Coastsiders are invited to a public workshop on "Protecting Water Quality in Our Critical Coastal Area", presented by the county Resource Conservation District. This public workshop is for people to find out more about the pilot project and help develop a plan to reduce pollution into the Reserve from surrounding lands.  Refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, October 4, 2008
2:00 p.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Pillar Ridge Manufactured Home Community
164 Culebra Lane, Moss Beach, CA 94038
The first 20 people to RSVP will be invited to join a free walking tour to better understand how pollution gets into the Reserve.  The walking tour will begin at 1:00 p.m., location to be determined.

The Draft Watershed Assessment describes the area and the opportunities to improve water quality. It will soon be available online at the web site for the RCD. Hard copies may be reviewed at the RCD, the Half Moon Bay Library, and the Montara Water and Sanitary District. Additional documents, including maps, data, and historical ecology can be found at the other web sites listed below.

RSVP: (650) 712-7765 or [email protected] by September 24th

Friday night, September 26th at 7:00PM a docent from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will offer a slide presentation featuring the life and work of Frida Kahlo. This program is based on the very popular exhibit which is currently showing at SFMOMA.

At 7:30 pm on Saturday September 27 The Visionary Edge will host a screening of the documentary Stealing America: Vote by Vote at the Ted Adcock Community Center, 525 Kelly Ave, Half Moon Bay.

Narrated by Peter Coyote, directed and produced by Menlo Park filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman of Concentric Media, Stealing America employs first-person accounts, extensive research and telling clips gleaned from the nightly news.  Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated social issue filmmaker Fadiman shines a spotlight on the gritty reality of the last decade’s most egregious incidents of U.S. electoral insecurity.

Says Fadiman "Making Stealing America became a mission.  Why? It can all be distilled into the words with which I open the film: ‘The right to vote … is the primary right by which other rights are protected.’ from Thomas Paine."

The last two presidential elections both came down to a relatively small number of votes, and in both elections the integrity of the voting process has been called into question.  With the upcoming election looking to be similarly close, the time has come to ask the questions:  what happened in 2000 and 2004; what has changes since; and what can be done to ensure a fair and honest tabulation of votes in 2008?

Stealing America: Vote by Vote brings together behind-the-scenes perspectives from the U.S. presidential election of 2004 = plus startling stories from key races in 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2006.  Unbiased and nonpartisan, the film sheds light on a decade of cote counts that don’t match votes cast – uncounted ballots, vote switching, under=votes and many other examples of election totals that warrant serious investigation.

Throughout Stealing America , we hear from voters who experienced a wide range of problems, including those whose votes flipped from one candidate to another and those whose polls didn’t have enough machines to serve the number of voters.  Investigative journalists describe how their reportage on election fraud was sidelined.  First-person citizen testimonials speak of waiting in line nine hours to vote.  We hear how polling experts’ requests for essential information – such as precinct voting data necessary to examine irregularities – had been rejected, while ballots were being systematically destroyed, making audits impossible.

Our October guest speakers offer a focus on Buddhist practice at work in the world. Our first speaker is from Cambodia – quite a world away from Half Moon Bay! She is doing amazing work with a minimum of resources. Other October speakers originate closer to home and come to us from their work in the Bay Area. They will discuss living and working with the Buddha’s teachings in the community.

Coastside Vipassana is a local Buddhist meditation group that meets every Wednesday at the Point Montara Lighthouse Fog Building. Our evenings usually start with a 30-minute silent meditation, then a talk by a guest speaker and ending with a question and answer period. We meet in the Fog Signal room from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. All are welcome, from first time inquirers to experienced meditators.

Please see details about our speakers and their organizations below:

October 1: Beth Goldring, Founder, Brahmavihara/Cambodia AIDS Project, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Founded and directs Brahmavihara, a chaplaincy program providing Buddhist services to destitute AIDS patients and their families in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She currently studies Tibetan Lojong with Alan Wallace, Vipassana meditation with Gil Fronsdal, and Reiki with Glynn DeBrocky.

Please see the website describing her work at: http://www.brahmavihara.cambodiaaidsproject.org/

October 8: Darlene Cohen, Zen Priest and Renowned Teacher earned a graduate degree in Physiological Psychology in 1966 and began sitting at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1970. She was ordained as a Zen priest in 1999. She also earned certification as a massage and movement teacher from Meir Schneider, the renowned Israeli self-healing teacher. Darlene counsels chronic pain clients and gives arthritis workshops, classes, lectures, and pain seminars in private practice and at medical facilities and meditation centers. She is author of Arthritis: Stop Suffering, Start Moving and Everyday Exercises for Body and Mind.

For more information, please see her website: http://www.darlenecohen.net/ especially her “about” tab at the top of the page for more interesting information on her daily work and practice.

October 22: Jennifer Block, Public Education Director & Chaplain, Zen Hospice Project, San Francisco. An engaging, down to earth speaker, with an always uplifting outlook.

Please see the following website for information about Zen Hospice Project and their work assisting individuals and families with end of life support: http://www.zenhospice.org/

October 29: Jim Bronson, Outreach Director, Kara, Palo Alto. Jim is an experienced Kara counselor and the Outreach Director for the organization. He speaks periodically at Coastside Vipassana with talks that are always informative, practical and inspiring.

Here’s a bit from Kara’s website: Change and loss are natural in the cycle of life. We experience grief and emotional distress with any significant loss. Support from those who have experience in dealing with personal loss can help ease the pain and promote healing. Kara provides a safe place for those who are grieving or anticipating their own death to express and normalize their feelings.

For more information about Kara, please see their website: http://www.kara-grief.org/

All Aboard! The tour will start at the beach end of Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay at 10am with a welcome from members of the board of directors of the Coastside Land Trust and Executive Director Jo Chamberlain.

 

• Toni Corelli, botanist, author, environmental consultant and Chairperson of the Rare and Endangered Plant Committee of the California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara Valley Chapter, will talk about the native plants found in the area.

 

• Gary Deghi, wildlife biologist, wetlands scientist and Sequoia Audubon board member, will describe the wildlife that inhabit that area and highlight bird species of interest.

 

• Deborah Ruddock, of the California Coastal Conservancy, will discuss the environmental significance of the RROW easement for the coast.

 

• Chris Hunter, former editor of the Pacifica Tribune and author of Ocean Shore Railroad, will talk about the railroad’s history.

Whistle Stop. We’ll walk along the Railroad Right-Of-Way to the second stop at 10:45, at the corner of Central and Railroad Avenues. where we’ll hear a little more from our speakers about the formation about the plants, wildlife and history of the area.

End of the Line. The final stop will be at Poplar and Railroad Avenues across from the original Arleta Depot, which has been a private home for many years. We’ll hear from our speakers one more time, and they’ll answer question. The event will conclude at 12:00.

The Ocean Shore Railroad operated for the first two decades of the 20th century, bringing people to the then sparsely populated San Mateo coast and giving birth to the towns we know today as Pacifica, Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada and Half Moon Bay. 

Although the Railroad is gone today,  in Half Moon Bay the Railroad Right-Of-Way (RROW) runs from Kelly Avenue south to Seymour Street between the western edge of the Arleta Park and Alsace Loraine neighborhoods, and a pristine open space bluff top overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Coastside Land Trust (formerly Half Moon Bay Open Space Trust, or HOST) working with a group of coastside residents raised the funds for the City of Half Moon Bay to purchase the RROW from private owners in 2004. The Coastside Land Trust is the holder of the conservation easement over the RROW and is sponsoring the September 27 tour to familiarize the local community with the history of the railroad, wildlife and native plants that are abundant in the area.

There will be an opportunity for interested volunteers to sign up to help the Coastside Land Trust with a number of upcoming activities

The Coastside Land Trust is dedicated to the preservation, protection and enhancement of the open space environment including the natural, scenic, recreational, cultural, historical, and agricultural resources of Half Moon Bay and the nearby areas for present an d future generations.

Coastside Mothers’ Club hosts second annual sand castle-building contest

The Coastside Mothers’ Club (CMC) will host its second annual "Sandy Feet Festival" to benefit Coastside Hope, the primary provider of safety net services for our community. This family-focused event is open to the public and will include a sand castle-building contest, beach games and a picnic lunch.  Local "celebrity" judges will select their favorite works of art in several categories and many local businesses have donated products and services that will be awarded to the winning families.

Sunday, October 5, 2008
Dunes Beach Highway 1 & Young Avenue Half Moon Bay 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

The price of contest registration is $12 per family and lunch boxes, prepared by Chez Shea, are available for purchase in advance: $8 for adults and $3 for children.  This event is fun for the entire family and is open to the public.  Early registration is strongly suggested and can be completed online at www.coastsidemothersclub.org.

Click for schedule and details

Community members, scientists, and others interested in the water quality of Pillar Point Harbor, north of Half Moon Bay, are participating in an effort to identify the sources of bacteria in the harbor and develop a plan for remediation.  A critical component of this effort will be a circulation study to illuminate how pollution travels within and out of the harbor.  
 
The study will be conducted Saturday, September 27 through Monday, September 29.  Many volunteers will be needed for this effort, on shore and in boats and kayaks.
 
Click below for a description of the project. 

For more information, or if you are interested in volunteering to help complete the study:

• Visit the project web page, www.sanmateorcd.org/harbor.html. 
• Visit the Harbor District web page, http://www.smharbor.com/.
• Attend any monthly public board meeting of the RCD.
• Call the RCD directly at (650)712-8938.

Supervisor Rich Gordon will be hosting office hours on Friday September 26 from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Moss Beach Sheriff’s Substation.  This is a change from from the Supervisor’s usual schedule (4th Thursday from 10am to noon).

Sunday, the Cabrillo Education Foundation and Cabrillo Unified School District conducted "hardhat" tours of the new buildings in the middle school.  Construction on this, the first of three phases, is expected to be completed before the scheduled date of April, 2009.

The complete project will not be finished until 2011, but a sense of the overall project is emerging.

It’s too soon to say whether the project will fit as a unified whole, but there is ample light and space in the school and the overall effect is not as crowded as it seems when viewed from the street.

The new library is much larger than the current one and includes a computer lab with room for 80 workstations.  Designed to withstand an 8.0 earthquake, it is one of the safest buildings on the Coastside. It has a two-story ceiling and generous natural light.

Most questions to the district have been about the color scheme, and the visible bracing on street entrance of the new library building.  Yes, both of these are permanent, and expect the color scheme on the new buildings to be carried over the other buildings in the school.

There are some very nice views from the second story of the new building in the back. This building features modern and thoughtfully-designed science labs. The new band room is large, with great instrument storage and professional acoustical engineering.

It looks like the new Cunha Intermediate School is going to be a great place to go to school and a real asset to Half Moon Bay’s downtown.