Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Cash-poor millionaire ranchers, the Aratas came to a deal with POST

posted by Barry Parr on Dec 28, 2004 at 01:36 pm in
1 comments • Click to email this story

John and Clarence Arata are some of the last old-time ranchers in San Mateo County. The fall in the fortunes of local agriculture and the rise of Bay Area property values made them a paradox: millionaires with no cash and an annual ranching income of less than $35,000. Developers would have given them millions for their 1,161 acres, but they don’t want to sell.

Instead, they sold the development rights to the Peninsula Open Space Trust for $4.7 million. Amelia Hansen of the San Mateo County Times paints a great portrait of one local family’s approach to the land use issues that are tearing Coastsiders apart.

Comments

Comment 1 by Mike Ferreira on Dec 30 at 9:07pm • All my comments •

Every once in a while I get to enjoy reading an article which displays that the reporter really made an effort to get it just right. This is one of those. Excellent work by Amelia…

Mike

Archives

Archives by date

Advanced search

News alerts

To get an alert when we post a big story, enter your email address.

Get your story or comment on Coastsider. If you're a member, log in to submit a story. Not a member? Please register to submit a story.

Log in or join

Weather forecast

weather forecast

Top stories

Video: Supervisor’s legislative aide lowers the boom on MCC over letter to LAFCO

The Supervisors must stop treating the Midcoast like a colony

What the election tells us about local politics

Letter: California Lawyer magazine baffled by Beachwood decision

Whale watching season is here again

Download: Guide to Coastside plants and habitats

News links (test)

New power plant at Ox Mountain landfill uses methane — Contra Costa Times: "When it goes online in two or three months, the plant, recently completed by Ameresco Inc., will be able to capture and convert more methane than any other Bay Area landfill. Its six engines will operate 24 hours a day and generate up to 11.5 megawatts of electricity, more than twice that of most local landfills, which produce about 5 megawatts."

HMB Nights of Light video — Coastside Video: Video of the 2008 Nights of Light Parade and Street events.

LED Billboards light up the night in LA — All Things Considered: Hundreds of Los Angeles' 11,000 billboards are going digital — lighting up neighborhoods with flashing LED ads selling Coke, sitcoms and designer clothing. Some are, however, complaining about light pollution. Coastsider will be reporting more on light pollution and advertising signs in coming months.

Do Pacificans Subsidize Garbage Collection South of Devil's Slide? — Pacifica Riptide: In a comparison of monthly rates for garbage collection, Pacifica pays as much as 141 percent more for weekly collection of a 30-gallon garbage can than residents of El Granada and Montara. Seacoast Disposal holds the contract for garbage collection in Montara, El Granada, and other communities south of Devil's Slide.

Will the Salmon be back in 2009? — Salon: Climate change may help explain the historic collapse of the species. Yet ocean experts see signs that idle fishermen can fire up their boats again.

Recent Comments

Supervisor Gordon plans to defer MCC appointments to Jan 27 meeting, Jan 7 10:00am, Barry Parr — Kevin, I'm not aware of any members of the "pro-builder lobby" on the MCC. I think you should back up…

Supervisor Gordon plans to defer MCC appointments to Jan 27 meeting, Jan 6 10:21pm, Darin Boville — Kevin, I think it is rash to accuse (as I interpret your cryptic comment) Chair Leonard Woren as being a…

Supervisor Gordon plans to defer MCC appointments to Jan 27 meeting, Jan 6 7:43pm, Kevin J. Lansing — It looks like Supervisor Rich Gordon is once again trying to silence the local MCC voice, perhaps to appease the…

Cetrella says it's closing until May, Jan 6 5:13pm, Barry Parr — The bar at Cetrella is one of our favorite spots on the Coastside, mostly because the live jazz was always…

Cetrella says it's closing until May, Jan 6 4:53pm, Robert Escamilla — while I'm sad the restaurant is temporarily shutting down, I am glad that it will be coming back. I do…

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…

Latest Unclassified ads

The Power of Optimism — 1 posts

SUPPORT OUR PET SITTERS — 1 posts

Does your New Year's resolution includes volunteering? — 1 posts

40% off iPods & Tech Toys this week at Reece Computer Systems — 1 posts

Active Town Hall topics

Discounts on home solar through 1BOG community organization, post 2, Jan 6 9:07pm, Seth Harris — Oh, one more point… While we certainly aren’t the sunniest spot in the bay area, I have heard that the…

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.

Weather Forecast (beta)

Half Moon Bay Airport Weather: Thu 8 Jan 3:28am

Overnight: Patchy fog. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. Light north wind.

Thursday: A 20% chance of rain after 10am. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 59. NW wind between 3 and 7 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44. NNW wind around 10 mph.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 58. North wind around 10 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 43. NE wind between 7 and 13 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 61.

Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 45.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 64.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 66.

Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 47.

Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 64.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 61.

PFC: 3:09am; AFD: 3:28am

Tides

2009-01-07 at 5:08 PM PST: Sunset

2009-01-07 at 8:49 PM PST: 4.05 feet High Tide

2009-01-08 at 1:00 AM PST: 3.09 feet Low Tide

2009-01-08 at 5:04 AM PST: Moonset

2009-01-08 at 7:03 AM PST: 6.57 feet High Tide

2009-01-08 at 7:25 AM PST: Sunrise

2009-01-08 at 2:28 PM PST: Moonrise

2009-01-08 at 2:31 PM PST: -1.17 feet Low Tide

2009-01-08 at 5:09 PM PST: Sunset

2009-01-08 at 9:40 PM PST: 4.40 feet High Tide

Half Moon Bay Memories & El Granada Observer

Brush up your Shakespeare. Feb is Academy Awards Month

On Swan Songs: A Night to Remember at Cetrella: Story by Tom Andersen

Swan Songs at the Cetrella

Bismarck wishes you a Happy New Year!

Rob Tillitz says: “I have written the book the Coastside has been waiting for.”

HMB on Topix

New power plant at Half Moon Bay landfill turns methane into energy

Sheriff log: Man wanders around after accident

A nomad stops by the Coastside on his bike odyssey

Council expects to hire interim manager Tuesday

Threats Over Shirt Color Earn 2 Men Jail Time

Half Moon Bay gang members plead no contest in McDonald's confrontation

Two plead no contest to gang charges

Montara Fog

County to remake the MCC

CFPD: Board Meeting, December 10, 2008

Photo-of-the-Week: Equilibrium #1

Photo-of-the-Week: Train Station

New Feature: Daily E-mail updates

MCC: November 12, 2008

Photo-of-the-Week: Photographer's Bag

Peninsula Politics

Newsom to make Gubernatorial Campaign Foray into San Mateo County

San Mateo to be Represented by Second Appointee

A Government of Three People, by Three People and for Special Interests

Local Editors Condemn Supervisor Appointment Process

League of Women Voters Call for Special Election for Supervisor Seat

Public Invited to Shape Criteria for Supervisor Pick

County Republican Leader Calls for Special Election for Vacant Supervisor Seat

Pacifica Riptide

Local Mideast Peace Rally Turns Ugly

Farmers Market Gears Up for Spring: Reserve Nonprofit Space Now

City Finance Committee Meets January 7

Presidential Power Lunch in Washington, Jan. 7

get Rich @ Old Princeton Landing, January 9

Tom the Boogie Man: Dance Music & Otherwise, Starting January 9

Rollins Road Project @ Chit Chat Cafe, January 9

Custom Google Search

Useful sites

Cabrillo Unified School District

California Coastline Project

Chamber of Commerce directory

Coastside news (Google)

Government meeting calendar

HMB Almanac (San Mateo Times)

HMB City Council calendar

HMB municipal code

Half Moon Bay Real Estate

HMB Review archives

Midcoast Community TV Sched

Movies (SF Gate)

Traffic (511.org)

Weather stations

Cunha

229 Correas St, HMB

Kings Mountain 2

Webcams

Weather & Waves

Forecast for HMB (Yahoo)

Bay Area fog forecast

NWS San Mateo County

Heal the Bay weekly beach report

Wavlog

Sections

About Coastsider

Planning & Development

Travel times

Live traffic charts

Map

El Granada to HMB

Hwys 1 & 92 webcam

Coastsiders

After the Trauma

All this chittah-chattah

Coastal Real Estate

Chris Coolpix of the Day

HMB Downtown Business Assn

Half Moon Bay Memories

HMB Buzz photoblog

Hununu

Joel McKinnon's New Worlds

Jonathan Lundell

SM County Insider

Topher Tune's Times

Matt Berman's Child Lit Wiki

Members online

About Coastsider

Email Barry Parr

About Coastsider

Advertising on Coastsider

Creative Commons license

Page built in 7.8047 secs

Coastsider feeds

RSS feed: Stories

RSS feed: Comments