Measure S, the school parcel tax, failed to pass. The measure received 61% of the vote, but 2/3 (67%) was needed to pass. All 31 precincts in the school district have reported.

This is the fifth time the district has failed to pass a parcel tax since 1999.

Polls closed at 8pm tonight.  For local results, including San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and Measure S parcel tax, check San Mateo County’s results. 

For statewide races, including democratic primaries for governor and state senate, check the California Secretary of State’s election results page.

Everyone is expecting a low turnout today, so your vote is even more important than usual.

We stopped by Farallone View Elementary to get some pictures at the poll there.

Cheri Parr

Diana Kalos of Coastside Children’s Programs at Farallone View casts her vote.

Cheri Parr

Diligent poll workers.

Cheri Parr

Measure S supporter Cindy Epps inserts her ballot.

Click the link to see more election day photos.

I am supporting Leland Yee for State Senator because of his experience, his thoughtfulness, his commitment to healthcare, education, the environment, and to the broad community. 

Mike Nevin, in comparison, has consistently sided with pro-development/anti-citizen campaigns from his ties with Stockbridge Capital, the Bay Meadows racetrack developer to his ties to the developer trying to erect high-rises at Pete’s Harbor on the Redwood City Shores.

Nevin’s State Senate campaign manager is Seamus Murphy, who, according to the SF Business Times, "took a leave of absence from San Mateo Supervisor Mike Nevin’s office," to manage the developer’s campaign in Redwood City. The "Yes on Measure Q" campaign (about a million dollars of Glenborough-Pauls developer money) included attorney Russell Miller, who was also paid by the Bay Meadows developer to help quash our San Mateo citizen referendum. Miller, too, now works on Mike Nevin’s State Senate campaign.

A vote for Leland Yee will be a good start at cleaning up Peninsula politics.

Donna Bischoff
Member, Save Bay Meadows Citizens Group

Go to www.savebaymeadows.org for campaign contribution data.  Click on "Follow the Money"

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter to the editor of the Half Moon Bay Review is a response to an opinion column by Mark Simon of Caltrans in the May 17 issue of the Half Moon Bay Review.  Simon’s column was a response to a letter by Jo Chamberlain in the May 3 issue of the Review.  The Review inadvertently re-ran Chamberlain’s May 3 letter instead of this letter in Wednesday’s issue. We present it here because it deserves wider distribution before Tuesday’s election.  Jo Chamberlain is a candidate for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Editor,

Thanks to Mark Simon for his response to my concerns regarding SamTrans service to the Coastside.

Those concerns, however, were not addressed. Why do we have two buses (294 and 17) and no express buses to BART and Caltrain from the Coastside? If we provide $6 million in equitable income for public transportation, we should have express buses that connect with all the assets we are paying for.

Mr Simon’s suggestion that coastsiders catch an express bus in Pacifica is, of course, little more than a cruel, if perhaps unintentional, joke. But even with Devil’s Slide open, current schedules make it impractical to use a chain of buses to get to work.

For commuting via public transit to really work, we need direct connections to BART, Caltrain, and the rest of the over-the-hill transit system, with consistent service at flexible hours (not everyone works 9-5).

Our unique geography isolates us from the rest of the county. Additionally, many of our low-income residents live in communities that are isolated from food, school and work.

The Route 17 mini-bus, transportation for Coastside students and workers along the north-south corridor, has been leaving passengers behind. Bus 17 requires large buses, and more of them that coincide with school and work schedules.

I thank SamTrans for the Sam Coast, para-transit and Redi-Wheels service. All are vital and needed on the Coastside.

Coastside transportation needs are especially acute right now because of the Devil’s Slide closure. But traffic will only get worse with the planned doubling of the coastside population, and better public transit is the only real alternative to paving the coast with a tangle of superhighways.

Jo Chamberlain
Lobitos Canyon

On Wednesday at 8:45pm, the Midcoast Community Council hosted a debate by the candidates for the State Senate District 8 Democratic and Republican nominations. Of the Democrats, only Leland Yee show up up. Mike Nevin and Lou Papan were absent.  Of the Republicans, only Oscar Braun was there.  Mike Skipakevich did not show up.  Click on the image to see the video by Darin Boville

On Wednesday at 7:45pm, the Midcoast Community Council hosted a debate by the candidates for Board of Supervisors.  Three of the candidates (Rich Gordon, Jo Chamberlain, and Jack Hickey) were contesting the seat that represents the Coastside. The fourth, Jerry Hill, is running unopposed for the seat that represents Foster City, San Mateo, and Belmont.  Click on the image to see the video by Darin Boville

On Wednesday May 24, incumbent San Mateo County Supervisors Rich Gordon and Jerry Hill will be present at the Midcoast Community Council meeting. Also attending will be Jo Chamberlain, the sole challenger for Rich Gordon’s seat in the upcoming June 6 election. Jerry Hill is running unopposed.

Below are some questions that I would like to ask the incumbent Supervisors, and also hear the reaction from Jo Chamberlain:

1. The Devil’s Slide closure has basically doubled the amount of traffic that must head south from the Midcoast during the morning commute. This is sort of like a natural experiment to see what traffic will be like under the Supervisors’ plan to double the number of housing units on the Midcoast in coming decades.  Given the extremely limited options for expanding Highways 1 and 92 in the future, the experience from the Devil’s Slide closure pretty much proves that the Supervisors’ buildout plan is a recipe for a traffic disaster. Why then, are the Supervisors forging ahead with this totally unworkable buildout plan?

2. On December 12, 2005, the Cabrillo Unified School District sent the Board of Supervisors a letter which stated quite clearly that Coastside schools "can support limited growth, but not a doubling in population." The Supervisors’ buildout plan completely ignores this important issue. How can the Supervisors justify a buildout plan that does not address the lack of capacity of the Coastside school infrastructure?

3. Half Moon Bay currently imposes a residential growth rate limit of 1%. After years of analysis and hearings, both the Midcoast Community Council and the County Planning Commission recommended that the Supervisors adopt a 1% residential growth rate limit for the Midcoast. The Supervisors ignored these recommendations and adopted a 2% growth rate limit as part of their buildout plan. Under their plan, the true growth rate limit would actually be much higher than 2%, because the Supervisors would grant full exemptions to: (1) new housing units classified as "affordable," (2) new second units, (3) so-called caretaker’s quarters in Princeton, and (4) disabled-persons housing (which have been proposed as part of the "Big Wave" office/housing complex). Given the severe future traffic problems that are already baked into the cake, how can the Supervisors justify anything but a strict (i.e., count everything) 1% growth rate limit similar to that imposed in Half Moon Bay?

4.  The Supervisors’ plan to double the number of housing units on the Midcoast will require a significant amount of water. The Coastside County Water District (CCWD) is already undertaking a series of major water system expansion projects to serve the Supervisors’ plan. Current residents are being compelled to pay for these projects with rate increases . In 2003, CCWD raised water rates by 9.6%. In 2005, CCWD raised water rates by 12%. In May 2006, CCWD announced plans to raise water rates by another 7%. How can the Supervisors’ justify a buildout plan in which current residents are being forced to subsidize (via higher water rates) more traffic-inducing future housing development?
 
Kevin J. Lansing
Half Moon Bay

In addition to Measure S parcel tax, there’s one race on this June’s ballot where your vote really matters. Coastsider endorses Leland Yee in the Democratic primary for State Senate.

Until I started Coastsider, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to state legislative races, so I’m addressing this to those of you who haven’t given much thought to this race.  Most of the time, it doesn’t really matter, because the incumbent always wins.  This year, we have a real race for an important seat.  Incumbent Jackie Speier is leaving due to term limits.  Leland Yee, whose state assembly seat consists mostly of San Francisco, and former San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin are fighting for Speier seat, which represents the two counties.  There’s also a wild card in this race:  former San Mateo Assemblyman Lou Papan seems to be running mainly to settle a score with Nevin [backgrounder].

This is an important race and one in which your vote counts.

I’m going to tell you why I’m voting Leland Yee, and you can decide whether he’s right for you.  In a race between Democrats, I’m voting for a candidate who is concerned about my community. I think it boils down to two things: environmentalism and interest in the Coastside itself.

Leland Yee has a strong environmental record.  On the Coastside, nearly every significant issue at the state level is an environmental issue: fishing, farming, the Coastal Commission, housing, offshore drilling, parks, beaches, open space, and water. Alone among the candidates, Yee has a prominent place for the environmental issues on his campaign site. Yee has been endorsed by Vote the Coast, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters and League for Coastside Protection. Yee’s environmental record should matter to Coastsiders. 

Leland Yee is clearly interested in the Coastside. In the last year, he has come to the Coastside many times. He will be here again Wednesday at a pre-election event held by the Midcoast Community Council at which Mike Nevin has declined to appear. Yee has clearly identified the Coastside as a key constituency in San Mateo County and has been working hard for our votes.  Even when he was in the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Mike Nevin gained a reputation for not caring about our community. When you come from a part of the county that is often ignored and treated shabbily when it does get attention, it’s refreshing to see a candidate who’s actively seeking our vote.

The county elections office has set up a universal polling place at Lesley Gardens, 701 Arnold Way in downtown Half Moon Bay [Google map]. Any resident of San Mateo County can vote at the site Mon to Weds noon to 8:00pm;  Thurs to Fri 7:00am to 5:00pm;  Sat 10:00am to 5:00pm, until June 5. The polling place will be closed Sunday and Memorial Day. The system is designed to accommodate the needs of handicapped voters, but any voter can use the system, according to Warren Slocum, the county’s chief election officer:

With the complexities of this year’s election, we have developed a plan that works to meet the requirements of the new Help America Vote Act. While the law requires that there must be an accessible voting device in each polling place, San Mateo County is not able to obtain 500+ accessible voting devices for the June Primary. We will open nine Universal Voting Centers with accessible devices in locations throughout the county to accommodate voters with disabilities.

The universal voting center uses the Hart eSlate (pictured) an electronic voting system that the county elections office says, "allows the voter to see and review a printed paper record of the votes they are casting or to confirm their choices by way of an audio playback."  (FAQ).