The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously at Thursday’s meeting to oppose AB1991 in concept so that commission staff could prepare for hearings next month and be able to present the commission’s opinion of the settlement.

In proposing the resolution, Commissioner Sara Wan said, “This is a very bad settlement agreement and could set terrible precedent. So, I would like this commission to oppose in concept this and to give the staff the ability to deal with it.”

Commissioner Steve Blank seconded the motion, saying, “I think this is a big deal.”

The whole item lasted just three minutes. Click to watch.

If you do nothing else, watch the lawyer’s announcement and imagine yourself in the audience.

We’ve broken out the city council’s discussion as well as the oral communications so you can watch individual presentations. We will post the rest of the city council meeting when it is ready.

• City’s attorney describes settlement [10 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Distribution of settlement to the public [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• City council discussion [11 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Sam (unintelligible last name) [6 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Brian Ginna [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: George Muteff [3 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Dale Dunham [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Jerry Steinberg [1 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Dennis Paull [3 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communication: Mike Ferreira [4 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Conclusion [1 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

At its March 18 meeting, the Half Moon Bay City Council saw a presentation of the County’s Midcoast Parks Plan, announced the resignation of its city attorney, introduced the ordinance that would rezone nursery property for a bird-themed RV park, endorsed the Measure O county tax for parks, began the process of revising its zoning code, heard its midyear budget review, and discuss a no-parking zone near Casa del Mar and the Lutheran church.

• Opening [5 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Presentation of San Mateo County Parks Plan [20 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Announcements [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Report out of closed session [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communications [10 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Council & Staff reports, consent calendar (includes announcement that city will hire new attorney and says goodbye to outgoing attorney Adam Lindgren) [19 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Birds of Paradise RV park [30 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Parks for the Future (Measure O) endorsement [11 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Zoning code changes (definitions, development standards, permit procedures) [7 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Budget review and calendar [14 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• No parking zone near Casa del Mar, Lutheran church [19 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

The March 4 meeting of the Half Moon Bay City Council was shorter than usual.

The only non-routine item was the rescinding of a coastal development permit for a lot merger and rezoning.  The zoning change was separated out so that the Coastal Commission could consider it.

The discussion of planning-director permits was pulled out of the consent calendar, and former planning commissioner Jack McCarthy commented on the inappropriateness of a permit for the creation of a corporation yard for CCWD’s pipeline project on Bev Cunha Country Lane (formerly Sewer Plant Road).

• Opening and introduction of PRIDE committee [4 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Closed session report [3 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Oral communications [28 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• City council reports [12 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Staff reports [16 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Consent calendar [3 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Rescind approval of CDP and begin rezoning [7 min] | Quicktime | Flash |


• Discussion of planning director-issued permits [5 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

The Montara Water and Sanitary District is considering webcasting its meetings.  Two days after I appeared before the Coastside Fire Protection District to say that—regardless of whom they choose webcast their meetings—they should be certain that the public owns the copyright, I was before MWSD making virtually the same speech.

But there were two big differences. The big difference is that the MWSD board is clearly interested in keeping control of its meetings in the hands of the public. The other difference is that the meeting was captured by Scott Boyd’s camcorder, so we can bring it to you.

You can watch the entire hour and nine minutes or take your pick from the segments below.

• Review and Possible Action Concerning Alternatives for Showing Board Meetings on the Web [69 min] | Quicktime | Flash | This same video broken into individual presentations below

• Introduction [6 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Constance Malach, MCTV [8 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Darin Boville, Montara Fog [9 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Patrick Burns, MCTV [3 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Michael Day, MCTV [7 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Barry Parr, Coastsider [6 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Darin Boville, correction [2 min] | Quicktime | Flash |
• Board discussion [28 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

• New business (click below for agenda) [30 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

This video was produced by Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor who has changed the way a lot of people think about intellectual property.  Last year, Lessig announced he was changing his focus to political corruption.  This year, with the death of Tom Lantos, Lessig has announced he’s considering running for the seat.  In the video, he discusses what he’d like to do and the extraordinary difficulty involved in taking on Jackie Speier in this election.

He’s not running yet, and I’m not endorsing him yet. But now would be a good time to watch the video, consider his message, and think about whether it makes sense to you.

• Opening | Quicktime | Flash |
• New Chamber of Commerce Commercials about Half Moon Bay| Quicktime | Flash |
• Report out of closed session| Quicktime | Flash |
• City Council reports | Quicktime | Flash |
• Oral communications | Quicktime | Flash |
• Strategic plan update from staff | Quicktime | Flash |
• Consent calendar | Quicktime | Flash |
• Rescind approval of CDP, etc for Magnolia & Second St.| Quicktime | Flash |
• Appointments to Parks & Recreation and Planning Commissions | Quicktime | Flash |
• Put Transient Occupany Tax increase on June 3 ballot| Quicktime | Flash |

OK, I’m at the tail end of the curve this time, but I just saw this video and was blown away. It’s genuinely moving, but entirely substance-free. Whatever. You must watch it.

This violates all my rules about running only local stories, but yesterday morning I was exhilarated for the first time in I don’t know how long to be voting. I have no clue if it’s the idea of having an exciting candidate for a change, or just the feeling that my voted mattered for the first time in a long time. The video was causing problems for some users, so I moved it off the front page.  Click below to see it.