Today is election day, with seats contested in the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara Fire Protection Districts, Midcoast Community Council, and Montara Water and Sanitary District. The election in the Coastside County Water District election is virtually uncontested, and the Half Moon Bay City Council election is literally uncontested.

Local races can seem confusing and insignificant, but it’s important that you show up and vote. Take a minute to review our election coverage.

We’ve posted our recommendations for Montara Water and Sanitary, and the Point Montara (Montara and Moss Beach) and HMB (HMB and El Granada) Fire Protection Districts, as well as recommendations from two major political action committees. We’re making no recommendation in the Midcoast Community Council race, but there are plenty of MCC candidates worthy of your vote.

Regardless of who you choose, get out and vote.  Your vote counts more in these local elections than anywhere else.

The two political action committees—representing the polar opposites of the Coastside politics—have made their endorsements.

The League for Coastside Protection represents environmentalism and upholding the California Coastal Act on the Coastside. They define their mission as "supporting those who uphold the spirit and substance of the California Coastal Act. We work to elect responsible public officials who will preserve and enhance the quality of life on the coast for residents and visitors, protecting the coastside environment, agriculture and fisheries."

Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District

• Jerry Donovan
• Bert Silva
• Ron Taborski

Midcoast Community Council

• Deborah Lardie
• Neil Merrilees
• Leonard Woren

Montara Water and Sanitary District

• Scott Boyd
• Kathryn Slater-Carter

Put Community First is a PAC representing development, property rights, and growth interests. In their endorsements, they say: "PUT COMMUNITY FIRST! is a Coastside Political Action Committee that supports candidates who believe that Coastsiders’ quality of life can be enhanced by continuous improvements to necessary infrastructure, environmental stewardship, development of our local economy, and transparent, responsive government."

County Coastside Water District

• Jim Larimer
• Ken Coverdell
• Bob Feldman

Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District

• Greg Hosfeldt
• Jerry Donovan
• Doug Mackintosh

Midcoast Community Council

• Neil Merrilees

Montara Water and Sanitary District

• Richard Bulan

Pt Montara Fire Protection District

• Christopher Cilia

Proclamations, Presentations, Announcements [5 min] | Quicktime | Flash |

Council and Staff reports [24 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |

Oral Communications [5 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |

Video recorded by MWSD. Processed and served by Montara Fog.

It’s a great start.

The Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) is experimenting with videotaping their board meetings. In most districts in the country this wouldn’t be very exciting news, but on the coast here, as you might have noticed, these normally obscure governmental bodies are lightning rods for intense public debate.

Most of the government meetings on the coast aren’t filmed at all and are attended by at best a few members of the public. Not good. A few others are filmed by the local community access channel, MCTV, but they themselves are a bit obscure, broadcasting the meetings in their lengthy entirety, often during television’s "prime time." No web access, either. They might as well project them in my garage for all the public dissemination they seem to achieve.

On the coast we have one of the most politically polarized communities in the country. Governments that operate out of site of the public, even inadvertently, tend to become unresponsive to that public. This is unhealhy. Our community is ill.

One of the cures, or so I hope, is information. By making government meetings more accessible and more understandable to the average coastal resident we help our local democracy function a bit better.

It’s a great start and we’ll be polishing and adjusting things with the MWSD video in the weeks and months ahead.

I would like to encourage others to take up the challenge. There’s a lot of government meetings out there that we care about that are going on in near-invisibility. I can help you choose equipment and solve technical issues. I will publish the videos and make them available 24/7. Members of the public: With a cheap tripod and nearly any video camera you can perform an important public service Adopt a meeting, make it your cause. To government officials: It takes very little in the way of resources to reach a broader public. It’s not only a good idea, it’s a core obligation.

Thanks to Scott Boyd and the entire MWSD board for producing this video and making their meetings visible to a wider public. This video is not copyrighted and may be downloaded and used without restriction.

County Supervisor Rich Gordon or his staff hold office hours in the Moss Beach Sheriff’s substation on the fourth Thursday of each month from 10am to noon.

This story appeared last week, but we wanted to make sure you saw it.

You’re invited to provide input to the San Mateo County Vision 2010 Plan. This is one of several meetings scheduled throughout the county in September and October. The meeting will be Monday, October 22, 7 to 9 p.m., IDES Hall, Half Moon Bay.

Residents will be asked to identify what they want the future of San Mateo County to look like: What is our most important challenge? Will we be able to sustain our rich cultural and economic diversity? How do we ensure our youth will succeed? What can we do to better protect our environment? In short, what do we want San Mateo County to look like in 10 to 20 years?

What vision do you want to share?

The Midcoast Community Council (MCC) election is the most competitive election on the coast this year—with five candidates running for three seats. This is an important election for the unincorporated portions of the Coastside since the MCC represents us to the County Board of Supervisors, our true masters.

Many people—including a majority if not all of the candidates—feel that the MCC has diminished in relevance and effectiveness of late. Perhaps this election will mark a reinvention of the MCC.

Opening Statements | Quicktime | Flash |

The MCC does not have authority to make laws or ordinances, et cetera. It is advisory. How will you be effective or useful in the next four years?  | Quicktime | Flash |

How many of the Midcoast Council meetings have you attended, and the committee meetings, in the last two years? Do you think members should be required to attend a certain number of meetings in a year? Should there be alternatives—should alternatives [ed. Alternates] be elected for Midcoast Council representatives to attend when the elected representative cannot attend?  | Quicktime | Flash |

The next question concerns the Local Coastside Program [ed. Local Coastal Program, LCP] for this area that was developed by the Midcoast Council in conjunction with the San Mateo County Planning Division. Do you support this program? Do you support the changes that were made by the Board of Supervisors? If you are elected what would you do to jump-start the approval process?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Explain your position on growth versus no-growth.  | Quicktime | Flash |

Should the Midcoast Community Council have review of projects for neighbors to be able to voice their concerns—and would that include tree-cutting permits? Should there be reviews prior to permits being issued by the county?  | Quicktime | Flash |

Closing Statements   | Quicktime | Flash |

Water is an expensive commodity in Montara and Moss Beach, where it is supplied by the Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD).

The current board of the district represents the people who planned and executed the purchase of the water supply for Montara and Moss Beach. Because of the limitations of that water supply, there has been a moratorium on new residentail water hookups for decades. All new houses in MWSD—and there are hundreds of them—are served by wells.

In these videos each of the three candidates for MWSD introduce themselves to voters and share their own views of who they are, what the problems facing the community might be, and what they plan to do if elected.

Each candidate was given five minutes of screen time and their choice of location. Put aside the caricatures and listen to the candidates in their own words.

Videos by Darin Boville and used with permission of Montara Fog.

Half Moon Bay’s legendary Art and Pumpkin Festival provided the perfect opportunity for spirited Barack Obama activists to get the word out about their candidate. With crowds of over 200,000 expected during the two day event, a dozen Obama supporters from Santa Cruz, Boulder Creek, Saratoga and the Coastside converged on Main Street, staffing a colorfully decorated booth and fanning out into the crowds with literature, campaign stickers and Obama-monogrammed Halloween candy.

Obama was the only candidate with a booth at the event on Saturday, while three Edwards supporters did set up a table on Sunday. Hundreds of voters visited the Obama booth throughout both days to get information,  pick up campaign buttons and bumper stickers and change their registrations from Republican and Decline to State to Democratic so that they can vote for Barack Obama in California’s Democratic Primary on February 5, 2008.  A man in a Jack the Ripper costume proudly put on an Obama button, admitting "I’m probably not the best spokesperson for Barack while I’m wearing this outfit," and a woman in a George Bush mask posed in front of the Obama booth holding a large color photo of the Illinois Senator. As one passerby enthusiastically put it,"This is Baracktober—it’s Obama’s month and Obama’s time!"