“Politics is the art of the possible.”—Otto von Bismarck
“To open a show, I like to do one thing that is impossible. So, right now, I’m going to suck this piano into my lungs.” —Steve Martin, wielding a drinking straw
The Half Moon Bay City Council majority bet $18 million of taxpayers’ money that it could suck the piano of AB1991 through the drinking straw of the California legislature.
Now, having failed, they’re angry—at “people from outside this community”, “people who had their lawyers and their lobbyists against us”, and “people that don’t want it resolved”.
“People from outside this community” didn’t pick this fight to hurt the city. By trying to sell out the Coastal Act as well as environmental and wetlands protections for cash, the city dared anyone who cared about the future of any portion of California coast to meet them in Sacramento for a rumble.
“People who had their lawyers and their lobbyists against us” are not at fault. Does anyone doubt that the city spent more on lawyers and lobbyists to support AB1991 than the environmentalists did to defeat it?
“People who don’t want it resolved” aren’t the problem. Those people don’t exist. Everyone who opposed AB1991 supported SB863, which was hastily thrown together to fill the gap left by the failure of AB1991. No one opposed relief for the city.
SB863 demonstrated that the city has more friends in Sacramento and the environmental community than they knew. It’s too bad they hadn’t realized that sooner. Or yet.
Neil Merrilees’s excellent series is reproduced with permission from Montara Fog.
The greatest resource we have on the coastside is the quality of our residents. This video highlights locals who are experimenting with green technology, at their own expense, in order to find a way to live more sustainably. Some of these experiments will be successful and become mainstream practices. Some may prove too expensive and need revision. These community members are blazing the trail and making it easier for the rest of us to learn from their experiences.
There are many more of us out there who are concerned with saving energy. If you are interested in learning more about green building or are interested in sharing your own experiences--whether successes or failures--contact Darin at Montara Fog--and he will forward the e-mails to me.
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.
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.
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).
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.
- 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 |
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.
What the election tells us about local politics, Jan 5 10:41pm, Carl May — This was not a good election for pointing out our differences from the South Coast up through Pacifica. Lots of…
What the election tells us about local politics, Jan 5 3:20pm, Barry Parr — That's an interesting point. San Mateo County varies dramatically from Daly City to Burlingame to Foster City to East Palo…
What the election tells us about local politics, Jan 5 3:10pm, Dennis Paull — Hi Barry, What is surprising is that the Coastside is so homogenious in its votong patterns. In fact the Coastside…
What the election tells us about local politics, Jan 4 7:17pm, Barry Parr — This analysis will be the basis for later work in the 2009 election season, as well as some pieces I…
Letter: Abandoned bunny needs a home, Jan 2 9:15pm, Tammy Lee — Thanks for taking the bunny in Florie. I already have my hands full with 4 adopted rescue cats but hope…
Letter: Tour of California to pass through HMB, February, Dec 22 11:33am, julie spiegler — There is a detailed Stage Map on the Route and Stage Info page: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/stages/stage2.html They're doing a giant "detour" off…
Letter: Tour of California to pass through HMB, February, Dec 16 11:08am, Jason Smith — Wow Thats Great!
A Few Hopeful Appointments, At Last, post 1, Dec 20 7:16pm, Carl May —
Recommendations for Housecleaning Service?, post 4, Nov 28 9:48am, Bruce Hultgren — If Betty is not available, try Francisco at White Glove Cleaning 728-2802 or 773-4033. He has a team that is…
History of Cunha Intermediate School, post 5, Nov 17 7:49am, Ken Johnson — Katharine Weber, If this morning at work, you walk over to the Kelly and Church Street entrance of the original…
Proposition 8, post 3, Nov 6 10:20am, Kevin Stokes — Seems most of the signs have been collected, thank you everyone.
Advanced technology ride sharing using the HMB purchased park lands on Highway 92, post 4, Nov 1 2:58pm, Terri Schoenrock Reece — What an interesting idea! Sort of a match.com, without the speed dating. Sounds like a great project for a budding…
This Afternoon: Partly sunny, with a high near 54. Light SSE wind.
Tonight: Patchy fog after 10pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. NW wind between 5 and 8 mph.
Wednesday: Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 58. Calm wind becoming NNW around 5 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45. West wind between 3 and 5 mph.
Thursday: A 40% chance of showers after 10am. Partly cloudy, with a high near 58. Calm wind becoming SW between 10 and 13 mph.
Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 43.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 57.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 60.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 63.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 61.
PFC: 5:40am; AFD: 9:30am
