Comments by Barry Parr

Guided hike at Rancho Corral de Tierra in Montara, Sat May 15

I also participated on the trip and was happy to see the big turnout, both from the Coastside and from other Bay Area communities. It was a great opportunity to see our back yard through the eyes of folks from the other side of the hill. It made me appreciate how lucky we are to be living here. The turnout from the National Park Service was also good to see.

Open letter to Planning Director Jim Eggemeyer: We’re losing patience with your secrecy on Big Wave

Kevin, which parts of the draft EIR do you think are unnecessary? Granted, the DEIR is a long document, but a *lot* of it is boilerplate, pasted in by the consultant, providing important background and requiring no additional labor.

Open letter to Planning Director Jim Eggemeyer: We’re losing patience with your secrecy on Big Wave

It's instructive to read Sabrina's letter and Mr. Byer's response. He describes Sabrina's statements as "incorrect", makes an irrelevant assertion, and then fails to refute Sabrina's point, which is that this appears to be a mysterious departure from the county's traditional practice, made without notice or adequate explanation.

San Mateo County Deprives Unincorporated Midcoast of Federal Stimulus Funding

You're overstating the harshness of the rhetoric. I don't recall the word "pimp" or "scum" being used. Although "shill" has a ring of familiarity. I don't believe name-calling is helpful. But when you don't have any leverage, ridicule may be the best tool you have at your disposal.

MCC holding Supervisor candidate forum, Wednesday

MCTV does typically film MCC meetings. In my experience, you don't want to bet the farm on them showing up, getting a usable recording, and showing it at the scheduled time, but they're probably a 10 to 1 favorite for pulling it off successfully.

MCC holding Supervisor candidate forum, Wednesday

Thanks to the MCC for putting this event on. It should be noted that Coastsiders can also vote in the election for the supervisor representing District 2. This is emblematic of the stupidity of at-large elections for the board of supervisors. Carol Groom was appointed and she only has token opposition. There is no incumbent running for Rich Gordon's seat, so it's a free-for-all. Meanwhile, we vote on candidates to represent a community we don't live in (District 2), and there is no Coastside forum…

San Mateo County Deprives Unincorporated Midcoast of Federal Stimulus Funding

Darin, I don't buy the argument that the county or the supervisors are ignoring the Coastside because we criticize them for ignoring us. Of course, if we rolled over or even cheered for every half-baked scheme they foisted on us that we'd get more of what we wanted. i.e., more half-baked schemes. This is about political power. In an at-large election, the San Mateo County Association of Realtors and the building trade unions have more clout than the residents of the Midcoast, or other communities…

The Scoop on tropical produce

Thanks for asking. I've updated the story.

Civil rights group to speak on legality of county’s at-large elections, Weds Apr 7

I would support proportional distribution of electoral votes only if it were done in such a way that the outcome of the next election would reflect the popular vote. That's the whole point of the exercise. No one's playing the "race card". The argument is legal, not racial. You mention Anglo vs. Latino. You might also want to note that there are no Asians on the board of supervisors. How'd that happen? Regarding the Coastside's share of any proposed district, that's not an argument against district…

Civil rights group to speak on legality of county’s at-large elections, Weds Apr 7

Kevin, I agree that the Electoral College is a disaster. But, unless most states adopt the solution at the same time as California, it would unduly advantage the Republicans. One solution to this standoff is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It was passed both houses of the California legislature before being vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact

Will there be a local book signing for June’s newest book?

Yes, plans are being made for a launch party for June Morrall's new book.

Big Wave developers are responding to the DEIR comments themselves due to lack of funding

If the county departed from its established CEQA procedures of using outside consultants for this particular development, it's a huge issue. Big Wave may be bigger than any development ever built in the unincorporated county, i.e. in the jurisdiction of the county's planning department. To simply say they're changing the rules because the EIR was more expensive than contemplated suggests the county's already in over its head on this project. And that Big Wave is getting special treatment. Apparently…

Photo: Baby snakes!

The latest, most-professional identification on these babies is that they're garter snakes. Montara's penguins are safe.

Photo: Baby snakes!

Regardless of their identity, I had to share this tidbit from the Wikipedia article:Whipsnakes are known to eat a variety of live animals including insects, lizards, snakes, birds, penguins and small mammals (Stebbins 2003, Swaim 1994)Penguins!

Accident between car and cyclist has closed Hwy 1 southbound at Devil’s Slide

Biasism?

Congresswoman Jackie Speier in Pacifica, Saturday

I'm not interested in debating the issue here, but Kevin's use of the quotes around the word "need" reminded me of these awesome charts from http://fivethirtyeight.com Gallup provided the verbatim responses of the rationales given by people who would tell their Congressman to vote for or against the current health care bills, respectively. Nate Silver ran the responses through Wordle, a word-cloud generating tool. Here are the words that were used most frequently by the 45 percent of the country…

Pacifica examines widening part of Hwy 1 to six lanes

We use the vet on that stretch of Hwy 1. A couple of years ago, we took Fireball to the vet. Julia was six and as soon as she got out of the car, she put her hands on her ears. I don't blame her. I've been keeping track of sound levels in my day-to-day life, so I have some point of reference. At Vallemar, the measured sound level was about the same as the advertising in the movie theaters in Daly City or the Sea Bowl in a relatively quiet moment. A couple more lanes would definitely increase the…

Pacifica examines widening part of Hwy 1 to six lanes

That particular stretch of Hwy 1 is particularly unpleasant and potentially dangerous for pedestrians, including the patrons of the businesses on the east side of the highway. Widening the highway will exacerbate the problem. This will only seem like an improvement if you don't live in the neighborhood, or if you never leave your car.

Sam’s Chowder House Hosts Fundraiser Supporting the Big Wave Project

I've added the flyer for the event to Dave's post. Dave had emailed to me when he posted the letter, but I was unable to post until now. If Sam's or Big Wave had sent me the flyer, I would have been happy to run it. I don't support Big Wave, but we don't limit access to Coastsider based on points of view. This fundraiser illustrates some of the complexity associated with Big Wave. I have two sets of issues with the project. The first is that it's the wrong project for that site, and the wrong site…

CUSD to finalize cuts Weds, protests planned

It's not clear to me whether the protesters are demanding different budget cuts, trying to raise the public's consciousness about the cuts, or feel that the board is partially responsible for the current situation. Or possibly some combination of all three.

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