Comments by Vince Williams
July 10, 2012
Old memories... Carl May is only interested in one thing, the principle of local control. Nothing else matters. The State and County write the laws and regulations and the "locals" have no choice but to deal with them. That is the history. The days of a rural single engine department are long gone. In the late nineties ERAF took funds away form local Special Districts and the County agreed to form the ALS/JPA putting Paramedics on fire engines. As I pointed out many times before, our previous Point…
September 06, 2011
I commend the MCC for taking the issue up. I doubt anything will come of it. However, I think the citizens of the MidCoast would benefit from an updated financial assessment of the feasibility of incorporation. A real incorporation or annexation is fraught with risks. SMC BOS control LAFCo and everyone outside the MidCoast has an agenda for the MidCoast that I don't think the residents of the MidCoast share. Being active in Fire Board politics, it's scary how outside money can come in and buy elections…
August 24, 2011
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 Termination debt to CalPERS is financed by a $9M bond financed over ten years at roughly 7% interest for an annual payment of $1.2M. John Bartel communication to the Board was that, if Coastside terminated on August 16, the Coastside Termination CalPERS debt would likely…
August 24, 2011
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 from CalPERS on the action that CalPERS board took on August 17. http://calpensions.com/2011/08/22/calpers-boosts-cost-of-terminating-pension-plans/ The new official "hypothetical" assumption rate used in actuarial reports for the Termination pools is 3.8% compared…
August 21, 2011
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. HMBFPD did not have the economy of scale. Having two unsustainable feuding agencies combined into one made the job of local voters to understand the issues easier. But as it played out, the local fire cronyism morphed and got $60K of IAFF Local 2400 outside political…
April 18, 2011
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.
March 30, 2011
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 rattles around the CCC and Courts and gets re-scoped, the developers will claim the County granted them a right to develop four ill defined large buildings(over decades) and sue the County ala Beachwood for a taking. By then, our current Supes will have moved on to…
October 12, 2010
I don't think our water and sewer system should be in the business of incentivizing social policy, whether it is how many children families have, a house is being over occupied by unrelated adults, a retired couple reduces their carbon footprint by growing their own vegetables, a resident has OCD and is double flusher and compulsive hand washer, a golfer's passion for his personal practice putting green or a teenager's daily ritual of washing the mud off his over sized truck, after tearing up open…
February 25, 2010
At the CFPD Regular meeting on the 24th, Battalion Chief Ari Delay(one of the "debrief" attendees) provided details to the Board of the planning, extra staffing put on at CFPD's expense, numbers treated, numbers transported, response time, time to transport and impact on other non-event Coastside emergencies. There was a Board discussion, after Chief Delay's presentation about future policy toward the event. Rather than paraphrase and condense a contentious issue, I'd refer those interested to MontaraFog.com.…
December 12, 2009
Each Cabrillo Highway cross street has its own unique set of problems. Cabrillo at California in Moss Beach has many: 1.Weinke intersects this intersection at an oblique angle. 2.Carlos street parallels Cabrillo and has a fair amount of traffic. Through traffic on Carlos has a stop sign at California. Traffic on Carlos, while at these stop signs, have difficulty seeing California cross traffic coming form Cabrillo at high speed. 3. There is a fair amount of North bound Cabrillo traffic exiting right…
December 11, 2009
Good discussion. On a California Avenue underpass under Cabrillo Highway in Moss Beach, there would be a real drainage problem. The ditches there are full year round. Pumps would be required year round. There would also be an issue with where to discharge the pumped water. Not an easy problem with a riparian corridor and marine preserve near by, vehicular brake linings and hydrocarbons and the local dog owner and feral cat issues. One of the other pedestrian problems with Cabrillo Highway at California…
November 26, 2009
Sabrina, I had a question about the proposed Ordinance: You wrote: "However, Seal Cove is not included in this area, as somehow it was not included in the Kleinfelter Report study area. Seal Cove is one of the most critically short water areas of the Midcoast." While the land west of the Seal Cove Fault was not studied in the Kleinfelter Report, some of the maps in the report appear to include Seal Cove in Lower Moss Beach Aquifer(part of the area within the urban boundary). Despite the fault being…
October 13, 2009
I measured 3 inches of rain at 2:00 PM Tuesday in downtown Moss Beach. Power has remained on. Couple of cracked Monterey Cypress limbs. A lot of fresh tree debris in streets. Streets are slippery with water and tree debris.
October 05, 2009
I support Gary Burke, J.B. Cockrell and Ginny McShane for the Coastside Fire Protection District. They have been instrumental in achieving the goals of stabilizing the fire service and putting it on a sound financial footing that is sustainable long term. Consolidation and a contract with CalFire were the right solutions for the Coastside. The challenge going forward for the community is to keep the CalFire contract in place. The CFPD Board majority will shift to a pro IAFF Local 2400 majority in…
September 13, 2009
Deborah Lardi, "Hmmmm- does this mean no more hissy-fits, name-calling and browbeating???" I wouldn't characterize what I wrote that way. Further, I'd take offense, if an elected official characterized what I wrote that way on a public forum. Sabrina Brennan, I was responding to what Carl May wrote, "Vince wasn’t even around for most of what I referred to in my previous message, so it would be interesting to know what, in his short-term view, is revisionist about it." My intent in responding was…
September 10, 2009
I didn't see anything in this topic that said don't respond, if you haven't lived here as long as Carl May. I was around when there was a Local P&Z Review Committee and a Park and Rec group in the MCC. Specifically in my Comment 19, Carl May's rendition of why Local P&Z Review Committee and a Park and Rec were shut down is revisionist history. Many people that lived in the MidCoast were not happy with the amateur way the P&Z Local reviews were being run and the eleventh hour butinskis complaining…
September 10, 2009
I made some suggestions twenty months ago. No one showed much interest in them. Much has happened in those twenty months and they aren't relevant anymore. At this time, in my humble non-cynical opinion, The MCC has a value as place holder for a gathering point for citizens to deal with future community issues. A place for people to meet and depending on their inclination move forward on their own or form their own organizations around specific issues(Big Wave, Parks or Incorporation). I would encourage…
September 09, 2009
So, does Carl May's revisionist history guide what the MCC should become in the future? Should all the citizens of the MidCoast hold their breath with Carl, until the BOS recognize their big mistake and grant local governance to the MidCoast? All the BOS have to do is watch the MCC meeting that degenerated into a rancorous discussion on healthcare/insurance reform in which one member stormed out, to recognize we are as capable of representative democracy as feuding warlords in Afghanistan. Why couldn't…
July 14, 2009
Barry, In the past, I heard claims form others that MCTV refused to air recordings of public meetings made by people in the community and the Boards themselves. I was told by others MCTV's policy was that they would only air meetings they recorded. My knowledge of this is only hearsay. However, during the CFPD Board in early 2008 deliberating web casting the issue of copyright retention was debated. Michael Day claimed in the February 19, 2008 CFPD Board meeting speaking to the issue of MCTV retaining…
July 13, 2009
In Ms. Malach's letter to Supervisor Gordon under section "Public Meeting Programing" it appears that MCTV intends to continue to violate Federal Law. Under 47USC 531 Section 611e it is illegal for a PEG Access Manager or Cable Operator to censor any broadcast material for other than obscenity, indecency or nudity. Financial viability of a PEG Access Manager is not justification for censorship under 47USC 531 Section 611e. It is highly unlikely that anyone in the community would find the broadcast…
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