Devil's Slide opened shortly after 9pm Thursday night, well in advance of the 5am Friday opening time projected by Caltrans.

Cheri Parr

Barry Parr

Cheri Parr

Montara resident shakes hands with Linda Mar Safeway employees who are happy to see him at 11pm on Thursday night.

At 11:00am Thursday, local, state, and national dignitaries assembled for a ribbon-cutting on the Devil’s Slide to the mark the opening of Highway 1 for the first time in four months Friday morning at 5am.

NOTE: We’ll post an album of photos of the event later.

Patty Mayall is a resident of La Honda.

NOTE: There will be a public information table Saturday from 11am to 2pm in front of Safeway in Half Moon Bay.

The San Mateo County Public Works Road Department sprays RoundUp (Glyphosate)  an herbicide, along the unincorporated county roads before sunrise on an unspecified morning between January and April, without any notification before, during or after the application.  For the past 30 years or so, on the 320 miles of these roads, over half are sprayed once or twice a year. The County does mow along these roadsides, which many of us local residents strongly support, as well as all of their hard work to maintain our roads.

In March of 2006, a few of us La Honda area residents volunteered our time to collect signatures on a petition which requests that spraying is stopped and that mowing is supported.  We are working with the Public Works folks to make this change, with the help of Supervisor Gordon and his staff.  Due to our signatures and calls, for the first time ever, notifications were posted in the La Honda area before spraying in June of 2006.  Pescadero residents spoke out and stopped the spraying on their county roads in the 1990’s. Marin County has not sprayed for the past 30 years and mows twice a year.  Santa Cruz County has a moratorium on spraying for 3 years.

The joint meeting of the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara fire boards Tuesday night was hampered by someone (probably a Half Moon Bay or Point Montara board member intent on delaying action) by limiting the meeting to the hours of 5PM to 7PM on the posted Agenda.

So, the meeting had to be continued without action on the single agenda item. No one would admit to setting a closing time for the meeting when the question was raised by Half Moon Bay FPD President, Jerry Donovan The next time all board members agreed they could be present for a meeting is on Thursday August 17.

Both fire agencies bidding for the fire services contract made good presentations. Point Montara Board President Bruce MacKimmie asked some very good questions. Unfortunately, There was not enough time for all of the board members and the public to ask follow-up questions or for the boards to take an action before the meeting had to be recessed.

It was clear that at least one director on each board was not in favor of contracting with any outside agency. One Point Montara director stated he did not want a vote on the agenda item at this meeting.

Given the LAFCO study and the grand jury report conclusions, we can only hope the two boards act to fix the problems in the Half Moon Bay firehouse before there is another serious failure to deliver emergency services on the coastside as has been alleged by a Point Montara fire board member, to have happened recently.

Ed Carter
Montara

We’ve upgraded the software we use to publish Coastsider’s photo gallery as part of our Silly Season upgrades.  We think you’ll find it easier to use and the design much better looking. We’ll be tweaking the design over the next few days. Please let us know if you have any problems with the new gallery.

Three Coastsiders correctly guessed that it would take 124 days for Caltrans to open the Devil’s Slide from the first closure date of Sunday, April 2. 

• Michelle Walford, El Granada
• Alan Heirich, Half Moon Bay
• Kevin Whittemore, Montara

Alan Heirich was chosen randomly from the three correct guesses to receive the prize—a $100 gift certificate from the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. He has been invited to the ribbon-cutting at the Slide at 11:00am, as well as the invitation-only celebration afterward—coincidentally at the Brewing Company at 12:30pm.

Four months was a generally popular guess, with a dozen folks guessing it would take 121 to 127 days to open the Slide.

The HMB Brewing Company is featuring a Slide-opening celebration this weekend with live music, a special menu and Devil’s Slide Summer Ale. There will be live music Thursday through Saturday from 7:00pm to 10:00pm and Sunday from 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Disclosure: HMB Brewing Company provided the $100 gift certificate for the winner.

There will be an Argentine Tango party in Half Moon Bay on Sunday August 6 at 5:00pm.

You’re invited to learn the secrets of the passionate Argentine tango in a casual environment —no partner needed. There will be a free guided practice on Friday August 4, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm

Enso
131 Kelly Av
Half Moon Bay
(650) 726-1409
Admission: $10

The San Mateo County Community College District Coastside is offering Coastside classes this fall in Adobe Illustrator,  Photoshop,  Early Childhood Education, Public Assistance Benefits Programs, English as a Second Language, Human Services Internships, Walk and Stride, College Planning, Writing for Non-Native Speakers. You can download the schedule from Coastsider.

There will be joint meeting of the Point Montara and Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District boards Tuesday at 5:00pm, at which both boards plan to select a provider at the meeting and begin negotiations with the selected agency. You can download the proposals from Coastsider:

• California Department of Forestry
• San Mateo Fire Department

Meanwhile, another flyer is in circulation, urging citizens to come out for the meeting and support the local firefighters.

The flyer claims that homeowners’ insurance rates will increase if California Department of Forestry (CDF) runs the department, that CDF personnel would not have knowledge of the area, there would be less community involvement, CDF personnel couldn’t afford to live in the area, and repeats the claim that the "fire department is being sold to the lowest bidder".

Community members are invited to discuss the the proposals as well as the issues raised by this flyer here on Coastsider.

UPDATE: You can now download interim Fire Chief Vern Hamilton’s recommendations for how to evaluate proposals from outside agencies to manage the the Coastside’s fire services.