Coastside author Diana R. Chambers will sign copies of her romantic thriller, The Company She Keeps, at Barnes & Noble, Saturday, December 10. Saturday is Farallone View Day at Barnes & Noble, and the store will donate a portion of the day’s sales from 10am to 5pm to the school. Chambers will be at Barnes & Noble Serramonte, 119 Colma Blvd. from noon to 5 p.m.
|
|
Darin Boville
|
|
Those aren't leaves -- they're butterflies! Click on the picture for a better look.
|
Montara photographer Darin Boville sent us a picture from the monarch butterflies sanctuary at Natural Bridges State Beach at the north end of Santa Cruz. The butterflies travel 2,500 miles from western Canada in one of nature’s great migrations.
According to what I read online they usually get 11-14,000 here during the migration. The docent said that this year they only have 6,000. He ascribed the difference to "things vary"—maybe he wasn’t a scientist!
Tom Chimienti is a senior at HMBHS
The future site of the new HMB middle school has finally been decided after ten years of conflict. The Cabrillo school district voted unanimously to select the site on which the school already rests instead of the controversial Wavecrest site. Many believe it is a wetland that needs to be preserved.
The school is to be completed September 2009. The class of 2006 was said to be the first class to graduate from the new middle school; too bad they will all be able to buy an alcoholic beverage before the new school is completed. The Cunha site proves to be more economic and logical, while the Wavecrest site included a residential neighborhood, irrigation pond and commercial space. The original plans even had retail stores, which would have hurt all of the downtown main street businesses. Even if Wavecrest was accepted by the school board and city council they do not have the final say. So it would still have to be approved by the California Coastal Commission which makes it a futile choice.
I am glad they have finally made this choice. At my times at Cunha I could easily walk across highway one to get home or occasionally I would stop into Cunha store for a sandwich after school with my friends. These simple tasks would have become extremely harder if I was stuck further down highway one and even risky. I wouldn’t have been able to walk home because it’s not safe to walk along a highway especially in the rain. I look forward to seeing these renovations on the school; I only wish they had started sooner. Hopefully my younger sister will get a chance to enjoy them. I believe this will greatly benefit and keep the heart of the city from looking run down.
This Saturday morning from 10am to noon there will be a dedication ceremony celebrating Pacifica’s acquisition of the 2.5-acre beachfront property on Esplanade across from the Chit-Chat Cafe.
This was made possible by a combination of a Coastal Conservancy grant, Regional Water Quality Board funds and money to be generated from the sale of the San Bruno Sweeney Gateway property. Several dignitaries (Jackie Speier, Gene Mullin, City Councilmembers) will be there, and there will be a ceremonial slashing of the slatted fence.
Sheriff’s deputies discovered stolen property and meth in a storage locker on Airport Road in Moss Beach and arrested the man who was living there illegally, according to CBS 5. The stolen goods match the description of property stolen on the Coastside and Skyline, including motorcycles, guns, construction tools, jewelry, and credit cards.
Two weeks remain in the voting for the five "wildcard" surfers to join the 19 already selected for Mavericks. You can vote online at Surfer magazine’s website. This is the first year any competitors would be chosen by open ballot.
The candidates for the five slots are: Carlos Burle, Mike Brumett, Ion Banner, Jake Wormhoudt, Rodrigo Resende, Danilo Couto, Troy Virostko, Garrett McNamara, Noah Johnson, Ross Clarke-Jones, Alex Martens, Russell Smith, Josh Loya, and Grant Baker.
The list of invitees already in the contest includes: Anthony Tashnick, Greg Long, Tyler Smith, Zach Wormhoudt, Shane Desmond, Matt Ambrose, Brock Little, Ryan Seelbach, Ryan Augenstein, Evan Slater, Eraldo Gueiros, Shawn Rhodes, Randy Cone, Grant Washburn, Darryl Virostko, Kenny Collins, Peter Mel, Nathan Fletcher, Mike Gerhardt.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Committee for Green Foothills is asking people to speak up to the Board of Supervisors about their plan for the Midcoast at their upcoming meeting in Half Moon Bay on Tuesday, December 6 from 2pm to 5pm. I’m reprinting their letter here because they’ve done as good a job as I could of laying out the issues and what you need to do.
The recommendations aren’t radical. They want the Supervisors to follow the recommendations of their Planning Commission: a 1% growth rate, keeping development within the bounds of our infrastructure, and preservation of the Devil’s Slide Bypass right-of-way as open space.
If you can’t come to the meeting and can’t send a letter by today, please email your letters to me (or attach them as a comment on this story with your name and address). To send email, click on "Email Barry Parr" on the left-hand navigation bar. I will hand-deliver your letters to the meeting on Tuesday.
Dear Friends,
As many of you know, the state’s Coastal Act is designed to protect our coastal resources. The Act is implemented locally through Local Coastal Programs, which promote the protection of natural resources and good land use throughout the coastal zone.
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has proposed some updates for the Local Coastal Program (LCP) for the Midcoast (El Granada, Miramar, Moss Beach, and Montara) that would weaken environmental protections in this area and promote intensive growth.
Please help speak up for coastal protections — attend the hearing next Tuesday, December 6, or write to the Board of Supervisors by this Friday.
What’s happening
The Supervisors’ proposed plan would bring large and unsustainable growth to the Midcoast and damage our fragile coastal resources. Water and sewer capacity in this region is already taxed. Transportation is problematic and getting worse.
Their proposal would, among other things, allow the addition of 3000-3400 housing units to the some 3700 existing units, and set annual growth limits at 2% — double that of neighboring communities. Importantly, their plan also fails to deal with the troublesome problem of substandard lots, and proposes a 5-7 year delay in dealing with protections for the unused Devil’s Slide Bypass Right-of-Way property, a popular and heavily-used open space area.
What you can do
Instead of the Supervisors’ plan, CGF supports most of the recommendations of the County Planning Commission. For details, visit our website.
Tell the Supervisors to listen to the advice of the Planning Commission and the Midcoast Community Council — the groups that spent years hearing from citizens and making recommendations for a viable Local Coastal Program that would adequately protect coastal resources.
1. Attend the hearing
We know that the real estate and construction lobbyists will be there in force: stand up for coastal protections!
Tuesday, December 6, 2005, 2-5pm
Ted Adcock Center
535 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay
2. Write to the Supervisors
Ask the San Mateo County Supervisors to ensure that the LCP is based on the Coastal Act and protects the Midcoast.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Board President Rich Gordon
Members Mark Church, Jerry Hill, Rose Jacobs Gibson and Adrienne Tissier
400 County Center
Redwood City, 94063
Subject: Midcoast LCP review
Fax 650-599-1027
Time is short: please write to the Supervisors by this Friday, December 2.
Points to make before the Board or in your letter:
Ask the Supervisors to revise the LCP as recommended by the San Mateo County Planning Commission, specifically:
- Set a 1% growth rate to be consistent with that of Half Moon Bay and Pacifica
- Require the merger of substandard lots to make them compatible with the rest of the community, and to ensure that any development that occurs on them will not overtax the water, sewer, and transportation resources
- Move forward now with the surplus Devil’s Slide Bypass Right-of-Way property to ensure the future use of this land (once destined to be a freeway) as a recreational trail.
Please send a copy of your message to CGF so we can track our efforts on this issue: fax 650-968-8431 or email:
For background and more information on the update of the Midcoast LCP, to read CGF’s letters to the County on this issue, and to learn more about Local Coastal Programs, visit our website: http://www.greenfoothills.org/LCP
Please speak up to preserve our coastal resources. Your voice does make a difference!
Many thanks,
The folks at Committee for Green Foothills
Thee National Weather Service has issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Coastal San Mateo county over the next few hours.
...An urban and small stream flood advisory has been issued until 3 pm for coastal sections of San Mateo…Santa Cruz…And Monterey counties…Including the coastal hills.
At 11 am Doppler radar and satellite imagery was indicating enhanced precipitation with convective cloud development about 50 miles offshore from Santa Cruz. This area of development is moving eastward and will impact the central coast over the next few hours. As the precipitation reaches the coast expect occasional rainfall rates of 0.5 To 0.75 Inches per hour. This will cause local flooding of urban areas and smaller streams are expected to show a marked rise in the heavier rain areas. Also…The area of development is building to the west and this will be watched for possible thunderstorm development.
Motorists should be prepared for occasional heavy downpours and allow extra time for travel in localized hazardous driving conditions. As this situation develops this advisory will be updated if conditions become worse than expected
Comcast is raising its standard cable rates by about 7% in January. About 80% of Comcast’s 1.6 million customers in the Bay area buy this tier of service, reports the Mercury News. From the County Times:
"Comcast’s Bay Area market prices reflect increasing operating expenses, in particular higher energy costs, as well as investments that Comcast is making to improve the value of the services," Comcast’s Johnson said in a statement. "Comcast has invested nearly $200 million to maintain and enhance its fiber optic network in the Bay Area" and improve customer service, he said.
Last year, Comcast is raised its rates 5.7% for nearly all Bay Area communities, following rate increases of 5.9% in November 2003 and 6.5% in January 2003. That’s a 28% increase in the four years from 2002 to 2006. The Consumer Price Index increased 8% in the three years from 2002 to 2005.
Happy Thanksgiving! This week, we present an auto burglary on Higgins Purissima Road, DUI at Frenchman’s Creek, vandalism on Main Street in Montara and Princeton, in La Honda a handcuffed suspect tries to smash his way out of the police car and dents the hood with his head, a child is rescued from a runaway car in El Granada, a speeder is found to have a meth and a loaded gun, and " The Sheriff’s Office reminds people to be very careful when loaning expensive items out to friends. "
Click "read more" for details.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS