Comments Archive

Patridge likes to hold herself out as a major proponent of recreation, and has long invested lots of her time in coaching sports. In the 16 years on the council, how many acres of playing fields did she purchase for the city?...

There is conflicting information in the Chronicle story and in the HMB Review: According to the Chronicle, “Caltrans is expected to break ground on the six-year project on May 6.”  According the the HMB Review, “Groundbreaking has…

Thank you for your efforts, Assemblyman Yee. I was worried when the Coastal Commission introduced yet another roadblock, and I was delighted at the way you dealt with the problem promptly, and even more so when the governor signed the bill.  Now…

I want to publicly thank Congressman Tom Lantos for his efforts in securing $150 million in federal funds for the long-awaited Devil’s Slide tunnel project. As a member of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, I was proud to protect former State Senator…

Come on, guys… It’s not April 1st yet.  What? This is real??? I didn’t really expect the realtors to adopt anythning other than a pro-growth agenda, but come on!  What next, housing on the face of Devil’s slide? …

In response to CoastalPlans comment: Can I ask you a question? Do you live in Montara? I doubt it, what you are proposing about ‘targeting Montara’ would totally destroy one of the most charming, beautiful, unspoiled towns on the coast. We…

The price of housing on the coastside is set by supply and demand for the entire bay area. We can’t make housing affordable by increasing the supply because the demand is so huge. Housing needs to be smaller and denser if it’s going to be…

I’m very interested to find out Caltrans plans as far as traffic diversion while the tunnel is being built. Anyone heard anything? I, like thousands of other coastsiders, commute to the city every day. I know the tunnels going to be a good thing,…

To prove diversity here, I would vote with the realtors.  The sad truth is, we must do as much possible to create housing opportunities for our fire fighters, police, teachers, and other public safety personnel.  Increasing the housing supply,…

Thanks for the correction and comment. I have updated the article. I agree that it would be good if locals could set up temporary signs for nonprofit community events. There is an exception for temporary agricultural signs (“fresh produce ahead”).…

Barry, the Coastal Repertory Theatre is the correct name of our theatre, not The Coastside Players.  We removed the sign immediately when the property owner called us. We have used that location to promote our all-volunteer community theatre productions…

Thanks for the banner follow-up....

“If development of the non-wetlands could not take place but for the construction of ponds in the wetlands, a case can be made for the Corps having jurisdiction over the entire property.” My take on the “but for” This is a major…

barry…viewing this from a wifi connection in Boston (n.b. the embassy suites at logan has free wifi in the lobby…sweet!).  way faster.  no noticable latency.  kudos!...

Much improved.  Cd be better, but ya done good     joseph...

Much improved.  Cd be better, but ya done good     joseph...

It does seem noticeably snappier, yes....

yes, considerably!...

Thanks Barry, I’ll look forward to that article. I’m opposed to any development that might change Montara....

I’ll field that one, since Bob got it from me. I added it to the story to give the midcoast a little perspective on the project. The property that Caltrans was going to use for their original freeway bypass of the Slide runs through the back of…

Sorry, my question is for Bob not Barry!...

Barry, In your article you quote: In a letter to the county Board of Supervisors, the San Mateo County Association of Realtors said that it opposes designating the old Caltrans freeway bypass in Montara as open space because “being adjacent to the…

Will drainage from developed areas will not impact the proposed ‘constructed red-legged habitat’?  No sense in mitigating a polluted pond. Will this habitat be suitable for the Garter Snake also? file number: 29405s...

I just received this note from Lennie Roberts or the Committte for Green Foothills: This property, on Irish Ridge, had a long history of attempts to develop it.  Michael Forde, the former owner, originally tried to subdivide the land into four parcels…

Judy noted on Midcoast-L that:—- begin quote—- Additionally, the SAMCAR speakers were: Jan Gray, Coastsider for more than 30 years Barbara LaVey, Coastsider for more than 30 years myself, Coastsider for more than 30 years Bob Mitton, Coastsider…

Jan Gray, who can be seen selling a million-dollar house on the front page of this week’s Review, and Judy Taylor....

Hi, Any way to find out their names? I didnt read   the story. I’d like to see if I know them so I can decide for myself if they are residents. “The story quotes a builder and two real estate agents, whom it describes as “residents”.…

Terrorist threats? On a banner? Inquiring minds want to know what it said!...

I hate this sign.  It makes me sick….I havent driven by there in two weeks, has it been removed yet?  It makes me feel anarchic and want to paste nasty slogans over it, such as, “Housing that HMB Fire and Police Can Afford!”…

anyone ever looked at a Bayless contract?  How many revisions have there been?...

Did Bayless score his pay raise? Wilson said Bayless interviews all the time.  Is he so indispensable that CUSD can’t afford to call his bluff?  Or is there more to what’s going on here? http://www2.townonline.com/somerville/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=186800...

MROSD expansion is a side-show in Half Moon Bay politics, compared to Wavecrest, freeway-widening, or CCWD’s ballooning infrastructure. Most of HMB’s population is pretty heavily suburbanized already....

Who do you think he is refering to as the “pro-growth” people? Is it the people opposed to the annexation by MROSD?...

The current SFPUC manager blames prior management for missing the $700M amount. At least one former SFPUC manager is now a top manager with Cal-Am....

What I find alarming is the rapidly inflating cost of campaigning on the coastside. Each of the three school board candidates spent approximately a dollar per eligible voter: about $10,000 per campaign, mine included. There are a lot of seats on the coastside…

To the point of the story, you’re not going to find members of the current or outgoing board giving money to Jonathan Lundell. Burt Jones used to be a board member some time back, and he supported Jonathan, but he’s not part of the current…

I decided to focus on the people who are now on the board. With all due respect to Jonathan Lundell, folks who are neither on the board nor candidates any longer are of marginal interest. I did look at Lundell’s forms while I was in the county office…

What about the rest of the cadidates who were in the running?...

Mitch Reid, owner of Eco-Pop’s has been a strong environmental activist. He was most active in the Devil’s Slide tunnel campaign in the mid ninties. When Caltrans reopened Devil’s Slide after the five months closure, his car was the…

“Rising cost of rebuilding Hetch Hetchy will affect Coastside water prices” ... “The increased cost of this project will show up on Coastsiders’ water bills.” It’s mentioned in the last sentence of the article, but…

I was told this by Holly Costa of the Corps of Engineers: To answer Mr. LaGuardia’s question: Yes, the Corps does consider community comments.  All letters should be sent to: Attn: Regulatory Branch US Army Corps of Engineers 333 Market Street,…

Odd timing on that $1500.  After the first meeting....

The Review covered it today (t plus 7 days): http://hmbreview.com/articles/2005/02/09/news/local_news/story05.txt Odd, there didn’t seem to be any real new information over the NBC11, Chron, and SMC Times articles....

Go Barry! I’m with Steve!...

One interesting thing to note is that Wavecrest is proposing to build ponds as mitigation for Red Legged Frog habitat lost, but the area has been designated as habitat for both the frogs and for the San Francisco Garter Snake.  Also, I seem to remember…

I don’t think we have enough information to say one way or the other. ...

Does anyone know if the Corps permitting process allows for community comment and involvement?...

I don’t see anything in that PDF to indicate onsite somehow escapes the requirement to protect an ESHA.  Do you have a reference?...

The breeding ponds will be within the delineated wetlands on the Wavecrest site. I have been waiting for the answer, and I just got it from the Corps. I’ve updated the story to reflect it....

I have two questions: are the proposed ponds to be onsite or offsite?  If they are on Wavecrest property, the Bolsa Chica decision wouldn’t apply. And second, how do the developers propose that a recreational trail will mitigate for habitat…

I don’t know how they intend to get around the Bolsa Chica court ruling in Bolsa Chica Land Trust v. Superior Court (1999) 71 Cal. App. 4th 493 from http://www.procopio.com/publications/pdfs/HI_august_2000.pdf “The court in Bolsa Chica held…

I received these more detailed directions to the tarwater loop trail from Ruth Waldhauer, Bob Dougherty From: Ruth Waldhauer Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 5:43 PM To: <email>[email protected]</email> Subject: Tarwater Trail When we spoke…

Yes, in my experience, this happens when Dr. Bayless decides he’d like CUSD to raise his salary.  It was helpful that the “rumor” mentioned a dollar figure.  Guess our very financially strapped district will have to pony up…

No real surprise.  In 2002, the press release went out that he had accepted a position with the county department of education. http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2002/2002_06_12.snote12.html What do you figure he was offered in exchange for staying…

Interesting how the details are different in the various news stories on this. Yesterday NBC11 reported that the driver was tied up in the back of his truck.  The Chronicle and the San Mateo County Times report he was tied up in the back of the post…

According to an employee at the Montara post office, the only thing taken was a set of keys which would have provided access to facilities and collection boxes.  Everything that could have been affected has already been rekeyed. No mail was taken. …

Thanks for making us aware of this story - this is terrible. Awful for the driver, awful for the community....

Right on! Nice job, Barry! This is what investigative journalism is about! You are making a big difference here on the coast, and this resident thanks you!...

I was confused by this: “In 2004, Half Moon Bay blew away its five percent target,...” until I realized it was supposed to be Half Moon Bay High. Every school is below the goal, which is a minimum-acceptable level, not some lofty goal....

A Pattern Language is one of the best books ever written about anything. I never understood how houses and communities worked until I read that book.  It literally changed the way I saw the world around me. ...

First, I’d suggest two books by “editor/publishers” of weeklies on both coasts. *The Light on Synanon: How a Country Weekly Exposed a Corporate Cult—And Won the Putlitzer Prize (Dave Mitchell) is a first-person account of courageous community…

It’s clear enough that there is a lot of statistical noise in these scores, which makes a goal of a 2-point improvement laughable. On the other hand, the district has been willing to pat itself on the back when these scores improve; it’s only…

Another reader has suggested “Politics and the English Language”, an essay in which George Orwell worked out a lot of his ideas about language, propanganda, and thought control that would later appear in 1984. I’ve added an Orwell collection…

I’ve added it to the wish list, but, to be fair, the Review’s problems have less to do with grammar than with style....

Eat Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss The title refers to the “Panda” entry in a poorly punctuated wildlife manual that, if believed, indicates the panda is truly to be feared, especially after eating. Truss, a self-described “punctuation…

Surviving a Tsunami (USGS, 1999). Interesting stuff....

Everything you said supports the statement that we have a huge stake in the county government. And nothing refutes the statement that we have next to no influence. I didn’t say that we’re not getting our share of county tax revenues. We may…

I think that the people taking issue with the filming have a legitimate concern.  The officials who waived the requirements seem to have been star-struck. Why were the procedures not followed? Susan Foley...

In Barry Parr’s comments he says, among other things: “But the unincorporated Coastside has a huge stake in County government—and next to no influence.” That is really not true, but to the extent that it is, it is the fault of…

I agree that the book could have benefitted from more attention to detail in copying the photos and that many are noticeably skewed because they were photographed at an angle.  I think part of the problem stemmed from the fact the author was limited…

I’ve only flipped through the book, but I was pretty disappointed with the quality. There were photographs where the aspect ratio was noticeably off. Other images were actually photos of photos - where the original image remained in a frame while…

Dear Coastsider, Dave Moore, Parks Superintendent, very thoroughly answered my email to him.  You quoted part of my first email in your fine article and I thought it might be helpful to give an update.  I was pleased learn that the apparent…

I was there when this person drowned. It was really weird and I didn’t really know what was happening. I have a few pictures but they aren’t that clear. I was coming back from Santa Cruz on my way home to Sacramento. I had been walking on…

Every once in a while I get to enjoy reading an article which displays that the reporter really made an effort to get it just right.  This is one of those.  Excellent work by Amelia… Mike...

I totally agree with all of Eric’s comments.  (And why is our international airport called “San Francisco” when it’s not even in S.F.?) Unless they donated it, I don’t believe in naming publicly owned property after…

I can’t jump on this particular bandwagon. There was a lot of controversy about the flight and whether such young people should be allowed to fly the plane at any time. In any case, the cause of the tragedy, whether pilot error or overloading, is…

Lake Tahoe changes are in the news today as well. It’s a degree warmer, top to bottom, in the last 30 years. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/21/MNGQCAF5ES1.DTL...

Fantastic!  I love it.  Thanks for putting this together. mike...

This is really courageous writing. You have to wonder how many U.S. “citizens” are open-minded or caring enough to try to understand what the average Iraqi is going through. Not the majority, unfortunately. But there is no doubt that many…

The owner’s stated plan for Wavecrest does not envision agriculture, but instead a 220-house subdivision and a middle school. So why aren’t people like Mr. SwingFiddle above, who claim to be in support of agriculture, upset that the developer…

“POLITICAL SCIENCE”   The comments in the Review seemed to really capture the true nature of the ‘science’ being practiced, given “the highly political nature of the (Wavecrest) project, the department wants to be sure…

Of course, on the Coastside, Comcast doesn’t even have to compete with broadcast....

Part of the horror on the coastside is just how bad our service is. Bad picture quality, unreliable service, fewer available channels, worse-than-normal-for-Comcast customer support (it took them months to get the name on my bill correct, despite numerous…

On one hand, the new rules look better for all, but with a hefty price tag. On the other hand, this looks like a shakedown.  What better “government assistance” for the corporatists than to shake out the small, publicly-owned water and…

When did they stop planting/harvesting an annual hay crop there? I hadn’t noticed that they stopped. Also, what happened in the interim that made the resumption of haying an improper activity? Should we investigate all such ‘agricultural activities’…

This is another in a series incidents that illustrate the developer’s lack of concern for finding and/or protecting environmentally sensitive habitat areas (ESHA) on the site. Some other notorious examples:   1. Installation of an illegal drainage…

We are so fortunate to have these creatures wintering among us.  My compliments to the photographer.  I hope there will more posts such as this one… Mike...

At the local meetings hosted by the MROSD we learned that the wards were drawn up using the census blocks - to provide the greatest accuracy in knowing the exact population of a given area (usually a city block). The blocks on the coast side cover a large…

The National Weather Service says: SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. PATCHY VALLEY FOG. LOWS IN THE 40S TO LOWER 50S. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH…BECOMING EAST AROUND 5 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT. No fog; too bad…...

One of the District’s major stated criteria in redrawing their Ward boundaries was to consider “community boundaries”. They COULD have included ALL of the mountain and rural residents in one ward—by putting all of them in their…

I think the idea of two coastside wards probably benefits the Coastside, because the North and South along the coast have very different problems and agendas, and because if we ever get to the planning stages of new trails, which are most likely to be…

I’m one of those isolated southcoast troublemakers, I guess. I attended the MROSD meeting and observed the directors as they made their decision. Based on input from the workshops and online poll, they eliminated the scenarios that split the coastside…

Your point about the the relative coastside population of the two wards is a good one. Of course, by splitting off the southern part of the coast, they’ve isolated the troublemakers. But 30% is a pretty big chunk if coastsiders could be expected…

I’m trying to make out the exact location of the boundary between wards 6 & 7. Near as I can make out, it follows Lobitos Creek Road to Tunitas Creek Road, and then Tunitas up to Skyline. It’s a little hard to tell from the map. My first…

The Review now says that they “feel it is important to interview the candidates and tell readers where we stand.” But the Review didn’t bother to interview the candidates last year before making their recommendations. Make up your mind....

The Review ran my letter, which include my previous comment, after which they attached the following comment: >> Editor’s note: You are not holding the Philadelphia Inquirer nor are you reading the paper in the City of Brotherly Love. The…

While I accept as sincere the apology and sentiments of Review Managing Editor Clay Lambert, I do not expect improvement without strong and continuous public pressure. The Publisher of the Review, Debra Godshall, has befriended people with very aggressive…

No - there were no other candidates from the Coastside area who applied for the Ombudsperson position. Rudy Jurgensen Public Affairs Manager Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District...

Did any of the applicants or finalists actually live in the rural area south of Half Moon Bay that will be impacted by the annexation?...

It’s worth comparing the editorial policy of the Review, which did not provide a venue for rebuttal to their editorial endorsement, to that of the Philadelphia Inquirer, which ran a series of editorials called “21 Reasons to Elect Kerry”…