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On January 2, 2010 the operator of the rip-rap bucket loader said, "the new plan is to move the apartment building off its foundation and away from the eroding bluff."

January 2, 2010 photos of the rip-rap installation crew at work (click images to view full-size photos)

January 1, 2010 photos from Esplanade Ave

December 31, 2009 AP Video about cliff stabilization project

Join us in Half Moon Bay on January 10th and learn how to collect signatures to put April’s name on the June 8 ballot. It’s easy and fun to do! We’ll supply the training, materials, prizes and refreshments. You supply the energy and enthusiasm. It’s time we elected a Coastsider to the Board of Supervisors. It’s been almost 40 years! Come find out how you can help:

Sunday, January 10, 2010
Time: 4:00-6:00 pm
Mill Rose Inn
615 Mill St.
Half Moon Bay

For those who can’t attend on January 10, we will be hosting the same training on the previous day in San Mateo:

Saturday, January 9, 2010
Time: 1:00-2:30 pm with a second session from 3:30-5:00 if necessary
Fellowship Hall – Pilgrim Baptist Church
217 N. Grant at Monte Diablo Ave.
San Mateo

For more information and to RSVP please contact: [email protected] or call Patty McKowen at 650-796-4600.

If you are interested in exploring the headlands, working with volunteers, and planning projects to preserve and protect the Headlands in 2010 you are invited to join one of the stewardship teams and attend a "play" party on Saturday, January 9th from 9.40 am to 12.30pm.  Volunteers will meet at the Pedro Point Shopping Center at 9.40 am and carpool up to the headlands via the gate off of Hwy 1.  There they will meet with their stewardship team and walk the headlands to determine their team’s plan for 2010.

The five stewardship teams for the Pedro Point Headland Property, now owned by the State of California and the City of Pacifica but destined to become a future GGNRA park, are Habitat Restoration, Trails, Signage, Safety/Monitoring, and the History of the Headlands. Individuals can volunteer for more than one team.  Each team will plan, prioritize, and lead volunteer work parties in the area of their expertise to preserve and protect the headland property.

If it is raining, volunteers are asked to bring their rain gear and meet at the Pedro Point Firehouse on Danman Road where everyone will vote to either meet in the firehouse or to go up to the Headlands.

At the last workshop in November several dozen excited volunteers gathered at the Firehouse to explore opportunities, gather information about the Headland property, and establish teams for the 5 work groups. Since this gathering, a number of meetings have been held with the National Parks Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy about habitat restoration and trails restoration so that our work melds nicely into their plans as the future caretakers of the property. 

Gary Strachan is retiring after 34 years as a park ranger, 25 of those serving in State parks on the coast, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

"Gary’s a force on the coast. He probably wants to have his ashes scattered out there," said Paul Keel, parks superintendent for San Mateo County. "He cares about what he’s doing. He makes it a part of who he is. When you meet somebody like that, you just kind of know it. People get it when they meet someone who means what they say and cares about what they do."

Strachan has spent a lot of time thinking about how to best protect and share the wonders of the park with the public and the scientific community. He expanded the park’s volunteer program, recruiting more than 235 volunteer docent naturalists to take 50,000 people on guided walks of Año Nuevo. He spent eight years working with nonprofits and private foundations to raise $3.8 million to convert an old farmhouse and dairy barn into a marine museum — even as his own park’s operating budget shrunk along with others across the state.

He is also a committed environmentalist when it comes to protecting rural coastal lands from development, becoming a major behind-the-scenes player in working with open space groups and nonprofits to broker land deals with the state. He played a crucial role in adding 20,000 acres of open space to the South Coast, including Cascade Ranch and part of Butano State Park. The land acquisitions dramatically expanded hiking trail connections from Año Nuevo to the surrounding area.

Strachan is confident that Año Nuevo will be left in good hands, even if the state cannot afford a full-time replacement at the moment. But he does worry — a lot — that at a time when budget cutbacks threaten the future of State Parks, public support is also at an ebb.

Read the rest at the County Times.

Half Moon Bay police plan a special "saturation patrol" Saturday

Half Moon Bay PD will be conducting this “Zero Tolerance” DUI Saturation Patrol on Saturday, 01/02/2010, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver before their celebrations begin.

A downed power line in El Granada left much of the Coastside without electricity for up to an hour or more Tuesday afternoon starting at about 2:30pm

A line down near 831 Sonora Ave in El Granada left power off in all or parts of Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada and Half Moon Bay. Lights flickered before going off entirely. They returned to parts of Half Moon Bay after 20 minutes, and Montara after about an hour.

This report is based on eyewitness accounts and reports on the midcoast-l mailing list.

What was your experience this afternoon?

Pamela McDonald, author of the APO E Gene Diet, will be presenting the program New Year, New You at the Half Moon Bay Library on Friday January 15th at 7:00PM.  Pamela, who has given talks at Stanford and KRON 4, will cover such topics as optimizing your health with nutrition and how to make your genetics work for you.

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and is now enjoying a week of winding down. But it’s almost 2010, and time to gear up again with Tech Tuesday on the first Tuesday evening of the month at 6:30 PM at It’s Italia.

It’s been wonderful every month I’ve been there, ( I missed only one) and I will be here for this one as well.

Hope to see you there to meet and greet your fellow (and girl) geeks.

Was that cheesy enough?