NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is now recruiting volunteers for its Beach Watch shoreline monitoring program, which played a key role in the response to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill. Orientations and training will be held beginning this spring at several San Francisco Bay Area locations.

Orientation spaces are limited, and reservations are required. Volunteers must be 18 or older and commit to monthly surveys for a one-year minimum. Approximately 80 hours of classroom and field training in marine mammal and seabird identification and data collection is provided; some wildlife identification skills are desirable. Orientation sessions will be held the following dates in March:

 

• Tuesday, March 4, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., sanctuary office, 991 Marine Drive, San Francisco Presidio

 

• Thursday, March 6, 7:00 to 8:30p.m., Point Montara Lighthouse, Montara

 

• Saturday, March 8, 10:30 a.m. to noon, sanctuary office, 991 Marine Drive, San Francisco Presidio

 

• Sunday, March 9, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Bldg. 1050, Marin Headlands, Sausalito

 

• Opening | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• New Chamber of Commerce Commercials about Half Moon Bay| Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Report out of closed session| Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• City Council reports | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Oral communications | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Strategic plan update from staff | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Consent calendar | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Rescind approval of CDP, etc for Magnolia & Second St.| Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Appointments to Parks & Recreation and Planning Commissions | Quicktime | Flash  |

 

• Put Transient Occupany Tax increase on June 3 ballot| Quicktime | Flash  |

The "Fusion god of Southern California" has simplified his sound by going from the high-octane jazz universe of Tribal Tech to the stripped-down blues rock of his albums, Dog Party and Tore Down House. This trio showcases Henderson at his most searching and complex, splitting the difference between his jazz and blues selves while sacrificing the sheer power of neither.
 
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA  94019
$30.  Tickets at the door. Reservations for members.
Doors Open at 3 PM, Music from 4:30 to 7:30 PM, with intermission.

You’re invited to "Pilarcitos: Restoring Our Watershed," the second of three public workshops to develop an integrated watershed management plan to balance the beneficial uses of the Pilarcitos Creek watershed that protect the environment, agriculture, public health, domestic water supply, and economic interests.  Your participation is valued, as a successful watershed plan depends on broad participation and insight from all stakeholders in the watershed. Refreshments will be provided.

This second workshop will provide an opportunity for public input on the Draft Plan for the watershed.  If you wish to review the draft plan before the workshop, it will soon be posted online at www.sanmateorcd.org/pilarcitos_iwmp.html. Hard copies may be reviewed at the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District (address below) and the Half Moon Bay Library.

The final workshop, next summer, will be to release the completed plan.

Sunday, February 24th
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Harbor House Conference Center
346 Princeton Avenue, Princeton
(near Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and Mezza Luna restaurant)
RSVP and info 650.712.7765 or [email protected] by February 19, 2008

Representative Tom Lantos died today at the age of 80, reports the Chronicle.

Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress and for 27 years a champion of human rights as representative for a district stretching from San Francisco’s west side to San Carlos, died today of complications from esophageal cancer, his office said. He was 80.

The San Mateo Democrat was diagnosed with cancer in December but waited a month before revealing he was ill. He died this morning at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, a spokeswoman said.

Before he was diagnosed, Lantos was making plans to run in November for his 15th House term. Just last year, he joked he was "in the mid-point of his career," and until recently swam at 5:30 a.m. every day in the House pool.

Lantos represents the Midcoast much of norther San Mateo County.

Sheriff’s deputies discovered a dead body in the back of a car parked at Montara State Beach, when they stopped to a question a man sitting in the front seat, reports the Chronicle.

San Mateo County Sheriff’s Deputy Keith O’Dell approached the lone vehicle just after 11 p.m. Saturday evening after he saw it parked in a small turnout area near Montara State Beach, just south of Devil’s Slide.

O’Dell walked toward the driver’s side to talk to the driver. When the sheriff’s deputy looked into the back seat he saw, "an arm protruding from underneath some coverings in the back seat" according to a sheriff’s press release.

The names of the victim and the suspect have not been released, and there is evidence the crime took place in another county.

UPDATE: The body has been identified as John Alfred Pierre Dennis Jr., 59, a faculty member at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga and City College of San Francisco. Dennis was shot to death. Police believe he was killed in is home on Hansom Drive in the Oakland hills. Police arrested Troy Thomas, 43, of Oakland as a suspect in the killing.

EDITOR’S NOTE: MCC member Deborah Lardie has posted a comment on the story of Rich Gordon’s disparagement of the Council. She’s looking for insights and suggestions, and I thought this would be a good time to continue the discussion.

As a newly elected member of the MCC, I thought I would throw in my rather belated two cents here-

When I ran for a seat on the Council it was with the, rather naïve as it turns out, thought of filling a need for participants.  As a relative newcomer to the coast I had little history and few preconceived notions about the Council- I saw what it was intended to be.  What I have been experiencing, as Vince aptly described, is at times political theater, and a lack of support from the local press, government and some community members (I am still pondering the roach motel concept).  Some of the most vocal critics, including this thread, cannot seem to express themselves without personally attacking the sanity, competence or integrity of council members. It is all a bit scary- government shouldn’t be this way.

Click to read the rest of Deborah’s comment and add your own.

A downed power line at about 9:30pm near Seahorse Ranch caused a blackout in in Half Moon Bay and elsewhere on the coast.

The Coastside Fire Department was on the scene when we arrived shortly after 10pm, but had to wait for PG&E, who arrived at about 10:30.

The are more photos after the click.