Comments Archive

My guess is that no one in Jersey will envy our perpetual summer gloom. Which makes me happy....

Is this just another way of trying to make New Jersey look better by filming parts of their episodes on California’s beautiful coast. I don’t want to pick on NJ too much right now because of all the hurricane Irene damage they are suffering…

We had an anonymous comment posted on this. I’m not releasing it from moderation because of our real names policy, but I will repost it under my name: Sheriff’s Office investigated and believes that the lower flying helo with camera ball on…

Most days I think it would be better than county mis-government, but I suspect a merger would be as difficult to sell in HMB as it would be on the Midcoast. But I also agree with Carl that there are plenty of ways incorporation could go very wrong....

Joel, You are right. This is a huge can of worms for those of us who live here, with few possible upside outcomes and many possible downsiders for anyone who appreciates the positive aspects of our unincorporated setting and communities. The subject is…

Does anyone have any information about the helicopter that buzzed Moss Beach earlier this afternoon??...

Thanks for your comments Carl! Just for the record though, I did not “politely avoid” mentioning the facts related to Mexican drug cartels - it was just not part of my focus. Of course you are correct in that assessment. In addition to BLM…

Using down-home characters and local issues in the Emerald Triangle for supporting examples, a recent article by Matt Jenkins in High Country News does a nice job of summarizing developments for California’s top cash crop since state-level approval…

Ginny, I don’t know if we were both present at the same Special Board meeting on August 16, 2011. One of the three handout scenarios Chief Cole presented was labeled “10 yr bond @$1,200,000 annual payment ($9M).  In this scenario a $9M…

I encourage interested citizens to attend fire board meetings.  There is one this evening.  The agenda is posted and is also on the CFPD website. There are also handouts available.  Chief Cole highlighted, at our August 16th meeting, areas…

Vince, Chief Cole made a compelling case with his fiscal projection on what areas of the budget would be effected.  His handouts, his comments and the notes I took regarding his answers to board questions were also very thorough.  I followed…

Ginny, I don’t see how the July 27, Board meeting is relevant.  With the action you and the other Board members took on August 16 and the CalPERS Board took on August 17, a bond is now irrelevant. The following link has updated information…

Of course, one would expect a major promoter of consolidation of the fire districts to defend it, even though we are now seeing one of the downfalls of such move. Interesting that constituents should be raised as a concern when Point Montara Fire constituents…

Montara Fog has a video of the fire board’s July 27th meeting.  The meeting includes a panel of experts discussing bonds.  Following that bond discussion there is a discussion of CalPERS....

Bill, You are welcome. Regional consolidations on the Coastside is a complex subject. There were mutual benefits to the HMBFPD and PMFPD consolidation into CFPD.  PMFPD couldn’t financially stand on it own for more than a year or two. …

Thanks Vince for alerting the community to the CFPD Board’s Special Meeting this week. One always has to be suspicious when meetings are not televised and the public is not given adequate notice. After reading in the HMB Review this week about the…

Here’s a link to a video featuring Colyn Fischer on fiddle & Shauna Pickett-Gordon on piano playing a lively traditional Scottish fiddle tune at a concert at the Douglas Beach House in Miramar: http://coastsidevideo.com/sites/Colyn-Shauna/pages/colyn-shauna-carle-craft-100403-coastsidevideo-sm.html…

“Support progressive values Half Moon Bay is a progressive community—it voted overwhelmingly in favor of Barack Obama and other Democrats “ 9%+ unemployment for how long, trillions in deficits growing, not 2 but 3 wars, still no same sex…

I know that Khan Academy’s is the hot new thing right now, so it’s good to hear a second opinion. BTW, Sage (which looks pretty cool) is located at http://sagemath.org/ Sage.org is something else....

Thank-you Lee!  I will look into Sage.org. Also, The Khan Academy is being tested for its efficacy. I think math tutors and teachers can use the Academy in conjunction with traditional classroom instruction. Ginny McShane...

A question and a further suggestion. One observation about Kahn Academy is it enables kids to do their learning new material by lecture at night and it enables them to use class time for doing problems together. The Khan Academy type of study lends itself…

UPDATE NPS GGNRA Senior Planner Brian Aviles and another GGNRA employee will be in attendance at the meeting to update us on RCdT status....

Sorry I meant theorem, not therom. I was out late last night at the fire board meeting. GMcS...

The following correspondence with Ms. Hornor is from 25 July 11. The California Watershed Posse eagerly awaits her reply.  The complete communication is found here: http://www.cwposse.org/waterforfighting/pdf/CWP_RCdT_NPS_Inquiry_2.pdf?915 Dear NPS…

Hi Bill, Thanx for having this meeting. Being on vacation, I’ll not be able to attend, however, I’d like to offer a few suggestions for the access points. Interconnectivity of many proposed trails is paramount,whether from low elevations of…

I’ve always loved this program. It’s a real opportunity to have a big impact on a kid’s first week of school.  I’m sure my love of it is connected to my own memories of shopping for school supplies at the end of summer....

In my experience of reading these reports over the years, this is a very unusual week for Moonridge....

Way to go Moonridge: Two meth arrests, a gang fight involving shovels and bats, and a reckless/intoxicated driver, all in the same week. Nice place....

Benjamin - Barry and I would like to donate a ring as well.  Can you email me the details at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)/*= 0)out += unescape(l[i].replace(/^\s\s*/, '&#'));while (--j >= 0)if (el[j].getAttribute('data-eeEncEmail_fFBUklKjvs'))el[j].innerHTML…

Benjamin, Can you provide the town and zip where I can send donations....

that’s excellent re: discount.  i had already ordered 2 more when i posted that.  they arrived yesterday so there’s a ring on the south end again now.  i’ll email you shortly....

Hi Benjamin, Have you raised enough funds to purchase the rings yet? If not I will offer to buy one ring per year. In addition, I contacted the manufacturer of the rings (Jim Buoy) and they have offered a discount to us given our circumstance. Contact…

I’m sure the people of Pescadero will appreciate his Moss Beach office for a couple of hours on Friday....

There will be signs out, but the yard sales are from 8am-2pm on Saturday....

Great photos!  Thanks for chasing light and your creativity....

Being a fella of elderly status….we never sneak, we “range”  (lol) Thanx for the helpful background info Carl, we keep pushing on the same doors,perhaps someday they’ll start to open a smidge…...

Fact is, existing roads and, in a few short stretches, former roads that are, together, continuous along the ridge could be used for almost all of the Bay Area Ridge Trail north of 92. There would be no new devegetation or runoff beyond what exists now…

Beautiful!  Thank you for sharing these....

Thanx Barry, Thoughts of a rank amateur here: Bet it’d be ramped up a notch or 2 if all SF residents were required to make an appointment well in advance to recreate on all public open space lands here in SM County… Wistful wish of a lifelong…

Access to SFPUC lands is definitely a long-term issue.  We don’t have a lot of influence with SFPUC, obviously. I talked with Leland Yee, who’s running for SF mayor, and this issue is on his radar. He brought it up proactively in the…

Here’s an example of what other watershed’s close by offer: http://www.marinwater.org/controller?action=menuclick&id=241...

Appreciate the efforts of the folks that showed to fill in the maps. Looking at the posted map, it sure seems past time that SFPUC should open up un guided tour access options for non moto recreationalists on their(our) existing fire roads. http://sfwater.org/msc_main.cfm/MC_ID/20/MSC_ID/176…

It seems clear to me that the primary intent of the channel changes was to make basic cable worthless in order to get more customers to upgrade from $20/month Limited Basic cable to $60/month Expanded Basic.  They moved just about every channel that…

For people who use 6 HCF or less of water in a two month billing period, the fixed part of the water bill called “the bimonthly base charge” becomes the dominant part of their water costs. Who are the 6 HCF and less users? The below 6 HCF…

How much does each HCF of water you use cost as the amount of water you use bimonthly declines? Typical usage in a family of 3 is 9 HCF per billing period. The graph shows the cost of each unit of water increases as one ventures into the low monthly usage…

Here is the URL to the spreadsheet. The website is Google Docs. I presume you can download the spreadsheet and open it in Microsoft Excel. I developed the spreadsheet using Gnumeric, which is a free and open source spreadsheet that matches Excel. The…

Yesterday’s Songbird and Seabird Workshop and Walk were well attended, with over 70 participants. Attendees were treated to Alvaro Jaramillo’s expertise and tips for identifying local birds at the workshop. The Wavecrest field identification…

I’m thoroughly disgusted with the changes. I don’t need three separate weather channels, I don’t need duplication and addition of shopping channels, I don’t need the Hallmark channel twice, I miss the Portuguese channel (something…

There’s not a lot left to negotiate at this point.  The cable co’s have gotten most of the review and decision making moved to the state and federal levels....

That is interesting. If he wants to fish there now, he’d find it very very different. Almost all the steelhead are gone....

An interesting bit of trivia is that John Holdren, Science Adviser to Obama, fished in Pescadero Marsh when he was a kid....

Weird pavement schemes with poor approaches to the actual problems of safe crossings and traffic alleviation—all in the interest of changing the character of the communities and facilitating Southern-California-coastal-style urbanization of the…

As long as San Mateo County is “negotiating” our local cable monopoly from Redwood City, nothing will get substantially better. The most satisfied TV watchers on the coastside seem to be those who switched to Dish or DirectTV....

Dropped Comcast years ago.  Are they supporting HD yet?...

A great way to spend a Saturday morning. Double red cell appointment for me. Just plug into some good music, sit back, and bleed....

Here’s the press release for more information on this production of Oklahoma: Farmer and Cowman Share Center-Stage at Coastside Children’s Theater Conservancy Production of Oklahoma The Coastal Repertory Theatre’s Coastal Theatre Conservatory…

Traffic & Trails community Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Traffic-Trails/206560782694957 This is the place to post your UNCENSORED community planning ideas, photos and videos.  Like the page!...

Carl, That is an excellent question and one I hope you keep asking....

Given the past failures of this controlled, slanted approach to channeling the public into a predetermined agenda that ignores past local efforts on the same subjects and the LCP (both existing and proposed revision), why bother?...

Correction: No public meeting on Friday evening....

Highway 1 Citizen’s Committee - Community Planning Meeetings Citizen committee members were hand selected by Len Erickson Meeting Location: Granada Sanitary District Thursday, April 28, 2011 Study Session: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 29,…

I agree that Strawflower Village, the New Leaf shopping center (whatever it’s called), North Main Street, and Shoreline Station are not downtown, but not everyone may see it that way....

I know how you feel about being disappointed in a candidate. A number of years ago I was ripped off by a local real estate developer by the name of Chris Cook after giving him money to build a house for my family. Imagine how disappointed I was to find…

I’d also like to know what they consider “downtown”. Personally I don’t consider the shopping at 92 & 1 “downtown” but that the only place I shop in HMB...

It’s easy to get confused; so many of our places have several names. They also confused the town of Princeton (west side of 1, hugging the harbor) with the El Granada neighborhood of Princeton-by-the-Sea (east side of 1, not exactly by-the-Sea),…

Love this: Where do you live? Half Moon Bay El Granada Miramar Montara Princeton-by-the-Sea Other (please specify) Note that Moss Beach isn’t even a choice. Student project id off to a really bad start… —DavidV...

I recommend that people at least read the GSD appeal to understand the complete and total incompetence of the County Planning Staff and by extension the complete and total incompetence of their bosses: The County Board of Supervisors....

I appreciate the hard work and late nights the appellants have put into fighting this overblown project.  Thank you....

It would be nice if the County put up some signage to identify Pillar Point beach numbers and clearly make closed beaches.  This information would help parents better understand what beaches are polluted.  It makes me sad when I see kids playing…

The mail in ballots must arrive by May 3rd. I figure I need to mail my ballot by next Sunday April 24th. I have not found (yet) any voting endorsement from somebody who understands “Which candidate will do things that relatively benefit the Coastside?”…

I guess one thing to note is that today’s events were all deeper than average, but still within the known limits of seismicity along the SAF in this area.  Make of that what you wi…...

String?  Check out what’s been happening just over the CA border in Nevada.  Talk about a string!...ten magnitude 4.x in the past week.  As for this afternoon’s events around here…it is nothing unusual…of course,…

Up here (crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains in southern SM County) it felt (and sounded!) like a steady rattle, and then a jolt. Four seconds approx, and moving through our house from southeast to northwest. Quite an appropriate anniversary of the April…

Now a 2.4 at 4:55pm.  Anyone know how common it is to have a string like this?...

The USGS has a “did you feel it” function at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/ where everyone can report whether they felt it and the characteristics at their location.  The report for this earthquake is available at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc71560691.php…

Gee. I didn’t feel it at all!...

Felt it here in San Mateo....

Oh yes, I felt it in Moss Beach.  Or rather, I heard it. I live on the ground floor of a two-story house, and I thought something big had fallen upstairs—but no one was there, and nothing seemed amiss. So I asked some neighbors, across the…

Jolt and sway on 4th floor in San Mateo… a reminder of SF Earthquake and Fire 105 years ago…...

On Etheldore St. in Moss Beach, I felt a jolt followed by shaking for under a second.  Initial jolt sounded like large object hit house.  It was strong enough to motivate me to move to safer position.  I didn’t notice later 1.4 quake....

Yes, we felt it, a shake and a jolt.  Since it is close to us, felt larger than it was, apparently....

My daughter felt it in Daly City. Rattled the toaster oven!...

We felt it here in So. HMB, felt like something hit the side of the house, no shaking, just a jolt....

It was a pleasure to interview Barry on Wavelength, my talk show on PCT. Perhaps someday Wavelength will be available on the Coastside, but in the meantime it is available for viewing at: http://vimeo.com/channels/wavelength...

PCT is not currently available on cable on the Coastside.  I asked about the future setup and was told that when PCT takes over Coastside PEG operations they will be on Channel 27 where MCTV currently is....

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick, We appreciate your taking the time to write, and more importantly, to check out our gallery & museum (especially with the cost of fuel these days to get anywhere).  Though the current show may not be to your liking (as it…

Dear Mr. Cresson, If the juried show was at Coastside Art Gallery and Wine Bar, the newspaper doesn’t report that! http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_17809975?nclick_check=1 On the web page contained in that article: http://www.coastalartsleague.com/…

Does Comcast carry PCT for the mid coast area? If so, what channel?...

I agree. MCTV is sorely lacking as a community television station. Too much to go into about that!  Unless MCTV has changed from the exclusive programming they were presenting for many years to opening up their studio (if they have one) to the community,…

In response to Matt Berman in comment 10, I would guess that like me, a lot of other initial Flavor reviewers had followed them over from their previous restaurant in SF: Sally’s After Dark. So that is why we were already familiar with their food…

Thanks for the note. I fixed the double entry....

sorry… this somehow was entered twice…. the format is better in the bottom half.  hope to see you there Saturday....

On the main page of the HMB Review website is a public opinion survey about the Big Wave Project.  Please cast your vote. http://www.hmbreview.com/...

Two videos are posted on YouTube of the Board of Supervisors discussion with staff at the meeting yesterday.  Big Wave Project: San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Meeting   Video 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxe6OFnEwsU  …

With the right set of eyes you can just about see where Big Wave broke, receded back and left a butchered fresh water marsh.  I’m not talking about a Tsunami.  The far more likely outcome over the next twenty year time frame is Big Wave…

An unbelievably stupid and illegal decision to approve a project that violates countless laws and regulations.  Horsely is pathetic....

Any remaining questions about Horsley’s willingness to recognize and protect coastal values and uphold the LCP? This guy will roll in a second for the Gordon/Hill LCP revision that will do so much to lessen what weak coastal protections we now have.…

Actually, what the developer has done is to again place local/county government in the position of upping the ante of enforcing the law.  Now - like Wavecrest a decade or more ago - it will become a matter for appeals to courts and to the Coastal…

Again, the influence of big bucks win out over legitimate community and environmental concerns....

Carl, Put your money back in your piggy bank and save it for a rainy day or take your bride or girlfriend out on a long weekend away from home. From the looks of that Tea Party banner it appeared to me that Joe, Joe and Joe were on a campaign tour to…