While the agenda of the Special Meeting of the Half Moon Bay City Council read "Discussion regarding sale of [the Community Park site]", faced with a room full of citizens largely opposed to the sale of the Community Park site, those members of the City Council who apparently had been pushing for this result backed down.  In fact, at one point, it seemed there was even some question as to where the agenda had come from and who had called the meeting.  It was revisionist city management at its best.  At one point, even Mayor Patridge stated that she had not come to the meeting to sell the park site, which really raises the question as to what this meeting was supposed to be about.

While the meeting turned for a while on the subject of releasing the original due diligence report on the purchase of the Community Park site, even that seemed to be more a way out of discussing, frankly, what was the only agenda item - the sale of the Community Park site.  It appears that this report will probably be released in its entirety, with several council members alluding to the redacted content as not that controversial.  It was also put on the record that the content had been redacted by city staff, including the city attorney, and then approved by the city council - so no great conspiracy there.

In a mark of dedication, the group of us who filed green sheets to speak to this subject at the special meeting had to wait until after 7pm (2 hours later) to finally have our say.  My own words being delayed by City Manager Raines’ too lengthy apology for the special meeting notice not going on the website and a slew of other protocol missteps.  We were at least rewarded with a fine ceremony for the swearing in of our new police chief Don O’Keefe including nice refreshments.

The Coastside Caregiver Coalition Workshop "I am a Caregiver. Now What Do I Do?"  which is headed up by Seton Coastside, will be June 9 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm at the little hall of the IDES Hall at 735 Main St. in Half Moon Bay.

Sessions on a care plan for the caregiver of an elderly or disabled person, how to recognize the signs of dementia, mobility issues, family dynamics, how to pay for care, end-of-life issues, cultural issues for Latinos and available resources on the coast will be highlighted There will be Spanish translation available.

Representatives from the San Mateo County of Aging and Adult Services, Senior Coastsiders, Coastside Adult Day Health Center, Aging Mentor Services, Inc., Family Caregiver Alliance, Dr. Josefina Enriquez, MD, and Seton Coastside will be in attendance.

For questions about the program please call 650-563-7121. If Adult Day Care is needed, please RSVP to the Coastside Adult Day Health Center at 650-726-5067. Drop-off for care will be at 12:00 to 12:30 at the Coastside Adult Day Health Center.Refreshments will be served.

At a meeting called on 24 hours notice Wednesday, the Half Moon Bay City Council majority telegraphed its intention to kill the park site on Pilarcitos Creek that the city bought in October 2004 for a community park. Coastsider had the only camera at this city council meeting, so you can only see the video here.

The meeting was described as a "workshop" to discuss a matrix of park sites, both developed and potential, owned by the city. However, the elephant in the room was the fate of the 21 acres Half Moon Bay purchased from Nurserymen’s Exchange in 2004. At the time current City Council members Marina Fraser and Naomi Patridge spoke out against the plan. (Fraser was on the council in 2004, Patridge was not.) During Wednesday’s meeting, council member McClung made it clear she had misgivings about the site.

Full Disclosure: When Fraser and Patridge came out against the purchase in 2005 with the support of the Review, I editorialized in favor of the purchase. I also wrote a series of articles correcting some of the Review’s coverage of the decisive meeting.

What is bizarre is that in the nearly three years that the city has owned the site, after months of community planning workshops and after a peculiar unitemized estimate from the city’s park consultant, the city has never produced an itemized budget or a plan for developing the parcel. Meanwhile, the site is clearly reverting to a state of nature—which could limit the city’s ability to use or sell it.

And the clock is ticking. The city bought the park site with an interest-free loan from the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). It was estimated at the meeting that the city had saved $750,000 in interest so far, and POST has indicated its willingness to extend the loan if the city agrees to develop it as a park. The loan expires in October, but POST is asking the city to declare its intentions in June. Nurserymen’s has the $3.1 million, the city has the land, and POST is holding the city’s IOU. So, it’s not clear what "walking away" would mean.

Retreating from the site could cost the city a great deal of money.  It is using part of the site as a corporation yard (which it would have to replace), the city could wind up owing interest to POST with nothing to show for it, and the site may not be developable by anyone else.

And there are reasons for the city to use the site for a park. The city could save money now by developing the site in stages, as it grows and its needs become more clear. And there is still no other site for a park within walking distance of downtown, the high school, and the middle school. Everyone at the meeting bemoaned the shortsightedness of a long-ago city council that failed to buy an earlier park site when it became available. Future Half Moon Bay City Councils may regret the loss of this unique site.

Regardless of your feelings about the park, you should watch the discussion of the site, the oral communications from the public, and the city council discussion. There is plenty of good information about the city’s parks in the rest of the video as well. Be sure to download the map and matrix of park sites so you can follow the discussion.

The city council will next take up the parks budget at its meeting on Tuesday, June 5.

NOTE: I’m going to be offline between about noon and midnight.  Please post your comments in the meantime, and I will release them from moderation as soon as I can.

Terrace Park, Arnold Way Park, Magnolia Park, Coastside Community Park (Sewer Plant Road), Smith Field [24 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Half Moon Bay Community Park (Pilarcitos Creek, formerly Nurserymen’s Exchange) [32 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Carter Park, Fernandez Park, Frenchmans’ Creek Park, Kehoe Park, Mac Dutra Park, Oak Avenue Park, Ocean View Park, Poplar Park [8 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

CUSD Facilities (Cunha, Hatch, High School) and Johnston House [8 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Trails [11 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Oral communications [26 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

Council discussion [12 min]  | Quicktime | Flash  |

The Cabrillo Education Foundation (formerly Back to Basics) is launching a new fundraising program designed to bring its endowment to one million dollars by December. 

Every dollar pledged before the end of August will be matched with money from a $220,000 fund contributed by the foundation’s board of directors, David and Mary Butler, Cindy Labuda, Christine and Lenny Mendonca, Patti and Jay Warshauer of Main Street Goldworks and some anonymous donors.

By the end of 2008 the Foundation hopes to reach its original target of two million dollars. Once that goal is achieved, the foundation will begin releasing funds to the schools.

"They’re pretending to be God," Congressman Lantos joked when he saw the simulated stone surfaces at the south portal construction site. It’s probably not the first time anyone has said that about Caltrans, but probably the first time it was intended as a compliment.

Congressman Lantos visited the construction site of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel on Thursday afternoon, May 31. We had an opportunity to drive through the construction at the south portal site, but the real action was at the north portal site, where the bridge over the valley is already beginning to dominate the scene.

Caltrans was eager to show the many places where they had mitigated the loss of wetlands, preserved red-legged frog habitat, and taken smaller steps to ensure the the massive building project did as little collateral damage as possible.

Lantos was clearly happy to see the project getting started. Lantos secured federal funding for a bypass in the early 1980s, and kept it alive until 2005, when the Caltrans finally got approval to build a tunnel instead.

Click any photo to see our album. We’ll update the photos with more detailed captions later.

The annual Pillar Point Ocean Kayak Race, a 7-mile open ocean event, takes place on Saturday, June 2, 2007. The classic offshore course circles the buoy near Mavericks. The route follows deep water out, and returns across the reef at Pillar Point. The surf breaks on submerged rocks here, but expert paddles can safely negotiate a narrow channel, or catch a ride across the reef. Alternate routes allow racers to stay away from the surf and return via deep water. Don’t miss the favorite local event of elite Bay Area kayak racers. Open ocean kayak experience is required for all racers, and you must bring a compass in case of fog.

A Kayak Demo Day takes place the following day, Sunday June 3rd. Test-drive new models of fiberglass sea kayaks, touring kayaks, recreational kayaks, sit-on top kayaks, Hobie pedal-boats, or canoes.

Race Day: Saturday, June 2nd, 2007
Registration: ($25) 9:00 a.m.
Race Starts: 10:00 a.m.
Demo Day: Sunday, June 3rd, 2007
$10 Kayak Demos
Kids under 12 free! 
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Half Moon Bay City Council will hold a special budget workshop meeting at 7:30pm tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Adcock Center. Aside from oral communications, the only item on the agenda is "Staff Presentation of Proposed Parks & Trails Facilities Projects".

Members of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission were notified by email at 11am today. Notice of the meeting was posted late this afternoon on the city’s website.