Coastal Commissioner Steve Blank is a Democrat appointed to the commission by Governor Schwarzenegger, reports the Capitol Weekly. He opposed the toll road through a state park—a position that cost Clint Eastwood and Bobby Shriver, the governor’s brother in law, their seats on the State Parks Commission. He’s also a Coastsider, with a home across Highway 1 from Año Nuevo.

"The biggest misperception is that nobody understands that it’s zoning. It’s not that you’ve lost property rights, it’s just that zoning differs (in the coastal zone). It’s unlike any other place in the world. This is because 75 percent of the population lives within 25 miles of the coast, but it is still among the most pristine coasts in the world," Blank said. "You share the coast with 38 million people."

Using his own money—and before he had a lot of it—he purchased land from the state conservancy by mortgaging his home, and has since placed protections on that land, such as leasing it back to sustainable farmers of $1 a year. "His personal goal is to protect the land and keep it wild, but accessible to visitors so they can appreciate it and learn from it," said Kassy Perry, a media consultant who has worked with Blank.

He and his wife –a Stanford business professor and who specializes in nonprofits—also donated $500,000 to the state-of-the-art Marine Education Center at Año Nuevo. The $3.2 million facility opened this month with a symbolic "kelp cutting" ceremony with donors and state officials that included state parks director Ruth Coleman, who lauded Blank. Without Blank’s "determination, vision and cash, this center would still be a dream trapped in the middle of two historic, but dilapidated barns."

Garden Art Party - An Event To Benefit Bay Area Animal Rescue (BAAR).

Sunday, June 29th from 11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Alena Jean’s Flower Shop and Nursery, located at: 340 Purissima Street in Half Moon Bay.

Featuring local artists:

• Jewelry: Patty McKowen, Maggie Ford, and Kaila Clark
  
• Pottery: Greet Jaspaert
  
• Photography: Michael Jaspaert, will also perform on his guitar
  
• Mixed Media: Serah Mead
  
• Knitting: Ada Lai and Giulie Brown

Belly dancers will shake up the tempo and Mike McCall will play Spanish guitar in the gazebo. Refreshments provided. All ages are welcome! Children may enjoy watching the train circling the garden creek. Please leave your pets at home. On site, cats will be up for adoption, but no kittens or dogs.

Alena Jean now features Annie’s Annuals as well as a wide variety of fun and unusual plants. Fees from the reserved artist’s booths will be donated to BAAR. Donations to BAAR are welcomed.

Alena Jean’s Flower Shop & Nursery is located in the big brown barn behind Casey’s Café.

Supervisor Rich Gordon will be on the Coastside this Thursday, June 26 from 10am to noon at the Moss Beach Substation.

Amateur Radio Operators (hams) will set up and operate several field radio stations to contact other hams across the Country and around the world, at North Venice Beach Parking Lot, Half Moon Bay, Saturday.  Our objective is to contact as many other hams as possible under simulated emergency or disaster conditions.

All licensed Amateur Radio Operators are invited and encouraged to participate regardless of knowledge level.  Are you an experienced contester, great! Have your license but never been on the air, even better!  Just curious about what this is all about?  Come on by and say hello!  The general public is welcome see how it’s done and even try their hands on the mic. 

The occasion is the American Radio Relay League’s annual Field Day.  Amateur Radio operators practice communication skills under primitive conditions, with generator and battery-powered equipment and portable antennas.  Special awards are given for "alternative" power sources such as solar, wind and methane.  Field Day is a competition as well as a "trial run" for emergency communication skills used during disaster situations.

In addition, the Half Moon Bay Amateur Radio Emergency Service holds monthly meetings on the 1st Wednesday of each month at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 535 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  The public is welcome.  Also for licensed hams, there is a weekly on-air net every Wednesday night at 8:00 pm on 147.285 MHz, positive offset and a PL of 114.8 Hz.

Setup – Saturday, June 28, 8 am to11 am
Contest – Saturday, June 28, 11 am to Sunday, June 29, 11 am
Takedown – Sunday, June 29, 11 am to 1 pm

For questions contact: Mark Reed, K6HMB
Ph: 650-274-4057
[email protected]

Looks like the longest day of the year is going to be one big sunfest and the first day of summer is actually going to feel like summer! To celebrate this improbable event, I am having myself a serious solstice moment. 

As we speak I am sipping on a very swell decoction of seltzer water and slices of summer peaches swirling alongside Swanton’s strawberries.  Very refreshing as I contemplate my next move, which may very well be to head to the harbor, walk the pooch and cool my heels and pick up a nice chunk of albacore. A nice Coastal version of a Salad Nicoise , what with Eda’s arugula, Giusti’ baby artichokes, over a nest of Tunitas Creek Ranch greens seems like a nice way to round out an evening, doesn’t it?  I hope so, because this very warm afternoon following a series of beautiful days has sent my mind a’drift, and I can complete nothing more than a simple thought or two, like my goodness, it’s gorgeous, and dang, am I ever thirsty. 

I am putting all the ripe raspberries and the rest of the peaches ( sliced and peeled) in the freezer right now,  and going outside.  When I get back I am going to pile them, frozen, into the cuisinart, douse them with a quick blast of Lillet and spin up a lovely all-fruit sorbet and watch the moon rise refreshed.  

Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?

See you on the beach, and at the Market,

Erin Tormey
Coastside Farmers Markets

In Half Moon Bay @ Shoreline Station 
Saturdays, 9 am to 1 pm

In Pacifica @ Rockaway Beach 
Wednesdays, 2:30 -6:

A homeowners’ association is suing Half Moon Bay for $1 million, saying that the construciton of the Oak Avenue Park is taking place on their property, reports the County Times. [Google Map]

The lawsuit claims that the Cypress-by-the-Sea Homeowners Association and the owners of eight condominiums were not informed of public hearings on the park’s construction and were not aware that the city’s development of Oak Avenue’s north side would stretch west into what they consider their property.

...
Though the city declares ownership of the land, the lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs have been paying property taxes on 100 percent of the land. "At no time since March 1976 have the records at the Tax Assessor’s Office shown that (the city) has any ownership interest whatever in the property," the lawsuit alleges. "There is no assessor’s parcel in (the city’s) name."

In 2004, the city began acquiring parcels of land 200 yards east of the property on the north side of the street through threat of condemnation, according to the lawsuit. That land was used for the construction of a footbridge across Pilarcitos Creek to Strawflower Shopping Center.

Steve Wilson, an attorney with Tobin and Tobin, the law firm representing the homeowners, said public hearings on the construction of Oak Park began that year, but his clients were not fully aware of the discussions.

While walking to a favorite ocean view spot near Roosevelt beach on Thursday, I passed three large tour buses parked at Dunes beach.  I didn’t think too much about it until a large number of people, mostly in their 20’s and 30’s, crested a nearby dune and walked toward me.  They set about removing non-native vegetation with considerable energy.  Many wore identical t-shirts.  Later, in the parking lot I learned they were part of a group of 130 Google employees.  This week there is a large Google volunteer effort facilitated by Hands on Bay Area.  Beth Crites, the coordinator, said that some 1,800 employees are contributed time at 27 project sites around the Bay Area.  This work was coordinated with the local state parks unit.

I’ll bet that you or someone you know have a tire or two in the yard or garage that you’ve wanted to get rid of for years. You’ll have the chance on Saturday June 21st, from 9am to 1pm at the Pescadero Transfer Station on Bean Hollow Rd.

In an effort to get green, and because grants have been made available, San Mateo County has hired a permitted hauler to pick up our unwanted tires of any size - with or without rims. Best part, the hauler plans on reusing and recycling as much as possible.

The last event in HMB actually rescued over 800 tires!! If you can’t make it to Pescadero on the 21st, there will be similar events in the near future. I’ll keep you posted.

A couple dozen kids aged six to twelve helped volunteers remove non-native invasive plants from the land near a wetlands restoration site Wednesday.

The children, from the Coastside Children’s Program at Farallone View Elementary, broke up into teams. Each team was equipped with adult volunteers, its own biologist, and photos of the invasive species. They removed the intruding plants from perimeter of the wetland mitigation site created by the Caltrans Devil’s Slide Tunnel project.

When they were finished, the kids enjoyed a picnic lunch on Montara Beach provided by the Ritz.

We’ve all been eager for New Leaf to open, but no one than our teenage daughter Victoria.  A recently converted health nut, Victoria has struggled to find many healthy alternatives at the local stores.  Today, we had a hard time getting her to leave the store.

Victoria’s Top 10 things that make me happy at New Leaf

Salad Bar: I like the options at the salad bar, mainly because it gives a healthy alternative during our time off at lunch. They also have a hot entrée bar, olive bar, and well stocked deli. Yay options! One warning – the desserts are delicious and will call your name if you come anywhere near them.  Naturally, you have to go through the desserts to get to the salad.  Sigh.

Fresh organic fruits and vegetables: Between the millions of fruits and vegetables, I didn’t even know where to start. There was an intense amount of produce, and all of it was ripe, which is a nice change. Best of all?  Samples, samples, samples.  Who can say no to free fruits.  Not me.

Job opportunities: Working behind-the-scenes might not always be glamorous, but it gets the bills paid. New Leaf provides many job opportunities for teenagers, including some friends of mine.

Click below for more, including a surprise guest.