The Coastside Children’s Programs will be hosting the Four Shillings Short at their center on site at El Granada Elementary School on January 3, 2011 from 3 - 4:30pm. The concert is open to all families (please RSVP with [email protected] or at 650-712-7415). 

Four Shillings Short, the husband-and-wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama, from Cork, Ireland and Christy Martin, from San Diego, California, have been touring in the United States and Ireland since 1997. Because of the vast array of musical instruments they play (30 + and growing) Four Shillings Short has developed a program specifically to introduce this living museum of World Music.

CCP is looking forward to collaborating with The Katz Family Foundation and the Young Einsteins (After Hours Academy) to bring this cultural experience to the Coastside community.  With the Katz Family Foundation’s contribution, CCP is able to make this experience free to interested families.  We are also looking forward to future collaborations with David Katz, of The Katz Family Foundation, and his programs focused on youth and tutoring.

The county reports that Hwy 35 is closed both directions between Bear Gulch & Hwy 84. The closure, due to downed power lines near Morse Lane in Skylonda, is expected to last until about 2pm.

UPDATE: This meeting has been cancelled because of a lack of quorum.

The Midcoast Community Council will meet Wednesday to consider planning, parks, design review, Mavericks, and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Rancho Corral de Tierra.

• Planning Commission consideration of Wholesale Seafood Processing on Airport St in Princeton (PLN2010-00250) (David Vespremi) 8:00 Solicit community input, discussion and consideration of a draft letter for enforcement of the Airport Overlay zoning requirements.
• Devil’s Slide Tunnel: Highway 1 Bike/Pedestrian crossing (Bill Kehoe) 8:30 Discussion and Letter to CalTrans and Sen. Yee’s Office on Devil Slide Tunnel South Portal crossing with Sabrina Brennan.
• Coastside Design Review Committee vacancies (Deborah Lardie) 9:00 Discussion of replacement & monitoring process of CDRC members to assure community representation on the midcoast. Draft letter with Bill Kehoe.
• Mavericks’ public safety, traffic and parking issues, community disruption, contingency plans, and crowd control. (Bill Kehoe) 9:15 It could happen any time now! Discussion of county issues for special events, assign members to draft letter for BoS on permitting process, guidelines and cost recovery ASAP.
• GGNRA Rancho Corral de Tierra committee update.

December 22, 2010 7:30 p.m. Seton Medical Center Coastside, Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach (Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Vice-President Carole Groom and
Members of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
455 County Center
Redwood City, CA 94063

Re: November 2010 Election Irregularities

Dear Vice-President Groom and Members of the Board,

Thanks for the opportunity to address you regarding my experience reporting a malfunctioning eSlate machine.

I was a candidate for San Mateo County Harbor Commissioner in the November 2, 2010, election. On Election Day a voter from San Carlos sent me an email. The text of the email is below:

From: Janice
Subject: For Sabina Brennan
Date: November 2, 2010 12:51:06 PM PDT
To: Sabrina

FYI: I just got home from voting. I live in San Carlos—-precinct # 3620.

I selected voting by machine. I voted for you and when I checked the final votes, the Harbor Comm. showed "unselected". I asked for assistance, and was told to remove your name and select it again. It still showed "unselected". My ballot states to "vote for no more than two. But the precinct "helper" said to vote for another one "just to see".

I did as i was asked, and it showed his name, but not yours. I finally vetoed the machine and used paper. I did report this to 1866-OURVOTE. They said that this is a serious error and it could happen to others w/o noticing. I noticed because I voted the entire ballot—the "unselected" stood out.

I will never vote by machine again. Good luck to you. Jan

I responded to the email by immediately phoning the Elections Office to report the problem. I was put on hold and the call was eventually disconnected. I called back three times before being connected with Elections Supervisor Narda Barrientos. I explained the problem and Narda said, "The voter made a mistake." Narda told me that voter confusion happens all the time and that it was not a problem with the machine. I asked her to contact the precinct and speak to the poll worker who witnessed the trouble with the machine. I asked her to call me back and let me know the status of the machine.

As a followup to the phone conversation I sent an email to the Election Office. At 2:34pm I received the following response, "Thank you Sabrina, both Lupe and Narda have received your email."

At 3:02pm I notified the president of the Coastside Democrat Club, Brigid O’Farrell, about the problem.  Less than an hour later Gail Work, Chair of the San Mateo County Democratic Party Elections Integrity Committee contacted me with David Tom’s cell phone number. I phoned David Tom, Director of Elections and requested that the malfunctioning machine be taken offline. 

A seemingly casual burglary in Moss Beach and a more serious one in El Granada, lost hikers in Pescadero, identity theft in La Honda, vandalism of tires in Moss Beach, and road rage:

Deputies were dispatched to a road rage incident, in the area of Highway 1 and Capistrano Road, in the Unincorporated Town of El Granada.  While en route they were advised that the suspect had brandished a rifle at the victim.  They located the suspect vehicle and a search of the vehicle yielded a brown, Ruger 10/22 long rifle and marijuana.

This afternoon, Dec. 18, Ranger George Durgerian, the GGNRA Liaison to San Mateo County, forwarded this update to the Midcoast Community Council:

The December 31, 2010, transfer of Rancho Corral de Tierra from the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is delayed.  There is not yet a specific date of transfer scheduled.  Predicting exact dates for land transfers is not an easy task as many variables are in play. GGNRA anticipates that the transfer will happen in the early part of the 2011.  Questions regarding this delay should be referred to POST, as the property remains in their possession.  GGNRA will not post any signs or do any trail work on the Corral de Tierra property until the transfer is completed.  Scheduled events will, in all likelihood, continue as listed in the GGNRA events calendar.

Here’s a link to a video of the Half Moon Bay ‘Night of Lights’ parade, and some music and street scenes:

http://coastsidevideo.com/events/pages/HMB-Night-of-Lights-2010-CoastsideVideo-Sm.html

The video includes music by the ‘Half Moon Bay Sit Down Marching Band’, ‘Half Moon Bay Cougar Band’ & the ‘Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers’.  Santa Claus makes an appearance and there’s a well dressed Christmas tree.

The Half Moon Bay City Council will consider the appointment of Laura Snideman as the next city manager at its next regular meeting, Tuesday, Dec 21.  Snideman is currently the city’s Administrative Officer.

Snideman has worked for the city for one year, and previously served in the cities of San Mateo, Redwood City, and San Carlos.

Snideman will replace outgoing city manager Michael Dolder, who is departing on December 23.

According to the press release, the City Council will consider an employment agreement with a base salary of $180,000 per year, although with city employees furloughed 2 days per month, the actual rate would be about 10% less.  The city would also be able to reduce the its headcount by not replacing Snideman.

Peninsula Open Space Trust had appointed John E. Chamberlain, a resident of Half Moon Bay, to its Board of Directors. The appointment brings to 11 the number now serving on POST’s Board.

Formerly of Hillsborough, Chamberlain has lived in the Bay Area since 1978. A retired information technology consulting executive, he served on the board of directors of Cotelligent, Inc., established Chamberlain Associates, Inc. (later acquired by Cotelligent), and was among the founders of the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses. He has been a POST donor since 1990 and a land stewardship volunteer for the nonprofit land trust since 2001. As a result of his leadership efforts, he was named POST Volunteer of the Year in 2002.

“John has long been a stellar volunteer leader for POST. After retiring from a very successful career in computer consulting, he committed himself to POST’s land stewardship program and came to know our coastal conservation properties firsthand,” said POST President Audrey Rust. “When he moved to Half Moon Bay last year, we even joked that he was moving to be closer to his ‘job.’ With John now on our Board, POST will benefit even further from his extensive executive and leadership skills and love of the land. We’re grateful he has chosen to share his time and talents with us in this new role.”

On behalf of POST’s land stewardship program, Chamberlain has led a team of volunteers in eliminating Pampas and Jubata grasses on the land trust’s Cloverdale Coastal Ranches property near Pescadero. His team, along with another led by POST donor and volunteer Ted Vian of Portola Valley, is now doing exhaustive work clearing invasive species from POST’s northern San Mateo County coastal properties.

“When I retired in 1998, I wanted to work outdoors, hands-on, and POST needed help maintaining and restoring properties it owns. It has been immensely rewarding work,” said Chamberlain. “POST does a great job acquiring land and conservation easements, but it also takes its mission a step further with responsible land stewardship. The Bay Area is one of the best places in the world to live because of the unique balance between world-class San Francisco and beautiful open space lands just minutes away. I want my great-grandchildren to be able to hike on coastal trails and in thriving redwood forests within the Santa Cruz Mountains, just as we do today. With POST leading the way, we can tap into the talent and ingenuity of the Bay Area so we can continue to improve our open lands for future generations. I’m honored to be a part of POST’s exciting, visionary work.