The New Year’s Eve sunset was so spectacular that we received two photos from readers—and decided to break our secret, self-imposed moratorium on sunset photos.

The power is out up and down the Coastside. Safeway in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, and Rite Aid in Half Moon Bay are the only stores open in Half Moon Bay right now, and the are open only for emergency supplies, such as batteries, candles, bottled water and charcoal. Customers are not allowed in the stores, but employees are selling supplies out of the entrance foyers, accepting cash only, and sending runners to the back of the store for refrigerated items.

The Review is reporting that the Half Moon Bay Police are asking people to stay indoors. The Chronicle says that half million people have lost power in the storms.

"The real strong wind gusts are the other big story," said weather service forecaster Charles Bell. "Today seems like one of those days when if you can stay home, it’s recommended."

Gusts of 107 mph were measured on Kregor Peak near Clayton in Contra Costa County, the weather service said. The wind hit 70 mph on the Golden Gate Bridge, 78 mph on Angel Island and 76 mph on Twin Peaks in San Francisco

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost power since the storm swept ashore early today, and the Peninsula has been hit particularly hard, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. As of 11:30 a.m., 518,000 customers were without power in the region, including 119,000 in San Mateo County.

"We expect some customers to remain without power tonight and into tomorrow," PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer said. "There is a lot of work still to do."

Mysteriously, Montara seems to the be the only place on the Coastside with power right now.

PG&E has a toll-free number for people to report outages - (800) 743-5002.

The National Weather Service forecasts that two strong Pacific storms will move into Northern and Central California Thursday afternoon through Friday afternoon. There is a high surf advisory in effect from 4pm Thursday and coastal flood watch in effect from Thursday afternoon, specially during high tides.

The first system will bring winds 20 to 40 mph with gusts to 55 mph Thursday. The second, more powerful system will bring even stronger winds to 30 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 mph possible. Winds in the hills above 1000 feet could possibly gust to hurricane force: 75 mph on Friday. Winds will decrease Friday evening.

A high surf advisory is in effect from 4pm Thursday to 10am Sunday, with waves to 15 feet by late thursday afternoon, icreasing to 28 to 30 feet Saturday. High surf will likely cause rip currents and localized beach erosion.

A coastal flood watch has also been issued for Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning.

Adapted from National Weather Service reports.

The Granada Sanitary district has moved its website to http://granada.ca.gov

The Granada Sanitary District serves El Granada, Princeton, Princeton-by-the-Sea ("Clipper Ridge"), Miramar, and the portion of the City of Half Moon Bay north of Frenchman’s Creek.

The Center for Biological Diversity is suing to increase the critical habitat for the red-legged frog, reports the County Times. This follows the resignation of a Bush administration political appointee who was accusing of interfering with biologists’ declaration of habitat [Wikipedia].

An amendment to the Endangered Species Act in April 2006 saw more than 3.7 million acres cut from the statewide list of areas crucial to the species’ continued existence — from a proposed 4.1 million acres in 2001 to roughly 250,000 acres in 2006. The lawsuit says the changes made it nearly impossible for the federally threatened species to rebound. Habitat for the species had already declined by 70 percent in 2000 from the 1950s, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Several Bay Area counties were deeply affected by the changes. In San Mateo County, some areas known to contain abundant red-legged frog populations, including Montara Mountain near Devil’s Slide, were taken off the list, along with the entire Coastside.
...
"Critical habitat is the teeth of Endangered Species Act," [ Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Al Donner] said. "Merely listing a species only protects individual animals. Critical habitat protects the habitat that’s been identified as essential for the recovery of the species. No species can survive without its habitat."

Critical habitat requires an additional permit for the Fish and Wildlife Service in order for development to take place.

We’re seeing more of these illuminated billboards in the Bay Area.  There’s a new one next to the highway just as you get off the Bay Bridge in the East Bay.  And the grandaddy of them all in Redwood City on the 101. Now would be an excellent time for the city and county to take a new look at illuminated signs on the Coastside, including good, old-fashioned internally-illuminated plastic signs. We’re going to make an ongoing project of the "outdoor advertising" that is fighting for our attention and contributing to the shabby highway-strip aesthetics of the Coastside.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) announced today the purchase of 3.67 acres of oceanfront property on the bluff north of Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay. The $495,000 acquisition will be added to POST’s Pillar Point Bluff property, 119 acres that surround the new purchase on two sides.           
"With the purchase of this land, we add ocean frontage to Pillar Point Bluff, protecting even more of this dramatic stretch of land that the community and visitors enjoy," says POST Executive Vice President Walter T. Moore.  "The area is already popular with hikers, joggers, dog-walkers and other visitors.  As POST works with its public agency partners to improve the trails at Pillar Point Bluff, we will integrate this new parcel into the planning process."
POST purchased the ocean-view property from executors of the estate of the late Elizabeth M. Gunn of Los Altos, whose husband bought the land in 1981. The new property’s bluff-top edges offer lovely views of the Pacific Ocean and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, with Seal Cove Beach, Frenchmen’s Reef and Pillar Point as visible landmarks.  Seals often huddle on the rocks just offshore.
 

Federal Judge Vaughn Walker’s Findings of Fact in the $45Million Yamagiwa (Beachwood) lawsuit clearly identify the rationale for his decision:  On March 21, 2000, the City Council voted to deny Beachwood a CDP; took six weeks trying to justify their actions, and on May 2, 2000, adopted Resolution No. C-26-00, formally denying the CDP.  The ‘new’ wetlands, that the City created, were at the heart of the denial. Council member Toni Taylor made that motion and Debbie Ruddock seconded it.

In order to understand how that happened, we need to ask ourselves a few questions; some of those questions might include:

1) Who were the Council members that made that decision?

2) How did each one vote?

3) What political faction had the majority on the Council?

4) Who was on the Planning Commission at that time?

5) Which Council member appointed each of the Planning Commissioners?

6) How much influence did members of the Planning Commission have in the decision?

7) Who sat on, and controlled, the Water Board (CCWD)?

8) What political faction controlled the City?

Here are the answers:

Craig Britton, who has served as general manager of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District since 1992 and has been with the District for 30 years, is retiring. this creates an exciting job opportunity for someone.

"I always had in mind that the District would have at least 60,000 acres preserved before my retirement, but with nearly 56,000 acres protected - and an additional 4,000 acres on the horizon, I’ve decided now is the time for a change of the greenbelt guard," said Craig Britton, General Manager, in a press release. Click below for details on this job.

When urban water districts using Hetch Hetchy water, the Coastside County Water District being one of them, push for more water via the system to serve growth and development, considerations of responsibility and sustainability are seldom heard.

Freshwater sources for the entire state of California are already oversubscribed—unsustainably overdrawn. All but a couple of the state’s rivers are disrupted by dams. Now, whenever a water district seeks more water from somewhere else in the state, they act blatantly to harm that other place to serve themselves. Interwoven combines of urban political power and wealth rule, and they prefer to bully more water out of other places rather than conserve to make do with the water they already have. (And, of course, there is no increased wealth to be had in reaching a sustainable population size and level of resource usage and then maintaining it.)

The City of San Francisco, owner-operator of the Hetch Hetchy System, is currently proposing expanded withdrawals from the already degraded Tuolumne River, the source of its water. Destruction of a valley inside a national park and the slaughter of one of the central state’s best salmon runs are only part of the story. Over 60 percent of the Tuolumne’s water is already being used to serve development and agriculture. San Francisco’s needs being somewhat static, the additional water would be distributed almost entirely to meet growing demands by the several dozen water districts outside the city that are customers. CCWD is one of these. Killing an ecosystem to water more lawns.

People in Half Moon Bay and El Granada with a modicum of responsibility and common sense might wish to go to www.tuolumne.org to learn more about the current and projected consequences of what they are participating in. Learn what people elsewhere have been doing to restore what is left of the Tuolumne. Learn why the government of a small, rural county opposes the withdrawals and what the negative effects on that county’s economy would be. In other words, learn a bit about the gluttony of growth in an overpopulated region and the harm it does. Then consider your role in it all and what you might do about it.

Carl May

NOTE: This was originally published in Coastsider’s Town Hall. Please post your replies to the Town Hall topic. Email [email protected] for access to posting in Town Hall if you don’t already have it.