Supervisor Gordon’s office will be hosting Coastside Office Hours on Thursday, March 25 from 10am to Noon at the Sheriff’s Coastside Substation at 500 California Street in Moss Beach.  This is your best opportunity to communicate your needs to the Coastside’s government.

The HEAL Project is sponsoring this FREE event on Saturday, March 20 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Highlights include a “how-to” Compost Clinic with Master Composter Joe Lees at 10:00.  The first 20 people who sign up for this clinic via email (to [email protected]) will receive a free gift.

We’ll also have vermicomposting (worm bin) advice and display, Children’s activities, a student plant sale, and a backyard “Chicken Chat” on how to house and keep your own chickens.

This event will take place in the HEAL gardens at Hatch Elementary School, Half Moon Bay.  We hope to see you there!

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s board of directors approved the purchase of a 340-acre property from the Peninsula Open Space Trust at public meeting in Half Moon Bay last night. 

The property, known as Lobitos Ridge, is adjacent to the District’s existing Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve near Half Moon Bay, and is an important link in the goal of connecting “Purisima to the Sea” by preserving a corridor of public open space and agricultural land from Skyline Ridge to the San Mateo County coast. The District purchased an adjacent 260-acre property from POST in June 2009, and an adjacent 450-acre property from the University of California in August 2009. The District hopes to add one final piece of land to complete this project in 2011.

Darin Boville of Montara Fog reported the following after videotaping the March 3rd MCC meeting:

David Hankin, newly appointed to the Midcoast Community Council, has resigned. Hankin cites personal and professional commitments in his reasons for resigning. Hankins term was slated to run until the end of 2013.

The MCC now has two empty seats and is in the process of filling one of those, with one applicant. MCC’s seven permanent seats makes it the largest governing board on the coastside. (The Coastside Fire Protection District also has seven seats but is transitioning to five in two years.) All other governing bodies have five members.

The Midcoast Community Council has no official power and serves as an advisory body to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

The MCC has a troubled history in enlisting and keeping members. The election last fall was canceled and all the candidates appointed after an insufficient number of candidates applied. The recent attempt to fill the seventh seat was extended after no citizen expressed interest in serving.

The Midcoast Council also has a reputation as a dysfunctional government body with members sometimes exhibiting a lack of respect toward each other and a place were assertive personalities dominate the discussion.

Link to Montara Fog post: http://www.montarafog.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=482:david-hankin-resigns-from-mcc-after-fifty-days&catid=1:latest-news

Over the past several years Midcoast volunteers/advocates have attempted to resurrect the Midcoast Community Council to its former glory. Unfortunately all the good intentions have not paid off.

The original spirt of the MCC is dead and its usefulness as an organization has past.

The path to representative Midcoast government starts with deconstructing the powerless MCC. I urge the current council members to demolish the MCC. Something more democratic will emerge.

March 3, 2010 MCC Meeting Video: http://www.montarafog.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=487:mcc-meeting-march-3rd-2010&catid=46:mcc

The San Mateo County Resource Conservation District would like to invite you to the next Blue Circle meeting,

Geotourism in Coastal San Mateo County .

Geotourism is " best practice " tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, such as its culture , environment , heritage , and the well-being of its residents.

The Blue Circle is a community forum to share ideas, information, and resources for the goal of natural resource management, education, and stewardship .  No agenda, no minutes, no action items!  Check your guns at the door and enjoy the company of others who care deeply about the future of San Mateo County .  As always, the informal talk will be followed by a social featuring food, beer, wine, and a silent auction.

Topic : Geotourism in Coastal San Mateo County

When : Wednesday, March 24th , 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Where : Cypress Meadows
        343 Cypress Ave.
Moss Beach , CA 94038

Panelists :
Dee Harley- Harley Farms
Jered Lawson- Pie Ranch
Peter Grenell- San Mateo County Harbor District
Anne LeClaire- San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau
Charise McHugh- Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce

RSVP :  [email protected]

Please share this message with anyone you think might be interested in joining us on that day. 
We look forward to seeing you there- don’t forget to RSVP!

Directions and map to Cypress Meadows:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=343+Cypress+Ave.+Moss+Beach+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.013085,63.369141&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=37.522014,-122.512021&spn=0.015146,0.045018&om=1&iwloc=addr&f=d

Coastside Film Society Screening

Short: Remedios (8 mins)

A film by Jesse Cobb and friends from Pacifica’s Terra Nova High School.  The script for Remedios was adapted from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s classic, "100 Years of Solitude".  Filmed on location in San Francisco’s vibrant Mission District, the film is a magical urban fable about the power of beauty. 

Winner of the Coastside Teen Film Festival

Feature: Heavenly Creatures (99 mins)

"For those who think Peter Jackson sprung full blown as the director of "Lord of the Rings," this 1994 spellbinder should come as a revelation." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

  "Heavenly Creatures" tells the true story of two teenage girls who stunned New Zealand when they murdered one of their mothers in 1952. Juliet and Pauline are emotionally unstable outsiders in a Christchurch girls’ school. The girls develop an obsessive friendship based on fantasy, which is only heightened when they are separated by their parents. This movie was Kate Winslet’s film debut.

"What makes Jackson’s film enthralling and frightening is the way it shows these two girls creating an alternative world so safe and attractive they thought it was worth killing for." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Parental warning: This is a film with adult themes.

Friday April 19, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Community United Methodist Church Sanctuary
777 Miramontes (corner of Johnston); Half Moon Bay
$6.00 suggested donation

More info: www.HMBFilm.org

UPDATE: Devil’s Slide has been reopened in both directions.

A car has struck a cyclist on Highway 1 on Devil’s Slide , just north of Montara State Beach around 5:30pm. The southbound lane of the highway is closed at Devil’s Slide, just north of Montara State Beach.

Five-time Grammy nominee, John Santos, is a highly respected band leader, composer, recording artist, producer and educator in the Bay Area since the mid 1970s. His stellar Sextet sheds light on the historical and cultural significance of Latin Jazz. Their repertoire consists of original compositions and exciting original arrangements of classics from Latin America and the US. Their most recent CD, Perspectiva Fragmentada, on John’s Machete Records label, was selected as one of the five top Latin Jazz CDs of 2008 by New York’s All About Jazz magazine, and was a nominee for a 2009 Cubadisco award, equivalent to the Cuban Grammys.

Percussionist, composer and five-time Grammy nominee sheds light on the historical and cultural significance of Latin Jazz.

March 21, 2010 – 4:30, $35

Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650 726-4143, www.bachddsoc.org

Reservations: [email protected]