The Half Moon Bay Open Space Trust (HOST) announced last week that veteran environmentalist, Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, will serve as the organization’s first Executive Director. 

Kersteen-Tucker, a Moss Beach resident, is best known for her roles as the founder and spokesperson of the Coastal Open Space Alliance to expand the boundaries of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to the San Mateo County coast, Executive Director and formerly President of the Committee for Green Foothills, and the co-founder and principal spokesperson for the successful Devil’s Slide Tunnel initiative-Measure T.

The Wine Walk returns to Main Street Half Moon Bay, this Saturday, September 23 from 6 to 9pm. This fundraiser for the local public schools is sponsored by Back to Basics, and this year it features brand-name musicians, more wines and winemakers, and an optional supper grill featuring local produce.

 The evenings events will be emceed by Miranda Wilson of KKSF  103.7 from the Main Street Stage. Headliner Mambo Caribe, featuring Ray Obiedo & Pete Escovedo performs from 6 pm on, while Big Crawdaddy rocks the south stage from 7 to 9 pm.

This year, the event has taken a different approach, inviting Winemakers from the premier appellations in the state to come to the event to  pour and discuss their wines. Three Coastside winemakers will be on hand , including Bob Varner of Varner Wines and Foxglove, Gloria Chirichillo of Domenico  and Leon GLover of Lionheart Vineyards.   In all there will be sixteen wine tasting booths, and in addition to the stellar lineup on the Main and South stages, there will be spectacular performances from Earth Circus, Del Fuego Fire Dancers and Rock Steady Jugglers to enjoy throughout the evening.

This year, we are also featuring an optional supper grill, which showcases locally grown produce from Giusti, Jacob’s and Daylight Farms. Supper is optional at $15.00 per guest.

California Division of Forestry (CDF) staff made a detailed presentation to both the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District and Point Montara Fire Protection District boards of directors at a joint meeting Thursday night Sept 14.  Citizens and firefighters were also on hand for the first public discussion in what all agreed will be an involved process to determine all of the questions which need to be answered in order for CDF to provide fire and emergency service in the two districts. 

The PowerPoint presentation was impressive in its thorough anticipation of the steps necessary to implement the contract for fire services with CDF, which both boards have resolved to pursue.  A draft "Transition Business Plan" was provided covering items ranging from discussion of joint operations with other San Mateo County fire agencies to negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with current Half Moon Bay employees to become CDF employees and ordering new uniforms for them.  

Questions were taken both during and after the presentation.  CDF stated its objective was to develop and implement an action plan that will allow for the smooth and efficient transition of management and command of the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara Fire Districts to Cal Fire. CDF Battalion Chief Mark Brunto will be assigned soon to HMBFPD to manage the transition. The plan calls for CDF to commence providing Coastside fire and emergency services on Jan 1, 2007.

Several citizens spoke during public comment both for and against contracting out fire services.  Firefighter’s union representative Alan Davis presented signed petitions to the Boards and demanded that the boards either rescind their decision to explore contracting for services or immediately submit the issue to a vote of the districts’ citizens.  Union Representative Ed Hawkins pointed out Shop Steward Chip Pickard and demanded the Board meet and confer with him.  Hawkins alleged the Board had refused to confer in the past month. Hawkins also spoke on an audit being conducted by the Union of the HMBFPD fire district finances. Upon advice of legal counsel the boards took no action on the union representatives’ request. 

Since the meeting agenda contained no items to be voted upon, the meeting continued without interruption. 

Both citizens and board members asked many questions concerning the transition process.  Most of the questions were about personnel matters.  All questions were either answered by CDF or will be addressed during the next few weeks as talks continue.  It was apparent that CDF, who currently has 160 fire service contracts with other local fire districts throughout California, was very comfortable with the questions and has an excellent grasp of what it will take to transition to providing local fire and emergency services under contract to and under the control of the local fire boards.  CDF was invited to attend the next Half Moon Bay Fire District board meeting.

Bud Foss wrote The History of La Honda in 1941 - just before he left for World War II. He interviewed the old-timers who lived in town, which were some of the original pioneers. His work is, by far, the most comprehensive history of the early days of La Honda.

Stop by the La Honda House Café this Thursday, September 21, at 6:30pm for a unique opportunity to hear Bud Foss talk about how he came about making his book, the people he interviewed, and see rare photographs of town. And also get some dinner while you’re there.

Questions? Contact Bob Dougherty at 747-0102

Smart Growth is a land use philosophy whose central tenet can be expressed in the following syllogism:

• Population growth and increased development are inevitable;
• Urban sprawl into rural and undeveloped areas is undesirable;
• Therefore, growth and development should be channeled into already urbanized areas.

That’s a simplification, almost worthy of Smart Growth for Dummies, but stripping the theory to its bones makes it easier to see how Smart Growth would apply to the Coastside.  Fasten your seatbelts, because this politically progressive philosophy actually encourages concentrated growth in areas such as Half Moon Bay and the urban Midcoast, in order to preserve the rural and open areas surrounding us, and enhance our community.  Here are some general Smart Growth principles, applied to the Coastside:

1. DON’T DISCOURAGE COASTSIDE URBAN GROWTH.  Smart Growth takes a dim view of urban growth rate limits, such as Measure D, and lot reduction schemes, like the one the Coastal Commission negotiated into the Ailanto settlement agreement.  As the Greenbelt Alliance recently observed, limiting the rate of urban growth, or reducing urban buildout potential, "can push development elsewhere, into other cities and out onto farm and other natural areas."  James Kunstler wrote in his highly regarded THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE: "The problem with the ‘no growth’ approach…is that the pressure doesn’t go away; if you don’t make some kind of provision for growth in the form of good planning, development just leapfrogs farther out into the hinterlands, resulting in longer commutes and more mindless sprawl."

Cheri Parr

To date, more than $3.8 million of the $7 million needed to construct the 23,000 sq ft Coastside Adult Community Center has been raised. It will feature a commercial kitchen and dining rooms, a library, a computer lab, space for dancing, billiards, arts & crafts and other activities.  A new building will expand the Coastside Adult Day Health Center's specialized program for clients with Alzheimer's Disease and other dementia.

Cheri Parr

Janie Bono of Coastside Adult Day Health Center and Cara Schmaljohn of Senior Coastsiders thank Susy Castoria (center) for her work in planning the event.

Cheri Parr

A standing-room only crowded was on hand for the event.

Coastsider will post an album of photos from the event shortly.

To celebrate the midpoint of a community campaign to build the Coastside Adult Community Center, the public is invited to a free Open House event at the site of the planned center on Saturday, September 16, 2006 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Main Street and Arnold Way in Half Moon Bay. The event will feature a full-size outline of the actual building, imaginative building "tours," refreshments, entertainment, prizes, and information on local services for seniors and adults with disabilities. 

Jimmy Benjamin is a former Half Moon Bay planning commissioner. This story has been corrected with a more up-to-date description of the Review’s correction. Coastsider had accidentally published an older version of the story. Now, that’s ironic.

Last month the HMB Planning Commission approved an overnight permit parking program. I will be appealing the project to either the City Council or the Coastal Commission, and wrote a letter to the City Planning Director to explain my concerns. I provided the Review and Coastsider.com with copies of my letter, and was surprised to see an error-flled and polarizing  summary of my appeal on the Review’s web site.  Although the abbreviated report was replaced with a much improved version a few days later, and both it and the print version are more accurate, it was up for an several days, an eternity in cyberspace. I am writing you to clear the air before another issue blazes out of control.
 
What is the project?  In response to residents’ concerns that some of these overnight visitors constitute a public safety threat, the program requires cars parked between midnight and 4am on streets adjacent to the state beach, in certain neighborhoods, to display a permit (to be purchased for $20/year) [map, Initial Study, Findings and Evidence]. When residents just east of the proposed permit area expressed concern that this would simply move the problem visitor a block away from the beach, staff explained that these noxious visitors are lazy, and will leave the neighborhood in search of another street next to the beach with easy beach access.

Sofia Freer is a former member of the Half Moon Bay Planning Commission

Two members of the city council attacked two of our planning commissioners without any justification following a marathon six-hour commission meeting on Aug 24. This could have been avoided if the city’s planning staff had not forced an issue by putting it on the agenda before all the facts were known.

At the council’s September 5 meeting, one outspoken member of the public accused "the chair and one other commissioner" of subjecting planning staff to "vitriolic criticism."  His charge was later echoed in somewhat muted tones by the Mayor and one of the other council members.  I viewed the videotape of the commission meeting several times, and saw no evidence of disrespect on the part of any of the commissioners. 

If there was any disrespect, it was on the part of the planning staff toward the commission and the public.  Staff chose to ignore the planning commission July 13 request for additional information, and decided to eliminate prior conditions of approval without the knowledge of the commission or public review.  Five of the seven planning commissioners expressed disappointment with these actions.  During my year on the commission, I saw a number of cases when city planners failed to comply with commission requests for additional information or changed staff reports without public discussion. But I never saw anything like what happened at the August 24 meeting.

The San Mateo County Public Works Department will be holding an information meeting about its vegetation management practices, which include the use of herbicides (including glyphosate, or Roundup) for weed control along roadsides. 

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept 20, 7pm at the Cuesta La Honda Clubhouse.  From Hwy. 1, take Hwy. 84 east to La Honda, turn right on Entrada, then continue straight on Escondido.  Park in front of the playground and the meeting is up the steps to the right.   For more information, contact Dave Clarke, Deputy Director of Public Works, 650.363.4102.