I’ve added a link to Coastsider’s left-hand navigation bar which you can use to get a sample ballot and information about the candidates on the ballot from the League of Women Voters. Most of the candidates’ information is missing or wrong at this stage, but this should improve as we get closer to the election. Try it out.
Smart Growth America
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As the amount of sprawl increases, so does the weight of people who live in it.
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People who live in high-sprawl communities weigh more, according to a new study by Smart Growth America.
People who live in sprawling counties walk less and bike less. They have higher weights and are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure. These results are true after controlling for factors such as age, education, gender, and race and ethnicity.
The study defines sprawling counties as "spread-out areas where homes are far from any other destination, and often the only route between the two may be on a busy high-speed arterial road that is unpleasant or even unsafe for biking or walking. People who live in these areas may find that driving is the most convenient way to get everything done, and they are less likely to have easy opportunities to walk, bicycle, or take transit as part of their daily routine."
Among other issues, the study notes that 18% of children walk or bike to school, versus 71% of adults who walked or biked to school. Now, think about the impact of moving the middle school from the middle of town to a development on the edge of town.
Barry Parr
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Looking south across the lot toward Capistrano gives you an idea of the scale of the project
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Barry Parr
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Zoom in a little closer and you can get an idea of the scale of the equipment.
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I first noticed the big earth movers at the Harbor Village site on Monday. I stopped by today to take some pictures. If you don’t pass by the Harbor every day, you may not even know this is happening. The pictures don’t begin to convey scale of the project, nor can you get it from driving by. Only after I got out of my car and walked around the lot did I begin to get an idea of how big this project is.
It’s hard to get close to it right now because Capistrano is closed for resurfacing, but this site is definitely worth a visit. In the meantime, take a look at the pictures. You can get a larger view in a separate window by clicking on the pictures. Plans of the project are also available on Coastsider.
The project’s opponents have protested the the county that the developer does not plan to honor his development agreement, and the county has informed the developer that the whole project, including the hotel, must be completed by next June.
One bizarre aspect of this struggle is that the project’s opponents are insisting that the entire thing (including the hotel) be built, instead of a scaled-back version that includes only retail, with the idea that the developer can’t deliver.
Click on the "read more" link to see more, closer, pictures of the site.
San Mateo County Sheriff
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Alana Cheryl Freiberg
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San Mateo County Sheriff
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[Her daughter]
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Sheriff’s Deputies have been searching for Alana Freiberg, 57, and her 11-year-old daughter [name removed] for two weeks. Read the SM Times story for the odd and confusing details of this story. According to the Times:
Alana Freiberg is white, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 220 pounds with blonde hair and brown eyes. [Her daughter] is white, 4 feet 9 inches tall and 70 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
The mother and daughter may be traveling in a green 2000 Honda Civic with a roof rack and the California license plate number 4SLL018.
Anyone with information about Alana and her daughter’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective Bob Arnaudo at 363-7823, Detective Michele Flores at 363-4066 or the Anonymous Tip Line at (800) 547-2700.
Freiberg’s husband woke up on August 4 to find the mother and daughter were gone. He reported them missing August 10. The Sheriff says the departure appears voluntary, but they left without clothes, ID, or credit cards.
UPDATED: June 2, 2016 to remove the name of the daughter, who was a minor and a crime victim, at her request.
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Tiny little flower—Epilobium cilatum ssp. watsonii(?) blooms next to the marsh across from the big beach, Montara, CA, Saturday, June 15, 2002, 10:45am. See Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Family) for reference.
The state has released results on the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Test, and Cabrillo Unified’s results are unimpressive and unimproving. Taken as a whole, less than half the students in the district are performing at the proficient or advanced level, and there has been little improvement in the last two or three years.
There’s a lot of variability in the data, so it’s hard to read. In 2004, the average proficiency in English across grades was 45%. The average percentage improvement since 2001 was about 3 percentage points. But there are huge differences among the classes and the numbers sometimes jump up one year and then down the next.
So, while there are bright spots, the overall picture is lackluster. The CAT/6 scores show that CUSD students are doing better than about half the students statewide.
According to the LA Times, this result is consistent with statewide performance on the test:
Overall, results were mixed. The percentage of students scoring "proficient" or "advanced" increased one point in English-language arts. There was no change in math. Some grade levels advanced, but others declined in both subjects.
I think this raises the bigger question of whether we’re going to be able to improve test scores at all without significantly changing education in California, and whether any district can realistically be expected to do any more than hold its own.
I’m linking to the tables at the Los Angeles Times, since they do the best job of organizing the data, but you can get more detailed results, including results by subgroup, from the California Department of Education. The state’s reporting page for these results is very impressive and if you’re interested in exploring the data, I strongly recommend it.
Cabrillo Unified School District
La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District
The Daily Journal has another must-read article on the bitter battle for the Harbor District board, including some choice quotes from two of the candidates about their opposition:
“I don’t think a couple [of members] are honest,” said board member Sally Campbell. “Tax payers are spending their hard-earned money now to compensate for it.”
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“Sometimes it seems like the meetings were plotted out before we even had the meetings,” said Beverly Fontana, a candidate for the seat and the former district secretary.
There’s a clear sense of enmity between the two factions on the board and those running in support of (or opposition to) either faction. While this is a county-wide board, its impact on the coastside is disproportionately huge and goes far beyond where the boats get parked.
I just talked to Clay Lambert, the new managing editor at the Half Moon Bay Review. He replaces David Gorn, who left in March. Clay’s name appeared in the Review for the first time last week on the masthead and on the Web site. But he still hasn’t been introduced to the readers.
Before the Review, Clay was an editor at the SF Examiner, and before that from the Palm Beach Post. I’m not sure how much you can learn from it, but if you’re interested those newspaper links list his stories at each paper. He lives in Palo Alto and says the commute to Half Moon Bay is no worse than the one he had while working for the Examiner.
As managing editor, his principal responsibility is for making sure the paper gets out each Wednesday. He wasn’t willing to discuss what his other reporting or editorial duties would be with a "competitor". That’s understandable and flattering.
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