The California Highway Patrol has re-opened Highway 92 at 11:00am, after a "fully engulfed" big rig fire at 10:11am near Skyline closed the highway.

At a press conference today in Redwood City Caltrans announced that they expected to open Devil’s Slide to the public, barring any unforeseen difficulties in time for the afternoon commute on August 4, over a month earlier than previously expected. Work on the road will continue, but the road will be open.

Caltrans spokesman attributed moving up the date to several factors, including their success in scheduling multiple work crews on the Slide on a twenty-four hour basis.

Devil’s Slide has been closed since the beginning of April, causing frustrating delays for commuters and visitors alike. Traffic congestion went down slightly at the beginning of summer but in the past few weeks it has risen again—commutes from Montara to Half Moon Bay can take forty-five minutes or more during peak hours, plus another half hour or so to reach the I-280 junction.

The Slide will be fully open during regular commute hours but work will continue both at the main work area and the smaller site near Pacifica during off-hours.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Caltrans made their announcement at 3:30pm today.  Due a combination of circumstances, including some technical difficulties and the fact that we were in the air during today’s press conference, this story did not get posted until this evening.

Back to Basics is looking for Coastside business people to adopt classrooms in our local schools.

"One of the recurring misconceptions about this program is that it is limited to Coastside businesses," says Erin Tormey of Back to Basics.  "But we do have Coastside residents who work over the hill in the program, and would love to find more."

Their goal is to find people to adopt half of Half Moon Bay High School’s classrooms by the first day of school on August 28.  They’re looking for things like like printer cartridges, toner, and batteries for the calculators in the math labs.

Participants set their own average monthly dollar amount and choose a subject, and they are matched with teacher that matches their budget and interests.

Click the "full story" link for more information.

The sun drenched Montara as 51 children from 37 Coastside families gathered at Sweet Peas Organic Produce to sample fruits and veggies and have their pictures taken by renowned local photographer Martha Bruce.  The special event was co-created by Bruce and Sweet Peas owner Kerry Tate in preparation of a children’s book on good nutrition and healthy eating habits.  Children were asked to pose eating their favorite fruit or vegetable, and then photographed to capture the moment.

"Strawberries were the most requested produce item!” reports Martha,  “And while some older kids were willing to pose with rhubarb, eggplant and red onions, celery eaters were hard to come by." Parents stood nearby enjoying latte’s from Caffe Lucca, while kids posed and played in the sandbox while waiting for their turns.  The kids, in ages from 5 months to 12 years, arrived in clean white shirts and left looking like a billboard for stain removers.  Parents were given a free 5x7 for participating in the event, and a barrel of donated food was collected for the Coastside Opportunity Center’s food bank in El Granada. 

California State Parks is looking for volunteers interested in helping in three parks in the San Mateo Coast Sector—the Pigeon Point Light Station Historic Park, Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, and Half Moon Bay State Beach.  Volunteers may choose to help in one or more of the three parks. The sector also has a special need for highly trained volunteers to present programs for school groups in the parks and in local schools.  Free training for new volunteers will begin in August.  Volunteers receive passes for free parking at nearby state parks.

Californians for Property Rights (CPR) is holding its annual “Rock with Local Bands” fundraiser at Cameron’s on Sunday, July 30. Described as "a benefit to save our coast, and your property rights" the concert runs from noon to 6:00pm. Admission is $20, and kids get in free.

CPR is an educational, tax deductible, non-profit corporation concerned with "local coastal programs, responsible open space and land use policies, regulations by local governmental agencies and the use of eminent domain."

If you've ever had an urge to "pack it in and hit the road;, cuz you've had it up to here sitting in a parade of automobiles every day, you're gonna loooooove this piece.—Warren Haack, Historian, Coastside Film Society

For 20 years Bill Daniel, San Francisco exile and confirmed tramp, has put his life at risk to film the hobo life from the rooftops of speeding freight trains and down in dark hobo jungles. Daniel's quest began when he discovered some artwork by Bozo Texino under a bridge behind his work. The hoboes who camped under the bridge all recognized the distinctive Texino tag from other work they had seen in their travels. So Daniel figured he would track down the artist. 

He began riding the rails with his beloved 16mm and 8mm Bolex cameras filming the artwork he encountered and interviewing the artists he encountered along the way. The resulting film illuminates a vast underground folkloric practice that hadn't been noticed for over a century.  Warning - Hoboes use salty language.

Filmmaker Bill Daniel will be at the screening to answer questions.

Also…

• Short: [strong]FILTER[/strong], a 12 min. film by JASON MITCHELL, of San Francisco State University.  A surveillance video camera captures a shooting in a convenience store. Each TV newscaster broadcasts a different interpretation of what went down.  Jason will be present for Q. and A.
• Short: [strong]BRITTON, SOUTH DAKOTA[/strong] (9 mins)  A mesmerizing film constructed solely of haunting amateur footage taken of children standing outside of a desolate movie theater in 1930.  Winner of the Best Experimental Film award at the Northwest Film Festival.

For more info: www.hmbfilm.org

Friday July 21    8:00 pm

Community Methodist Sanctuary,  Half Moon Bay

777 Miramontes, Half Moon Bay

$6.00 donation per person

Feature: WHO IS BOZO TEXINO? 

(56 mins)

We’ve added a link to the live charts of commute-hour traffic (updated every five minutes) that have been published by the League for Coastside Protection.  To see the charts, click on the link under "Travel times" in the right-hand tool bar.

The California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) presented the Half Moon Bay Review with five awards in its annual Better Newspapers Contest. The paper received a first place award for a feature story, its front page (in the broadsheet category), and a sports photo. It received second place awards for a sports photo and for editorial comment.

There were four categories for weeklies, based on circulation: under 4,300; 4,301 to 11,000; 11,001 to 25,000; and over 25,000.  The Review competed in the second category.

It’s clear to the most casual observer that the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara fire districts have been in turmoil for years.  It is far from clear to even the closest observers whose fault it is.  The good news is that we don’t need to find fault in order to solve the problem.

Disinterested Coastsiders who’ve followed the mess, the previous fire chief, and the county’s grand jury, have come to the same conclusion:  the two districts must merge and they must contract out their fire services.

The Half Moon Bay district is coming off years of internal strife that have cost it more than $1.2 million in lawsuits from its own firefighters, according to the grand jury; and appallingly low morale and fitness for service in the firehouse, according to former Fire Chief Peter Bonano. As Chief Bonano noted, there have been no degradations in service yet. But it’s clear that he was not confident that would continue.

Meanwhile, the Point Montara district (which contracts out its services to Half Moon Bay) has become tangled up in Half Moon Bay’s firehouse politics. This resulted in a now-moribund plan to staff its own firehouse that was so poorly executed it nearly left the district with no service at all.

If something is not done, the result could be a tragedy.

Half Moon Bay has grown from a rural to a suburban fire district quickly and the transition has not been easy. With about 40 employees and a budget of more than $7 million, it’s a big job. It’s not one that is beyond the abilities of a local board, but the current situation has become so extreme that our boards seem to have lost control of it. 

As a firm believer in decentralization and local control, I’d prefer to see the Half Moon Bay and Point Montara districts remain independent and control their own services. I no longer believe that is an option. The burden of proof is now on anyone who opposes consolidation and contracting out.

We’re lucky to have a workable solution to this problem, and it’s time for the community to support our fire boards in making it a reality.