Coastside County Water District (CCWD) could use a little fresh air. It is supporting the sale of connections to its water system by speculators for $30,000; it’s stockpiling large amounts of cash; it’s raising its employees’ pay and betterment benefits generously; and its infrastructure strategy is arguably designed to encourage development.  (For one view of these issues, read the analysis of CCWD’s budget at Voice of the Coast.)

Finally, with the Coastside seriously examining water recycling, we are about to enter into a huge debate whether the water we save should be used for growth or restoration.

There should be more conversation and debate about these policies, but the current board seems to have a consensus. There’s not a lot of public debate going on.

I sat in on the CCWD meeting where the board voted unanimously to charge close to nearly $30,000 for water connections. The board’s big concern seemed to be whether it was going to take away the profits of speculators whom the board members acknowledged were hoarding connections.  The consensus was, "That’s what markets are for." But it’s not what water boards are for. Because it was a daytime meeting, I was the only member of the public in the audience.  An independent board member would assure that more than one voice is represented at these crucial meetings.

Jim Marsh is knowledgeable and experienced about the district. While he can’t change the culture of the CCWD board by himself, adding an independent voice to the board would improve the quality of the conversation at a crucial moment in the Coastside’s history.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court came out in support of the use of eminent domain for private profit. It was a bad decision that is in the process of being corrected by state and local lawmakers nationwide.  Half Moon Bay’s City Council took a big step toward protecting property rights by putting Measure O [smartvoter.org] on the ballot to prohibit the use of eminent domain for private profit.

I think it’s significant, that for all their complaining about property rights, we haven’t any of the local property rights advocates applaud this, or even note it [Search for "eminent domain" on Californians for Property Rights website].

Measure P [smartvoter.org]  says the City of Half Moon Bay should support the development of recycled water to replace the water that agriculture and golf courses are currently taking from Half Moon Bay creeks. Pilarcitos Creek in particular is losing a lot of water to these uses and it’s time for the community to do something about it. Except for the increasingly expensive water we’re getting from Hetch Hetchy, Coastside water is a closed system and we need to use every drop more efficiently.

We strongly recommend voting for both Measure O and Measure P.

Neither measure is binding on the city, but the voters should deliver a clear message to the city on the importance of both issues. For what it’s worth, the San Mateo County Times has come out in support of both measures.

This week: Vehicle burglary at Montara State Beach, assault with an empty Pringle’s can on a Samtrans bus, a DUI arrest in Montara, and a couple of nineteen-year-old knuckleheads found sleeping in someone else’s garage with their stolen goods in Montara.

Click "read more" for details.

Sunday night, someone, presumably one of our Coastside neighbors, tore down campaign signs in front of Mayor Jim Grady’s house, then they took a moment to smash the windshield of Grady’s car with a rock.

After I heard this at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, I started and abandoned several editorial pieces on the anger and bitterness of some of the rhetoric I’m hearing in this campaign, not from the candidates, but from ordinary citizens.

But this has just left me speechless.

The Half Moon Bay City Council unanimously approved a resolution of support for Cabrillo Unified School District’s plan to build a new middle school at Tuesday’s meeting, regardless of the location chosen by the school board.

The city is considering expediting the construction by such measures as hiring additional temporary staff in its planning department, as it did to expedite the rebuilding of Cunha’s Market. Other recommendations from City Manager Debra Ryan were to assign a project team to the rebuilding right away, and to use traffic estimates from the city’s Local Coastal Program.

Approval of the resolution followed presentations by school board members Roy Salume and John Moseley, who have been meeting in a joint subcommittee with City Council members Jim Grady and Mike Ferreira. Salume and Moseley didn’t speak on behalf of the school board, and didn’t shed any light on whether the school board could actually make a decision at its next meeting. Salume expressed an interest in formalizing the board’s relationship with the city regarding the middle school, possibly with a contract.

CORRECTION: This story originally said that the resolution was changed to support the middle school regardless of location. That was how the resolution was originally written.

Although removing the middle school from Wavecrest would free up some space in the development, it may not result in any additional houses.

In Thursday’s Half Moon Bay City Council meeting, Wavecrest’s developers discussed how the plan for the development could change if the middle school is no longer part of the plan.  Both the developers and the City Council seemed eager to demonstrate their good working relationship in discussing the plans in the wake of their settlement.

Wavecrest executive Bill Barrett described a plan that would use half the additional space for open space and half to increase the size of some lots in the development. Barrett made it clear that this plan was for discussion purposes only and was not a formal proposal of any kind.

The open space would include increased setbacks from drainage ditches in the northwest corner of the site, moving the entire development to the east, but not all the way to Highway 1. The southern border of the developed site would also move north, to increase the southern buffer space. The developers are also considering adding more small public parks to the development.

Lots that are currently planned to be smaller than "typical" Coastside lots (Barrett wouldn’t say "substandard") would be increased in size.  Also, streets would be made narrower, to decrease the amount of impermeable surface and increase the buildable space. 

Friday, the Coastside Film Society presents the gloriously restored version of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and the fascinating short film Calder’s Circus.

Click "read more" for details.

Residents of Half Moon Bay have a clear choice in this year’s City Council election. Regardless of the opposition’s attempts to blur the lines between themselves and the current City Council majority, the choice could not be more stark.
Coastsider strongly recommends voting for the candidates who are moderates committed to improving the community while preserving the things that make the Coastside special: Jim Grady, Mike Ferreira, and Steve Skinner.

A year ago, I didn’t know any of these guys. Since I started writing Coastsider last year, I’ve become familiar with the current City Council and with a lot of the issues that affect, and divide, our community. The more I learned, the more impressed I’ve been with the current majority. Grady and Ferreira are running on their outstanding record, and Steve Skinner is running on the support of Grady and Ferreira.

They’re not afraid to make big plans. The City Council has delivered a fully-funded Highway 1/Main Street project. They’ve built trails, a bridge, and improved roads. They are building a park close to downtown despite opposition from Naomi Patridge and the Half Moon Bay Review. They’re building a small park in a neglected neighborhood.

Grady, Ferreira, and Skinner are moderates in every sense of the word.  While the Review has attempted to paint them as extremists, Grady and Ferreira have received endorsements from the building trades unions, the developers of Wavecrest, and the San Mateo County Association of Realtors—as well as the League for Coastside Protection, the Sierra Club and Coastside Democratic Club. They have shown how development can take place for the good of the community, and within the constraints of the Coastal Act, Half Moon Bay’s Local Coastal Program, and good planning.

Ferreira, Grady, and Skinner have been working hard to support the school board’s mandate to build a new school at Cunha, instead of the money pit at Wavecrest. Grady and Ferreira have offered to speed building of the new school in the City Council in the same way that they expedited the rebuilding of Cunha’s Market.  Skinner has supported Cunha since the current review began. Patridge, McClung, and Muteff, die-hard Wavecresters all, have never attended a school board meeting since the review began, and have been mysteriously silent on this vital community issue ever since it became clear that Cunha was the only reasonable choice.

"Because of the 1% cap, growth is off the table as an issue," is something I’ve heard from many supporters of the opposition. This is disingenuous and shortsighted. First, there are plenty of ways to get around growth limits. Second, it’s illegal to steal, but would you trust a thief with the key to your home?  Third, it fails to answer the real question: "What kind of growth?" Take a look at the unplanned, eye-watering, hopscotch development that took place before the current City Council majority.  Even 1% a year of that kind of growth is too much.

Finally, there’s the vague assertion that Half Moon Bay needs better management and more open government.  There is no evidence that the opposition would be better managers, or that they will be more open. But even if they were, that’s not what matters. What matters is what a candidate stands for. We know what Grady, Ferreira, and Skinner stand for. We’re a lot less certain about their opponents. Why is that?

Here’s an exercise that I think will help you make up your mind.  In the last couple of weeks, signs supporting Patridge, McClung, and Muteff have sprung up on nearly every vacant lot and farm field on the Coastside. I keep asking myself, What do the owners of those undeveloped lots know about those candidates that I don’t?

UPDATED: This editorial has been modified.  It’s less tough on the Review and the opposing candidates than the original version. I think it’s better for it.

An unlicensed driver is caught with marijuana on the Devil’s Slide, a DUI is detained in El Granada, a "freestyle" climber is rescued at Gray Whale Cove,  an assailant escapes at Pigeon Point perhaps in a purple Pontiac,  and a man is arrested on a warrant in San Gregorio for tampering with phone lines.

Click "read more" for details.

A woman who fell off a 300-foot cliff at San Gregorio Beach Sunday afternoon has been identified as a 46-year-old resident of San Mateo. She and her boyfriend stopped to look at the view, and she apparently slipped and fell off the cliff, according to the Mercury News.