Once again the power went out in Moss Beach last night. At least it did on my block on California Avenue on the west side.  It seems this happens every time there is significant wind or rain - maybe once or twice a month in the winter.

I can’t help but wonder why we lose power so often. I would like to know whether this is a local failure. Or is it that we are we on some part of the grid that is lower priority and a failure somewhere else results in our power being taken off the grid?  Does anyone know the cause of our frequent local power outages?

Shortly before 11am Friday, a man entered Main Street Goldworks and asked to see diamond rings. At some point, he pulled a .32 caliber pistol from a leather bag and told the staff to put the rings in the bag. He then left on foot to the south, taking the store’s three phones with him.

The Half Moon Bay police described the suspect as a black male, about forty years old, six feet tall, 180 pounds.  He was wearing a white long-sleeved dress shirt, gray tie with blue dots, black pants, and white tennis shoes.

No one was was injured in the robbery.

UPDATE: The County Times reports that 96 rings were taken, valued at $217,000.

Thursday, the Coastal Commission approved consent agreement with the Ocean Colony partners, owners of the Half Moon Bay Golf Links, to remove illegal riprap that was put in the public beach below the course in 1998 and 1999. The owners will have to construct a public beach access path and stairway at Redondo Beach road as partial mitigation.

The plans include removal of all unpermitted riprap, removal of concrete slabs underneath the 18th Hole and tee box, restorative grading, installation of subsurface drainage piping to control runoff and help prevent future bluff edge erosion, and native plantings along the bluff edge to protect restored areas. The concrete slab dangerously hangs over a public beach. The project will begin by April 15 and must be done in about four months.

You can download the complete 68-page staff report from Coastsider. The photos below are from the report.

A small portion of permitted riprap is located at the right-hand side of the photo. The Consent Order requires the majority othe riprap visible in this photo, and the concrete slab (the edge can be seen in the white circle), to be removed in summer 2006. October 2005 photo.

Click "read more" to see more photos read the excutive summary of the report.

This spring, to celebrate 25 years of ocean protection, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will offer a series of free monthly lectures on the Coastside, announcing research and discoveries concerning sanctuary wildlife: sea otters and sea lions, albatross and other seabirds. Each is followed by related weekend fee-based excursions into the realms of these creatures and the scientists who study them. Reservations for all events are with Dru Devlin at [email protected], or 415/ 561-6625 ext. 311.

Click "read more" to see the list of events.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will once again take up the update to the county’s Local Coastal Program, the master document that is the template for development and preservation on the unincorporated Coastside.

The supervisors will be taking public testimony on the limited set of issues that they are considering Tuesday. Here is the list of topics with explanations in some cases. Please read them carefully, because they’re kind of confusing.  You can download a PDF of the staff report from Coastsider.

• Improving level of service on Hwy 1: The current proposed update recommends expanding Highway 1 to four lanes. County staff is proposing "wider shoulders to allow passage for emergency vehicles, signals at major intersections, acceleration/deceleration lanes and turn pockets. Expansion of highway capacity through adding travel lanes should only be considered after basic local, commuter and recreational transit service levels have been met."
• Reserving water capacity for failed residential wells: This would set aside some of our water capacity speicifically for the purpose of serving homeowners whose wells have failed.
• Eliminating the provision authorizing an increase in the annual limit on residential units to 200 units per year: This would keep the limit where it is now.
• Establishing a cap to the proposed exemption to the annual limit for units occupied by disabled person. This would add another 50 units to those that could be built out in under the annual limit, potentially increasing the number of units built in a given year.  This would not help the Big Wave project, which will require a separate LCP amendment.
• Revising the process for merging Midcoast substandard lots. Merging substandard lots will reduce the number of developable lots and increase the size of lots that new houses occupy.
• Establishing new development controls for the Burnham Strip.
• Postponing deletion of timber harvesting, surface mining, oil and gas exploration and solid waste facilities as permitted uses.
• Forming a Midcoast Storm and Drainage Committee.
• Eliminating the proposal that second units be established only as affordable housing.

What happens at this meeting will affect the Coastside forever. It’s important for Coastsiders to show up and voice their opinions.

Yes, it has been a cold day. The National Weather Service has issued a snow advisory through Friday afternoon for areas about 1,000 feet, including Skyline Blvd:

Snow levels will drop to 1000 feet overnight. Expect around 1 inch of snow at 1000 feet with 3 to 6 inches at 000 feet or higher. Snow levels this low will affect many highways and secondary roads including highway 29 in napa county…Skyline boulevard...Highway 17 and highway 152 near pacheco pass. Expect roadways to become snow covered and slick overnight.

Click "read more" for details.

Friday night, Coastside Film Society presents five short films produced by Coastsiders.  The organizers say that the films are very kid friendly, although "Twilight" has a dark theme and is last in the program.

Click "read more" for descriptions of the films and other details.

The Half Moon Bay City Council violated its own procedures when it appointed two at-large members on Tuesday, February 22, without public interviews.  This departure from past practice was questioned by council members Gorn and Grady at the time, but they were overruled.

According to a resolution passed by the city council in 1998,  and signed by then-mayor Naomi Patridge, "Nominations shall be accepted only of applications who have been interviewed by the city council prior to such nomination." [PDF of procedure] The five "councilmember-designee" positions do not require interviews.  The resolution was discovered by city council staff after the meeting.

This puts the city council in an embarrassing situation that they will have to rectify at their next meeting, probably by rewriting the policy after the fact.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, council members will receive a list of all projects City Hall staff are currently working on. [PDF of priorities]  The city council members will discuss additions or deletions to the list. They’ll get the amended list on March 16 and have until March 23 to individually select the most and least important projects and return the list to staff, which will compile the results and present them at the April 4 meeting of the city council.