San Mateo County has closed down two farmworker labor camps housing more than 50 individuals because nitrate levels in their drinking water were six time the federal limit, reports Julia Scott in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The families are tenants of "Red" Marchi, their employer and owner of Marchi’s Central Farm. The farm grows 300 acres of Brussels sprouts, leeks and other vegetables in and around Pescadero. [...]

[County health director Dean] Peterson and Marchi say no one is living at either labor camp anymore. But Kerry Lobel, executive director of Pescadero-based community nonprofit group Puente de la Costa Sur, says most families are still there because they have nowhere else to go.

[...]

The Bay Area News Group reported Monday that nitrates have been found in the wells that supply drinking water to more than 2 million Californians over the past 15 years. Yet government regulators have failed to make controlling nitrates a high priority, even as it has become the most common groundwater contaminant in the country.

Nitrates are linked to blue baby syndrome, which cuts off oxygen to essential organs in infants. It can also affect pregnant women and immuno-compromised adults.

Lobel estimated that between five and eight infants are living in both labor camps and possibly some pregnant women as well.

The county has known that the labor camp has a history of nitrate contamination and the farm has a "long history of housing safety violations", reports the County Times.

This is a short summary of a much longer story that should be read in its entirety.

The San Mateo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) is looking for a new alternate public member.

LAFCo was created by the State Legislature to make decisions on the boundaries and organization of the cities and special districts in San Mateo County.

Despite the boring-sounding mission, LAFCo plays an important role on the Coastside, where our special districts are often our only form of government and they’re sometime at war with one another.

LAFCo is an independent commission composed of two members of the Board of Supervisors chosen by the Board, two members of city councils chosen by the mayors of the 20 cities in the county, two members of special district boards chosen by the presiding officers of the special districts in the county and the public member appointed by the other six commissioners. Each category of membership has an alternate.

Greetings from The Genius Bar, Marketeers! 

Well, who knew?  Once in a while it turns out that one bad Apple can, in fact, spoil a whole bunch - of emails in this case. I am sending my greeting to you from the Mac store OTH - where there is, like in the supermarket, a limited selection of options in the variety of Apple available, but the big difference is boy, do these Geniuses  know their product - so yay!  Field Notes is back is Biz-Nez for the time being - which may or may not be such great news to you.   Happily for me, several other coastal sub-genius sorts like my Favorite Nurse Susy had also had bellied up to the Genius Bar round about the same time my problems began, and calmed me down considerably by reminding me ever so gently that there’s no need to panic when there are Geniuses at hand to fix your little red Apple, and sardines are in season. 

Seems I know a whole bunch about all kinds of Apples except the one I write on, which has been causing me a heapin’ helpin’ of anxiety.  But I DO know this:  when you get your hands on some really good spinach, pastured eggs, fresh garlic, beets, carrots, onions and celery (the kind that actually tastes like something other than recently used fishing line) all will be put aright soon, because all of these fabulous foodstuffs are widely known to calm you down and sort you out and actually put you in the frame of mind required to understand what the Genius just told you about your archiving issue. And you can find them all grown right here at your Coastside Farmers’ Market, where at this time of year there is not an apple of any sort in sight. But there are all of the aforementioned foodstuffs you could ever ask for, along with some of the most astonishing berries and insanely sweet citrus you are ever likely to encounter. 

I don’t know about you, but my high school counselor was an idiot.

But I also know from personal experience that the counselors in Coastside schools do great work for the students they serve. I know this from the experience of our two children who attended HMBHS and Cunha. I also know it from the dozens of students who spoke poignantly to the Cabrillo Unified School District governing board, begging them to preserve the district’s counselors.

If Measure E fails, all counselors will be eliminated at Half Moon Bay High School and Cunha Intermediate School. Life will go on as usual, but unknown numbers of Coastside teens will suffer as a result. Their parents will lose a direct link to the school.

My daughter has a particularly awesome second grade teacher. That teacher and many others may be laid off next year, because if Measure E fails the district will eliminate class size reductions in elementary school.

A couple dozen of this year’s first graders and their parents will have no idea what they’re missing if she’s not here. They will continue to soldier on, but they will be in much more crowded classrooms.

My kids tell me that the high school library is a refuge and a welcome place for many students.  They credit one person with this: high school librarian Brian Gerber.  If Measure E fails, the high school librarian will be gone.

The district will cut maintenance, groundskeeping, athletics funding, and more. If Measure E fails, the district will have to cut $2.5 million from its budget.

The district has announced it has reached an agreement with the teachers’ union that could save hundreds of thousands of dollars. This could be used to mitigate some of these cuts, but this year’s budget uses half a million dollars in one-time stimulus funds for ongoing operations.  If Measure E fails, even more essential services will be cut in 2011. I don’t know how they’ll do it.

Don’t vote against Measure E—or fail to vote at all—because you don’t like the school board. You’ll get an opportunity to vote against the incumbent board members in November. Don’t take it out on the district’s students.

You can’t sit this one out. This is a tough election in which to propose a new tax.  Republicans have a couple of big primaries on the ballot and they’re going to be turning out in large numbers.

If you care about the future public education in the Coastside, please show up and vote yes on Measure E.

April Vargas offers the Coastside a rare opportunity to get a member of our community on the Board of Supervisors, and an even more unusual opportunity to vote for someone who embodies our community’s values.

For those of us in Montara, Moss Beach, and El Granada, the Board of Supervisors is our city council. Unfortunately—because supervisors are elected at-large and there are only five seats on the board—the interests of the Coastside are poorly represented, if at all, on the board.

If you live in Half Moon Bay, the quality of your life is greatly affected by the way the county manages planning, parks, public works, and other issues on the Midcoast. April would make Half Moon Bay a better place to live as well.

April Vargas supports district elections for the board, something you won’t hear from any of the current incumbents.

In the meantime, the issues of the Coastside are barely recognized by the current board. It would be refreshing to hear the needs of Coastside residents acknowledged by the Board of Supervisors.

April is a longtime community activist who played an important role in making the Devil’s Slide Tunnel a reality. She’s a major presence in our community, and she has been involved in county issues for more than a decade. I know that when I attend a Board of Supervisors, Coastal Commission, or community meeting, I’m more likely to see April there than anyone else. April has worked tirelessly to improve our local environment, and was an early advocate for Barack Obama’s candidacy for president.

April Vargas is an ideal candidate for the Board of Supervisors, and an ideal representative of the Coastside.

This a personal endorsement. Normally, I wouldn’t be making an endorsement for a countywide position that should be appointed, rather than elected. But this time around, there is a candidate that I personally know to be the kind of person we need in county government.

I have known Dave Mandelkern for more than thirty years. Dave’s an entrepreneur and trustee of the San Mateo County Community College District. But, more importantly, I know Dave to be an honest advocate of good government. Dave has been working for years to improve the quality of government and elected officials in our county.

If you’re the kind of person who skips these races because you have no idea who to vote for or why you’re even voting, this is an opportunity to make a difference. I recommend you vote for Dave Mandelkern for Treasurer-Tax Collector this year.

The Coastside Film Society proudly presents a family friendly movie night the way it used to be—featuring live piano music.

Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last (1923)

It’s arguably the most famous image from the silent film era. Harold Lloyd in horn-rimmed glasses and straw hat hanging precariously from a broken clock face.

The film is hilarious with breathtaking stunts. The story is quite simple. Lloyd’s bespectacled character wants to get married but needs money. So he endeavors to win a prize by climbing a skyscraper. At each ledge Lloyd encounters new difficulties including flapping pigeons, windows opening, and mice running through his clothes, and yes, a clock face hanging precariously.

"Where Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton made their stunts look effortless, Lloyd got laughs by making the things he did look nearly impossible…. And because vertigo-inducing camera angles put audiences in the roughly the same spot he was in, they identified big-time." Bob Mondello, All things Considered

When the silent film era ended Lloyd retired and pulled his films from release with no apparent concern that his legend was gradually fading. Now that his granddaughter has started re-releasing his films that may well change.

The film will be accompanied by live music scored and played by pianist Shauna Pickett-Gordon.

Friday May 21, 2010 at 8:00 pm
$6.00 adult donation, $3.00 children
Community United Methodist Church Sanctuary
77 Miramontes & Johnson, Half Moon Bay

More info: www.HMBFilm.org

Coastsiders are invited to the launch of Hard Luck Coast: The Perilous Reefs of Point Montara, featuring readings and a book signing by the author, shipwreck renderings by local artist Galen Wolf, and several special guests. Stroll the lighthouse grounds, view the art, and see displays of shipwrecks and lighthouse keeper artifacts.

Celebrating National Maritime Day
May 22, 2010 from 12:30 – 3:00 pm
Program at 1:00 pm
Point Montara Lighthouse

Author JoAnn Semones made her mark as a maritime historian with her fascinating book, Shipwrecks, Scalawags, and Scavengers:  The Storied Waters of Pigeon Point.  In this, her most recent work, she has focused her attention on the treacherous strip of shore between Montara and Half Moon Bay that California writer John Steinbeck referred to as “the hard luck coast.”  JoAnn Semones tells the stories of shipwreck disasters along this coast in a scholarly, yet affectionate, style that is both easy to read and informative.