Beginning Monday, Sept 18, Half Moon Bay High School will resume its hours from before the Devil’s Slide traffic emergency:

Zero Period: 6:50am - 7:40pm

First Period: 7:45am - 2:44pm

Early Release: 7:45am - 1:30pm

As reported earlier, starting Monday, Cunha’s day will be begin at 8:30am and end at 3:05pm. Zero period will run from 7:42 to 8:25am.  Cunha’s bus service will be cancelled beginning Monday as well.

Saturday, September 16, marks the official start of the campaign season for Coastside Democrats.  The Second Annual Sunset Family Potluck will be held from 5 to 8 pm.

Assemblyman Gene Mullin and candidates for school board and other local offices will be on hand to talk about the issues and candidates in the upcoming election on November 7.  Hear about Phil Angelides for Governor, John Garamendi for Lt. Governor, Debra Bowen for Secretary of State and the other state-wide Democratic candidates.  The ballot Propositions will also be discussed.

This is a critical election for Democrats trying to take back California and the Congress. Learn about issues and strategies to help educate and mobilize the community through precinct walking and voter registration, as the absentee ballots go in the mail the first week in October. 

For more information on the Coastside Democratic Club see:  http://www.coastsidedemocrats.org .  To attend the potluck dinner please call Brigid O’Farrell at:  650-728-3380.

The 22nd Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day is this Saturday, September 16th, from 9am to noon at over 700 locations around the state.  This year San Mateo Countywide Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program (STOPPP) is coordinating the Clean-up in San Mateo County, with 26 locations at coastside, bayside, and inland creeks.
 
Last year 52,000 volunteers turned out to remove just under 1 million pounds of debris from California’s shorelines.  In San Mateo County 971 volunteers picked up 14,633 pounds of debris.
 
We did this last year. it’s not only tremendously rewarding, but you have no idea what kind of junk gets left on our beaches until you help clean them. Here’s how to participate:
 

Select the cleanup site and recruit your friends, family, and coworkers. Cleanup sites and directions for San Mateo County visit the county’s site. For other locations around the State go to http://www.coast4u.org.
 
Check in online. Bring or wear sunscreen, closed-toed shoes, a hat and gloves (disposable gloves are provided). When you check in at the cleanup location you will be given a data card to tally the items you collect. Prizes will be given for the most unusual item!
 
Pick up trash and collect data. Your data goes into The Ocean Conservancy’s database, which is used to identify the sources of debris and to help devise solutions to the marine debris problem.

 
For more information contact Sarah Pratt [email protected] or go to the STOPPP website. 
 
Dean D. Peterson PE, REHS
Director Environmental Health
San Mateo County
(650) 363-4968
http://www.smhealth.org/environ/index.shtml

Caffé Lucca celebrates its new wine and beer license with the opening of its Coastside Cabaret Saturday starting at 7pm.  The Cabaret features music and comedy, including Susy Boyd, Dan Edwards, Kurt Weitzman, Tim Slappy Babb, Lynn Ruth Miller and Anthony Hill. Tickets are $10 per person.

The Farallone View’s Education Fund is holding its 10th annual Pancake Breakfast this Saturday from 7 to 11am in the school’s multi-purpose room.

This fundraising breakfast will have pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit and juice, milk, coffee or tea. The cost is $5 for adult, $3 for children, $15 for a family.  The money raised by the Ed Fund supports classroom aides, a computer teacher, a librarian and class supplies.

As a former and future Farallone View parent, I strongly recommend this event. The school is one of the few true community resources in Montara and Moss Beach.

Young or old, if master guitar playing turns you on, don’t miss Guitarist Larry Coryell at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society on Mirada Rd in Miramar on September 24th. 

Christened as "a true pioneer of rock-jazz fusion" by the New York Times, Larry is one of the most in-demand guitarists in Rock-Jazz fusion, merging Rock, Jazz, Eastern modes and free-form improv. 

In his recent release, "Traffic", guitarist Larry Coryell, drummer Lenny White and bassist Victor Baily has returned with a "blitzrieg of blazing licks, slamming funk grooves and nasty blues-laced abandon." 

Here’s an opportunity to see them in a small venue, right in your own Coastside backyard.  The Bach Society is located right on Miramar Beach (same block as the Miramar Restaurant). You can come when the doors open at 3 pm to enjoy the view and food, then listen to two sets starting at 4:30.  Email [email protected].

The Coastside Film Society screens "The General" this Friday in Half Moon Bay. Buster Keaton plays a Southern railway engineer who has two loves in his life—his locomotive (The General) and the lovely Annabelle Lee.  When spies steal his train with Annabelle on board Johnnie vows to prove his mettle and win them both back.

"The General is an epic of silent comedy, one of the most expensive films of its time, using hundreds of extras, dangerous stunt sequences, and an actual locomotive falling from a burning bridge into a gorge far below (where its rusted hulk remains to this day). Keaton defies logic again and again with one ingenious comic sequence after another…One of the 10 greatest films of all time!", according to Roger Ebert.

Bring your kids to show them what popular culture was like when their grandparents or great grandparents were kids.

Friday, Sept 15, 8 pm    
Community Methodist Sanctuary,  Half Moon Bay    
777 Miramontes, Half Moon Bay
Corner of Johnston & Miramontes.
$6.00 donation per adult     $3.00 for kids  

More info at: www.HMBfilm.org

This Friday is the last day for the temporary "Devil’s Slide" schedule at Cunha.

Beginning Monday, September 18, Cunha’s day will be begin at 8:30am and end at 3:05pm. Zero period will run from 7:42 to 8:25am.  The bus service that was provided by the district will no longer be available beginning Monday.

A vendor has been selected to set up a free wireless Internet service, using wifi, that is supposed to cover San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties and to stretch "west to Half Moon Bay" according to some reports.

The vendor, a partnership of Cisco Systems, IBM, SeaKay and Azulstar—still has to come to agreements with local governments, reports the County Times

At no cost to the cities involved, Metro Connect intends to make its money back through advertisements and through charging user fees for faster connections. The service will be free at one megabyte per second downstream and 50 to 60KB upstream, and is primarily intended to be used outdoors. Indoor use probably will require a wireless signal booster.

Metro Connect also will need to obtain approvals and permits from each city or agency to install the wireless antennae, mostly atop street light poles. The coalition estimates it will be 12 to 18 months before installations are complete, Moura said.

This beginning of this school year is an unusual one. Two of our three public elementary schools have new principals.

At Farallone View Elementary in Montara, Suzanne Michelony is the new principal, replacing Mike Bachicha. She is the former principal of Hatch Elementary, in Half Moon Bay. 

Taking her spot at Hatch is Mark Loos, from Jefferson High School in Daly City.

I thought it would be interesting to meet with each of these new principals and let them introduce themselves via video to the parents and students at their respective schools and to the wider community.

For each of the videos I suggested the following topics: 

• Talk about your background and your connection to the community.
• Give a sense of your management style.
• Offer examples of things you plan to change at your school, or things that you specifically plan NOT to change.

My hope is that these two videos will help shorten the time it takes for the community to get to know their new principals.