Soulful Jazz and R&B vocalist, also tours with Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra. Jump Blues dance set follows.
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.
Half Moon Bay Review reporters don’t stay on the job for much more than a year. The last six reporters averaged thirteen months at the Review. This is barely enough time for a reporter to acquire basic knowledge of their beats before they move on to bigger and better things. Couple this with the fact that many are in their first professional reporting job, and it’s clear that they’re at a disadvantage in covering Coastside news.
This analysis is based the bylines in the Reviews online archives, and does not include two reporters who have been with the Review for more than a decade. Mark Foyer covers sports and Stacy Trevenon covers community organizations and events. But neither covers A-section news.
In preparing to write this, I had email conversation about these issues with Review editor Clay Lambert. He was justifiably proud of the quality of his recent recruits. I also think the quality of the Review has improved in recent years, at least in terms of the breadth and promptness of its coverage—especially its coverage of breaking news on its website. But it’s challenged when it comes to covering what’s happening beyond last week’s board meetings.
Many of the reasons for this are beyond the Review’s control. As a weekly newspaper in a sleepy news market, the paper isn’t going to be the first choice for seasoned reporters, nor is it a place where top performers will want to hang around. At a board meeting a few years ago, we sat next to a Review reporter who was muttering over and over to themselves, "I hate my stupid job". Covering our stupid boards is not something you’re going to want to do for more than a year or so.
The Review is destined to always be a training ground. Recent college grads looking for journalism jobs are entering an industry in decline. Small town papers are doing relatively well, and can offer professional experience that new reporters can’t get anywhere else. And if you’ve read a few local weeklies, you know that the Review is a lot better than most. Most folks who’ve talked to Review reporters in the last few years has been impressed with their intelligence and sincerity.
Even the best, most experienced reporters who have been working a beat for years will have problems adequately explaining complex issues to their readers. Inexperienced reporters must take opposing views at face value because they can’t judge the validity of the arguments.
The Review’s reporters are also working harder than ever. The average number of stories per week by Review reporters has grown by 50% in the last four years. Before he left, David Smydra averaged nearly two news stories every working day. And this doesn’t include a lot of breaking news stories on the Review’s website, which has only started in the last two years.
I’m not convinced that anyone else could do a better job of managing the Review’s turnover. But it’s important to consider the limitations that face the paper in covering significant local issues that affect us all.
Supervisor Rich Gordon is holding his monthly office hours at the Moss Beach Substation from 10am until Noon, as he does every fourth Thursday of the month.
"Wanting people to listen, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer and then you’ll notice you’ve got their strict attention."
This quote, which was found written on a piece of cardboard and left among other pieces of trash along the bank of the Pilarcitos creek during the May 17th cleanup, describes the scene along the creek as Save Our Shores coordinated 36 volunteers to clean up the trash in the creek.
Led by Save Our Shores Program Coordinator, Emily Glanville, with the help of several Sanctuary Steward and Coastsider volunteers, the organization brought together a variety of people for a 4 hour cleanup in one of the most needed areas in the community. In total, volunteers effectively removed 906 pounds of trash and 161 pounds of recycling from a ½ mile stretch of the Pilarcitos Creek. Volunteers targeted a stretch of the creek adjacent to the Safeway shopping center as well as areas along the mouth of the creek at Venice Beach.
Safeway let the organization use their back parking lot as a staging area. Volunteers headed out with heavy duty gloves, shovels, and rakes to pull shopping carts, couches, bicycle and car tires, coolers, several plastic water jugs, 2 vacuum cleaners, car batteries, pallets, used motor oil containers, street signs, stereo equipment and even a 100 pound Oxygen tank out of the creek! The Sewage Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) was a great supporter of the event, as staff members volunteered and helped with the disposal of some key debris items. In addition, Allied Waste removed the discarded shopping carts and other debris that volunteers disposed of in the Safeway lot dumpsters.
The location that was selected, starting from the Pilarcitos footbridge and heading west toward the ocean, was well planned because it was adjacent to a large shopping center which houses several fast food restaurants. Many items found consisted of to-go food containers, plastic bags, and other items related to the shopping area. In addition, one volunteer cleaned up a 10 foot square area for 3 hours and collected 163 cigarette butts – this continues to be the most often found item in all Save Our Shores cleanups. 50 plastic bottle tops were found in that one small area as well. Plastics are an extreme danger to marine life and one of the issues that Save Our Shores is working to educate the public about through presentations to students and adults as well as through the organization’s hands on activities.
Plastics are one of the more pervasive problems in our communities today. Plastics affect at least 267 marine species worldwide, including 86 percent of all sea turtle species, 44 percent of all sea bird species, and 43 percent of marine mammal species. With 80% of marine debris coming from land-based sources, it is critical to target rivers and creeks for cleanup sites.
The organization’s mission is to educate the public about threats to the ocean and provide opportunities to get involved to make an effort to improve the health of the ocean. Save Our Shores also hopes to get the business community involved in helping to fight the marine debris problem. If you care about the health of your oceans and your local watershed which flows directly into the ocean, Save Our Shores wants you to take some citizen action and get involved with our efforts. To become a member, volunteer, or find out when and where our next event will be, check out our new website at www.saveourshores.org.
Come join children’s songwriter Jose Luis Orozco on Friday evening May 23rd at 7:00pm, for a sing-along in English and Spanish. It will be a fun evening for the entire family.
Thanks to Kevin Lansing to reminding us to fax our objections on AB1991 to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. I’m not typically a writer-to-legislators. But this morning, I faxed the following message to Chairman Mark Leno.
Dear Chair Leno and Members of the Appropriations Committee:
I urge that the Appropriations Committee reject AB1991. I publish a news website in coastal San Mateo County. I am writing as a resident of the community affected by AB1991 who has been following the lawsuit and settlement since the beginning.
There are a host of reasons why the bill should be rejected and I urge you especially to consider the detailed and thoughtful objections of the Coastal Commission, the state agency empowered to understand these issues. I want to focus on four particularly egregious problems with the law.
Thank you for your consideration, and I hope you will consider the needs of all the citizens of California and not simply the city and developer in this matter.
Sincerely,
Barry Parr
Coastside civic and non-profit groups, educational organizations and municipal agencies will share in the $95,000 in grants and donations announced today by the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee.
The largest single contribution ($25,000) went to the on-going maintenance and beautification of the Main Street downtown core. Among the efforts are seasonal planting of flowers, installation and repair of old-fashioned wooden benches, litter removal, cleaning, and year-round maintenance of Main Street.
Some of the organizations receiving funding include the Coastal Repertory Theater ($12,000), San Mateo County Sheriff Explorers Program ($5,760), I.D.E.S. Society ($5,000), Sonrisas Communty Dental Clinic ($4,800 for equipment), Coastal Arts League ($3,000 for the Pumpkin Festival poster design contest), City of Half Moon Bay ($2,500 for Mac Dutra Park bathroom restoration), HOPE Services ($2,500 for bicycles and art supplies), Coastside Fire Protection District ($2,250 for emergency warning and lighting stations), City of Half Moon Bay Parks & Rec ($2,200 for programs), Half Moon Bay Girls Softball League ($2,100 for field maintenance/mower and mulch), Coastside Adult Day Health Center ($2,000 for Alzheimers program), Senior Coastsiders ($2,000 for nutrition program), Half Moon Bay High School Grad Night ($2,000), and Coastside RotaCare Clinic ($2,000 for educational materials).
Additionally, $7,000 in college scholarship money will be awarded to Half Moon Bay High School students. The scholarships are named in memory of founding festival members Dolores Mullin, Patsy Dutra and Melvin Mello.
This year’s 38th annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival will be held October 18-19, 2008. For information, call 650-726-9652 or visit www.miramarevents.com.
Kevin Lansing posted this letter as a comment in another topic. He’s right: It’s time to fax Mark Leno (at 916-319-2113) and let his know that not everyone on the Coastside supports AB1991.
It is critical for those opposed to AB 1991 to FAX their letters in by Monday.
The City Council’s old guard supporters and their realtor/developer friends are sending in their own letters for sure.
Below is my own letter.
Parks for the Future—Measure O—is a proposed San Mateo County sales tax increase by 1/8th of a cent for 25 years. The revenue would support parks and recreation in San Mateo County.
Measure O will be on the June 3rd 2008 ballot. It is projected to cost the average person $18 per year. The revenue, approximately $16 million per year, would be allocated to jurisdictions per a formula.
Cities would have authority to spend funds according to their parks and recreation needs. Each jurisdiction could vary how the money is spent over the life of the tax.
Funds could be spent on:
Under the measure, cities and the County would be required to maintain their general fund contributions to the parks and recreation budgets.
The City/County Association of Governments (C/CAG) will administer distribution of funds, auditing and reporting functions.
Click below for more information on Measure O.
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