In 2007, 44% of California Coastal Commission votes were pro-conservation, according to an annual analysis by conservation groups.The score was 60% in 2005, and 76% in 1997. The analysis has been prepared annually for the past 20 years.

Of the appointing authorities, the Senate Rules Committee appointments out-scored the Commissioner appointments made by the Governor and the Assembly Speaker this year with 72% pro-coastal average score for Senate appointees, 35% for Assembly appointees, and 24% for the Governor’s appointees.

The voting chart was prepared by California Coastkeeper Alliance, Surfrider Foundation, Sierra Club, League for Coastal Protection, and California Coastal Protection Network. You can download the report, which outlines the individual issues and commissioner votes in 2007 from Coastsider.

San Mateo County will test the Princeton, El Granada and Pacifica tsunami warning sirens on Wednesday, September 3 at 10:00 a.m.  This test is different than our routine monthly tests in that it will be the first time the sirens have been tested at full volume and for a one minute duration. The sirens should be heard  by anyone outdoors throughout lower El Granada including Surfers’ Beach, all of Princeton, as well as Rockaway Beach and the Sharp Park area of Pacifica.  

We normally test the sirens monthly at the same time, but at less than half volume and only for 15 seconds.  This will probable be the only full volume test this year.  We picked September since it is National Disaster Preparedness Month.  More info on that can be found at www.Ready.gov.  

If the sirens sound anytime other than the routine monthly test on the first Wednesday of each month at 10:00 a.m., people should leave the beach area and tune their radio or television to the Emergency Alert Station ( such as KCBS 740 am) for official instructions.  In case of a tsunami approaching from a distance location, the sirens could sound several hours before the tsunami arrives.  The purpose of the sirens is to capture the attention of people that are outside and who have not been notified of the potential danger by radio or other means.

In other tsunami siren news, a third tsunami siren for the City of Pacifica has been approved and will be installed at the LInda Mar Beach in the next few weeks.  Two additional sirens have been approved by San Mateo County Planning Commission with one schedule for Moss Beach, above the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, and the other for the town of Pescadero.  (We anticipate the siren in Pescadero will be used more frequently for flood emergencies, rather than tsunamis).  The Half Moon Bay Planning Commission finally approved tsunami sirens for the Miramar area and Half Moon Bay north of Kelly Avenue.  Significant testing restrictions were placed on the latter siren, to be located at the sewer treatment plant at 1000 North Cabrillo Highway,  to keep from impacting wildlife.  

Installation of all sirens is anticipated by the end of the year.  Sirens are being provided by Hormann America of Martinez, CA, a national public warning contractor.  Funding for purchase, installation and maintenance has been acquired by the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services through Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness grants.

Jim Asche
Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services.

It’s not too late the apply for one of the two open positions on the Midcoast Community Council, but it will be soon. The deadline is Tuesday, September 2. The two positions will be filled by appointment, due to the resignations of two elected members. You can apply online on the county’s website.

The MCC is an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors are the governing body for the unincorporated Midcoast, but since the supervisors are elected at large by the voters of the county, our voice counts for little in Redwood City.

The MCC has the potential to make the community’s voice heard on issues such as parks and trails, community center development, planning and zoning.

For more information you can contact Supervisor Rich Gordon’s assistant, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), at 650-363-4528.

Coastside Lutheran Church is holding its annual Labor Day Book Fair Saturday and Sunday Aug 30 and 31 from 9am to 3pm, and Monday, Sept 1, from 9am to 1pm at the church, 900 Cabrillo Highway N, in Half Moon Bay, just north of Strawflower Village.  This is always a great sale and seems to get better every year.

On my walk today, I went through Princeton Harbor, and noticed several piles of cairns in and around the water.

Who put them there, and why?

First off, for those who do not know what a cairn is, it is an artificial pile of stones, often placed in a conical shape. They are built for many reasons, some of which include marking a burial site, as holders for lighthouse-like fires to guide ships, or to commemorate events.

The first that I had ever heard of a cairn was when my husband Michael & I were climbing Mount Tallac in Lake Tahoe, and I saw the neatly piled stones along the way. I asked: “Why the heck are those rocks piled up like that?” Michael: “Those are cairns, sort of directional markers for climbers.”

More recently, we watched a video about the artist Andy Goldsworthy, who piles up stones as pieces of artwork.

Whatever the reason for the cairns in Princeton Harbor, I enjoyed seeing the presence of these purposely-placed stones. Rock on!

The Coastside Land Trust is holding our monthly restoration event at our Francis Beach properties this coming Saturday, August 30th, 12:30 to 3pm.  We’re making good progress re-establishing native vegetation on these beautiful bluff top properties. The invasive species are now dry and our dry-summer adapted native species are coming into their own with blooms, seed setting and dispersal.

Lizard Tail, Purple Aster, Bee Flower, Yellow Lupine and Coyote Bushes are all finishing blooming, setting seed or starting to bloom. Once their seeds mature and dry, these natives have various methods of seed dispersal. For example the Yellow Lupine has seed pods that when dry, pop open, and the seeds are literally thrown out into the air to fall to the ground away from the parent plant. Others like the Purple Aster rely on the wind and birds for seed disbursal. We will spend the day discussing these seed disbursal methods and others, identifying native and invasive plants, and removing invasive plants.

Please join us. Check in at the Francis State Beach kiosk at Kelly and the Pacific Ocean, proceed north on the maintenance road to the maintenance sheds. Our properties are on the east side of the maintenance road. Refreshments, good humor and appreciation are provided for all ages and abilities.

Jo Chamberlain

Saving the city of Half Moon Bay from itself is a dirty, thankless job.

You’re likely to be slammed for "public relations" by the Review’s editor and for being "morally bankrupt" by the anonymous wingnuts on its website when you propose a decent, practical plan for helping the city.

Senator Leland Yee’s SB863 will allocate $10 million to help the city buy as parkland Beachwood and the 22 acres on Pilarcitos Creek financed by the Peninsula Open Space Trust.

The city will still be out a few million in the Beachwood lawsuit. That sounds about right. The city’s strategy for getting out its obligations by gutting decades of environmental law was appallingly cynical.  That the Review’s editor calls it "wise" says a lot about his notion of wisdom.

Yee’s bill will buy the land, but not build the parks for the city. But there’s no reason it should. It does leave Half Moon Bay with the ability to finance its new park development—if it has the will. It’s time for the city to commit to building decent parks for its residents, rather than dithering over who gets the credit.

The parks money the city is receiving was intended to complement and encourage affordable housing. That seems fair. Half Moon Bay already has one of the highest affordable housing rates in the county, but it has little real parkland.

Yee did more than right by Half Moon Bay, when you consider their behavior in the last six months. The city misled Yee about its threat of bankruptcy, blindsided him with a toxic bill designed to enrich a single individual at the expense of the law, slandered the Coastal Commission staff, and secretly shared the expenses for its Sacramento disinformation campaign with another interested party.

There are cities all over California that are needier than Half Moon Bay. If their Sacramento delegation can get SB863 passed, AB1991’s supporters should stop whining and say thank you.

The great music from the classic Big Band Era, 1935-1945: Jim Rothermel (saxophones & clarinet/leader) Noel Jewkes (saxophones & clarinet), Steve Campos (trumpet & flugelhorn), Larry Vuckovich (piano) Al Obidinski (bass), Tony Johnson (drums), Trombone player to be named.
 
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.

Supervisor Rich Gordon’s office is holding office hours in Moss Beach on Thursday from 10am to Noon at the Sheriff’s Substation in Moss Beach. 

The next two months, September and October, the office hours’ date will be moved from fourth Thursday to fourth Friday of the month.  The new dates are Friday September 26 at 10am and Friday, October 24 at 10am.