On Saturday March 21, The Visionary Edge will host a screening of A Man Named Pearl at the Johnson House Train Depot in Half Moon Bay.     A Man Named Pearl tells the inspiring story of self-taught topiary artist Pearl Fryar, whose unlikely journey to national prominence began with a bigoted remark.  

In 1976, Pearl took a job in a can factory in Bishopville, South Carolina. New to this rural southern town, he and his wife Metra looked at a house for sale in an all-white neighborhood. The Fryars’ real estate agent was notified by neighbors in the prospective neighborhood that a black family was not welcome.  A homeowner voiced the collective concern: "Black people don’t keep up their yards." 

Assembled without frills or fuss, A Man Named Pearl is as much a portrait of a small Southern town as of an unassuming black folk artist. Aided by Fred Story’s jazzy score, the directors, Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson, keep things moving with appreciative comments from the financial and spiritual beneficiaries of Mr. Fryar’s talents (and from the female admirers who find his lithe, 68-year-old body every bit as interesting as his foliage). Those white families who, decades ago, rejected him as a neighbor because "black people don’t keep up their yards" must be weeping into their seed catalogs."

Saturday, March 21st.  Doors will open at 7:00 pm, film begins at 7:30.  The Johnson House Train Depot, 110 Higgins Purisima, HMB.  The film is free, however donations are encouraged to cover screening costs. Call 650-560-0200 for information and reservations as seating is limited.   Located in Half Moon Bay, The Visionary Edge produces events to inform and inspire us all to create a wiser, sustainable and more compassionate world.

The Coastside Family Medical Center located in the Shoreline Center shopping area closed its doors to business at noon Friday, and plans to fill bankruptcy papers within the next two weeks.  All of the Clinic’s 35 employees are being released.  Coastside is a nonprofit that logs 22,000 patient visits in a year—including a number of CUSD employees and students.

If you are a patient of Coastside, please be advised that you will find doors closed and locked at this time.  For medical records or prescription information, write a letter attention "Medical Records" to CFMC, 225 S. Cabrillo Highway, Suite 100A, HMB, or fax the instruction to: 650.726.9317.  General inquiries can be directed to Bob Harless at [email protected].

CFMC’s press release after the jump.

Surfrider San Mateo Public Meeting

March 19, Thursday - 7:00 p.m.

Point Montara Light Station, Montara, CA

Keith Mangold, a Coastside resident of 24 years, will speak on ‘‘Corral De Tierra: A Tour of Coastside Geology, History and Ecology.’‘

Corral De Tierra has a long and interesting history beginning with the Portola expedition up to the present. Coastside geology precedes written history by at least 90 million years. Both history and geology play important roles in our local watersheds and the health of our oceans. This slideshow will present the past events that have lead to our current state and suggest opportunities for volunteers to make significant contributions to our future.

Directions to Montara Lighthouse:
25 miles south of San Francisco and 7 miles north of Half Moon Bay. The lighthouse is on Highway 1 near 16th Street, between the towns of Montara and Moss Beach.

Northbound on Highway 1, you are advised to continue past the lighthouse entrance (on your left), into the town of Montara, then turn around so you can enter the lighthouse driveway with a southbound right turn at the end of the guardrail.

Park in upper parking lot, alongside Highway 1, only please.

Dr Cari Coe will speak on the interplay of the politics of forest protection and the alleviation of poverty in Vietnam at the American Association of University Women meeting on Monday, March 16 at 7pm. The meeting will be held at the United Methodist Church at 777 Miramontes Street in HMB.

Dr Coe taught English at the Institute of International Education in Vietnam.  She found that many of the poorest people are dependent on forest resources, which must be protected and thoughtfully controlled.

Do you have any books your children have outgrown?  New and used books are needed for Pacifica School Volunteers’ annual Children’s Book Sale, being held Saturday, April 25th. Books for all ages are welcome, from baby books to high school level. Proceeds from the Book Sale will be used for PSV’s Volunteers in Literacy Program to conduct literacy workshops and place volunteers to help children read.  Books can be dropped off at locations throughout town:

• First National Bank, Eureka Square and Linda Mar, from 9:00 to ◦  5:00 Mon-Thur, 9:00 to 6:00 on Fridays and 9:00 to 1:00 on ◦  Saturdays.
• Starbucks Coffee Stores, Linda Mar Shopping Center and Fairmont ▪              Shopping Center, 5:30 to 9:00 everyday.
• The Pacifica School District Office from 8:00 to 4:30, M-F
• Ingrid B. Lacy Middle School from 9:00-4:00, M-F
• Ortega Elementary School from 8:30-4:00, M-F
• Ocean Shore School from 8:30-4:00, M-F
• Sunset Ridge Elementary School from 8:30-4:00, M-F
• Cabrillo School from 8:30-4:00, M-F
• Vallemar School from 8:30-4:00, M-F

Donations are tax deductible.  Include your name and address with your donation to receive a letter for your records.  Please call Pacifica School Volunteers at 355-9432 for more information.

Gail Benton Shoemaker

Four-time Juno Award nominee Carol Welsman’s musical ability, velvet vocals, looks, and delivery hauntingly resemble those of Peggy Lee. Each song has its own story and Carol cleverly ties in anecdotes about Miss Lee between the songs.Carol Welsman (piano/vocals), Pat Kelley (guitar), Rene Camacho (bass), Jimmy Branly (drums). March 15, 2009 – 4:30, $30
 
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650 726-4143, www.bachddsoc.org
Contact:  Linda Goetz, 650 726-2020, [email protected]

The Chron visits downtown Half Moon Bay to see how our stimulus tax dollars will be spent to repair Main Street. The city is getting $176,000 from the county, which is allocating it to communities based on their size.

The paving project will resurface five blocks of Main Street, two blocks of Kelly Avenue and the historic, 109-year-old concrete bridge at the north end of town. A brass plaque proclaims it to be the oldest concrete bridge in San Mateo County, and it’s got the battle scars to prove it.

All up and down Main Street were other scars, in the form of vacant storefronts. Much of Main Street is for lease, and much of the rest is having a sale.

Margo Christiansen, the proprietor of Unique Clothing, is having a 40 percent-off sale. It used to be a 10 percent-off sale, then a 20 percent-off sale.

Some of the sidewalk cracks are right in front of her store. She said it will be nice to have them fixed.

"If the sidewalk looks crummy, that affects business," she said. "Our city has a Ritz Carlton Hotel. We have to keep ourselves looking great. The people who stay at the Ritz Carlton get dropped off downtown in a limousine, and they expect nice things when they get here. They expect a certain level."

For all who love the environment and work to protect it in many ways, here is another wonderful, final way to do so: earth—friendly burials—simple, natural ways to reunite our bodies with the earth. 

Join the Coastside Land Trust to learn about 

• home funerals by friends and family
• biodegradable, colorful coffins and urns 
• eco-friendly burial or ashes scattered in open space
• how traditional burial can be toxic, high energy consuming and a poor use of land
• how land trusts can hold open space for use as green burial grounds

Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, March 14,  3–5pm
Community United Methodist Church
777 Miramontes St, Half Moon Bay

For more information, contact the Coastside Land Trust office: 650-284-5056
CoastsideLandTrust.org

Please forward this invitation to friends and acquaintances.

The Midcoast Community Council is meeting Wednesday. The meeting starts at 7:30pm, and the public is invited to attend and speak.

The meeting will be at Seton Medical Center Coastside: Marine Boulevard & Etheldore, Moss Beach. Take Highway 1 to Marine Boulevard and follow hospital signs uphill. Attendees must park in upper parking lots per hospital policy—turn left just before the end of the main driveway.

Agenda after the jump.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill will host a town hall meeting Saturday to hear from constituents and share his thoughts on the issues and events that shaped his first 100 days in office.  The Coastside meeting will be at Pacifica Community Center, 540 Crespi Drive at 10am.
 
Topics of discussion will likely include the state budget, current legislation, and recent state hearings on the federal stimulus package and California’s renewable energy requirements.  The meetings will also provide an opportunity for constituents to receive one-on-one assistance from staff members from Assemblymember Hill’s District Office.

Here are a few examples of the services that staff can assist with:
 

• Unemployment and disability insurance
• Renters/homeowners assistance programs
• Consumer complaints
• Veterans’ services
• State Franchise Tax Board
• Tax relief programs
• Government forms and programs