A large group of killer whales has been spotted off Half Moon Bay. It’s not unheard-of, but it doesn’t happen very often, reports the Chronicle.

"It’s exciting for us because they traveled so far to get to California, which means they can travel farther than people thought to find food," said Nancy Black, a marine biologist and whale expert for Monterey Bay Whale Watch. "Before, it was just transient (orcas) that have been seen in Bay Area. This is something unusual."

Ken Balcomb, senior scientist and founder of the Center for Whale Research, which has tracked the pod in Washington for 30 years, said the whales, including a mother and calf, were positively identified through the photos as members of a family group called "K-pod."

Based on observations made a little over a week earlier off Half Moon Bay, Balcomb believes that members of "L-pod" are also in the vicinity. If they are, it would mean that as many as 63 whales could be spread out over 30 miles around the Farallones.

The appearance of the whales this far south suggests that their supply of salmon in their usual habitat is shrinking.

There’s also a report with photos (no film) of the whales on the KCBS website.

A man who broke his leg a quarter-mile offshore on his personal watercraft was rescued by the Half Moon Bay Fire Department and the Coast Guard. The incident happened Sunday afternoon about ten miles south of Half Moon Bay, reports the County Times.

High Tech High School, a California Public Charter School located in Redwood City is holding an open house Saturday. The school’s principles include small school size, openness of facilities, personalization, emphasis on project-based learning and student exhibitions, a requirement that all students complete community internships, and ample planning time for teacher teams during the work day. 

HTH will hold an informational meeting on the Coastside, where parents can meet current students and parents from the coast, and get a hands on feel for the school. Limited openings are also available for 10th and 11th grade for 2007-08
419 Correas Street, Half Moon Bay
Saturday, February 3rd 4:00 – 6:00pm
Questions:  Please call 650-726-7125

As is well known, the City of Half Moon Bay suffers a severe deficiency of parks and playing fields for our youth and adults. Why, then, would our City Council adopt a stance that works against the Boy’s and Girl’s Club? Let me explain.

According to the local paper, the majority on the current council proposes to reinterpret the Pacific Ridge Settlement Agreement to eliminate the highway widening/traffic signal at Terrace Avenue—which would also extend the westside frontage road to connect with that intersection.  That extension would have provided signalized access to westside residents, farmers, the Sewer Plant, the projected Boys and Girls Club, and the projected parksite.  If this reinterpretation is pulled off then the decades old struggle, supposedly supported by some members of this current city council, to have the Boy’s and Girl’s Club and playing fields located near the sewer plant is either just about to become a dead issue, or someone is planning to stick the taxpayers with the bill.

Why? Because the 1997 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club and playing fields, at this location, stated that it could not be approved without a Highway 1 signalized intersection to handle the increased traffic. There was other deficiencies in the DEIR that might have been resolved but not the lack of a traffic light.

The question of the lack of a signalized intersection for the Boy’s and Girl’s Club was almost about to be eliminated because access to Highway 1 would be accomplished with the Terrace Avenue widening/signalization/extension.

I’m very concerned that this kind of isolated decision making, this reactive no recognition of consequences, is, sadly, the order of the day.

John Lynch
Frenchman’s Creek

Who knew? I looked at the January 11th Planning Commission (PC) Agenda prior to the meeting. There were two items on it; both had staff recommendations for postponement to a future PC meeting. It should have been a 15 minute meeting (Pledge of Allegiance, couple of light hearted jokes, attention to each item, and adjournment), leaving everyone time for a beer after the meeting before going home. I decided not to go. Little did I know.

Although I don’t condone the berating of our Planning Director by two of our PC Commissioners, where instead Robert’s Rules of Order, decorum in debate, should have prevailed, they exposed more than a few very important points. I commented on these at the January 25th PC meeting. I’d like to share those concerns with a broader audience.

First, the Planning Director works for the City Manager, who serves at the pleasure of the City Council. He does not work for the PC. He is there as a resource, and to help guide the PC; that’s it, period! In addition, the Chair of the PC is charged with maintaining order at the meetings; he did not. Our Planning Director did nothing knowingly wrong and civility and respect is a required component at all public meetings.
 
I was present at the City Council meeting a year ago when the Administrative CDP process was discussed. The purpose was clear to everyone. It was intended as a means of reducing the PC workload. That might include replacing a sidewalk in one’s front yard, or perhaps replacing a balcony, or building a dog house in one’s back yard. I don’t recall a $22 Million project, in the center of town, being part of the deal. I think it’s fair to say that the Administrative CDP process needs clarification and hopefully will get that attention shortly, as a result of this action. That’s a good thing.

The City of Half Moon Bay Recreation Division has new classes and activities starting in February.

Class/Activity,  Ages, Begins
Basketball Camp (Presidents Week), 7-12, 2/19-2/23
Surf Camp (Presidents Week), All, 2/19-2/23
Full Moon Kayaking, Adult, 2/2
Parent & Tot Soccer (Two class choices), 3 - 4 1/2, 2/5 & 2/11
Kuk Sool – Tiger Tots, 3-5, 2/6
After School Soccer, 5-7, 2/7
After School Soccer – Advanced,  8-12, 2/7
Secret to Wealth & Well-being, Adult, 2/10
Family Sea Kayaking Paddle, 3 & up, 2/10 & 2/25
MMAP Soccer, 5-7, 2/11
MMAP Soccer – Advanced, 8-12, 2/11
Fencing – Introduction, 7-19, 2/13
Jewelry Making,  All, 2/21

Each month new recreation classes and activities are offered to the community. Registration is easy. Just log onto www.hmbcity.com where you can register for these classes and others on the new online registration system using your credit card. If you prefer you can always register in person at the Ted Adcock Community Center located at 535 Kelly Avenue in Half Moon Bay. Credit cards, checks and money are accepted.

The Chronicle has a nice story on the struggle by customers of Coastside Gourmet Coffee and Chai to save a local Coastside institution.

"He makes the best chai this side of Jaipur," said Kathy Rehm, referring to India’s fabled Pink City. "You ain’t going to get the likes of that at Peet’s, I tell you that."

Teens from Half Moon Bay High School throng the shop after class, hanging out, doing their homework and seeking advice from Bechar and his son, Raj, a teacher at nearby Cunha Intermediate School. A local hardware store worker and an aging surfer swap tales with techies and real estate types under Tibetan prayer flags and the watchful eye of the Dalai Lama, whose photo is perched above the counter.

More than a dozen customers have vowed to appear at next Tuesday’s city council meeting.

What do you do when good people, people you consider to be your friends, make bad decisions—bad decisions that are not only self-defeating, but hurt the community?

MCTV does a great job of taping public meetings on the Coastside. They’ve done it for decades and for scant rewards.  MCTV’s camera operators are out there every night of the week with camera and tripod, when they could be home with their families.  They provide a valuable service and we’re lucky to have them working for us.  But the fruits of their labor could be more accessible to the Coastside community:

• Because the meetings are cablecast gavel-to-gavel, you have to watch two or three (or four or five or more!) hours of blah-blah-blah to see the agenda item you’re interested in.  That is, if you know it’s coming before MCTV transmits it.  You could tape it, but that’s not an ideal solution either.
• If you miss it—because you didn’t remember, or you didn’t know in time that something interesting was going on, or your VCR jammed, or Comcast was on the fritz, or you were just too busy at work to get home in time—you’re out of luck. Unless you pay MCTV $30 in advance for a DVD to be created just for you and delivered at some date in the future.  That is, of course, if you’re able to catch them on the phone or in their office. As a nonprofit, their office hours are pretty irregular. Last year, I left a message asking if they had a recording of a particular meeting. I never heard back from them.
• If you don’t have cable—because you prefer satellite, you can’t get cable, or don’t own a TV—you’re out of luck. Unless you buy DVD’s of every meeting from MCTV.
• MCTV’s schedule is idiosyncratic.  Sometimes meetings are transmitted the next day, sometimes it takes a week.  You can’t predict when they will be shown.  Today, as I write this, MCTV’s schedule is inaccessible from their website—but you can get it here on Coastsider.
• MCTV’s approach made more sense in 1985 than it does now.  Video on the Internet has changed everything.  And MCTV has not kept up.

In order to remain absolutely neutral, MCTV commits to cablecasting meetings from beginning to end. That’s commendable. But, the truth is that only a small portion of what MCTV shows can be described as newsworthy.

Coastsider wants to digitize just those portions of MCTV’s recordings that are newsworthy and make those available to the public on the Web. This not only solves the problems outlined above, but puts local government meeting in a context where they can be seen by many more people—at their convenience—and understood by a wider range of the community. We tried to do that once and MCTV’s lawyer (Executive Director Connie Malach’s husband Mike Day) ordered us to take it down.

We want MCTV to let anyone who’s interested redistribute their recordings. The reasons for this are ethical, practical, and legal.

The sale of land by the city of Half Moon Bay to an elected water district director has set off a controversy in the city’s planning commission.

In April 2005, in a closed session, the City Council agreed to sell a lot on Highway 1, just north of the former Ono Grill [Google map], to Ken Coverdell, the owner of an adjacent lot. Coverdell is a director the County Coastside Water District (CCWD). Coverdell plans to merge the two lots in order to build an undisclosed visitor-serving project. The sale came before the planning commission because the city still hasn’t completed the sale, which it must do before Coverdell can apply for a permit.

Planning Commissioner Kevin Lansing has raised concerns that the selling price of $180,000 was significantly less than the property is worth.  Citing advertisements for similar property in the most recent Half Moon Bay Review, some commissioners suggested that value was closer to $275,000 to $300,000. Lansing was also concerned that the city agreed to pay half the closing costs for the sale when the usual practice is for the buyer to pay.

Several questions were raised at the meeting that remain to be answered. City staff contend that the planning commission has no right to question a sale that was decided by the city council and that because the decision was made in a closed session, the city doesn’t have to reveal how it came to a price.

In one dramatic moment, after a motion was seconded and just before the mattter came to a vote, city staff produced a letter from the city attorney that it offered to share with the commission during a recess on as privileged basis.

The plannning commission voted to continue the item, with direction to staff to bring back evidence to show whether the City had received fair value for the property and whether the land had been offered in a way that would allow other members of the public a chance to make an offer. The motion passed 4 to 3. Voting yes: Kevin Lansing, Jack McCarthy, Linda Poncini, Doug Snow. Voting No: Thomas Roman, Patric Johnsson, Jeff Allis

This is not a simple partisan squabble of the type that the Coastside is used to.  The deal was made by the previous city council majority (council members Mike Ferreira, Jim Grady, Marina Fraser, and David Gorn were in the closed meeting) to Coverdell, a CCWD director and political ally of the current city council majority.  Lansing was nominated to the planning commission by David Gorn.