The hostels at Point Montara and Pigeon Point Lighthouses are celebrating th 100th anniversary of the worldwide hostelling movement and the 75th anniversary of Hostelling International USA.

On Saturday, August 22, from noon to 3 p.m., the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel in Montara welcomes the public to a seaside celebration featuring a live performance by the TBS Attic Band, which specializes in American old-time and Irish folk music, as well as a lighthouse art show, with work by Christopher S. Bauman and students of Coastside art instructor Mary Kay Jolley. Festivities also include a kids’ craft table, hostel tours, and prize giveaways. For more information, visit http://montarahostel.org/ .

On Sunday, August 30, from noon to 3 p.m., the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel in Pescadero hosts a seaside barbecue with live music by Dr. Steelgood, a steelpan/drum/percussion trio that performs a blend of reggae, Afro-Caribbean, jazz, and Americana-influenced music, and is known for irreverently attempting just about any audience request on the steelpans. State Park docents will offer guided historic tours around the lighthouse grounds every half-hour, and staff from the nonprofit Exploring New Horizons will perform children’s puppet shows. Guests can also explore the interpretive exhibits in the Fog Signal Building, the oceanfront boardwalk, Mel’s Lane walking trail, and Whaler’s Cove beach. Complimentary grilled sausages, tofu dogs, and natural sodas will be served, and Swanton Berry Farm will be on hand offering strawberry shortcake and strawberry lemonade for purchase. For more information, visit http://pigeonpointhostel.org/ .

Kerri Lake, one of the nine candidates to file for the Half Moon Bay City Council race, has failed to qualify because her petition did not have enough qualified signatures.

There will be eight candidates in the November election.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s board of directors approved purchase of a 450-acre portion of Elkus Ranch in Half Moon Bay from the University of California at a public meeting last night.

The University of California will retain the 150-acre lower portion of the property including a retreat center, environmental education and 4-H programs.  The District’s purchase of the uplands portion of the property helps sustain these programs, which provide hands-on environmental science, California history, animal care and agricultural education to over 6,000 youth and adults from the greater San Francisco Bay Area each year.

The property is adjacent to the District’s existing Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve and is an important link in the District’s goal to connect "Purisima to the Sea" by preserving a corridor of public open space from Skyline Ridge to the coast. The District purchased the nearby 260-acre Bluebrush Canyon property from POST in June, and anticipates obtaining two additional properties adjacent to Elkus Ranch within the next two years.

Under District ownership, the Elkus Ranch uplands will continue to be grazed, and remain closed until a public planning process looks at opportunities for public access balanced with agriculture, grazing, cultural and environmental preservation

As of today’s final deadline, only three candidates filed for the four open positions on the Midcoast Community Council. Montara Water and Sanitary District’s deadline was not extended, with three incumbents running for three open seats. There will be no election for these two boards.

County Coastside Water District has three candidates for two open positions.

Coastside Fire Protection District has seven candidates for three seats.

Granada Sanitary District has five candidates for three open positions.

Full rosters after the jump.

As of the deadline at 5pm today, there were nine candidates for the three open positions on the Half Moon Bay Council.

This should be an interesting race, with only one incumbent (Naomi Patridge) and one former city council member (Deborah Ruddock), one perennial candidate (George Muteff) and six newcomers (Allan Alifano, Sofia Freer, Dan Handler, Charles Hoelzel, Rick Kowalcyzk, and Kerri Lake) running for seats.

According to City Clerk Siobhan Smith, "Due to the fact that the last 7 individuals filed today, I do not have verification from the County elections office for whether those candidates had sufficient nominating signatures. I should know that by mid-day tomorrow."

We’ll be learning more about these candidates over the next two and a half months. Share your thoughts in comments on this story.

Coastal Rep has a midnight performance of Tommy on Saturday, August 22, because the remaining five scheduled performance are "virtually sold out".

If you have already bought tickets to one of the remaining shows and you would rather see the midnight showing, Coastal Rep is offering complimentary exchanges.  Just send a message to [email protected] or call 650.569.3266  #2 and leave your information.

Get your tickets online at http://www.coastalrep.com

Every Monday afternoon, volunteers from Community United Methodist Church, Coastside Hope and other Coastsiders meet at Bloom Lane in Half Moon Bay to distribute food to over 100 low-income seniors. 

Last month, Governor Schwarzenegger’s last-minute line item veto eliminated funding for the program—along with many other vital social programs.
 
My name is Cheri Parr and this is the second article I’ve had to write in as many days to ask our community to help save a critical lifeline program.  Yesterday it was SamTrans Route 17. Today it’s food for our seniors. 

Over 100 Half Moon Bay seniors count on the Second Harvest Brown Bag Program for weekly stipends of bread, protein and fresh vegetables to stretch their already meager budgets.  Each week I hear stories of seniors having to choose between diabetes medicine and fresh food. Coastsiders who are homebound and no longer drive now have food delivered—along with a hug and someone to talk to.  Sometimes its the only outside contact they have all week.
 
Recently, budget cuts and downturns in donations have cut the food available down to the bare basics.  Where we used to get fresh orange juice, and canned meats, and the occasional ready-to-eat meal, we now squeak by on very basic supplies – beans, rice, fruits, and vegetables. Now we face the elimination of a critical local program.

You can help Coastside Seniors

 
To support these Coastside seniors in need, download, customize and send the letter after the jump to Assembly member Jerry Hill and Senator Leland Yee, as well as the Assembly and Senate leadership. Their fax numbers are listed on the letter.
 
Spread the word. Email the flyer to your coworkers, friends, and other people who will want to take action.
 
There’s more information on Second Harvest’s website.
  
If you’d like to lend a hand locally, feel free to come to Bloom Lane on Main Street any Monday at 1:30 pm to help unload and distribute food.  We have a great base of volunteers, but we always welcome newcomers.
 
Community United Methodist Church at 777 Miramontes St. in Half Moon Bay collects additional donations of canned meat, meals-in-a-can, cooking oil, peanut butter and other staples in the collection bin in the lobby.  Feel free to drop off donations during business hours, or on Sundays from 9am – 1pm.
 
Donate financially to support the senior brown bag program.  You can drop off a donation check made out to Community United Methodist Church and mark "Senior Brown Bag" in the memo line, and know that 100% of your donation will be used to purchase food for seniors in need. 

An exciting group of internationally raised and acclaimed musicians with strong roots in jazz and contemporary new styles, who also bring their various world music influences.  Don’t miss this hot afternoon of swinging jazz plus salsa picante highlighted by great Latin rhythm team of Paul Van Wageningen and Hector Lugo, plus the dynamic, stimulating and caliente vocals and dance rhythms of Valeriana Quevedo.
Larry Vuckovich (Montenegro) – piano,
Buca Necak (Serbia) – bass
Paul Van Wageningen (Holland) -  drums
Hector Lugo (Puerto Rico) -  Latin percussion
Valeriana Quevedo (USA) - Jazz & Latin vocals

Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650 726-4143, http://www.bachddsoc.org
September 6, 2009 – 4:30, $30

Coastsiders jammed into Cunha’s multipurpose room to protest Samtrans’s proposed closure of Route 17 on the Coastside.

Visit our album for photos and comments by Coastside residents on the impact of losing our key public connection to the rest of the county, and the only transportation for many of our neighbors.

Disclosure: I have a strong bias towards public transportation, and have been advocating for more services for years.  For two years when I was executive director of Coastside Hope, I managed the team that provided both Route 17, and medical transportation for the coast.  During that time I worked with SamTrans to successfully win a lifeline transportation grant to expand busing into Montara, extend hours of operation, and add weekend service on the coast. When I heard that Route 17 was on the chopping block, my first thought was, "This has to be a mistake." 

Last Thursday night over 180 coastside residents, and a few from "over the hill", converged on the Cunha mulitpurpose room to share their concerns over proposed cutbacks in what little public transportation we have on the Coastside. This was the last of four community input meetings in the county, and by SamTran’s admission, by far the most well-attended. 
  
Don Esse, the operations financial analyst from SamTrans, with assistance from Chester Patton director of bus transportation, lead the meeting reviewing SamTrans’s overall financial analysis [pdf of Samtrans presentation].  Options range from a reduction in service to the full elimination of critical routes, including Route 17.
 
Sentiment among the crowd at Thursday’s two hour meeting was unanimously in support of maintaining the existing services, even if that necessitated a rate increase.  One resident of San Mateo, who came to the meeting to argue on behalf of keeping his local route, told officials that after hearing the stories from local residents, he would give up his route to save Route 17.   Mayor John Mueller promised that the Half Moon Bay city counsel is willing to do "whatever it takes" to save the route.

Unlike the routes in question in other areas, Route 17 is not an ancillary route, an expansion of another line, or a "nice to have" line with extended hours.  Route 17 is the only line serving both the Moonridge low-income community, and stops in the upper section of Montara.  According to Dwight Wilson, who sat with me on the Coastside Transportation Committee, Route 17’s ridership has steadily increased year over year:
 

 
The route is crowded with people going to work at Nurseryman’s exchange, students going to school, and seniors seeking medical care at Seaton.  Route 17 is a lifeline for a large population of the coast, and to even consider taking this route is unconscionable.  An action that would strand a large number of residents, keep many from necessary medical care and add to an already congested traffic route.  
 
I’ve posted a set of pictures from the event on the Coastsider gallery.  I tried to capture a majority of the speakers as well as their comments.  I hope you’ll take the time to add your voice to theirs and tell SamTrans that Route 17 is critical to the coast.  You can email your feedback to: http://www.samtrans.com/contact.html