Comments by Barry Parr

Photo: Accident in Montara knocks over Land Rover

Corrected. Thanks.

African Hybrid Cat (Savannah) Roaming in Montara

I received letter and some photos of what may be the same cat. I’ve posted them in a separate letter on Coastsider:

http://coastsider.com/index.php/site/news/followup_savannah_cat_in_montara/100904/

A ballot measure to increase HMB sales tax?

Sales taxes in San Mateo County communities:
9.25%  Atherton
9.25%  Belmont
9.25%  Brisbane
9.25%  Burlingame
9.25%  Colma
9.25%  Daly City
9.25%  East Palo Alto
9.25%  El Granada
9.25%  Emerald Hills (Redwood City)
9.25%  Foster City
9.25%  Half Moon Bay
9.25%  Hillsborough
9.50%  Hillsdale (San Mateo)
9.25%  La Honda
9.25%  Ladera
9.25%  Loma Mar
9.25%  Marsh Manor
9.25%  Menlo Park
9.25%  Millbrae
9.25%  Montara
9.25%  Moss Beach
9.25%  Pacifica
9.25%  Pescadero
9.25%  Portola Valley
9.25%  Redwood City
9.25%  San Bruno
9.25%  San Carlos
9.25%  San Gregorio
9.50%  San Mateo
9.25%  South San Francisco
9.25%  Woodside

A ballot measure to increase HMB sales tax?

How far would you drive to save $1.00 on a $100 grocery bill, or $.03 on a latte?

Huge Book Sale This Weekend in HMB

This is always a great sale and I strongly recommend getting there early before the folks who know what’s what have had their way with the inventory.

Save The Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

Thanks for posting this. We’ve been giving a lot of (justified) attention to the plans to pave the trail at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, but it’s just as important to understand the modifications to the beach entry and overlook.

GGNRA plans controlled burn for Milagra Ridge in Pacifica

George Durgerian, Park Ranger, GGNRA: Ocean District. says, “The Marin burn was delayed at least a week pending better weather.  After that, we’ll move forward with plans for the Milagra burn.”

Half Moon Bay police chief leaving to become US Marshal

San Carlos projects 30% savings from outsourcing to the Sheriff. Here’s an interview with the SC mayor on KQED:

http://www.kqed.org/a/kqednews/R201006291730

The arguments for outsourcing are pretty sound. I don’t see how the HMB city council cannot see this as an opportunity to at least consider it.

Coastal erosion, flooding, and sea level rise in Pacifica, Sun, Aug 16

Julia Scott wrote a good story on this a couple of weeks ago for the County Times. It would appear that the status of the buildings is, um, up in the air.

Owner misses deadline for plan to save Pacifica cliff apartments

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15563669

Cliffside apartment building owner Millard Tong failed to meet a deadline to submit a timeline for repairs to the cliff behind his evacuated building Monday, but building officials said they don’t plan to enforce it.

When the city emptied 320 Esplanade Ave. on April 29 because tenants were living in a dangerous building at the edge of an eroding cliff, officials slapped Tong with a notice of violation requiring him to submit a timeline on how to save the building or choose to demolish it. The initial deadline was May 28. It was extended, at Tong’s request, until June 17 and then again to July 19.

...

Both Tong and Farshid Samsami, owner of 330 Esplanade, are struggling to come up with a way to finance an elaborate cliff repair expected to cost $1.5 million to $3 million.

...

Both men have also been sued for unpaid bills by the firm that did the cliff work, Engineered Soil Repairs Inc. On Monday, ESR sued Samsami for $589,589 for work done since 2008. The firm asked a court to place a lien against the apartment building in April. The lawsuit asks the court to seize the building and try to sell it to pay off its bills. ESR also sued Tong for $1.8 million in unpaid construction bills in May.

...

He said he would meet with planning department officials next week to consider the city’s next move. Samsami and several other neighbors are working on putting together a Geologic Hazard Abatement District on Esplanade Avenue that would allow a group of residents to sell bonds to help fund a single engineering “fix” behind several cliffside properties.

Samsami estimated the district is still three or four months away from being approved — which would mean no new construction, and no new financing, until the rainy season begins.

16.5’ wide asphalt trail planned for the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

Carl, thanks for pointing that out. Louie Castoria’s article can be found here:

http://hmbreview.com/articles/2010/08/04/community/quip_tide/doc4c59a9b1e7c5c021612343.txt

From the article:

It’s thus a bit ironic that during that same week people on the Coastside were disagreeing about whether Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, one of the coast’s most beautiful and unspoiled areas, should be made accessible to people with mobility disabilities by resurfacing some of the existing dirt paths with asphalt, crushed concrete, or another surface that wheelchairs can roll on. Other parks and state reserves have wheelchair accessible paths — the Pigeon Point Lighthouse and Point Lobos come to mind — and don’t seem less “natural” for having firm, safe pathways.

Emphasis added.

To my knowledge, no one who opposes the county’s current plan for a wide paved trail at the Marine Preserve “disagrees about whether it should be made accessible”.

Clay shoots down Farm Bureau/Beautification Committee, icon

Peculiar admission.

Most of what he’d learn in that class can be found here:

http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/cat/public-records

I spent two years trying to get Clay interested in the governance and intellectual property issues surrounding MCTV and he couldn’t be bothered.

Does the Coastside need another store (gas station) selling liquor?

I don’t have a strong opinion on this. But, let’s face it, convenience stores don’t typically sell hard liquor to casual alcohol users. This is about catering to serious drinkers. How typical is it for *gas stations* to sell hard liquor? I don’t know the answer to that.

At the same time, there are currently only two locations in Montara and Moss Beach that sell packaged liquor right now.

The county counsel’s letter and attached application provided too little information for MCC to make any kind of informed decision. What the pertinent regulations and metrics are in a case like this? The county’s not talking. At least, not unless the MCC asks the questions.

Also, why is the “Type of Business” listed on the application as “Liquor Store”?

Balshone: Supervisors’ ugly act of indifference

They seriously sued for defamation?  I shocked he didn’t countersue them for a SLAPP suit and attempting to abridge his first amendment rights.

Just to be clear, there’s no question that at-large elections disenfranchise racial and other minorities.  But you don’t have to be racist to support at-large elections. There are plenty of other anti-democratic reasons for supporting them. There are may even be some ostensibly democratic reasons.

Supervisors reject vote on district elections

I’m deadly serious.

Clay shoots down Farm Bureau/Beautification Committee, icon

Donald:

Clay Lambert’s editorial is based on this news story on the Review’s site:

http://hmbreview.com/articles/2010/07/15/news/doc4c3df2a59c820112041595.txt

It’s an open secret that the Beautification Committee has been processing tons of money with zero public accountability since forever. It’s unfortunate that the Review waited for the possibility of malfeasance before reaching the conclusion that this was a less than ideal way to handle large amounts of cash. It will be interesting to see how the Review handles the Old Guard power structure as this unfolds.

Supervisors reject vote on district elections

Jonathan makes a good point.

It’s easy to say this is about power (it is), but it’s also true that the Supervisors no doubt believe in their own sagacity.

I’m sure they believe that the system that created them does a better job of balancing the competing interests in a county as large and diverse as San Mateo than (say) actual democracy.

Balshone: Supervisors’ ugly act of indifference

If there were district elections, I’m willing to predict that uncontested or virtually uncontested elections would be a thing of the past.

I’m not willing to predict that hacks from the county Democratic machine would no longer win seats, but they probably would no longer be 100% of the board.

The lawsuit is hardly shocking. At-large elections in diverse districts look like prima facie civil rights violations to me. 51% of the voters choose 100% of the board.

Who are you suggesting paid for the lawsuit?

Supervisors reject vote on district elections

Rich Gordon voted for putting district elections on the ballot. The other four supervisors voted to retain the current system, by which they were elected.

Parvovirus on Coast

Thanks for the note. I was on that trail with our dog just yesterday!

Sounds like it’s a much bigger problem for puppies than adult dogs. Here’s the link to the article cited above:

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/viral/c_dg_canine_parvovirus_infection

Open letter: Common-sense reforms for MCTV

This is a short-term prescription, designed to cover the next year, which is what the county and city are asking for.

I have another piece discussing the short to medium term futre, which clearly goes beyond cable.  I’m trying to stay focused, but I’ll post that in the near future.

However, we’re talking about $100,000 in taxpayer money that goes to MCTV every year.  It’s a not a great deal of money by government standards, but it’s being spent with little or no accountability.

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