Somewhere down along the coast (I can’t tell you what coast), in a small town near the ocean (but I can’t tell you what town), on a street just up aways (I can’t say the street), round the corner and to the gate (never mind the gate), stands a house.

It’s a very special house. It is a Witch’s House.

You know the house I mean but.....shhhhh. We don’t want the world to know.

As Halloween approaches, Jennifer Merrilees and I thought it would be fun to share with you an inside, behind-the-scenes view of....The Witch’s House. (Actually, there’s two witches. It gets complicated.)

Behold, the first episode, “Bags of Candy”…

The Montara Water and Sanitary race has turned into the roughest, down and dirty contest on the Coastside this year. One candidate, framing himself and his campaign around issues of wise financial management was discovered (via anonymous tipster) not to have paid his taxes—including the portion that goes to MWSD—for two and a half years. Then, in apparent payback, a rival candidate was found (via anonymous tipster) to be a few weeks late on taxes on her second primary residence. I still don’t know what “second primary residence” means but it is legal, it seems.

But wait! That’s all about the horse race and nothing about the course. That’s what the old, traditional news sources do--put the excitement of campaigning up front and center and sort of forget to cover the very issues that are motivating people to fight so hard over a seemingly boring topic such as water.

Here we present each of the three candidates at the recent debate, hosted by the Midcoast Community Council. You’ll notice it is all about issues and nothing about scandal. That’s a good thing.

Opening Statements Quicktime | Flash |

We have now owned our water sanitary district for over four years. We do not have more water, more water storage, better taste, or better quality. What will you do to remedy this in the next one year? Quicktime | Flash |

In November, 2003, at the community meeting, the water district stated, “a water deficiency of 400,000 gallons per day.” What would you do to solve this? Quicktime | Flash |

Do you strongly support sewer authority’s midcoast recycling program? Why or why not? Quicktime | Flash |

Would you commit yourself that, if elected, you will do everything within your ability to relieve the water moratorium within the next four years? Would you please consider the Alta-Vista well and county permits for wells in your response? Quicktime | Flash |

Closing Statements Quicktime | Flash |

Proclamations, Presentations, Announcements [5 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

Council and Staff reports [24 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

Oral Communications [5 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

Video recorded by MWSD. Processed and served by Montara Fog.

It’s a great start.

The Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) is experimenting with videotaping their board meetings. In most districts in the country this wouldn’t be very exciting news, but on the coast here, as you might have noticed, these normally obscure governmental bodies are lightning rods for intense public debate.

Most of the government meetings on the coast aren’t filmed at all and are attended by at best a few members of the public. Not good. A few others are filmed by the local community access channel, MCTV, but they themselves are a bit obscure, broadcasting the meetings in their lengthy entirety, often during television’s “prime time.” No web access, either. They might as well project them in my garage for all the public dissemination they seem to achieve.

On the coast we have one of the most politically polarized communities in the country. Governments that operate out of site of the public, even inadvertently, tend to become unresponsive to that public. This is unhealhy. Our community is ill.

One of the cures, or so I hope, is information. By making government meetings more accessible and more understandable to the average coastal resident we help our local democracy function a bit better.

It’s a great start and we’ll be polishing and adjusting things with the MWSD video in the weeks and months ahead.

I would like to encourage others to take up the challenge. There’s a lot of government meetings out there that we care about that are going on in near-invisibility. I can help you choose equipment and solve technical issues. I will publish the videos and make them available 24/7. Members of the public: With a cheap tripod and nearly any video camera you can perform an important public service Adopt a meeting, make it your cause. To government officials: It takes very little in the way of resources to reach a broader public. It’s not only a good idea, it’s a core obligation.

Thanks to Scott Boyd and the entire MWSD board for producing this video and making their meetings visible to a wider public. This video is not copyrighted and may be downloaded and used without restriction.

The Midcoast Community Council (MCC) election is the most competitive election on the coast this year—with five candidates running for three seats. This is an important election for the unincorporated portions of the Coastside since the MCC represents us to the County Board of Supervisors, our true masters.

Many people—including a majority if not all of the candidates—feel that the MCC has diminished in relevance and effectiveness of late. Perhaps this election will mark a reinvention of the MCC.

Opening Statements | Quicktime | Flash |

The MCC does not have authority to make laws or ordinances, et cetera. It is advisory. How will you be effective or useful in the next four years?  | Quicktime | Flash |

How many of the Midcoast Council meetings have you attended, and the committee meetings, in the last two years? Do you think members should be required to attend a certain number of meetings in a year? Should there be alternatives--should alternatives [ed. Alternates] be elected for Midcoast Council representatives to attend when the elected representative cannot attend?  | Quicktime | Flash |

The next question concerns the Local Coastside Program [ed. Local Coastal Program, LCP] for this area that was developed by the Midcoast Council in conjunction with the San Mateo County Planning Division. Do you support this program? Do you support the changes that were made by the Board of Supervisors? If you are elected what would you do to jump-start the approval process?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Explain your position on growth versus no-growth.  | Quicktime | Flash |

Should the Midcoast Community Council have review of projects for neighbors to be able to voice their concerns--and would that include tree-cutting permits? Should there be reviews prior to permits being issued by the county?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Closing Statements | Quicktime | Flash |

Water is an expensive commodity in Montara and Moss Beach, where it is supplied by the Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD).

The current board of the district represents the people who planned and executed the purchase of the water supply for Montara and Moss Beach. Because of the limitations of that water supply, there has been a moratorium on new residentail water hookups for decades. All new houses in MWSD—and there are hundreds of them—are served by wells.

In these videos each of the three candidates for MWSD introduce themselves to voters and share their own views of who they are, what the problems facing the community might be, and what they plan to do if elected.

Each candidate was given five minutes of screen time and their choice of location. Put aside the caricatures and listen to the candidates in their own words.

Videos by Darin Boville and used with permission of Montara Fog.

The Half Moon Bay Fire District is having a big year--and a controversial year. It is, essentially at the same time, merging with the Point Montara Fire District and contracting out all of its fire-fighting and medical services to CalFire, the state fire-fighting agency. This has not been a smooth process and it follows upon years and years of acrimony between firefighters, their management, and their governing board and enough intrigue to make fans of Richard III blink.

This debate among the candidates for the Half Moon Bay fire district was held by the Midcoast Community Council meeting Wednesday, Oct 3. Candidates for the Point Montara Fire Board are running in a separate election. The two boards will soon merge together to form a “super-board” of eight members governing all of the coastside, then the board will appoint a ninth member (an odd number of members allows tie breaking votes) before shrinking down to five members at some point in the future.

But don’t give up--watch the videos, at least a few where the question seems especially interesting. You’ll care when you smell smoke. Videos by Darin Boville and reproduced with permission from Montara Fog.

Opening Statements:  | Quicktime | Flash |

What do you consider to be the root cause of problems in the Fire Department , what do you plan to do to fix them, and--not at all coincidentally--how many meetings of the Board have you attended in the last two years?  | Quicktime | Flash |

A public agency board of directors is there to represent the public. Please comment on the conflict-of-interest with having fire fighters, paid or volunteer, or labor union representatives, serving on the Board. And, are you a fire fighter? Are you a Union member?
| Quicktime | Flash |

The current Board has voted to contract fire services to the State based upon financial reasons. The budget report from the October 1st board meeting shows that the District has a healthy financial status. Do you agree with the current Board’s reason as to why they should contract out fire services to the State?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Do you believe that the Department of Forestry is the long-term solution for management problems in our District and how do you intend to end the long-standing management failures that have led to law suites and settlements with fire fighters?  | Quicktime | Flash |

How important is employee retention to you? What do you plan o doing to get employees to stay?  | Quicktime | Flash |

As a fire district board member would you continue to send crews over the hill to train or would you advocate construction of a fire tower, as currently proposed in the District? Would you express reservations about the District’s ability to handle emergencies in buildings of a certain height and if so what height?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Do you feel that board members who receive lifetime medical benefits from the District should be able to vote on health-care increases for retirees?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Closing Statements:  | Quicktime | Flash |

On October 10, Point Montara Fire Protection District board candidates Vince Williams and Christopher Cilia answered questions from the audience at the meeting of the Midcoast Community Council. One of these two candidates will sit on the merged Coastside Fire Protection District board. Videos by Darin Boville and used with permission of Montara Fog.

Opening Statements:  | Quicktime | Flash |

What are the challenges facing the Coastside fire board and what would you do to meet them?  | Quicktime | Flash |

With the so-called emergency staffing at Station 44 Half Moon Bay was staffing your station, Montara, with some overtime employees. Now CalFire is staffing your station with overtime employees. Why do you feel it was a necessary move when both departments are filling the station with overtime personnel? Could it not have waited until the districts were merged?  | Quicktime | Flash |

How many meetings of the Fire District Board have you attended and why do you want to be on the Board?  | Quicktime | Flash |

This year’s budget has over three million dollars in reserves. The $430,000 loan for the land under Station 41 will be paid off year. Do you believe that we can’t afford to run a local fire department?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Are you aware of ex-convicts working for CDF and do you know if any are currently working at Station 44?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Should the current board have ignored the petitions that taxpayers and voters of the District signed? | Quicktime | Flash |

How important is employee retention and what are you going to do to retain employees of the district?  | Quicktime | Flash |

The money saved from year directly benefits some of the directors who are retired from the Half Moon Bay Protection District. Do you consider issue a conflict of interest? Should those directors that benefit from such issues be allowed to discuss and vote on them?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Closing Statements:  | Quicktime | Flash |

Tuesday’s city council meeting was short.  The council reviewed the city’s financial status and approved a resolution to create a park at 880 Stone Pine Rd (on Pilarcitos Creek). The city also agreed to accept an allocation of 276 new housing units from the Association of Bay Area Governments, which the city manager said would be consistent with slow-growth Measures A & D.

Proclamations and presentations [15 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Announcements [2 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Oral communications [5 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Council reports [10 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Staff reports [18 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Consent calendar [4 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections |

Resolution of intent to create a park at 880 Stone Pine Road [8 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections | Docs |

Finance department update [31 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections | Docs |

Review and approval accepting assigned housing growth share from ABAG [15 min] | Quicktime High Quality | Flash slow connections | Docs |

Darin Boville has taped two of the seven candidates for the Half Moon Bay fire board and one of the two for Point Montara (now merged as the Coastside Fire Protection District). Candidates who have not yet agreed to be taped are still welcome to participate. Republished with permission from Montara Fog.

There’s a lot going on at these fire stations (not fires, but politics) but it is almost impossible to figure out. You may have questions: What’s that about a merger? Do firefighters really make $140,000 on average--and up to $200,000? Is the new contract a major disaster for the coast? Who is Calfire? Did firefighters really urinate on the Fire Captain’s bed, break his headlights, pour solvents on his car, and make death threats in a public meeting? Did the higher-ups really falsify documents? Are these just rumors? What the heck is going on?

If you are like me, almost totally confused, then you’ll need to watch these three videos. I invited all of the candidates for both Fire Boards (soon to be merged into one board anyway) to make a five-minute video to introduce themselves to the voters and to describe their views. Three of the candidates eventually agreed to participate.

It might seem complex at first but, after making these videos, the basic framework is starting to fall into place. I think.