Caltrans press release

Motorists using Highway 1 between Montara and Pacifica will notice an increase in construction traffic on Monday August 28 starting at 9:00am.  This is when a continuous pour of concrete is due to start for the first of four massive bridge footings.  The pour will continue until the footing is complete, sometime during the early hours of Tuesday August 29.

Students and their parents going back to school on Monday may not know it, but the current schedule for Cunha Intermediate and Half Moon Bay High Schools are only temporary.  The current start times for the schools are still the emergency schedule put in place to deal with Devil’s Slide closure.

Also, the bus set up for Cunha students during the closure will operate for the next two to four weeks before service is ended. Most parents are unlikely to be aware that the bus is even a temporary option, because Cunha parents were told in a letter with registration materials:

As you are well aware, there will be NO bussing for Cunha students, so you must make transportation arrangements to ensure your child gets to school [u]on time[/u] and home safely. Please consider SAMTRANS with the transportation plans. [emphasis in original]

The crowding of Cunha students on SAMTRANS buses became a major issue on the Coastside in February, and is still unresolved.

According to Cabrillo Unified School District Superintendent Dr. John Bayless, when the schedule was set over the summer, it was uncertain whether Highway 1 would be repaired in time, or whether any repairs that were made would be permanent. The district’s goal was to play it safe in case Devil’s Slide was unreliable or still closed. He said that the district is looking for other solutions for children who need transportation to school.

Bayless says that HMBHS will have to change its schedule in order to the get the required number of instructional minutes into the school day, and that Cunha’s schedule will probably be revised as well.  Although he could not say when this would be, he said it is likely to happen in about a month.

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 6:00pm at Main Street and Arnold Way in Half Moon Bay [Google map].

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. 

There will be a brief program to let the community know more about how the new building will serve the growing number of seniors and disabled adults on the Coastside.  The 15-minute program, scheduled for 4:45, will include brief remarks by California State Assembly Member Gene Mullins, Half Moon Bay Mayor Marina Fraser, and Coastside Adult Community Center staff and campaign representatives.

Debra Auker, city manager of Half Moon Bay, has resigned. Her last day will be September 15. She has been city manager for just over two years, beginning June 2004.  Auker has been a city employee for five years.

In her letter of resignation [pdf], Auker said: "Now that we have recovered from the disastrous effect of Devil’s Slide and we have important public works projects, such as the Hwy 92/Main Street Improvements, underway; it is time for me to pursue other ventures."

In a press release from city hall, Mayor Marina Fraser praised her for her hiring of city staff and securing funding for the city’s Highway 92 projects.  City council member Jim Grady applauded her management of the city’s finance department, her presentation of city budgets, contract negotiations with city employees, and acquisition of new land. Whenever I called to ask her a question for Coastsider, I found her to be helpful, friendly, and professional.

The city has begun a search for an interim city manager and a permanent city manager. If no interim city manager is selected by September 15, the city’s director of public works and recreation, Paul Nagengast will be appointed acting city manager.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted last night to appoint a new Director to the Board seat left vacant by Deane Little’s resignation on August 11, 2006. The appointment to Ward 4, which includes Mountain View and Los Altos, will have to be made by October 10, 2006, 60 days from the effective date of the vacancy.

The District’s Board has a statutory duty to fill the vacant Board seat either by calling a special election or by making an appointment.  At last night’s public meeting, Directors cited the high cost of a special election as their main reason for choosing the appointment process.  Based upon 50,271 projected registered voters, the Santa Clara County Elections Office had provided an estimated cost of $770,378 to call a special election for District Ward 4.

Montara artist Robert Buelteman is one of two artists featured in an exhibit at the Presidio Officers’ Club from August 25 to November 19.

Since 1999, Mr. Buelteman has made extraordinary photographic images without the use of cameras, lenses, or computers. With photographic paper, plant life, and electrical current, Mr. Buelteman captures the intricacies and structural secrets of his subjects. The process produces brilliantly lit portraits of plants and flowers, capturing their essence in a glowing, otherworldly blaze of color. The exhibit’s 25 large format images are on loan from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and are part of Mr. Buelteman’s Through the Green Fuse series.

The exhibit also features   Edward S. Ross’s 85 scientific, patiently photographed close-ups of insects alter the viewer’s sense of scale and reveal intimate details about the entwined world of plants and insects. Mr. Ross is curator emeritus of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences. When he could not find candid photos of living insects, he taught himself close-up flash photography. He has published many scientific papers and his insect photographs have appeared in many books and magazines. He lives in a Japanese- style compound set in a hilly garden with a view of Mt. Tamalpais. At 91, he continues his work as an entomologist and nature photographer.

The last gallery in the exhibit space is called "The Hive" a kid’s space where parents and youngsters can engage in minds-on, hands-on activities. Information about how scientists name things, evolution, flowering plants and the critical role insects play in our lives on Earth.

The Presidio Officers’ Club Exhibition Hall is at 50 Moraga Avenue at Arguello in San Francisco.

by Sonja Myhre, Co-Chair "Day to Make a Difference" Committee

Hatch School was the proud recipient of a blue ribbon at the 2006 San Mateo County Fair in the Community Beautification Display category awarded to the Day to Make a Difference" entry. This category highlights philanthropic projects that work in cooperation with community organizations.

The renovation of Alvin S. Hatch Elementary School by CNH Landscape and Design, Inc. was completed almost one year ago with the help of 200 Coastside community residents.

Improvements included re-landscaping the entrance, library area and central courtyard; sandblasting and adding colorful tile work to the school sign; building new raised vegetable and flower beds; constructing a whimsical redwood picket fence around the school garden; and installation of irrigation throughout. "It was an inspiring event filled with camaraderie, cooperation, and accomplishment in rejuvenating this neighborhood school grounds

If you oppose the YMCA’s logging of Camp Jones Gulch [pdf of plan], you must send a letter to the California Dept of Forestry (CDF) by September 7.

Details: YMCA San Francisco, owners of Camp Jones Gulch (aka Science Camp), have submitted a logging plan to the CDF to log 733 acres of the 907 acre property [Coastsider story], cutting 60% of redwood and fir trees 18 inches in diameter or larger, on slopes of 5% to 80%. Though old growth (40+ inches) would likely be excluded in the first round of cutting, the permit would be in perpetuity, and every 15 years another round of logging could occur with no more public input, and old growth could be cut then. The proposed logging would result in ten truckloads per day for 8-10 weeks, winter harvesting, impacts to local creeks and to our community.

Points to make:  This plan should be withdrawn by the YMCA, and if not, it should be denied by CDF; the YMCA should consider land stewardship that does not include timber harvesting.

For more info and to sign the petition urging the YMCA to withdraw this plan, call Patty Mayall 650-851-1902 or go to Coastsider.com for local updates.  Saturday, August 26 from 10:30am—1:30pm sign the petition at the table outside of the La Honda Post Office

In your letter put your name, address and the plan’s name: YMCA NTMP #1-06NTMP-014 SMO

Send To: 
C.D.F. (Ca. Dept. Forestry)
Leslie Markham at 135 Ridgway Av.
Santa Rosa, Ca., 95401
Or email: [email protected]

Send a copy to:
Bill Worthington
YMCA Camp Jones Gulch
11000 Pescadero Rd.
La Honda, Ca. 94020
Phone: 650-747-1200
Or email: [email protected]

UPDATE:  BIll Worthingtons email address has been corrected.

The Pumpkin Fest is Senior Coastsiders' biggest fund-raiser of the year. Volunteers raise money for Senior Coastsiders by selling delicious Portabello Mushroom sandwiches at our food booth and spacious parking spots in our parking lot. On Sunday we hold the popular Pumpkin Run. All proceeds support senior services on the coastside. We really can't do it without you!

Friday, October 13

• Kitchen prep volunteers are needed to help clean and prep mushrooms and cut rolls from 10 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, October 14

• Food booth shifts run from 9 a.m. to noon, noon to 3 p.m., or 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Parking lot shifts run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Sandwich assembly / prep shifts run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Order taking (from vendors stuck in their booths) 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Transportation shifts: transport hot, delicious sandwiches from the kitchen to the food booth. 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, October 15

• Pumpkin Run! We need volunteers to help register runners, give out t-shirts and pumpkins, monitor the race course and more. Shifts start at 6:45 or 7 a.m., but you'll be done by 9 and ready to enjoy the rest of the day! You'll beat the traffic, too!
• Food booth shifts run from 9 a.m. to noon, noon to 3 p.m., or 3 p.m. to 6p.m.
• Parking lot shifts run from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. or 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Sandwich assembly / prep shifts run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Order taking: (from vendors stuck in their booths) 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Transportation shifts: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Hours may vary slightly. Please call Vicki at 726-9056 if you can help or e-mail [email protected]!

Vicki Cormack

Looking for volunteers? Send your community notices to Coastsider. Priority is given to notices that use the "Submit a story to Coastsider" link on the top left of every page, but you can send them via email as well.