Reproduced with permission from Montara Fog. Videos by Darin Boville
The area often called the “Midcoast” (everything north of Half Moon Bay and south of Devil’s Slide) is one of the few unincorporated areas in San Mateo County. You can imagine how exciting it must be for the County Board of Supervisors to have to deal with us on a regular basis--how our micro-local concerns must seem to them when they are used to dealing with grander things.
Thus the Midcoast Community Council. That’s “MCC” for short. It was established in 1991 as a sort of local representation of the County. The Board of Supervisors had a way to learn more about what was going on on the coast and local residents had a way of being heard by the powers-that-be. Hurray.
But it has been tough times of late for the MCC. Small children, barely able to talk, can count how many members of the public attend the meetings. MCTV, the “community” access channel can skip televising a session or two and not a complaint is heard. The apathy extends to the Council members themselves --published reports earlier this summer noted that one member hadn’t attended a meeting in over a year—the remaining members suspect that she may have moved out of the area.
I’m not making this up, really.
But this year the MCC’s prospects are looking up. There’s a contested election—five candidates for three open seats.
To help the public get to know the candidates I offered to shoot a short introductory video of each. I set out a few basic rules, offered to shoot anywhere on the coast they wished, and gave them five minutes of screen time. The rest was up to them.
Pay attention to this race if you favor democracy here on the Midcoast.
Deborah Lardie
Quicktime Flash
Howard Lieberman
Quicktime Flash
Neil Merrilees
Quicktime Flash
At its September 4 meeting, the Half Moon Bay City Coucil approved council member John Muller’s replacement planning commissioner Kevin Lansing with at-large commissioner Linda Poncini. The council also introduced an ordinance to reduce the Planning Commissions from seven members (two at-large and five serving terms staggered relative to the appointing council member) to five members serving concurrently with the appointing council member. It would also link Parks and Recreation Commission members directly to the terms of appointing council members. If a council member leaves office, the member’s replacement would appoint a new commissioner to both the Planning and Parks and Recreation Commissions
John Muller appointed Mary Levin Butler to the Parks and Recreation Commission to replace Leslie McCarthy, who resigned from the commission.
All videos courtesy of Darin Boville of MontaraFog.
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Darin Boville
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Catherine Werdel is the new principal of Farallone View Elementary.
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Well, summer break has finally drawn to a close and I get my life back (a little). With the school year brings new classes, new clothes--and a new principal at Farallone View. Catherine Werdel is the new principal, replacing Suzanne Michelony (who in turn, replaced Mike Bachicha the year before).
Want to get a head start on getting to know Catherine? Click your preferred video format for a three-minute introduction.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Reproduced with permission of Montara Fog. Our daughter, who had Catherine Werdel for social studies at Cunha, describes her as “awesome”.
[18 min] | Quicktime | Flash | Docs |
Appointment of a Code Enforcement Appeals hearing body [no video]
The Half Moon Bay City Council considered prohibiting sidewalk sales during the Pumpkin Festival, but looks like it’s going to come out with more-clear guidelines for enforcing existing ordinances. The council also took up the appeal of a citation for an informal auto repair business being operated on land zoned for floriculture.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We had some technical difficulties this time. Combined with an untimely vacation, it led to this city council video showing up awfully late. Also, you will see a lot of digital noise on the video, although the sound is still good.
The big event was the announcement that the city council had come to an agreement with the Peninsula Open Space Trust to extend POST’s loan to buy the Pilarcitos Creek park site. The agreement has not been finalized, but it will require the city to build a park on the site.
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Darin Boville
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Darin Boville has re-edited his original video of the damage on Devil’s slide in April, 2006 as part of a series marking the anniversary of its re-opening in August. It’s aready difficult to remember how much the slide dominated our thinking last year at this time.
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Montara Fog
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On Thursday, the Half Moon Bay city government took on the California Coastal Commission face to face.
At issue was a house project on Terrace Avenue, which had been denied by a previous planning commission and city council, but permitted by the current commission and council. The applicant wanted to build a house within a 100-foot wetland buffer when feasible alternatives existed for building on the lot. The permit was appealed by the Coastal Commission itself as being in violation of the city’s Local Coastal Program. Coastal Commission staff recommended against the permit [pdf of staff report].
What’s interesting here is that Half Moon Bay Mayor Naomi Patridge, Vice Mayor Bonnie McClung, and Planning Commissioner Tom Roman (as well as HMB resident George Muteff) went to San Luis Obispo to defend the permit before the Coastal Commission.
Lennie Roberts of the Committee for Green Foothills and Mark Massara of the Sierra Club spoke against the permit.
In the end, as it become clear that the commission was likely to turn down the permit, the applicant withdrew their request.
Thanks to Darin Boville of Montara Fog for downloading and editing this from the Commissions gavel-to-gavel video.
Introduction and Commission’s summary | Quicktime | Flash |
Consultant for the Applicant makes his case | Quicktime | Flash |
Mayor Patridge defers to McClung; Vice-Mayor McClung speaks for Half Moon Bay | Quicktime | Flash |
George Muteff | Quicktime | Flash |
HMB Planning Commissioner Tom Roman | Quicktime | Flash |
Additional citizen voices | Quicktime | Flash |
The applicant’s consultant rebuts | Quicktime | Flash |
The Commission deliberates and votes | Quicktime | Flash |
The video in its entirety for die-hard fans of local politics | Quicktime | Flash |
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story referred to Mr. Dall as the applicant’s attorney. He’s a consultant.
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Darin Boville
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USGS
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When the air is reasonably free of mist and fog we can see them out there, marking the horizon. The Farallon Islands [Wikipedia] rise up enigmatic on the edge of the continental shelf, familiar and yet mysterious. The islands themselves are protected and off-limits. Few Coastsiders, though they often see them in the distance, have ventured the twenty-six miles out to visit with them.
Kenny Howell, in this third installment of his video series Messing Around In Boats takes us there on a scientific research vessel, NOAA’s Fulmar.
If you haven’t been to the Farallones this is a must-see fourteen minutes. (It took us over seven hours on the water.)
Kenny’s trip to the Farallon Islands was generously sponsored by the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.
Courtesy of Montara Fog.
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…
Overnight: Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. North wind around 5 mph.
Tuesday: Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind at 5 mph becoming SSE.
Tuesday Night: 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.
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: 2:58am; AFD: 2:30am
