Comments by Barry Parr

The only creature more feared than the Coastal Commission

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

HMB mayor, attorney say Coastal Commission staff is lying to legislature

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.

How the deck is stacked against citizens wanting self-government

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.

Appropriations Committee passes AB1991

Please refrain from name-calling. It’s not helpful and it can only escalate.
 
 
 

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

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.

Trying some new ads on Coastsider

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.

Appropriations Committee passes AB1991

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.

Half Moon Bay Review reporters last about a year on the job

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.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

It’s possible to make you point without getting personal.

 
 
 
 

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

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.

Local organizations get $95,000 from Pumpkin Festival money

This number is down from previous years.  $104,000 was awarded in 2007 and “over $100,000” in 2006.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

This is the point in the conversation when I ask everyone to take a deep breath and think calm, friendly thoughts.

 
 
 

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

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.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Ray, you’re welcome to disagree, but please be civil.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Brian, Bob Mitton didn’t say that the land is worthless. As far as I can tell from the Review, he talked about the difficulties, but not the value.  Real estate development is about overcoming difficulties, and Beachwood would have fewer than most if the city takes it over.

Also, according Bob’s website, he’s a sales and marketing specialist, not a developer of ten-million-dollar projects:

http://www.bobmitton.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/About/Default.aspx

The land is clearly not worthless. The only people who are saying it is are those who stand to profit from AB1991.

And the city has a responsibility to explain itself to the state legislature in exchange for getting AB1991 passed. They’re trying to overturn a whole raft of environmental, coastal and planning protections by pleading poverty. But they’re not as poor as they pretend to be.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

It’s just dishonest to say that land that can be developed with 19 to 30 or more houses is worthless.

I took my best shot at estimating the value and no one has seen fit to refute it.

Furthermore, the burden of proof should be on the city, not on opponents of AB1991. They have yet to prove the land has no value. They can’t.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

First, the net obligation isn’t anywhere near $18 million.  That’s what the city council and Chop Keenan want us to think. It’s a lot less.

Second, I think the city council negotiated a bad deal.  Don’t blame me, I didn’t get to vote for your city council.

Third, the decision was outrageous. A damn shame.  Let’s call it the equivalent of a natural disaster, and the city should get some help.

I would have supported a less aggressive settlement.  I now would support some kind of state help for the city in developing/selling Beachwood.  I shouldn’t because the city’s negotiated settlement is a Pandora’s Box filled with nothing but trouble for the state of California.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Ray says, “It would be interesting to find out whether the select few that continually voice their opposition to HMB and any sort of improvements in our daily lives here on the coast have any sort of financial interest in this area.”

Is financial interest the only kind that matters?

HMB’s Q&A about AB1991 translated from spin into plain English

Actually, mostly it was a cut & paste of HMB’s current line of justification for AB1991, which consists mostly of handwaving:  Pay no attention to our undermining of the Coastal Act.  Let’s imagine that Beachwood has no value whatsoever.

Also, please note that AB1991 is a state law.  I’ve got as much of an interest in the integrity of the Coastal Act as anyone and a lot less to gain than a resident of Half Moon Bay from its subversion.

Opinion: Review’s coverage of AB 1991 is biased and incomplete

When I worked at the Mercury News, which was in a Golden Age of punning headlines at the time, the rule was that any pun in a headline had to “work both ways”. That is, the headline had to make sense, and the pun had to express something meaningful as well.

The problem with Clay’s headline is that the story doesn’t say that AB1991 is anything like a “capital idea”, so the pun “capitol idea” just flops around there on the page.

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