Comments by Leonard Woren

Letter: MWSD not affected by county financial fiasco

Vince, your first question is a non-sequitur. LAIF is the Local Agency Investment Fund, a pooled investment account managed by the State of California. There is only one LAIF for all California entities which choose to use it. I think there are billions in LAIF. GSD has our own treasurer, but staff does the work. The Treasurer basically reviews the work and signs some authorizations.

Letter: MWSD not affected by county financial fiasco

All of Paul's comments regarding MWSD are equally applicable to GSD, since GSD's reserves also are in LAIF. GSD's near-term operational money is in a local branch of a big bank. Regarding the County Fund, Barry asked "Were there any red flags?" Um, maybe the word "County"? Perhaps the districts using the County Treasurer should investigate whether they, like the sanitary districts, are allowed to appoint their own Treasurer and manage their own money.

Film Society screens three humorous polical documentaries, Friday

I saw "Amazing" on PBS a while back. It's a fun film and a great argument for disbanding CalTrans and contracting everything. Too bad C.C. Myers doesn't do tunnels... it would be finished by now. If the other two films are anything at all like "Amazing", this is a must-see film night.

Letter: Just a thought

Way back, while the Airport Master Plan Update was being discussed, MCC had an Airport Committee. I attended most or all of the meetings and learned a lot about this airport. (And by the way Steve, a few people who bought houses in MB have in fact claimed that they didn't know there was an airport there. Kind of hard to miss...) Extending the runway will not require any paving -- just a can of paint and an administrative order. This airport is 5,000' long, but has "displaced thresholds." Those are…

HMB High’s dropout rate soars under new reporting system

I'm not exactly in the habit of saying anything good about CUSD, but the way that I read Jonathan's charts, under the new reporting method CUSD's dropout rate is the same percentage as San Mateo County, and CUSD's dropout rate is a lower percentage than California's. Previously CUSD's under-reporting was more severe than the other groupings. Am I missing something? In any case, all of the dropout rates shown under the new reporting system are appallingly high. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the…

Opinion: “Major Restructuring” comes to Cunha Middle School

Only if they can find one who's pro-maximum-growth, since clearly nothing else has mattered to the CUSD board for at least a decade and a half.

Big Sur homeowners say maritime chaparral protection endangers their homes

I suppose that some people are going to start blaming lightning and dry weather on environmental protection policies. Build in wildland areas, expect wildland fires. Why is that such a difficult concept? People who want to live in those areas need to have houses which are constructed in a manner that they will withstand an encroaching wildland fire. Obviously the "clear a 100 foot buffer" isn't always sufficient protection, and "clear a 10 mile buffer" isn't going to fly. Some time in the late 1980s…

Letter: Fourth of July Spy

Ok, John, for bonus points, without looking it up, who was the [first president of the United States][2]? Hint: it wasn't George Washington. [2]: http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

Letter: Fourth of July Spy

The name of the holiday is "Independence Day", not "July 4". It's depressing how many people don't know that. Of course, even fewer can name more than one or two of the protections enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Not that it matters, since the so-called "USA Patriot Act" effectively repealed the Bill of Rights. The issue mentioned above by Tim Payne is another part of this attack on the Constitution.

Letter: Alternatives to July 4th fireworks?

What would the 2 sides be in a 2008 tug-of-war?

Just the facts: Where’s the water for CCWD?

Every new CCWD customer increases the water cost for all existing CCWD customers. This is simple arithmetic, which "engineer" Jim Larimer denies. The following is an email that I posted to the Midcoast-L discussion list on February 18 of this year. Something that I mentioned at a CCWD board meeting, which was strongly denied by the CCWD directors, is that every new CCWD customer increases costs for every existing CCWD customer. It's really simple. So simple that a PhD can't understand it. Looking…

Opinion: $1,287,500 for recreation: use it or lose it!

Charlie, you have not addressed the fact that we can either shift the property tax money now and raise rates or lose the property tax money and raise rates. I'm still waiting to hear a cogent argument for not doing the shift. Also, you mentioned development in a PUD, I responded that there hasn't been any, and you responded "The house across the street from me was developed on an infill lot and had to put in a well (not enough water)." If I recall, you live in Montara. I'm not aware of any PUD zoning…

Opinion: $1,287,500 for recreation: use it or lose it!

Charlie, pardon me, but what the heck are you talking about? Please identify where on the coastside anything zoned PUD has been developed in recent memory, if ever. And on a well? And thank you for your statement If consolidation undermines your version of “local control” maybe its time for other locals to control. You have finally come out in the open with what I've been saying all along: Most of the coastsiders pushing consolidation are simply unhappy with the current GSD and MWSD boards…

Opinion: $1,287,500 for recreation: use it or lose it!

Charlie's comment completely sidesteps the "move it or lose it" issue which Paul described. The Legislature has been explicit that they are going to keep trying to steal our local property tax money until they succeed. There are only two choices: either we do nothing, lose the local property tax money, and raise sewer rates in GSD and sewer and water rates in MWSD, or we shift the tax money over to the desperately needed parks and recreation services and raise the sewer and water rates. Either way,…

Landowners sue HMB, saying Oak Avenue Park is on their property

Per State Law, the City Council can hire and fire **only**: - The City Manager - The City Attorney - The Police Chief (I think) Hiring and firing of any other employees who report to the above 3 people is the sole province of those 3. Another example: at SAM, the Board has authority over only the General Manager and Counsel. The only way that a City Council is allowed to handle obstinate staff is to tell the City Manager to deal with it. So blaming any Council members for staff-caused problems is…

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Steve, the "weeds" that you hate are where they are due to the wetlands. Transplanting them won't change the current location from being wetlands. And they might not survive in a place that isn't wetlands. Kind of the whole point -- wetlands are special places.

Letter: Why I support Richard Holober for State Assembly

John, doesn't Richard benefit from Nadia's anti-environment work simply because California is a community property state? I'm still in a quandary over who to vote for. Aside from what's already been mentioned above, Richard also made a big point about his history with labor, particularly construction trades unions. By and large, their only concern is maximizing how much is built in order to maximize jobs. Kathryn, is Gina still supporting AB 1991?

AB1991 passes Assembly, moves to the Senate

LAFCo does not have jurisdiction over school districts.

Family sues CUSD over suspension of fourth grader for alleged threats

Here's another bit of hearsay which I got from someone with a likely good source: The parents weren't present for the child's questioning because the school couldn't reach them and in this situation the school wasn't required to wait until the parents could be reached. Far be it for me to defend government, but it would be useful to know the law before making any conclusions. And even the facts of the situation appear to be a bit scarce right now.

HMB mayor, attorney say Coastal Commission staff is lying to legislature

Frank ponders Makes you wonder what Mr. Mullin had to give up in exchange for those votes, doesn’t it? Who knows? Ouch, quack, ouch, quack. Mullin's termed out.

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