I recently came into possession of three copies of The Voice of the Coast, a newsletter published on the Coastside in 1972.  I’m uploading Volume 1 Number 1 today and later I’ll upload Numbers 3 and 16.

TVotC reads like an predecessor of Coastsider. It’s interesting how little the issues have changed in thirty years. It has a strong emphasis on El Granada, where it was published, but it aimed to cover the Coastside.

If you can tell us any stories about The Voice of the Coast and the people who created it, please post them as comments on this story. If you have any more issues stowed away somewhere, I’d like to scan them and put them online.

Solar Photovoltaics working group meet Saturday July 9, at 229 Correas Ave in Half Moon Bay. It will start at 9:00 am and run for about 2 hours. This meeting is designed for people who are considering whether a solar system is right for them.

Dan Pellegrini, President & CEO of CCEnergy, a solar design and installation cooperative, will talk on current solar legislation at the state and federal level.

Mark Fallin, with Bay Solar Power Design, will talk about how to make your home more energy efficient. Mark lives in Pacifica, so he knows all about our local weather.

Dennis Paull will speak briefly on the performance of his recently installed solar system. He has 18 Sharp 165 Watt panels and a 2500 Watt SunnyBoy inverter. His system will have been running for just over two foggy weeks. He will also show off the system for those who are interested.

Click "read more" for directions and phone number.

$2.45 million, about 29 percent, of Half Moon Bay’s general fund revenue comes from the hotel tax, according to the County Times.

Half Moon Bay Finance Director Jud Norrell, won’t say exactly how much of that figure comes from the Ritz. He will say that the hotel has made a major financial impact on the whole city.

In the 2000-2001 fiscal year, when the Ritz opened, city hotel taxes increased by 38% to $1.82 million.

The otter population is holding its own, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  Between Half Moon Bay and Santa Barbara, the population is down slightly from last year, but the more significant three-year average population is still rising.

This year, researchers counted 2,375 otters, down a little from 2,825 last year.  The count in 1983 was 1,277, according to the Chronicle.

"It’s too early to tell whether or not the decrease this year marks the beginning of a new downward trend," Hatfield said, "and it will take fresh counts next year and the year after before we know what the state of the animals really is."

The target three-year average is 3,090 for removing southern sea otters from "threatened" designation under the Endangered Species Act.

A vehicle fire on Pescadero Rd. in La Honda cut short a Newark family’s Fourth of July holiday. La Honda Volunteer fire fighters quickly brought the fire in this fully involved Ford Focus under control. Luckily the passengers were able to escape the fire without injury and were even able to save many of their personal possessions.

Vehicle fires in the San Mateo County Mountains pose a considerable threat as they can easily ignite the surrounding vegetation and have the potential to cause a far greater fire.

In writing the earlier story of live Web pictures of the common murres at Devil’s Slide Rock, I found this picture at Jim Rosso’s Birdcentral site. I just got his permission to use the photo and wanted to share it with you.

Monday night at 10pm, the Coastside’s fireworks went off as scheduled, delighting hundreds of people arrayed on Surfers Beach. Hoopla Entertainment provided a selection of patriotic tunes to accompany the show.

Cheri Parr

Click on the image to see our album.

Coastsiders from Montara to Pescadero turned out for this year’s parade. This is the first year that Coastsider appeared in the event. We were driving a red Miata featuring the slogan "Why wait till Wednesday?", which everyone seemed to like.
Click on the photos at the right to see the album.

LATER: We’ll be running photos from tonight’s fireworks show.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The fourth of July is Independence Day, a celebration of the Declaration of Independence.  Independence from government from afar, government by the powerful over the people, government in which we had no say.

The kind of government we have in the unincorporated Midcoast.

If you live in the unincorporated Midcoast (Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada, or Princeton) the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is your city council.

The Supervisors are responsible for all Midcoast planning and zoning.

The Supervisors are responsible for keeping Midcoast roads repaired.

The Supervisors are elected at-large, not by district.

The Midcoast is less than 2% of the population of San Mateo County.

The Supervisor who nominally represents the Midcoast lives in Menlo Park.

The Supervisors have been considering a new Local Coastal Plan, which will determine development on the Midcoast for the next 50 years.

The Supervisors meet in Redwood City.

Our elected Midcoast Community Council has no authority, and has been taken to the woodshed by the Supervisors for contradicting them on policy.

Our water, sewer, and fire service are locally controlled. But each function is split among multiple districts.

The Supervisors have directed our water and sewer districts to expand to accommodate however many new residents they choose to authorize.

No, the county hasn’t levied taxes without our consent, obstructed justice, quartered troops in our homes, nor "plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." 

But we don’t have the self-governance that our friends in Half Moon Bay enjoy, either.

The fourth of July is always a good day to reflect on the real meaning of independence and why Americans pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to achieve it.

A town is torn apart by a struggle over land use, development, and the environment in The Fire Next Time, Saturday’s presentation of the Coastside Film Society.

What would you do if the place you loved was changing so rapidly that the fabric of town life began unraveling before your eyes?  In Kalispell, Montana, disagreements about growth, race and land use led to fervent conflict.  The resulting high-stakes battle over developmental and environmental issues may sound familiar to many of us here on the San Mateo coast

Tensions in Kalispell were further exacerbated by a conservative talk show host who took to the air to stridently express his point of view and to suggest what action needed to be taken.  What would you do if this were your town?  What kind of ending would you make to this story?  That is for each of us to decide.

Patrice O’Neill, who directed and co-produced the film, will be our guest and will do Q & A after the screening.

Click "read more" to see the press release that this story was based on.

Saturday July 9, 8:00 pm
Community Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes, Corner of Johnston & Miramontes
Half Moon Bay
$6.00 donation per person