Pacifica is considering widening Highway 1 between Fassler and Reina del Mar Avenues, reports Chris Hunter in the Pacifica Tribune. This is roughly the stretch of road fronting the quarry [Google map]. The project would be paid for with Measure A tax money

"It certainly has complexities," said [Public Works Director Scott] Holmes. "We need a coastal permit." He said that hurdles involving wetlands, endangered species and ESHA (Endangered Species Habitat Area) all needed to be handled, but "none of them seem insurmountable. It’s a win-win if we ever do pull it off." Holmes estimated that $300,000 of Transportation Authority money has already been spent on creating the environmental documents. He said it was nowhere near completion and could still be 18 months out.
...
Critics of the project call it "growth inducing," which would violate the Coastal Zone Act. "One way or the other, widening is contra-indicated," said [citizen Bob Pilgrim], pointing out that widening the road to the east impacts local businesses and widening it to the west affects wetlands and endangered species habitat.

A motorcyclist left Highway 1 and went over a cliff near Stage Road Wednesday, reports the Mercury News.

Paul Werren, 67, was traveling with another motorcyclist at around 5 p.m. when he hit a dirt embankment and tumbled several hundred feet down a ravine into heavy brush, according to the California Highway Patrol. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has public meetings coming up to discuss its Good Neighbor Policy and its Master Plan for La Honda Creek.

Good Neighbor Policy
Final Draft Policy Presented
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Skyline Field Office
21150 Skyline Blvd.

La Honda Creek Master Plan Workshop
Thursday, November 16, 2006
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
La Honda Elementary School
450 Sears Ranch Road

Interested in local government? Want to make a difference in our community?
Many of the decisions that affect us on the coast are made right here in local government meetings. Few of these are filmed by Coastsider.  Some are filmed by our local community access channel, but these broadcasts are often a week after the event (diminishing your chance of affecting the debate) and they are typically broadcast only once, with limited further public access.
Coastsider is looking to expand its video coverage of local government meetings. Our plan is to develop a small pool of interested people (we will train and equip) who will then videotape these important government functions.
The videos will put online within 24 hours and will be available day and night (Coastsider will take care of getting them online).
We will cover meetings from beginning to end, and we will make the videos available online, organized in a user-friendly, meaningful way so that citizens who cannot attend these meetings will have a greater understanding of what decisions are being made and why.
Come, join us in our efforts to promote open government and a better democracy. For a few hours of your time a month you can make a real difference here on the coast.
Please contact Darin Boville [darin/at/darinboville.com] for more information. 

Wilkinson School is having a big yard sale in El Granada this Saturday from 10am to 3pm at the corner of Highway 1 and Coronado.

Pam Fisher is the best-qualified candidate for the board. She’s a former six-year school board member from another district who can bring a fresh perspective to our community.  She advocates more responsiveness in and community involvement from the district. She wants more oversight of the district by the board, including doubling the frequency of board meetings. The board currently meets less than once a month.

We’re lucky to have Pam Fisher as a candidate. The current school board is the hand-picked successor of the boards that have failed to deliver a new middle school or a parcel tax in ten years of trying. Qualified candidates have refused to run for the CUSD because of the vicious personal attacks against challengers by school board members and their supporters. It would be refreshing to have at least one person on the board who is genuinely independent.

I’m not particularly supportive of Fisher’s neighborhood campaign over the modifications of the high school athletic fields. But the district’s neighbors and parents deserved better treatment than they got from the district. If the district had been more responsive in this case, a mutually-destructive lawsuit could almost certainly have been avoided.

Voters have three votes for three open seats in this election. In my opinion, your best course of action would be to vote for Pam Fisher only.  If you feel the need to vote for more candidates, I recommend you vote for Ken Johnson and Dwight Wilson.

Ken Johnson is a gadfly who has been after the district for years over their test scores. I like Ken and know he’s sincere, but he’s probably better as an outside critic than he would be as a board member. His principal qualifications are that he cares about quality education and he’s an outsider. You could do worse.

Dwight Wilson is part of the machine that has consistently failed to deliver the goods. However, among that group he took the lead in solving the middle school location problem, and is willing to listen to other voices.

There are also two candidates who do not deserve your support.

Jolanda Schreurs has been a leading member of the faction that has created an atmosphere of hostility and negativity around the district and its board.  I believe she cares about our kids’ education, but she has actively contributed to the ugliness that has surrounded the board and its elections. She played a big part in a last-minute anonymous attack ad in the last school board election. She was the last member of the board to accept a solution to the middle school problem and did so in a way that stoked the flames of bitterness.

Kirk Riemer looks like the hand-picked successor of the misguided cabal that has controlled the board for too long. He is endorsed by past and present board members Jolanda Schreurs, Dwight Wilson, Charles Gardner, John Moseley, Marina Stariha, Ruth Palmer, and Ken Jones.  Furthermore, he helped create the attack ad that anonymously smeared Jonathan Lundell two years ago. Even if, as the Review believes, he only reviewed the ad before it was printed, that’s pretty damning.

by Dana Kimsey

The League for Coastside Protection hosted a successful beach cleanup last Saturday, October 21 at Francis State Park.  Environmental foundations, such as Surfrider, supported the effort and 97 people from all over the community attended, many of them teenage volunteers.  This crew cleaned from the Ritz to Venice Beach and then started on the Coastside trail.  The beaches needed the locals’  help after the Pumpkin Festival - and it got that many times over.

"The League was so delighted with the effort, we hope to expand our cleanup efforts to the Midcoast beaches next," says Dana Kimsey, event coordinator.

Part of our mission statement is "We defend the coast by supporting those who uphold the spirit and substance of the California Coastal Act.  As residents, we certainly did that."  Should you care to participate more in the League for Coastside Protection, call (650) 726-9280.

"Community services such as these get right to the heart of the matter," Kimsey says.  "We love the coast."

[Click for more photos]

The board of the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District has issued a press release designed to respond to criticisms of its outsourcing plan [PDF of release]—particularly from union members attempting to reverse the boards’ decision by petition or referendum.

The press release, originally drafted by board member Jerry Donovan, and reviewed by the board at its last meeting, says: "…the abundance of misinformation is alarming.  These documents are riddled with some erroneous, misleading, and confusing statements that, if the need ever arose, it would be impossible for any citizen to make an informed decision regarding fire protection services for the district."  The release is pretty disorganized and rambling, and you should read it for yourself, but in it the board emphasizes the following points:

 

• The district already subcontracts services for outside training, custodial, legal, landscaping and accounting. Furthermore the board notes that it contracts out its paramedic ambulance transport to American Medical Response, saying "Medical aid responses account for approximately 75-80 percent of the call volume in the fire service."

 

• Subcontracting would not result in the loss of control, because the contractor would be under the control of the board.

 

• The union’s demand that any contractor be a "municipal fire department" ignores the fact that neither the HMBFPD or its successor would be a municipal fire department under a city’s control.

 

• The union’s insistence that the Half Moon Bay Fire Protection District be preserved is confusing in light of the pending consolidation: " This Board cannot determine, nor can any citizen determine from the referendum as written, what the union is trying to accomplish."

The board insists that "outcry against a service…has little to do with service levels to the district and everything to do with wages and working hours. The salaries earned by many firefighters are staggering, with nearly half the firefighters earning $139,000.00 or more, with some earning as much as $180,000.00-190,000.00 in 2005 - arguably making our fighters some of the highest paid blue collar workers anywhere."

The release concludes by reiterating that there will be no layoffs and no of reduction salaries, the department’s volunteer program will be kept, and retirees will continue to receive the same retirement benefits.

Harbor Village, the new shopping mall going up at Princeton Harbor will open in May, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

They’ll find out soon enough. On Tuesday, developer and Coastside resident Keet Nerhan told the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors that theproject, which will encompass an 84-room hotel, a 280-seat restaurant, and 20 to 22 retail shops, is on track for its grand opening in May 2007.

The $20 million project is expected to generate between $1.5 million and $2 million a year in tax revenues for the county, and will create between 150 and 175 jobs.

Nerhan, a well-known local developer who owns several retail buildings on Half Moon Bay’s Main Street, said he intends the project to be a tasteful addition to the restaurants and shops on Capistrano Road. His "mom-and-pop" stores will reflect the clothing shops, galleries and boutiques in Half Moon Bay.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) recently developed a draft policy for livestock grazing and contracted with an agricultural consultant to help manage grazing on the District’s 5,000 acres of grasslands.  The grazing management policy will help restore native grassland ecosystems, reduce the risk of wildfire, and sustain the local agricultural economy.  Seeking additional input on the policy, the District presented a draft to the San Mateo County Farm Bureau in early October. A final draft will be presented to the District’s Board for adoption in January 2007.

"Grazing accomplishes two goals for us: management of non-native grasses and fire fuel reduction," said Kirk Lenington, Resource Planner for the District. "Cattle feed on the non-native grasses, providing more opportunity for native vegetation to grow.  Grazing is also more effective in reducing wildland fire fuels.  Mowing 5,000 acres on really steep terrain is simply not possible, and it’s challenging to meet all of the criteria to conduct a prescribed burn."