year about so-called Fox News Democrats, who often seem to be picked by the network to make Democrats look bad, I discussed Davis’ general attitude on the network, where he often appeared as what I termed an “enabler.” “This category of guest”, I noted, “is ‘on-screen to prove to viewers that even Democrats agree that a radical left wing dominates the Democratic Party, not to mention the media.’” Davis was a prime example of this phenomenon.

NOTE: You can see Lanny’s famous performance on Fox over at Talking Points Memo.

The city of Half Moon Bay has received $5 million from the Association of Bay Area Governments insurance pool.

Although the city says at least six times in the three-paragraph release that the money will go toward its litigation expenses, this is $5 million that the city did not have before.

Since the city has already budgeted and spent the money for past litigation, this $5 million could be applied to the $18 million settlement with developer Charles “Chop” Keenan, significantly reducing the amount they would have to borrow.

Here’s the release:

Half Moon Bay Mayor and ABAG Announce Settlement of Beachwood Litigation Insurance Claim

Payment will Reimburse City for 10 Years of Litigation Expenses

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Half Moon Bay Mayor Bonnie McClung and the risk sharing pool to which the City belongs, the Association of Bay Area Governments Pooled Liability Assurance Network (ABAG PLAN), announced today that they had reached an agreement under which ABAG PLAN would pay the City $5 million to reimburse it for expenses incurred during 10 years of litigation over the Beachwood property. The City expects that the $5 million will fund most of the litigation costs that it has already incurred or anticipated.

“We appreciate the decision by ABAG PLAN to pay the City the entire $5 million under our coverage, which covers the incurred and anticipated litigation costs related to Beachwood. This money will be used to reimburse the City for the almost $5 million in total legal and administrative costs of the litigation over a period of more than 10 years, but will not reach the $18 million that will be owed should AB 1991 fail,” said Mayor McClung. The $5 million is the entire coverage available from ABAG PLAN.

AB 1991 passed the California Assembly 46-18 on May 28th and will be heard by the California Senate Local Government Committee on June 18th.

Midcoast Community Council member Geoff Davis has resigned, sending in his letter of resignation on Wednesday, June 11.

The Council will have to decide how to fill the empty seat, whose term ends in 2009.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said there was also a meeting on Monday, based on incorrect information from the county.

The county's Local Area Formation Committee (LAFCo) will meet Wednesday, June 18, to review determinations from the final Municipal Services Review at 2:30 in Board of Supervisors Chambers in Redwood City.

Lanny Davis is not a stupid man, but he plays one on TV. Convincingly.

His job is to stick to whatever message his clients have paid him to disseminate, regardless of how boneheaded that message is. Such as the message that Hillary was not dead yet after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. Or the smear that it was antisemitic to say Joe "Vote McCain" Lieberman shouldn't be Connecticut's Democratic senate candidate. Or that AB1991 won't set a precedent.

Half Moon Bay is paying Lanny Davis (probably thousands of dollars an hour) to lead its disinformation campaign around AB1991. Lanny Davis is the man behind the city's Truth Squid.

Wednesday, Half Moon Bay's Truth Squid shot a cloud of inky obfuscation in Coastsider's direction over AB212 -- a bill designed to overturn Los Angeles zoning regulations in order to turn a big swath of LA's precious open space into yet another subdivision. So, let's examine the Squid's assertions one at a time and understand the truth behind the ink.

• Yes, AB1991 was introduced after AB212. But Half Moon Bay's ticking stinkbomb has left the Assembly, and AB212 was waiting in the wings. AB1991 would have been a precedent for passing a bill just like AB212.

• Yes, AB1991 is supported by the Half Moon Bay City Council, while AB212 is opposed by the LA City Council. However, AB1991 is designed to overturn the authority of the Coastal Commission, which adamantly opposes it -- just as AB212 was designed to overturn the authority of the LA City Council, which adamantly opposed it.

• Yes, AB1991 is narrowly tailored to fit a special set of circumstances. But, so was AB212. That's the nature of special-interest legislation. It is designed to benefit a single, narrow interest by overturning the law at the expense of the public good.

• Yes, AB1991 is not a "precedent" in the way that attorneys use that word. It's a precedent in the way that 99% of the public uses that word: a justification for future behavior. As I pointed out in another context, if you have sex for money, you don't create a legal obligation to do so in the future. But you do increase the likelihood that you'll be offered money for sex in the future. That is called a "pre • ce • dent". You can look it up. Go ahead. I'll wait while you do it.

The city needs to make their best possible case, and that requires disputing the facts and interpretations with their opponents. But they crossed a line two weeks ago when they accused their opponents of lying to the legislature and to the public.

Lanny Davis has no stake in the damage his disinformation campaign is creating. He doesn't have to live in our bitterly divided community. He has no stake in whether the city wrecks its relationship with Coastal Commission. And he has no stake in the integrity of the Coastal Act. But the Half Moon Bay City Council will have to live in the wreckage this divisive campaign is leaving in its wake.

In an obvious parallel to Half Moon Bay’s AB1991, a Los Angeles developer is attempting to get the state legislature to pass a special exemption so he can develop 229 homes on a golf course that the city wants to keep as open space. As a bonus, the law appears to be a gift to the developer in exchange for a campaign contribution, reports the LA Times.

The company, MWH Development Corp., wants to construct 229 homes to replace the 63-acre golf course in Tujunga, which is not in Fuentes’ Assembly district. The firm is headed by San Fernando Valley developer Mark Handel, who said former Los Angeles Building Commission President Scott Z. Adler is a partner in the project.
...
“I was disgusted,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel. “We believe Sacramento should not be trying to dictate land-use policy on city matters. We also don’t believe legislation should be designed to benefit one developer.”
...
Greuel said Handel’s true goal is not to develop the property but to sell it at a profit. At the same time he is pushing the legislation, he is talking to the city about a possible sale of the land to the city, which would maintain it as open space. Greuel says Handel wants permission for the high-density development to raise the property’s value so he can get a better price.

The Times says the bill “was written so it applies only to the city of Los Angeles and makes changes that would specifically address Handel’s wish to build on the golf course site.”

Click poster for MCC, click below for agenda.