HMB Review editor Clay Lambert says that Coastside County Water District director Chris Mickelson is the author of an anonymous letter sent to Half Moon Bay planning commissioner Kevin Lansing [HMB Review]. The letter was mailed to Lansing the day after he had filed a written complaint with the CCWD about Mickelsen’s behavior.  The anonymous note reads:

Wrong CCWD, you dumbshit! Guess that PhD from UCLA didn’t do you much good…besides that crappy dead end job at [Lansing’s employer]. Guess reading isn’t requiered (sic) at your loser position!

The letter, in an envelope mailed from San Francisco with no return address other than "Your Pal", was scrawled on a copy of document that Lansing had enclosed in his complaint to the CCWD: the code of ethics of the Contra Costa Water District.

Lansing’s complaint to the CCWD [pdf] said that at the Planning Commission meeting on August 24, 2006, which Mickelsen attended as a representative of the CCWD, "Mr. Mickelsen stood at the back of the room (off camera) and proceeded to extend his arm and finger to make a motion of shooting me with a gun. He then raised his hand in an obscene gesture." Lansing filed a complaint with the city of Half Moon Bay four days after the event on August 28, 2006. He says that after the city said it could do nothing about the incident, the wrote to the CCWD on August 23 of this year, so that the complaint would be filed within a year of the incident.

The anonymous letter was postmarked from San Francisco the next day.

Review editor Clay Lambert wrote today in his blog, "Mickelsen confessed, admitting to me that he wrote the profane missive." Lambert described the letter as "Much ado about nothing". The event has echoes of a 2004 event in which Mickelsen confessed to the Review that he bought an anonymous attack ad in that year’s campaign for the Cabrillo Unified School District board.

Lansing has submitted a new complaint to the CCWD regarding the anonymous letter [pdf], as well as to the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce of which Mickelsen is a board member and past president [pdf].

We attempted to reach Mickelsen at his business this afternoon, but he has not returned our call.

Proclamations, mayor’s announcements [15 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Oral communications [9 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Council reports, staff reports, consent calendar [17 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Ordinance covering sales during Pumpkin Festival
[18 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Carnoustie development CDP [76 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Staff Report, Attachment 1, Attachment 2, Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Attachment 3, Attachment 7, Attachment 9 |

Appointment of John Muller and Marina Fraser to City Council, there being no challengers in election [2 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Removal of Filbert St. crosswalk [6 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

City of HMB relationship to SAM budget and intertie pipeline [17 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Doc |

Appointments to Parks and Recreation, and Planning Commission [15 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Appointment of a Code Enforcement Appeals hearing body [no video]

There are only two candidates for the two open seats on the Half Moon Bay City Council. The Review is reporting that, except for the incumbents, no challengers have registered to run for the November Half Moon Bay City Council election as of the deadline at 5pm on Friday. The only candidates are incumbents John Muller and Marina Fraser, running for the two open seats they currently occupy.

The filing deadline for all races was Friday, August 10 at 5pm. However, if an incumbent fails to file before the deadline, the deadline is extended by a week until August 17.

Coastside County Water District has one challenger and three incumbents running for three seats:  Mario M. Vazquez (attorney), Ken Coverdell (incumbent), Jim Larimer (incumbent), and Bob Feldman (incumbent). Feldman was appointed to finish the term of John Muller, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by David Gorn.

The big race this year will probably be the race for the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara Fire Protection Districts. Both districts are in the process of contracting out services to CalFire. This has been opposed by the firefighters and it is likely to be a major issue in the election.

The Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District will be heavily contested, with seven candidates for three seats: John J. Szabo of Half Moon Bay, John Draper (Assistant Harbormaster) of El Granada,
Doug Mackintosh (Local Business Owner) of Half Moon Bay, Jerry C. Donovan (Incumbent) of Half Moon Bay, Ron Taborski (Retired Businessman) of Half Moon Bay, Gregg A. Hosfeldt (Public Works Manager) of Half Moon Bay, and Bert Silva (Incumbent). Because incumbent director Eufusia did not file to run, the deadline for filing has been extended to Friday, Aug 17 because one of the incumbents did not file before the deadline.

There are two candidates for one seat on the Point Montara Fire Protection District board: Vince Williams (Engineer) of Moss Beach, and Christopher R. Cilia. The deadline has been extended to Aug 17.

There are currently five candidates for three open seats on the Midcoast Community Council, and the deadline has been extended to Friday, Aug 17: Leonard D Woren (Software Engineer) of El Granada, Deborah Lardie (CPA/ Businessowner) of Montara, Howard Richard Lieberman (CEO) of Miramar, Bob Ptacek (Business Consultant) of Montara, and Neil Merrilees. Woren is a member of the Granada Sanitary District board and Ptacek is a member of the Montara Water and Sanitary District Board.

For Montara Water and Sanitary District, one challenger and two incumbents are running for two open seats, there will be no extension: Richard Bulan (Businessman), Scott Boyd (Incumbent) of Montara, and Kathryn Slater-Carter (Incumbent) of Montara.

The current candidate list, with contact information [pdf], can be downloaded from the county’s website.

The Half Moon Bay City Council considered prohibiting sidewalk sales during the Pumpkin Festival, but looks like it’s going to come out with more-clear guidelines for enforcing existing ordinances.  The council also took up the appeal of a citation for an informal auto repair business being operated on land zoned for floriculture.

Opening, presentations, and announcements [25 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Oral communications [9 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

City Council reports [7 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Staff reports and consent calendar [25 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Strategic Planning Report |

Appeal of citation for non-agricultural use of ag land (Don Heinz, 450 Wavecrest Road) [74 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Prohibition on sidewalk sales by merchants during Pumpkin Festival [80 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

The Midcoast Community Council (MCC), which represents the interests of the unincorporated Midcoast to the County Board of Supervisors, is in a bit of a crisis. MCC is finding it difficult to gather a quorum, and one member has resigned.

Candidates Leonard Woren and Deborah Lardie will likely be appointed to the MCC by the Board of Supervisors in lieu of an election, just as three others were appointed back in 2005. Even under that scenario,however, the council would still be one person short if no one comes forward to file by Friday.

Council member Howard Lieberman says feelings of frustration with the MCC have kept him from attending recent meetings, and will likely keep him from running to recapture his four-year seat this year.

Unhappy with what he believes to be a management style overstepping its boundaries, Lieberman sent an e-mail to the Board of Supervisors attempting to resign from the MCC last month. He has yet to submit a formal letter of resignation that would remove him from the board before the end of his term in December, however.

"I’ve been attempting to quit for years — it’s a somewhat dysfunctional group, and I didn’t want to leave the asylum to the inmates," said Lieberman.

UPDATE: As of Thursday night, there are five candidates for the three open positions on the MCC.

Supervisor Rich Gordon will be holding Coastside office hours on Thursday, August 9 from 10 am until noon at the Sheriff’s substation in Moss Beach.  These hours will provide the opportunity for Coastsiders to meet and discuss their concerns with Supervisor Gordon and his staff.  No appointments will be necessary.

There will be a public Midcoast Parks Implementation Plan Meeting on Tuesday, July 31, 7:00 pm at the Harbor House Conference Center, 346 Princeton Ave. Princeton. This is an important meeting for all Coastsiders interestred in planning for parks, trails, ball fields, and other recreational options.

The meeting will give an overview and solicit feedback on a Draft Action Plan for Midcoast Parks and Recreation services. For the past six months a Midcoast Recreation Planning Team (including representatives of the local community, San Mateo County Parks Department, Cabrillo School District, Midcoast Parklands, and Half Moon Bay Park Department) have been meeting on a monthly basis including several public meetings, to develop the action plan.

The Midcoast Action Plan can be viewed an the County Park website at www.eparks.net—at the bottom of the list. As of Monday afternoon, only the cover page is online.

If you have any further questions, please contact Senior Park Planner Sam Herzberg at 650.363.1823, or [email protected]

EDITOR’S NOTE: We had some technical difficulties this time. Combined with an untimely vacation, it led to this city council video showing up awfully late.  Also, you will see a lot of digital noise on the video, although the sound is still good.

The big event was the announcement that the city council had come to an agreement with the Peninsula Open Space Trust to extend POST’s loan to buy the Pilarcitos Creek park site.  The agreement has not been finalized, but it will require the city to build a park on the site.

Opening and oral communications [12 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Council reports [21 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Staff report and consent calendar [3 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Appeal of permit for 619 Church St. [54 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |  Attachments 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 & 9 |

Subcommittee report on Carnoustie development agreement [11 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Report on agreement with POST over Pilarcitos Creek park site [31 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Report on sewer rates for 2007 - 08 [6 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Extension of Property Exchange Agreement with John Irwin and Alice McClelland [8 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  | Attachments 1 2 |

Opening and proclamations | Quicktime | Flash  |

Oral communications | Quicktime | Flash  |

Council reports | Quicktime | Flash  |

Staff reports | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Consent Calendar | Quicktime | Flash  |

Appeal of Planning Commissions grant of a variance to build a house in Open Space Reserve zoned land | Quicktime | Flash  | Docs |

Resolution of intent to correct 1995 error and rezone land on Redondo Beach Road as PUD | Quicktime | Flash  | Doc |

So, a week or two after I said I wouldn’t run a poll about anything important on Coastsider, I’ve decided to run a presidential poll. The project is part of NewsVine’s ElectionVine national Internet poll. I think it’s an interesting experiment and I’m going to be writing about electoral politics on the Web for my day job, so I thought it might be fun to try it out and see what happens.

Readers can vote once a month, and results are tabulated at the national as well as the site level.  I’m not sure what it means that Barack Obama is obliterating the competition at this early stage on the national poll, but I think this will tell us more about Coastsider readers than anything meaningful about the national election or even the state primary.

If you’re having trouble seeing the poll, you can see Coastsider’s results at the ElectionVine site.