A 25-year-old Bank of America banker running for Half Moon Bay City Council is profiled by the County Times.

Council member Bonnie McClung has told the County Times she’s not planning to run for re-election. With three seats up for grabs this year, at least one incumbent out of the race, and the Beachwood debacle hanging over the election, this year’s race could be a free-for-all in which anything could happen.

"The average person can’t afford to see their dreams come true out here. I can’t afford it," he said on Monday during a lunchtime coffee break. "If I wanted to be a business owner in Half Moon Bay, it would be too hard, too expensive. And we’re not even allowing the one percent of growth (approved by voters in 2004)." ...

Property rights, "smart growth," environmental stewardship and better local services for youths and seniors are the focus of Hoelzel’s campaign, which will officially kick off when he submits his nomination papers to City Hall in the next couple of weeks.  ...

"I would have undone those roadblocks and made sure he (Keenan) could have built in an environmentally sustainable way," said Hoelzel, referring to Beachwood.

"Growth is a bad word around here but it’s what is going to get us out of this financial state," he continued. "That $33 million — that’s going to affect my generation, and there’s not going to be any prosperity if we’re going to be paying those dollars out for wetlands."

The deadline for filing is August 8, but it will be extended to August 12 if any incumbent does not file nomination papers.

 

Supervisor Rich Gordon’s next Coastside office hours will be Thursday, July 23 from 10am until noon at the Sheriff’s Coastside Substation in Moss Beach.

This is an excellent opportunity for Coastsiders to share their concerns with the Board of Supervisors.

Bob Pilgrim is a Pacifica resident who has been involved in local conservation/preservation efforts for many years in Pacifica, both as a member of Pacificans for Sustainable Development and the Sierra Club’s Loma Prieta Chapter for the Peninsula. This story is reprinted with permission from Pacifica Riptide, because the status of Highway 1 is a critical issue for every coastal community in California, particularly in neighboring cities

In June 1980, Pacifica City Council adopted a new General Plan, the work product of Ironsides and Associates of Oakland. This was revised, published, and adopted by Pacifica City Planner Michael Crabtree in October 1990. His revision (now 19 years old) has stood the test of time, and it’s fair to say the taxpayers got their money’s worth by virtue of Crabtree’s contribution. 

But City Council realizes that the existing General Plan is now out of date, and has contracted with Dyett and Bhatia of San Francisco to create a new plan at a projected cost of about $1 million. The purpose? At least two elements of the plan can use updating: seismic/safety and circulation. 

This writer has learned that the new circulation element will contain language about a six-lane road between Westport Drive and Fassler Avenue. The ostensible reason for doubling the road’s carrying capacity is to facilitate the morning commute for drivers going out of town between 7. and 9 a.m. The increase in carrying capacity is to create a "segment" that allows Caltrans to connect Interstate 280 with the tunnels at Devil’s Slide. There is nothing new about this Caltrans/Pacifica approach to induce population growth on the San Mateo coast; this activity has been continuous since the Adopted Alignment first surfaced in 1958.

Following-up on my letter about CCWD's failed leadership,  the  board of directors of CCWD will hold a public hearing on Tuesday July 14 at 7 pm to discuss a possible 12 percent increase in residential water rates. The board will only accept written protests against the proposed rate increase which are delivered by U.S. Mail or in person (no email) and received on or before Tuesday July 14. CCWD's water rates have experienced explosive growth since 1999 and are projected to spike even higher over the next several years (see accompanying chart). Where is all this money going? According to CCWD's proposed budget 2009-2010 budget, the rate increase will be used in part to increase employee salaries by 10 percent and to increase employee retirement contributions by 13 percent. Both increases appear excessive in light of current economic conditions and past rapid growth in CCWD employee salaries and benefits. As elected officials, the CCWD board has a duty to act as good stewards of the public's money. They do not appear to be fullfilling their duty. A sample protest letter is on the next page.

A woman came up to me and said, "I’d like to poison your mind
with wrong ideas that appeal to you, though I am not unkind."

—They Might Be Giants, "Whistling in the Dark"

"Whatever their motivation, a fear of change or something more ominous, they have hidden their agenda behind a shield…"

—Jim Larimer, referring to "No Growthers"

"Wrong ideas that appeal to you" is a pretty good description of Jim Larimer’s column in last week’s Review.

Larimer’s column is a rickety confection of name calling ("NIMBY"), scapegoating ("plans for the school were crushed"), demonization ("Do they fear of the type of people who might choose to live here?"), ad hominem ("hidden agendas"), peculiar reasoning ("No growthers", like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, have hidden agendas and are therefore like slaveholders), and old-fashioned hoodoo ("Whatever their motivation, a fear of change or something more ominous").

There’s a word for that: Propaganda.

His faulty reasoning is supported by a muddle of wrong ideas about who "crushed" the middle school at Wavecrest (it was the US Army Corps of Engineers), who "sponsors" Big Wave (it’s a couple of guys who stand to make millions), why Big Wave has little community support (it’s just plain huge), the wisdom of the county’s Midcoast Local Coastal Program (the county’s version was the last minute rewrite), and who was responsible for the US Civil War (hint: it wasn’t Madison and Jefferson).

There are two opposing viewpoints on the Coastside. Both sides believe the Coastside can be a better place. One side believes that this can be achieved through respect for the local environment and the rule of law (the Coastal Act, state and federal environmental regulations, and local planning and zoning), and the other believes something else.

Like Dr. Larimer, I recommend you vote accordingly.

The San Mateo Daily Journal editorializes that the city of Half Moon Bay blew its chances of getting a bailout from the state by acting like it didn’t need the money.

With the state’s attention on its own budget deficit, the bill faced an uphill fight — but it was one Hill was willing to wage. However, that fight came abruptly to an end when the council made cuts and elevated its bond rating and voted to move forward with issuing its own bonds to ensure it could meet a Aug. 29 deadline or face interest penalties in case the state legislation failed. The vote to give Dolder his raise was the nail in the legislative coffin as Republicans in the Legislature got hold of the news — giving the bill its highest negative attention. Hill saw the writing on the wall and decided to cut his losses this week while expressing disappointment the city made the decisions it did. ...

Self reliance is a virtue, and the city should make every step necessary and available to solve its own problems. But acting like a political novice is now requiring them to.

What the Journal misses is that the city wasted the entire 2008 legislative session on the cynical and hopeless AB1991.

 

The county civil grand jury has just issued a report chastising the Board of Supervisor for filling Jerry Hill’s old seat by appointing his replacement, rather than holding an election [pdf].

Democracy was suspended by the San Mateo Board of Supervisors in December 2008, due to an economic downturn. On November 4, 2008, a San Mateo County Supervisor for District 2 was elected to the California State Assembly. There were two years left on the Supervisor’s term. Three of the four supervisors decide that an estimated $1.6 million during the economically troubled time was too much to spend on an election and, therefore, made an appointment to fill the vacated seat. 

Noting that "Since 1980, in San Mateo County, incumbents seeking reelection have been reelected 100% of the time", the Grand jury recommends that open seats should be filled by election, or if the seat will be up for election in less than a year, appointment of a provisional member prohibited from running for that seat in the next election.

 

Dave Pine has been conducting a series of meetings with various groups of citizens on the issue of supervisorial election reform in San Mateo County - with the idea of trying to bring the process closer to the voters. Pine is an elected board member of the San Mateo Unified High School District and a volunteer board member of several civic organizations.  He has agreed to bring his presentation to the Coastside Democrats on June 24, 2009, at the Johnston House Depot from 7:30 - 9:30 pm.

Dave’s style is to engage with his audience by encouraging comments, questions and suggestions. He has compiled some surprising statistics and thought-provoking analysis about how things have been done and undone over the years and - if you’re interested in politics - you won’t be bored.

Coastside Democrats

Julia Scott’s article about the death of AB650 does an unusually good job (for daily journalism) of laying out the subtext of the city’s failure to get relief from the state.

A year ago, City Council members were frequently quoted as saying they feared for their city’s solvency if forced to pay the entire $18 million debt. But the city ultimately earned a better bond rating than the state itself and, after some painful staffing cuts, is projecting a narrow budget surplus for the next few years.

The "collective actions of the City Council" at last week’s meeting refers to a controversial 4-1 vote to give the city manager a 25 percent raise just a few weeks after the city cut or froze 15 staff positions to save money. Mayor John Muller defended the vote, which also awarded a raise for the interim finance director, because they were contract positions already up for renewal and because both men were deserving of a raise.

Councilman Jim Grady voted against the raises, just as he cast the lone vote against settling with Keenan in 2007 and against issuing the bonds to pay him in the end.

The political schism wrought by the first Half Moon Bay bill, AB 1991, still resonates in this town, and the divisive rhetoric employed by city lobbyists at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe still makes Grady cringe.

"We vilified the Coastal Commission," said Grady. "And I think trying to exempt Beachwood from the Coastal Act was a mistake.

The article goes on to note that the city accused the Coastal Commission of making "false and misleading" statements, and that the city will have to work with the Coastal Commission to get the maximum value out of the parcel.

AB650, the bill to give Half Moon Bay some assistance with the settlement it agreed to pay developer Chop Keenan, is officially dead. The bill’s sponsor, Assembly member Jerry Hill, say he will no longer pursue passage of the bill.

"Unfortunately, the collective actions of the City Council last week and the recent announcement that the city would not file for bankruptcy, coupled with the $20 billion state budget deficit impacted the willingness of my legislative colleagues to support AB 650," said the bill’s sponsor, Assembly member Jerry Hill.

At last week’s city council meeting, the city council agreed to a $15 million bond to pay the settlement, and raised the salaries of several key city employees.