Comments Archive

I think the story did downplay my credentials a little too much.  I know Steve Outings and respect his work. Here’s the direct link to Steve Outings’ piece:   http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=83444 Here’s the…

Barry, I think that you provide a valuable service for our community, but thought readers might appreciate the following related posting from Poynter.org regarding today’s article in the SF Chronicle. Allen Brown P.O. Box 370271 Montara, CA 94037…

Here’s my letter to the Board of Supervisors: June 6, 2005     President Richard Gordon and Members of the San Mateo County Board of Re: Statement of Principles to Guide Midcoast Growth Dear President Gordon and Members of the Board of…

Totally!  What the heck was up with the Private Party? This tunnel is being built in our back yard! Dude...

Spencer Nassar wrote: “My observation is that people who have lived on the Coast for more than a couple years, and is not in the construction business, are anti-growth…” Unfortunately, there are way too many residents who are simply…

No coments?  I am to assume that everyone, including the lucky attorney’s, paid lobbyists and developers who pulled this are all in agreement that they robbed all Californians of precious public trust resources?  Are we all in agreement…

I love the many ‘small town’ aspects of HMB, from ‘Rock the Block’, to the owner operated non-chain stores, to the ability to walk down town and see someone I know.  In some dimensions smaller means having less, and in others…

There are some fundamental problems with Foster City. The number-one problem is that it’s built for cars, not people.  That’s why moving the middle school from Cunha to Wavecrest is a problem. Traffic flow is a big driver for that decision…

What does Foster City look like to me? Looks like what they are today calling “Smart Growth”. Isn’t that supposed to be a Good Thing?...

I am somewhat familiar with the Rapley Ranch property. The press release even describes the property as sitting “high on the west-facing slopes of Russian Ridge.” So where exactly is the “important spawning and nursery area for the federally…

This post, Barry, is by far my favorite Coastsider entry. Having grown up on the Coastside and spent nearly 5 years working in Foster City, I can’t begin to tell you how spot on your summation of Foster City’s soulless approach to urban planning.…

I live in Foster City, and I agree that the place is great, But in any case I would accept to lose more of our green forests and wild spaces to create a building in Half moon bay or other place. This is a none caring opinion that you have there. We have…

Not to mention that the zoo’s Joe Fitting, quoted in the article, and shown in blurry focus behind a snake in one of the pictures (a prominent picture in the print edition), is a Coastsider!...

Yep, that’s the San Francisco Garter Snake. We used to catch (and release) those back in the 1950s and early ‘60s in Pacifica’s gully, before Fairmont was built.  There was an abundance of wildlife in the gully, with its creeks,…

I was riding my bike on the western edge of Pillar Point Harbor last weekend and saw a couple of families whose kids were wading at the beach. There were no warning signs that I could see. I never really thought of the harbor as a place for swimming because…

For the state to call it a “beach” is overly generous and unintentionally misleading. Until the sand coming down the stream is allowed, through actual tidal action, to nourish Miramar Beach, it’s just a sandy part of a working harbor.…

Barry, I suspect that Dean’s concerns as expressed by “he suspects that the high bacteria counts may be due to the large bird population in the Harbor” might well be expanded to include the folks living in their boats, the seals, the…

Barry,     That’s a great picture of the San Francisco Garter Snake.  Believe it or not, I have heard from some locals that they don’t believe there ever really was a San Francisco Garter Snake, that it was just a legend, a…

These comments are from Jim; Nancy has her own points of view (and would probably not express them publicly). I’ll think about the opinion piece, I have already expressed my views in the Review. I don’t trust the process and don’t think…

That’s a point of view I haven’t heard expressed in the public meetings or in the Review. Everyone seems to be talking about the process or the grant applications for sports fields and not that they don’t want a park on the site at all.…

I live in Cypress Cove and talk extensively to all my neighbors. About 10 percent want a passive park (one with no sports fields), the rest do not want any park at all. We live here, most of us don’t want the park, that is the truth. We will stop…

I’m not sure if this was directed at me, but when the city was discussing whether to buy the park, I wrote: Finally, I was impressed by the response of the neighbors in Cypress Cove. The City Council did survey some neighbors as part of their due…

If you want a park so badly, feel free to build it in your backyard, not the backyard of Cypress Cove....

Congratulations on the milestone (and condolences on the photo). “... the official who complained that I had an unfair advantage over the local weekly when it came to reporting breaking news.” OK, who was it, and was s/he serious?...

This story gives me a sense of Deja Vu. See bottom portion of: https://coastsider.com/comments/548_0_1_0_C/ ...

I have received a footnote to the Kentucky takeover campaign. The anti-takeover compaign fielded a slate of candidates who took over the city council. From the Lexington Herald-Leader, courtesy of Felton FLOW <http://www.jgpr.com/Calam/heraldleader.html>:…

I’m sure that all the builder/realtor types on the Coastside will latch onto this one rare and isolated incident and then come to the conclusion that ANY finding of an endangered or threatened species is a plant. They wish. California Redlegged…

Barry - I’d really like to see you do a piece on the accuracy of the Sheriff’s Log and the HMB Police Log.  I was told by a HMB police officer several years ago that they are not accurate - and that items are toned down, and omitted,…

Although I believe it important to acknowledge the Cypress Cove residents’ concerns about the park, it is truly unfortunate that they have chosen this confrontational course of action.  Furthermore the additional questions at the end of the…

The Homeowners’ Association Survey is joke. It’s obviously written by someone who is very biased against the park. It would be a violation of the HOA Board’s fiduciary duty if the Association’s money was being used to fund a boardmember’s…

Beautiful picture.  Any chance the Donald Baldwin who took it is the same who used to live in Claremont, CA, and worked at Claremont McKenna College’s computer lab?  Just checking up on some old friends.  If I got the right Baldwin,…

[partial repost from Midcoast list] I don’t mean to throw a wet blanket on the Podesta site, but with all due respect, I think we are looking at a Wavecrest-waiting-to-happen. For starters: 1. The school district does not own the land and it is…

I’ve been assuming that the school access would be off Main, perhaps using the Foster ROW. But who knows?...

Not so much through the site as beside it. There would presumably be a road, a light, and a widening of the highway for the school. It might be more expedient to connect Pacific Ridge to that road than to connect it to Terrace Ave. It never occured to…

This would make Podesta a potentially easy solution to a sticky political problem in Half Moon Bay. What would be the easy solution? A road through the school site?...

Also, once you play around with the point allocation and scoring you realize how arbitrary these kinds of systems are and how they tend to make your analysis look more objective than it really is. I agree with the point Bayless made at the meeting that…

Thanks for the link to the Google map. I was wishing Dr. Bayless had put those in his overheads instead of the confusing maps he had used. The typo in the story has been corrected. The links to the criteria are very welcome. It’s interesting that…

Your spreadsheet says 67 (not 64) for Podesta. I’d knock Wavecrest and Podesta down a bit on availability, just because of their uncertainty. Here are the current state evaluation forms, including some guidance on coming up with the numbers. Site…

Podesta can be seen on the map here: Podesta and surrounds.  Click on “Satellite” to see the overhead photo....

Wavefrest Partners apparently did not report the delayed wetlands delineation during last night’s school board meeting....

I wonder what happened to that project.  Anyone know?...

Mr. Parr,   You are to be congratulated for your openness regarding expression of diverse viewpoints.   Your site stands in marked contrast to other ‘Coastal’ sites that suppress postings and posters that aren’t singing the…

By the way, using the CPI deflator, an $8,000 house in 1947 would cost $68,000 today. Notice that that’s apparently the upper end of the price range. Several other things strike me about the article. * Wavecrest will always be with us…. *…

I keyed in the text of this article a while back. WAVE CREST SUBDIVION [sic] DEPENDS ON WATER Development of the Wave Crest Subdivision by the Victory Investment Company of San Francisco depends upon Half Moon Bay’s ability to supply sufficient…

Can a wetlands delineation be properly carried out during the dry season? Note that we just had a pretty good rain over the weekend.  The postponements sure seem to be correlating to rain....

An amazing documentary. One of the most interesting points was that beaches, owned by the public, are effectively erosion.  Homeowners building seawalls to protect their property fairly well eliminate, not just deny access to, the public space; a…

I was there with my wife and two friends from Pacifica (who have seen it three times!). This excellent film is an eye opener, and clearly illustrates the arrogance and ‘money above all else’ attitude of some developers and landowners along…

This meeting, by the way, is at 7pm in the Hatch Multipurpose Room (no WiFi, I think). The agenda item: The Board will discuss and consider the construction and location of the middle school along with other issues related to facilities. The full agenda…

Curiously, at the same time that HMB’s population was increasing by 2.6%, Cabrillo Unified School District’s enrollment dropped by 3.4%. Of course, HMB makes up only about half of CUSD, but I’d be surprised if the population of the midcoast…

“in Moss Beach, near Princeton” translates to “directly adjacent to the Pillar Point Marsh, on what clearly contains considerable wetlands”. Photos were posted on the Midcoast-L mailing list a while back.  http://sanmateo.org/BigWave/BigWave.html…

From the coverage I thought this would be a grass roots event. Nice Day, Maybe hike out and watch. Then I found out it was invitation only so I thought maybe I’d check out the Brew Co. Party. That too was an exclusive invitation only event.. Was…

The last time that Christo came to California, was Fall, 1991 I beleve, when the infamous yellow umbrellas dotted the mountain sides of the “Grapevine” along I-5 in Southern California. Tragically, a woman died when a strong gust of wind lifted…

The Gray Whale Cove groundbreaking is most definitely invitation-only.  Hence my question above. Maybe we should have a block party in Montara, open to any and all. And we could invite folks from Pacifica.  Like the old Hands Across the Mountain…

According to the HMB review, the party at the restaurant is invitation-only. The 2pm ceremony is at Graywhale Cove - but it’s not clera if THAT is also invitation-only....

Where will the event be held?...

As far as I know, Jones and Larimer and were published because they took the trouble to write. I’ve submitted two opinion columns to the Review and both were accepted. The second one is in the queue. Larimer/Jones got a color mug on their piece.…

I’m curious. How many times have Jones and/or Larimer been given op-ed space in the Half Moon Bay Review over the past few years? Compared to other opinionators? And what about the Review’s onetime guru Chris Mickelson? Let’s, please,…

Hear Hear!!  I sent a letter to the editor the moment I read the piece with much the same argument....

Who among our local officials and activists will be there?...

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported on the event today...

The alternative sounds correct.  I really can’t see a justification for having ratepayers pick up these capacity fees which will likely go hand in hand with higher rates in general as more housing increases demand relative to supply. …

I suppose the other alternative would be to attach the cost to new development by putting it into the connection charge and preselling connections. That’s what CCWD did by pre-selling connections to the Crystal Springs project. How does a $30,000…

“...our local agencies will be called upon to produce enough water to serve the growth planned by the county. As Supervisor Mark Church put it, “Special districts and agencies should accommodate growth.” Finding more water in our system…

Thanks. Terry gave me a copy of the letter when I ran into him at the hearing today. I’ve got the site and letter linked off the main story today. ...

Readers might want to take a look at this response from CPR, a local organization that is trying to represent a middle ground. Discussion of the “Principles” (a letter to the Board of Supervisors) is here with an addition appendix of comments…

Fighting for open space for the Caltrans bypass isn’t working against the county. That’s the recommendation on the table from MCC. The plans are already in place to upgrade the highway with a tunnel. This is something the communities of Montara…

We live in the fruit and vegatable garden of America, why buy imported produce from a supermarket? My wife and I buy a lot of our produce from Sweetpeas, it’s local and we love it!!!...

Caffe Lucca also has a petition at the counter....

Kim, I agree with you on all your comments. But like I said, do the math, this slot of land would support at a minimum 200 houses (you know the realtors and developers are going to push for maximum numbers of new builds which could be much higher) this…

Lots of good ideas - but keep in mind the big picture. Use the leverage you have as a community, work with CalTrans and the County instead of fighting them. Get a plan in place to not only protect the area but to also lay out a plan for the future transit…

Last year around this time, Wavecrest was also very wet. Why? Because the whole area was originally a natural wetland. The natural wetland was torn up decades ago to allow farming. But with farming no longer taking place, the area is returning to its…

Oh, my God! The Monford piece is brilliant.  We’re awash in this overload in lots of ways and it’s really hard to understand until you step outside of it for awhile. It reminds me of when I stopped automatically salting my food for a…

I agree about the difference in the shopping experience between the large supermarkets and the independent stores such as Cuhna’s.  Some other disturbing things about Albertson’s and Safeway are the playing of loud obnoxious music and running…

(and that’s a typo, of course - not Suessica but Suessical - too bad I can’t edit comments after posting ‘em)...

Two bits of fact checking for you, admittedly don’t really impact the community announcement aspect but for accuracy’s sake The name if the musical is “Suessica” - there’s no Dr. in the title - in fact, its full title is…

Take some pictures 15 days after the most recent rain.  The Corps might find those to be helpful....

I think you’re right on.  I was walking out there last weekend and—surprise, surprise—the whole place is full of standing water.  This wasn’t an abnormally high rainfall year either (according to the National Weather…

I’m not familiar with the process the Army Corps uses to delineate wetlands, but it seems likely that it includes, among other things, some measure of wetness. Could it be that this season’s late rains might lead the Corp to delineate more…

I thought you would like that :-)...

You’re right.  That’s amazing. I can see my car in that photo. Nice & creepy....

Also don’t dismiss terraserver yet. If accessed by way of msn http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com you can get free access to very high resolution pictures for areas from about the airport north, like this example in Montara. http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/addressimage.aspx?t=4&s=8&lon=-122.505927965857&lat=37.541584250648&alon=-122.50651884&alat=37.54111366&w=3&opt=0&qs=acacia%7cmontara%7cca+94037%7c&addr=Acacia+St%2c+Montara%2c+CA+94037...

How you justify that is beyond me. Sorry. You can put me down all you want, I just done agree....

Don’t give Google all the credit for these coastside photographs. Credit must be given to both Ken and Gabrielle Alderman who flew their helicopter from the Oregon border to the Mexican border taking more than 25,000 photographs. It was a herculean…

Bouquets to the District for keeping the old cabin for ranger housing rather than tearing it down!  The lack of affordable housing for park rangers, firemen, teachers, and many others is a well-known problem. The District bought the property to ensure…

I don’t agree with Terry on the District, and I understand he has some history with them that I don’t. But he clearly isn’t speaking as a taxpayer advocate here.  Furthermore, he has opposed allowing the MROSD to buy land from willing…

If you had been served with eminent domaine would you be a foe as well?...

You bring up some very good points Paul. I feel confident this land will remain as it was intended to be used, open space for Montarans. But we need to be vigilant and make our community voice heard to the ‘Supervisors’ who seem to have taken…

I was at the hearing as well and want to stress that there appeared to be no opposition to the re-zoning of this land to Open Space.  The coverage in the HMB Review on March 30th was really dissappointing.  It characterized this issue as Developers…

Thanks for catching that.  No wonder I couldn’t find the original story!...

FYI, it was football. Marina and Naomi went to Canton, Ohio together in the summer of 2000 to witness Joe Montana’s induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. There’s also the Marina-Naomi softball connection, but that wasn’t the Hall of Fame…

Marina voted against Gorn (given the nature of the motion). Marina and Naomi were portrayed some time back in the Review as best of friends who enjoy baseball so much they took a road trip together to the Baseball Hall of Fame....

The Supervisors took no action on the possible rezoning....

My wife and I attended the LCP Update meeting this morning in Redwood City. There was a large turn out on both sides, over 80 people registered to speak. I had to leave at Midday but I believe the session lasted well into the afternoon. There was a very…

84 people signed up to speak today at the Board of Supervisors meeting.  Builders/realtors almost universally wanted no limits and wanted the opportunity for all the homes in the Caltrans right-of-way. There were, however, a LOT of Montarans who…

I hope this has nothing to do with the fact that Cunha is being abandoned (though we hope not) for Wavecrest. I thought all along that this wrong-headed Middle School “project” would harm downtown business....

This is an extremely important issue, if you live in Montara I urge you to make your voice heard. More houses? Or protect the land untouched for our future generations to enjoy? We need more housing, that’s a fact. But if we continue to chip away…

Noticed how the Review has started publishing more items in the police log since Coastsider has been running all these details?...

I received the following clarification from Holly Costa at the Army Corps of Engineers: From your March 4 article:  “A couple of weeks ago, the Corps told me that they thought the application was only for the wetlands, and not for the entire…

Too bad, but we can hope for the best. The Craigslist link is no more, btw....

16 years on the Council for Patridge pretty much makes her a career politician. Like in Washington, HMB needs term limits to make sure that elected officials do not become beholden to special interests, in this case: big developers. I would love to see…