Comments by Carl May
November 02, 2007
All anyone needs to do is look at Bulan's list of prime supporters to know what he is all about. If you are new to the area and harbor some misguided notion that most candidates hereabouts are objective and altruistic--well, you should know that what we are seeing is a bit of local theater. Nonetheless, virgins to midcoast politics need go no farther than Bulan's overly general, oblique, and/or evasive responses to questions to understand that he doesn't know diddly about how the MWSD is currently…
November 01, 2007
So now, every time a car is broken into and trashed on the coastside--an act that happens fairly often in parking lots and neighborhoods--local firefighters and their union are tainted by it? A firefighter who lives in my neighborhood had some items stolen from a vehicle parked outside his house a couple of years ago, and it's just shocking to now learn his colleagues were somehow involved. So reassuring to know someone is running for our now meaningless Point Montara fire district board who can…
October 31, 2007
During a dedicated but futile attempt to "Carmeli$e" HMB over the past decade or more, it appears the real town slipped out between the fingers of city government and the Chamber of Commerce.
Carl May
October 30, 2007
If you look at Mackintosh's record, he took a problem-solving approach to his terms on the board, not an approach where he simply wished to ship out any difficulties he was not competent to handle. The other two alternative candidates running with Mackintosh have not been on the HMB district board; but if you look at their responses during candidate sessions, they, too, do not jump to admit their incompetence and give up on problems by washing their hands of them. I'd suggest that people look at…
October 30, 2007
"The new Coastside Fire Protection District board will inherit a department in crisis. The good news is that the combined boards have agreed to the one solution left to us: contracting out services to Cal Fire." So, we should vote for the people on the board or a newcomer representing the philosophy that created and prolonged the crisis (actually crises, as there is more amiss to be addressed than the contracting out or services)? Interesting approach--vote for the ones who have been mucking around…
October 29, 2007
"All that was missing was the marching band with the drum majorette. And why shouldn’t we celebrate?" Sorry for taking the above out of context. But we shouldn't celebrate because the entire process had the end effect of terminating two independent, long-standing, and self-maintaining local businesses. Because the willingness of Peet's to move in and pay a rent that an investment entity wanted (or needed) based on stupidly overpaying for the property was a big factor, Peet's became a facilitator…
October 27, 2007
“I’m assuming we’re going to have enough to serve the ones who are on the wells and the ones who develop,” he said. What does he, Bob Ptacek, mean by this statement? Does he mean the district will have enough water for fire protection of properties, existing and to be built, that are on wells? Or does he mean there will be enough water for people now on wells to get off wells and into the system plus enough water to serve new development hooked into the system? I'd hate to hear the district…
October 19, 2007
Darin, Let me add my thanks for the video sessions with the candidates. Adding what one already knows about the candidates and their past records to the in-person interviews gives a better picture of the people involved than printed campaign materials and paid-for campaign puffery can hope to convey. Now that we in Montara and Moss Beach are going to be stuck with any Old Guard political mudheads elected in the Half Moon Bay district because of the undemocratic consolidation of the districts forced…
October 09, 2007
Coastside people voting for the kind of public safety services they want? What a novel concept! Sure we should have a vote of the people served before contracting out to a remote bureaucracy. But we should also have had a vote regarding the wiping out of the Point Montara District in the consolidation with Half Moon Bay. Where were the firefighters on the consolidation issue? Why, they were going along with the decisions of the boards that they now are fighting on staffing control. The upshot of…
September 18, 2007
So, cover a scraped-away hillside at the south portals with sprayed-on shotcrete (or something like that) a day or two before, then grind a hole in it with a big machine for a photo-op? This is all about what, exactly? And all the media headlines about this being the beginning of construction of the tunnels project. Huh? They have already spent and done several times as much on the tunnels as would have been necessary to dewater and bolster the landslide along the lines of the most elaborate suggestions…
September 14, 2007
Thank you so much for informing me on where and when I should comment on highway scams, Kevin. Clever idea that I should use an alternative energy fair as a metaphor for highway matters. Could it be that you are trying to get us all to think of the overall energy usage involved in large highway construction projects, both in the building and eventual use of the projects versus the same energy costs of alternative projects? How stupid of me not to think of net energy costs and consequences. The "notables"…
September 13, 2007
You're right, Sam. Tomorrow morning I'll check my eyes, ears, and brains on the way out the door and let my nose take me to the last surviving wild rose on the midcoast so I can have a good sniff. By then it might be late enough to head over to Redwood city without getting clogged in Half Moon Bay traffic, where I'll initiate the procedure to change my middle name to "Pollyanna."
Carl May
September 11, 2007
No question, the well-meaning urban mindset can work something like this into a positive rather than recognize it for the slower-growing (vs. the unlamented bypass) environmental and economic cancer it really is.
Carl May
September 07, 2007
Yeah, let's all get out there and cheer and give thanks for the oversized mess and overextended delay, unnecessary scale of coastal land destruction, waste of hundreds of millions of dollars, and setup for a four-lane highway from Montara to Pacifica.
Carl May
September 04, 2007
With apologies to any who have previously seen this message sent in response to a private e-mail. Could it be any plainer? Montara and Moss Beach are overpopulated in terms of water supply. Long has it been so. But consider this: a community is not properly served with water if it cannot meet minimal needs for health and safety in the *leanest* water years, not just the generally average years during which most recent shortages have been experienced. So MMB should be using water availability during…
August 31, 2007
"...may also be getting a pass..." C'mon, Barry, you know the majority of voters that chose the current ruling combine in the CCWD will give him a pass--those who even chance to hear about this little embarrassment, that is. From backstabbing coffee shop prattle to the dirty-trick ad next to Jonathan Lundell's in the Review, this is standard fare for some local politicians who are re-elected time and again. And obviously excusable according to the unpublicized editorial policies of the local newspaper…
August 30, 2007
Oh, sure, I'm going to beat it right down to spend my hard-earned at a place that is blocking coastal views, is adding acres of hardscaping, will make midcoast traffic even worse, will compete with existing local businesses, will house and cater to free-spending YUPs and tourons willing to pay elite prices, will further draw down scarce coastal resources, etc. I don't go to businesses in Half Moon Bay that are inconvenient to reach and have always been on the side of making my Montara and Moss Beach…
August 09, 2007
I was referring to the Pacific porbeagle, aka the salmon shark. (It seems to be at least a bit unsettled as to whether or not the Atlantic porbeagle and the salmon shark are distinct, separate species.) At this size, this one could be a juvenile Pacific porbeagle that does not yet have the dark spots in the light ventral areas. Might also be a small/juvenile mako for all I know. The dorsal fin shape and the stockier body are more in the porbeagle gestalt. From the photo I can't see whether or not…
August 08, 2007
Also nothing close to an expert, but it looks to me like it might be a small porbeagle.
Carl May
August 01, 2007
Highway 1 in a trench, even with pedestrian and vehicle overcrossings, has still been a moderate disaster for the communities in the northern half of Pacifica. The freeway trench represents a noisy barrier, an inconvenience, that the crossings can't overcome, harming community cohesion and business on both sides. The details in HMB are different, of course. But be careful of the powers that take over ideas and turn them into self-benefitting messes, like the monsterpiece the twin-tunnel project has…
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