As Coastsiders wrestle with ways to reduce their carbon footprints [or environmental impact], many search out the wisdom of neighbors who’ve developed their own solutions or businesses who can help implement solutions for others.  On September 27, over 25 Coastside individuals and businesses will participate in the 3rd Annual Coastside Eco-Tour to share their hands-on expertise with those contemplating sustainability initiatives of their own

On Saturday, Sep 27 from 1 to 4 pm will be the FREE Third Annual Coastside Eco-Solar Tour, featuring homes, businesses, non-profits and government agencies displaying solar systems and many other products and services promoting sustainable life styles.

There will be over 25 stops on the Tour. Each will have unique displays of ways to promote sustainability. All will feature Coastside homes, businesses and grass roots groups from Montara to the south side of Half Moon Bay.

Complete information and maps will be available on our web site at:

          http://www.Eco-Solar-Tour.org

Visitors can choose which stops to visit during this three hour, self directed Tour. There is no cost. Just visit the web site, download the info on the stops of interest, and join your friends and neighbors in learning how to make a difference.

This Tour won’t solve the world’s problems tomorrow, but if each of us moves in the right direction, we can leave our kids and grandkids a world not worse off for our having lived here.

Last week, All Things Considered carried remarkable report on how the law is used to cut down trees to preserve citizens’ views of billboards. This is about the legal rights of billboard owners to make you look at their advertising.

It’s not a local story, but it’s a good point of reference as we discuss the conflict between property rights and public good on the Coastside.

Highway 192 [in Osceola County, Fla.] used to be exceptionally plain. It was lined by weed-filled ditches, with no sidewalks and poor lighting. It was drab.

So the property owners voted to tax themselves $29 million to make the roadway safer and prettier.

"Look at it today," says Lizasuain. "We have 10-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road. We have bicycle paths, well-lit bus shelters, information-filled kiosks. And that’s not even mentioning the beautiful landscaping that we have out here."

The landscaping included 360 palms, 300 oleanders and 1,400 loquats, among other trees. But as the county made these improvements several years ago, some people were not happy.

"We alerted [the county] that ... we’ve got a problem," recalls Craig Swygert. He heads the Orlando division of Clear Channel Outdoor, which owns billboards along Highway 192.

"The billboards were there first, and the trees started popping up, and they were done so in a way that they would block the view of the billboard," he says. He argued that by planting the trees where it did, the government was acting unfairly. "It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you a permit to be in business, but then we’re going to take it away after you’ve already invested all this money.’"

Clear Channel and other billboard companies complained that beautification projects on a number of Florida roads threatened their business, so they lobbied the state Legislature for protection.

In 2006, lawmakers drafted a bill to outlaw the planting of trees on the public right-of-way in front of billboards. Each sign would be guaranteed a 500-foot-long view, uninterrupted by a single branch of leaf.

A few months later, the state transportation agency announced that 38 of the newly planted trees were in violation of the law and would have to be cut down.

There’s more, and it’s a definite must-read or must-listen.

This is for early bird walking/hiking enthusiasts who want to spend more time outdoors in a social setting! http://hiking.meetup.com/573/

Hope to see you soon!

Giselle "Gigi" Stahl

Half Moon Bay now has a satellite campus of the College of San Mateo with 390 students signed up for 19 different classes, including accounting, golf and guitar, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

A college campus on the Coastside has been more then 50 years in the making, and local officials have been unstinting in their support. The San Mateo Community College District always had plans for one, buying 160 acres south of Half Moon Bay back when it acquired land for College of San Mateo, Canada College and Skyline College. That location was not feasible, though, and the land is currently planted with Brussels sprouts.

The new campus opened at just the right time to host a conversational Italian class that 78-year-old Edwina Charles lobbied Tilmann for after she and her friends lost their former Italian teacher at Senior Coastsiders last year. Charles and her fellow classmates took a trip to Italy together this summer to practice their language skills, and they are reunited this fall in their brand-new classroom.

For a list of local courses, visit collegeofsanmateo.edu/coastside.

Review writer Stacy Trevenon has just written a history of Kings Mountain, reports Julia Scott in the County Times.

The tall, majestic groves of redwoods are the heart of this wooded enclave, but there was a time when Kings Mountain was far more famous for the lumbermen who eviscerated an entire region of 1,000-year-old redwoods with cool efficiency in the course of just 70 years.

"There were loggers up here who denuded the mountain," said Trevenon. "They would timber out the area and pick up the mill and just move it."

The scrappy, knockabout lives of lumbermen get plenty of attention in the first chapters of Trevenon’s new history book, "Kings Mountain," published in August and available at several Coastside bookstores.

The milling rush forever transformed the landscape — 60 square miles of mountain ridgetop and gulch area between Skyline Boulevard and incorporated Woodside — and Tevenon has unearthed a treasure trove of dramatic black-and-white photographs of ox teams and mill workers dwarfed by the stature of the redwood trees they felled, some up to 75 feet.

"Kings Mountain" from Arcadia Publishing is available at several stores in Half Moon Bay, including Cunha Country Store, the Bay Book Co. and Moon News Bookstore. It is also available online at Amazon.com and ArcadiaPublishing.com

Cub Scouting is FUN (with a purpose)!

For 75 years, Cub Scouts have learned about life, built character and had lots of fun in the process. In his first year of Scouting, a boy might…

 

• Go camping

 

• Sleep on a square-rigged sailing ship

 

• Learn archery safety

 

• Help give food to the needy

 

• Go on a (age-appropriate) hike

 

• Practice a home fire drill

 

• Sing Christmas carols to seniors

 

• Visit a newspaper office

 

• Learn BB-gun safety

 

• Visit an airport

 

• Take a lady (Mom) on a date

 

• Go for a bike ride

 

• See a ball game

 

• Learn phone manners

 

• Go to a fire station

 

• Fly a kite

 

• Be in a parade

 

• Ride on a Sea Scout ship on the Bay

 

• Learn whittling safety

 

• Sleep on a real submarine

 

• Visit a TV station

 

• Go on a picnic

...and develop according to the 12 core values of Cub Scouting: Citizenship, Compassion, Cooperation, Courage, Faith, Health and Fitness, Honesty, Perseverance, Positive Attitude, Resourcefulness, Respect, Responsibility

All First through Fifth Grade boys and their parents and siblings are invited to visit Coastside Cub Scouts at our regular monthly Pack meeting:

Farallone View School
Thursday, September 18, at 7PM

Roy Stahl [email protected] 408-832-6730
Bill Baron [email protected] 650-728-1842

Come have fun, with a purpose. We look forward to meeting you!

I do hope you’ll forgive the long distance between versions of Field Notes! I have been a busy, busy gal lately, and Field Notes had to go by the wayside while I messed about with little projects like, oh, running the Marketplace part of Slow Food Nation for one thing, and trying to get a bunch of hens some kind of refuge from marauding wildlife.  Namely me.  

While I have been remiss in the missive department, that should not suggest I have been missing other market missives, and maddeningly there have been a few of late that have mislead many Marketeers into thinking the season is closer to and end than is strictly true.  So - here, straight from the source is the real poop. 

The Market is scheduled to run well into December, ending on December 17 in Pacifica, and December 20 in Half Moon Bay.  There, I’ve said it. 

And yes, it’s true, many of our farmers will begin easing out for the season as yields wane, but they are all here now, and will be through late Novmeber as always. Then a few will drop for the season , but then  we’ll be joined by a few choice locals as Crab season opens in November, the citrus comes on real strong just in time to combat winter colds, and any number of gorgeous squashes are at their peak in the late fall early winter months. 

Coastsider’s Gallery is back after being offline for a couple of weeks following our move to a new server. As always, to go there, click on "Gallery" in the top menu.

In checking my receipt from Safeway today I noticed a new section at the bottom of it with this web site:  http://backtoschools.escrip.com/  Also in the same section of the receipt is a number identifying the transaction.  When you go to the ‘backtoschools’ website all you need to do is to enter the name or zip code of the school you wish to donate to and the id number from your receipt for an amount equivalent to ten percent of your purchase to be donated to the school.  The deadline for entering the information is Oct. 13, 2008.  If we all do this the community can make a significant difference in our schools in the upcoming year.