I got this one yesterday, I think, from a non-GGNRA source. I think missed the announcement, however.
Pak-N-Save is owned by Safeway, interestingly enough.
My guess is that most of my grocery dollar winds up at Safeway. Old habits are hard to break. But I find it to be an increasingly exasperating experience for lots of reasons.
The store appears to be intentionally understaffed. The staff seem to be doing their best under difficult circumstances, but they’re clearly having a tough time of it.
They’ve clearly devoted a lot of square footage to fresh-baked goods that are barely better than the stuff that comes from factories, rather than encourage real locally-baked goods.
A lot of this is about creating the illusion of choice in a world increasingly dominated by a handful of food manufacturers.
Then there’s that whole creepy enforced familiarity designed to create the illusion of shopping in a neighborhood store.
Getting beyond all this is a process. I think the first step is thinking about what’s really going on.
That other Coastsider reader whose car you see in the Linda Mar parking lot is probably me. We decided to use the San Mateo Safeway to have an example of a Safeway in a more-competitive market. Linda Mar’s not much more competitive than HMB.
The one market I wish we had been able to include is Food Town in Pacifica in Eureka Square:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/food-town-pacifica
It’s not well stocked, but has good meat and produce departments, good variety, short lines, and easy parking. It’s not very convenient unless your driving to the Coastside from points north. Then, it’s on your way home.
Definitely worth checking out.
I’m not making a formal Coastsider endorsement in this race because I haven’t had time to examine all the candidates as closely as I would like.
However, I am happy to say that I plan to vote for Richard Holober in Tuesday’s primary. I met him at one of the three candidate get-togethers held at John Lynch’s house. I liked what he had to say and impressed with his record of standing up for the citizens against special interests.
Actually, Lanny Davis’s reputation as a “spinner” is very much an issue here. He’s quoted in the city’s TruthSquid press release as saying that the professional staff of the Coastal Commission is lying to the legislature. Is he a straight shooter? We need to know.
Now take a look of those videos at TPM of Lanny defending the indefensible on behalf of Senator Clinton. You can tell everyone in the room is thinking, “Oh, Lanny, there he goes again!”
Or, take a look at this piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal opinion section (!) to smear Ned Lamont’s supporters in the campaign against Joe Lieberman with anti-Semitism:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008763
And he’s the guy who’s truth-squadding the Coastal Commission’s legal director?
It’s not possible to know what really happened based on a story on the lawsuit, of course. We know that these kinds of incidents get blown out of proportion, but we really have no idea what happened at that particular time and place.
However, if a child was questioned by police without the parent present, I would have an issue with the Sheriff’s Department’s conduct.
TPM has done a couple of good numbers on Lanny Davis. I was planning to front-page them on a slow news day. Here’s another good one:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196282.php
Brian, there seems to be a good deal of back and forth on whether the SLO county grand jury was doing to developers’ bidding. Knowing coastal county politics the way I do, I’d hardly be shocked it were.
So, unless you can substantiate your insinuation with better citations than “google it”, please refrain from slinging mud.
Leonard, thanks for posting this article. This is really useful information and something we should all consider as we think about what government could look like on the Coastside.
Please refrain from name-calling. It’s not helpful and it can only escalate.
Steve, you’ve got to enforce the law and you can’t allow yourself to be bullied out of it. Half Moon Bay is getting the reputation as a town that would just as soon not enforce its own environmental and planning regulations, let alone the Coastal Act.
There is no question where the path of least resistance leads. I don’t want to live there, but it sounds like you do.
Well, that wasn’t a very successful experiment. I definitely got more jittery ads than I expected (i.e. none), and even the ads that met my criteria were really ugly and lame. I’ve removed the network from my ad rotation and I feel much better now.
It’s not surprising that there is HMB support for this bill. HMB residents have been told that they will be personally be responsible for thousands of dollars if it doesn’t pass.
This is the problem with all special-interest legislation. The benefit is concentrated in a small number of pockets and the cost (which is always much higher) is too widely distributed to engender opposition.
The concentration of dollars makes it possible to pay for lawyers, lobbyists, flacks, etc.
That’s why it’s specious to refer to HMB support for this bill as “grassroots”. It’s just a wider special interest than usual.
Lots of folks despise the Review, but I’m not one of them. I’ve been saying for years that I think it could be better, but it could also be much, much worse.
Most of my complaints about the Review are complaints I’ve had about newspapers long before I moved to the Coastside. Maybe I’ll rant about that some time, but not today.
Folks have been talking about the short tenure of Review reporters for a long time. I was inspired by recent departures to do the analysis as was surprised how short the average reporter’s tenure really is (I thought it was more like 18 months) and how uniform it has been for years. That’s the main reason I decided to publish the results.
I think it’s a problem, but I also acknowledge that it’s not obvious how to solve it.
Finally, I’ve never claimed to be neutral, but I try to be fair.
It’s possible to make you point without getting personal.
It’s a mistake to disarm unilaterally, or to let yourself get a reputation for being easy to push around.
The current city council has not communicated intention of defending its Local Coastal Program, so it won’t be surprising to see more lawsuits in the future.
It could be just as expensive in the long run to capitulate as it is to fight.
This number is down from previous years. $104,000 was awarded in 2007 and “over $100,000” in 2006.
This is the point in the conversation when I ask everyone to take a deep breath and think calm, friendly thoughts.
Ray, the failure of AB1991 will not bankrupt Half Moon Bay. Chop Keenan would never have agreed to the settlement if that were the case. He’s not that stupid.
Your “anarchy” statement is simply a strawman.
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 4 9:50am comment by Kevin J. Lansing, Ken Johnson has it right. Why is an elected school board member like Charles Gardner more occupied with things like…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 3 10:43pm comment by Ken Johnson, Yes Paul, Charlie Gardner has an 'agenda' - do to MWSD what he accomplished at CUSD. He has been on…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 3 5:57am comment by Paul Perkovic, Charlie, Do you have any MWSD agendas, staff reports, minutes, letters, etc. - i.e., some actual documentation - that supports…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 10:44pm comment by Carl May, Mr. Gardner: Why an intertie with the NCCWD? You say "and only use the water when we need it." Do…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 10:22pm comment by Ken Johnson, Charlie Gardner, You are good at asking questions and making unsupported claims - you are not very reliable at answering…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 8:46pm comment by Charlie Gardner, Paul, What has MWSD done to investigate the possibility of an inter-tie to the north with Pacifica? Is it true…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 5:31pm comment by Paul Perkovic, The analysis is very useful to Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) customers, too. One of the misplaced attacks that…
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 1:47pm comment by Todd McGee, I'm sure Paul's analysis is correct and very useful to the CCWD customers. And I will readily admit that he…
Letter: Alternatives to July 4th fireworks?, Jul 2 12:29pm comment by Leonard Woren, What would the 2 sides be in a 2008 tug-of-war?
Just the facts: Where's the water for CCWD?, Jul 2 12:25pm comment by Leonard Woren, Every new CCWD customer increases the water cost for all existing CCWD customers. This is simple arithmetic, which "engineer" Jim…
