Comments by Leonard Woren

Video: Coasting Devil’s Slide

March 29, 2014
It's ruined by fugly K-rail.

The Nascent Financial Crisis at Coastside Fire

August 25, 2012
Executive summary of Carl's argument: we're getting screwed, so why should I care how bad the screwing is? I normally agree with Carl, but this fire district fiasco is the one exception. I certainly am a very strong believer in local control. The bigger the government, the harder it is for average citizens to keep it in line. Sacramento is completely out of control. Don't even bother asking me what I think of the Federal government. I was against the consolidation of the two fire districts as pointless.…

Why is it taking so long?

June 11, 2012
Southern California has two things that we don't have: 1. A heckofa lot more people. 2. It's not in Caltrans District 4. 1 out every 3 people living in the State of California lives in L.A. County! More than 1/5 of the cities in California are in L.A. County! Better that all those people are there than here. But it also means that it's more necessary and appropriate to spend more money there. I go to L.A. a few times a year, and I don't think that I agree with the characterization of lack of congestion.…

Loving Fitzgerald too much?

December 28, 2011
Annaliese writes "[...] let's hear some solutions." The solution is stated quite clearly in the FMR Master Plan and has been suggested at least twice in these comments. Just because you don't like the solution doesn't mean that a solution hasn't been proposed. Limiting the number of people is unfortunately the only solution. This isn't much different from the overfishing situation. Many areas are so overfished that the only way to keep some species from completely disappearing is to completely ban…

Coastal Commission appoints Charles Lester as new director

September 08, 2011
Excellent choice. For months I had been wondering and worrying about who was going to replace Peter but now that I know, it's not a surprise at all. In hindsight, Charles is the obvious choice. I think the CCC will now continue on with no visible functional or operational change. Peter will be missed and in some way it won't feel the same without him. Yet a well-built organization can survive any staff change, and I think that even with all the back-door attempts to eviscerate the Commission by cutting…

MCC moves forward with incorporation/annexation study

September 06, 2011
Half Moon Bay loses land-use lawsuits because they want to lose them. The lawsuits pretty much dried up during the few years that the pro-environment Council members were in office because in those days, the City WON the lawsuits. Practically the next morning after the environmentalists lost control of the HMB City Council, lawsuits landed on City Hall's doorstep in the expectation that the City would cave, which of course they did. In fact, a cynic might say that the lawsuits were delivered simply…

MCC moves forward with incorporation/annexation study

September 06, 2011
So let's move on to discussion of incorporation. Would it be better than the status quo? In my opinion, very likely. Could it be worse? Sure, the over-developers could buy the City Council as has been done in L.A. and in HMB. To decide how likely the latter possibility is, think about the two community-friendly (as opposed to developer-friendly) local governments: Granada Sanitary District and Montara Water and Sanitary District. We do manage to keep them out of the hands of the over-developers,…

MCC moves forward with incorporation/annexation study

September 06, 2011
"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the results to be different is the definition of insanity." -- Albert Einstein I cannot understand why some of those who are most vocal about how the County government abuses and screws over the unincorporated Midcoast are also the most vocal against incorporation. The only thing that ever changes at County Center when it comes to the Midcoast are the nameplates in front of the Supervisors. So why does anyone think that continuing on with the…

MCC moves forward with incorporation/annexation study

September 06, 2011
My comment above appears to be dangling because I big comment that I just posted before it isn't there. I don't know where it went.

MCC moves forward with incorporation/annexation study

September 06, 2011
Oh, one more thing. In regards to "Why even bother conducting the study now given the current economic environment?", I answered that during the MCC discussion of sending the request. Any new city would have to be able to survive during good times as well as bad. It's in fact more appropriate to do the study under current circumstances, so that we'll know whether or not the new city could make it through bad times. I'd insist that the new city be a charter city, with a clause in the charter that…

Ask Comcast for reasonable Basic Cable service

May 30, 2011
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 anyone might want to watch from Limited to Expanded, and back-filled with junk that nobody cares about. The only reason that the broadcast stations are still on Limited is because there's federal law requiring those channels to be carried. There are about…

3.8, 1.4 magnitude earthquakes near Sweeney Ridge

April 18, 2011
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 (I don't know whether or not that's a long-lasting link.) Shortly thereafter I heard a number of sirens heading north past El Granada. I wonder if something happened in the tunnels.

PCT could be a breath of fresh air for Coastside TV

April 16, 2011
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.

Montara residents should review the GGNRA proposed access portal

March 20, 2011
"Perhaps GGNRA should hold-off until the County get its act together and designs the Parallel Trail." Only if you have evidence that the County will ever do so. The Parallel Trail has been an element of the certified Local Coastal Program since it was written in 1980. I believe that the County has not spent a dime on the Parallel Trail in those 31 years. "Funding is available however the County has done nothing to meet the funding application deadline. The County missed the deadline this month and…

Update: Hwy 1 reduced to single-direction traffic in El Granada

January 10, 2011
I was out of the area until after dark. Is that the (red) truck cab visible below and above the middle of the trailer? If so, I wonder what the sports car looked like. I thought that I saw SR 1 open before 6 pm, but when I went back with my camera they had closed it again around 6 pm. Apparently they opened the road for a while to let most of the commute traffic get through and then went to work to actually remove the truck when the commute traffic went down. This photo was taken from Ave Alhambra…

Photo: Devil’s Slide Tunnel debris site

December 18, 2010
CalTrans doesn't like small projects. The original tunnel project proposal was too small for them. When they were forced into it, they made it bigger. Bill's suggestion merits investigation.

Chart: Big Wave EIR preparation time vs. public’s time to review

October 24, 2010
In order for the Planning Commission to deny a project, it typically has to be clear to them that there is substantial community support for following the law.

Chart: Big Wave EIR preparation time vs. public’s time to review

October 24, 2010
The planning department staff firmly believe that their job is "to assist applicants in getting their projects approved." And just in case I wasn't sure about that, a few years ago a planner looked me in the eye and told me so, in those words. Wrong. Their job is to insure that projects follow the law (County Zoning Code and the Local Coastal Program), and to assist the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors in doing the same. Anyone who doesn't believe my opening statement above, please…

Big Wave story poles up; Next hearing Weds, Oct 27

October 22, 2010
No matter how big a project is, in my 3 decades of experience with these things (13 years in Southern California and 16 years here), every developer says that making their project smaller isn't economically feasible. I understand why Lisa enhanced the photos, but one of the issues with consideration of this project is inadequate story poles. In the actual scene, at least on our typical overcast days, the story poles and particularly the horizontal top wires are nearly invisible. That's why orange…

Montara Water Rate Hikes Unfair to Families

October 12, 2010
I'd like to hear someone propose some rate structure which encourages conservation without someone else complaining that it's unfair. I don't think that such a structure is possible. Vince may be correct, in which case the only solution would be to have a meter charge based on connection size, plus a straight line rate for consumption. To have the tier allocations based on people per household, how would the District determine the number of people per household? Ask? Yeah, that'll really get honest…

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