On those nights when we’re not shrouded in fog, the Coastside has the most spectacular sky in the Bay Area. We still get a ton of spillover on the horizon from San Francisco and elsewhere, but one of our least appreciated natural features is our starry nights.

A couple of weeks ago, the New Yorker published an excellent article on the effects of light pollution and how to mitigate it. It turns out that a great deal of light pollution is unnecessary or even counterproductive, and we can save money and improve visibility while using less artificial llight. For example, some schools have reduced vandalism by turning off their lights at night.

The mall’s large parking lot was fully illuminated—as we walked from the car to the restaurant, I had no trouble reading notes that I had scribbled in my notebook—but it was free of what dark-sky advocates call "glare bombs": fixtures that cast much of their light sideways, into the eyes of passersby, or upward, into the sky. Tucson’s code limits the brightness of exterior fixtures and requires most of them to be of a type usually known as "full cutoff" or "fully shielded," meaning that they cast no light above the horizontal plane and employ a light source that cannot be seen by someone standing to the side. These are not necessarily more difficult or expensive to manufacture than traditional lights, and they typically cost less to operate. Calgary, Alberta, recently cut its electricity expenditures by more than two million dollars a year, by switching to full-cutoff, reduced-wattage street lights.

Diminishing the level of nighttime lighting can actually increase visibility. In recent years, the California Department of Transportation has greatly reduced its use of continuous lighting on its highways, and has increased its use of reflectors and other passive guides, which concentrate luminance where drivers need it rather than dispersing it over broad areas. (Passive guides also save money, since they don’t require electricity.) F.A.A.-regulated airport runways, though they don’t use reflectors, are lit in a somewhat similar fashion, with rows of guidance lights rather than with high-powered floodlights covering broad expanses of macadam. This makes the runways easier for pilots to pick out at night, because the key to visibility, on runways as well as on roads, is contrast.

It’s hard to imagine that just 100 years ago, most of the United States had night skies that were as dark and starry as those observed by Galileo with his primitive telescope, or our ancient ancestors for that matter.

As our population continues to grow, what can we do today to improve how we experience the Coastside at night now and in the future?

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has appointed two new members, Brad O’Brien and Steve Blank, both of Menlo Park, to its Board of Directors.

Brad O’Brien is senior partner in the real estate and environmental practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. He teaches commercial leasing and recent developments in real estate for California Continuing Education of the Bar. He also serves as a director of the Eastside College Preparatory School in East Palo Alto and has done pro bono legal work for POST and other organizations, including Ronald McDonald House, Sempervirens Fund, Environmental Volunteers, Menlo School, Woodside High School Foundation, the Palo Alto History Museum and the Community School of Music and Art.
 
Steve Blank is a retired Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has co-founded several companies including E.piphany, MIPS Computers, Ardent and Rocket Science Games. He currently teaches entrepreneurship at the Stanford School of Engineering; Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; and the Columbia Business School. He serves on the California Coastal Commission, is on the National Audubon Society’s board of directors, and is chair of the board of Audubon California. He sits on the boards of two Silicon Valley technology companies, CaféPress and IMVU.

This letter comes from the MontaraFlood Yahoo group, where you can find a copy of the agenda for the meeting

The San Mateo County Midcoast Stormwater Drainage Committee will hold its fourth meeting on Thursday, October 4 at 2:00PM at the Sheriff’s substation in Moss Beach. We are still in the "education" phase of our work, in which committee members are learning about stormwater problems in the Midcoast area as well as the State and County laws, ordinances and policies that govern County actions.

The main topic of discussion at this meeting will be "paper streets," that is, streets that are set aside for future development. We will include existing streets that are not on the County-maintained system, as these are governed by the same policies.

Hundreds of comedians audition each year to compete in the annual San Francisco International Stand-Up Comedy Competition. Only twenty are chosen for the final rounds.  There will be ten comics performing 10-12 minute sets at the Bach on Sunday, Sept 30.

There are 12 preliminary rounds, 6 semifinal rounds, 4 final rounds, and 1 title winner.  For more information on the history of the competition visit

Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
$30.  Tickets at the door.
Doors Open at 3 PM, event from 4:30 to 7:30 PM, with intermission.

Half Moon Bay Police have captured a suspect in the murder of a battered body found in a field near Shoreline Station, less than 100 yards from the police station, reports Michael Manekin in the County Times.

Establishing a motive at this point in the investigation is difficult, said [Deputy District Attorney Sean] Gallagher.  Both [suspect Brian David] Ruckel and his victim were homeless alcoholics, "and things go wrong when people are drinking," he said.
...
The two men were drinking beer at the campsite behind the police station when — "without warning or provocation," according to a written statement from police — Ruckel sank his teeth into his travel companion’s ear, removing a piece about 1 inch in diameter.

Ruckel’s companion left the campground and, when he returned the next day, he discovered a dead body there. The homicide occurred between six and eight hours after the ear-biting incident, said Gallagher.
...
There are "easily" 100 people who are "purely homeless" on the coast and hundreds more living in make-shift shelters, automobiles and boats, said [homeless advocate Cheri] Parr. Without any full-size shelters in the area, the transients who live in Half Moon Bay and the many temporary homeless who pass through the city are left out in the cold.

Please join the Sierra Club and the Pilarcitos Creek Advisory Committee to learn about this vital ecosystem in our own back yard—Saturday, October 6, 2007, 10:30 AM, at the Ocean Shore Train Depot, 110 Higgins Canyon Road, Half Moon Bay.

Even as the watershed brings drinking water to the majority of residents on the Coastside, it also provides essential habitat for a diverse population of native plant and animal species.  Old timers remember when steelhead trout used to swim up Pilarcitos Creek to their spawning grounds. Steelhead still attempt to make the run but sadly die at the mouth of the dried-up creek.

Pilarcitos Creek originates on the eastern slope of Montara Mountain and flows southeast for about 12 miles until, during the rainy season, it empties at Venice Beach in Half Moon Bay.  The creek and its five major tributaries drain approximately eighteen thousand acres of land.  The area boasts the highest concentration of rare, threatened and endangered species in the nine-county Bay area and is designated as a State and Game Refuge.

Coastside settlers and the Pilarcitos Creek Watershed share a long history, dating back to the 1860’s when a small earth dam was built across Pilarcitos Canyon.  Now, after more than a century of increased diversions and neglect, the watershed is in peril, and greatly in need of protection and restoration.

The "Discover Pilarcitos Creek Watershed" event is free, and will feature morning presentations on topics that include the watershed’s ecology and geology, the agriculture and aquatic species it supports, water quality issues and information about current and future restoration projects.  After a light lunch, attendees will have an opportunity to go on an easy 1-2 mile hike to visit a local creek restoration site, most likely Mills Creek.

Since we need to know how much food to provide, please RSVP Bill Young by phone (650-390-8494) or by email ([email protected]).

The 4-H Youth Development program is one of the oldest nationwide organizations focusing on positive youth development, yet in San Mateo County it’s one of the least known. During National 4-H Week (October 7-13) an Enrollment Expo will be held on Sunday, October 7, at the San Mateo Event Center from 1 to 3pm which will include all the clubs in San Mateo County and highlight the achievements of 4-H youth and volunteers.  Each 4-H club will be hosting their own events during October to bring attention to the 4-H program and recruit new members. 

4-H Youth Development is a program of the University of California Cooperative Extension Service. The UC provides resources and training to the 4-H Youth Development program which is recognized by its green clover and the four H’s which stand for head, heart, hands, and health.  It is open to all youth ages 5-19.
"4-H youth learn leadership, citizenship, and life skills," says County 4-H Youth Development Program Representative Mary Meyer.  "Many people know 4-H from the San Mateo County Fair.  But, in addition to raising animals, members can go camping, learn how to cook and sew, how to build a website, plus learn how to be a leader and get involved in their community.  It’s a great experience that prepares them for their future."

"The program currently has over 500 year round members in San Mateo County.  During National 4-H Week, we hope to double that number, attract many more families, and show them that 4-H is an exciting program with many opportunities for our youth," says Meyer. 

4-H Youth Development is a community of more than 6.5 million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship and life skills. For more information on 4-H or to locate a club near you contact the San Mateo County Cooperative Extension office at 650-726-9059 ext 106.

On Sunday, September 30, 2007, Seton Coastside in Moss Beach will host its 20th Annual Teddy Bear Clinic from 11 am – 3 pm.  Every year for the past 20 years, Seton Coastside has provided this worthwhile event, introducing children, ages 2-12, to the emergency department and hospital setting, in a fun "pain-free" way. 

What’s new at Teddy Bear Clinic this year? There will be complimentary pictures with "Big Bear" and a Teddy Bear for every 20th patient.

To help create this positive experience, the children are encouraged to bring in their favorite toy stuffed animal as the "patient". The child and his or her toy then go through the entire process of the emergency visit in a non-threatening atmosphere.  First, they make an appointment, apply for "Teddy-Cal" insurance, and then have their toys’ vital signs taken along with the "patient’s" history.  From there, the children are directed to the radiology department (a copy machine), where an "x-ray" is taken, and onto the lab where a "blood sample" is taken. 

Then it’s on to the waiting room.  Of course at the Teddy Bear Clinic, there is hardly ever any waiting time. The doctor, upon examination of the "patient", orders appropriate treatments like a cast, a shot, or possibly surgery and consults with the child and their stuffed animal.  Apples are given (an apple a day keeps the doctor away) and then everyone gets a nutritional consultation followed by a visit to the Physical Therapy department.

Mayor Naomi Patridge was out of town and the agenda was unusually light at the Tuesday Sept 18 meeting of the Half Moon Bay City Council.

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