Coastsider has been trying to persuade MCTV to let us stream clips from their cablecasts of Coastside board meetings since April of last year.  Julia Scott has written a pretty good summary of the situation for the County Times.  I’m working on an opinion piece that lays out our position on this issue in greater detail, and I invite MCTV to participate in the discussion here on Coastsider. In the mean time, I recommend you read the story from the County Times.

"I think the ordinary presumption is that (the station) does have a copyright to the images that it creates," said lawyer Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition.

However, he said, "When the city or any other agency makes a recording of its proceedings, that has to be made available. One could argue that because it is a public record, MCTV loses the right under the federal copyright law to try to restrict its distribution."

Scheer said Parr could also try to obtain the tapes under an exception in the copyright law for "fair use" of a cable segment for journalistic or educational purposes.

Two small corrections to the County Times Story: MCTV’s executive director’s name is Connie Malach (not Malack), and Coastsider gets about 5,000 unique visitors per week, not per month.

Today, Joey DeFrancesco is regarded by organ aficionados as the baddest B-3 burner in the business (a claim supported by his four consecutive DownBeat Critics Poll awards for 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005).

The Philadelphia native established his credentials with virtuoso technique and an innate soulfulness that spearheaded a renewed interested in the Hammond organ.  Joey’s dazzling facility was once described as "Combining monstrous chops with a flair for showmanship and an unquenchable urge to burn, DeFrancesco almost single-handedly put the Beast back in the public eye."

Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society 307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 $30.  Tickets at the door.  Doors Open at 3pm, Music from 4:30 to 7:30pm, with intermission.

"Blue Blanket Improv" comedy troupe is currently looking for new cast members to form a Half Moon Bay based performance troupe. We are looking for funny, outgoing, talented, men & women to join the ranks of the ‘Blue Blanket Improv Performers.  Selected individuals will be able to develop their Improv skills, build a repertoire of scene characters, be provided a great creative outlet, and will learn how to instruct others in local workshops offered to the community.  All players will be expected to attend weekly rehearsals. If you or someone you know wants to develop their improvisational skills to performance level and perform locally, let’s talk.  Previous improvisational training is preferred but not required.

‘Blue Blanket Improv’ (BBI) started in 2000 in San Francisco as a weekly informal get together of improvisational actors.  Initially the group was founded on the idea that like-minded improvisers wanted to get together and refine their skills.  For the past six years Blue Blanket Improv has been performing in San Francisco comedy clubs, bay area theatres, cafés, in public parks, at a wide variety of bay area charity and community events, as well as providing countless theatre workshops.

Coastside Gourmet Coffee, near the old Albertson’s site, may soon be pushed out to make way for a Peet’s Coffee, and their customers are steamed, reports Julia Scott in the County Times. The shop is well known for serving an uncompromising cup of traditional chai.

Bechar himself only found out Wednesday that his cafe, which he rents on a month-to-month basis, would be closed. That’s when Half Moon Bay Mayor Naomi Patridge, a customer of Bechar’s for more than a decade, told him about the building permit submitted by landlord Maher Shami and asked him whether he was going out of business.

"I was totally taken aback. This was my livelihood," said Bechar, 67. "The first thing (Shami) should have done is to approach me and say, ‘I need to raise the rent or give you a lease.’"
...

"What we want to be able to do now is upgrade the entire center so it’s a little more consumer-friendly and tourist-friendly," said Shami. Bechar’s space, he added, is "run-down" and needs major capital improvements to bring it up to code — improvements he didn’t think Bechar would be able to afford, especially as Shami also plans to bring his rent up to market value after years of giving him a discount.

Customers are circulating petitions to the city council to do something about the situation.  As a sign of the solidarity Coastside’s coffee house culture, the petition can be found in M. Coffee on Main Street.  At M. Coffee this morning, I overheard one customer suggest that it might be a better idea to replace the Half Moon Bay Starbuck’s with a Peet’s.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is recruiting for its Advisory Council. The Advisory Council brings together community members representing different constituencies and the public at large to provide advice to the MBNMS Superintendent on the management and protection of sanctuary resources.

Advisory Council members are recruited and appointed through a competitive, public process. Advisory Council members serve three-year terms and participate in bi-monthly public meetings held in communities adjacent to the MBNMS. Since its establishment in March 1994, the Advisory Council has played a vital role in the decisions affecting the MBNMS along the central California Coast.
 
The MBNMS is currently seeking both primary and alternate representatives for the Agriculture, Business/ Industry, Commercial Fishing, Recreational Fishing, Recreation, Research, Conservation, and two At-large Advisory Council seats.
 
Application packets and information on the MBNMS and the Advisory Council can be obtained by visiting the website at: http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov/sac/2007/recruit07v1/011607covlet.html, or by calling Paul Chetirkin at (831) 647-4210. Completed applications must be received at MBNMS, 299 Foam Street, Monterey, CA 93940 by February 23, 2007.
 
For more information on the MBNMS and the Sanctuary Advisory Council please go to: http://www.montereybay.noaa.gov/

The Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring a six-week program on small business.  The program meeets Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning tonight, January 23 until February 28, from 7 to 9pm at Cunha Middle School. The class fee is $60 for registration and materials.  To Register Call (650) 712-7224

Twelve two-hour classes taught by successful business people will cover:

• Program Intro / Deciding on a Business
• Developing a Business Plan
• Basic Computer and Communication Tools
• Organization and Insurance
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• How to Borrow Money
• E-Commerce
• Buying a Business or Franchise
• Preparing to Open and How to Merchandise
• Expanding and Handling Problems
• Business Plan Presentations / Wrap-up Party

On Sunday, February 4th, 3 – 5 pm, I am hosting a party to introduce my friends on the coast to an organization that is near and dear to my heart –- Girlventures .

Girlventures is like my first baby; I co-founded it in 1997, and we are now celebrating our tenth year of empowering adolescent girls to develop and express their strengths through outdoor adventure, creative arts and group experiences.

Although Girlventures serves girls from all over the bay area, girls from the San Mateo coast are underrepresented in our programs. I am looking for people to help me change that! The first step is just to let people know about what GirlVentures does. Then we’ll try to find some girls from around here who would benefit from these great programs and hook them up with Girlventures. We may even raise some money to contribute to the scholarship fund. (2/3 of the girls get tuition assistance, half of those get full scholarships.)

Would you be interested in coming over for a party and meeting some of the girls who have gone on Girventures programs? I promise you it will be inspiring and fun.

My hope is that you will help me get together a group of Coastsiders who should know about Girlventures: potential participants (6th-8th grade girls and their families, or families with younger girls), people who might be able to introduce us to participants (middle school teachers or counselors with a passion for supporting girls), potential volunteers and donors.

Elizabeth McLeod
650.728.2888

The Pacifica Tribune has a new editor. The East Bay Express reports that the new editor may not consider this to be a plum assignment:

Yesterday, Oakland Tribune editor Mario Dianda assembled his reporters and announced that he was being stripped of his position as head of the newspaper, according to a source inside the newsroom. Today, ANG officials confirmed the news in a memo to staff, declaring that Dianda, who has run the Trib for nearly seven years, is being transferred to run the Pacifica Tribune, a dinky community weekly on the Peninsula.

Oakland Tribune staffers are concerned that they are becoming an appendage of the Contra Costa Times, which MediaNews acquired from Knight Ridder by way of McClatchy.

A busload of more than 30 parishioners from Our Lady of the Pillar and Our Lady of Refuge Catholic churches here on the coastside travelled to San Francisco to participate in the third Walk for Life West Coast on Saturday January 19, 2007. Participants came from all over California and as far away as Washington state and Nevada. Religious, political and school groups, among others, were represented. The local Knights of Columbus enabled the coastside group to attend by arranging for the bus.

The walk was peaceful, well organized and the SFPD were professional and helpful. The pro-choice counter demonstrators made up for their lack of numbers by their volume and costumes but they did not seem too threatening. Not even the woman who spit in my direction. I’m sure she doesn’t live here on the coastside.

Photos here.