Comments by Barry Parr
September 15, 2008
I can highly recommend our local Cub Scout pack (and Boy Scout troop) from personal experience. This is a terrific program and definitely worth checking out.
September 06, 2008
Noise is a problem, and aircraft engine noise is an issue that we should be able to discuss without making folks feel foolish for bringing it up. It's random, annoying, and especially frequent when we're likeliest to have our windows open. There is a sense that some pilots are not observing the rules, but it's difficult, if not impossible to prove. Context: I grew up on a series of air force bases, near the flight path of fighter jets on training missions. This is pretty tame by that standard, but…
September 06, 2008
Joel, are you talking about the city council in the eighties and nineties that dug the trenches, installed the drains, and neglected their maintenance, which Judge Walker says constituted a "taking" of Mr. Keenan's property?
September 05, 2008
Steve:
You play the hand you were dealt. No one's arguing that this city council wasn't dealt a lousy hand by Judge Walker.
I'm saying they didn't play their hand well. What do you think?
September 05, 2008
Actually, my favorite quote from this clip is from Naomi Patridge: "People say you need to look at the blogs and see what people are saying. I refuse to look at the blogs and see what people are saying."
September 03, 2008
No sarcasm intended. This is straight-up list of all the mistakes the city council made that brought us to where we are today. I included the failure to appeal in the list with some misgivings because I do think it's something that reasonable people can disagree about. I wouldn't have opposed a reasonable settlement. Regarding government, I misspent a good part of my youth as a Libertarian fellow-traveler. But, in my private-sector career, I've long since come to the conclusion that although big…
September 03, 2008
Steve, this was clearly labeled as opinion. I don't understand why you're not outraged by the city council majority's misfeasance. They're trying to shift the blame to environmentalists, but they chose the battlefield, the opponents and the stakes. Does anyone doubt that the city outspent the environmentalists on lawyers and lobbyists? [Politics is the art of the possible][1], and the HMB city council majority chose to attempt the impossible. With your tax dollars. [1]: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck
September 01, 2008
It would have been a good idea for the city council majority to have started working with Yee on this in February, instead of spending six months and a million bucks on AB1991.
August 19, 2008
Ken, if you want to submit comments on the CUSD, you and the other candidates are welcome to submit all kinds of content and comments in the appropriate places. But this comment is off-topic. Please keep to the topic of the new proposal or other parks-related issues.
August 15, 2008
I'm not out there as often I as I like, but I biked out there a couple of weeks ago and walked across the bluff. This is an extraordinarily beautiful spot and I'm really grateful that POST is keeping it open and improving it.
August 08, 2008
The Review posted an update this afternoon: California Strategies says it was a consulting contract, but... In interviews on Wednesday and Thursday, Keenan did not distinguish between the city's lobbying contract and his consulting contract with California Strategies, saying that he and the city "collectively" hired the firm. According to Keenan, he had no control over the firm's activities. He said he would occasionally receive feedback on the legislative proceedings in Sacramento. Sound like Keenan…
August 05, 2008
About a week after Jonathan's story ran, I got a call from Superintendent Rob Gaskill. He was apologetic for being so late to call, but it turns out it had the wrong number. Superintendent Gaskill told me that it has been CUSD's practice to interview all students leaving school and that when they give the name of the school they will be attending or ask to have their transcripts mailed, they are treated as transfers. This isn't an unreasonable assumption, but it turns out to be wrong. Superintendent…
August 05, 2008
I was tempted to post here, but decided that we really need a separate topic on Coastside real estate price trends, so I started one in Town Hall:
https://coastsider.com/index.php/townhall/viewthread/322/
July 30, 2008
It's not armchair quarterbacking for district residents -- or parents like you and me, Kevin -- to keep on top of what's happening in the district.
It's the knowledge that this information is being shared and discussed in the community that keeps the board and its superintendent on their toes.
July 24, 2008
Thanks for the correction. I've modified the letter slightly to reflect the fact that we have more than on vet in Half Moon Bay.
July 23, 2008
I encouraged Jonathan to post this because I wanted to start looking at the demographics and data on the Coastside generally, and this was a good opportunity to get started. We're a long way from a complete analysis, and if we waited for one, nothing would happen. This is the beginning of a long conversation. This dropout rate is [roughly consistent with the US average][1], according to the US Dept of Ed: In 2007, some 87 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds had received a high school diploma or equivalency…
July 23, 2008
The headline and the text make it clear that the reason the *reported* dropout rate has soared is that the reporting system has changed. Jonathan worked hard to place the CUSD numbers in the state & county context to make certain it was clear that this is not a strictly local problem. However, there is an open question as to why CUSD's historical reported rate was half that of San Mateo County generally, when the new, more accurate numbers show that its dropout rate is exactly the same as the county's.…
July 22, 2008
I don't see silly lawsuits against bible publishers as indicative of a gay threat to religion any more than I consider silly anti-science laws promoted by many Christians as an indication that Christianity is inherently half-witted.
Married people are granted special privileges by the state in taxes, contracts, privacy, access, court, inheritance, and a host of other realms. Marriage has always been about power, privilege, and money. Read your Old Testament.
July 10, 2008
I also have mixed feelings about this. It feels like CUSD expects NCLB (which is broken) to be revised during the two-year "restructuring" period and is trying to run out the clock. Fair enough. I'm not going to hold them to a standard (NCLB) that I don't believe in myself. But this feels like a missed opportunity. With a a majority of people from the current CUSD system (the principal, a district office rep, and a faculty member), no authority, and no budget, I don't know how this group…
July 06, 2008
Brook Stein has published some [additional photos of the parade][1] in a web album.
[1]: http://gallery.mac.com/brookstein#100033&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=0
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