Comments by Carl May
November 17, 2006
Anyone who followed the realities of the above-ground bypass in the 80's and early 90's knows Caltrans lowballed it for years in an attempt to make it look good by comparison. Then, as the minimizing was no longer necessary after various rounds of approvals were in hand, the estimated costs jumped dramatically with each round. Time and again. Caltrans is all about maximizing expenditures through whatever rationalizations the agency can muster. That is how the agency, like all agencies, gets its power…
November 16, 2006
Leonard,
We're on Caltrans time and Caltrans accounting now. Questioning any of it is just sending vibrations off into the ozone.
The main construction currently going on is for the bridges on the north end. Nothing done on the tunneling for months, other than to remove brush from the area of the south portals, and from the bids it doesn't look like anything will fire up for more months. It's an expensive rape, but not a quick one.
Carl May
November 16, 2006
And the figures being reported are only the "A" parts of the bids. Go to the video to see the "B" parts that add almost another 10 percent to the cost.
Carl May
November 14, 2006
Up, up, up she goes. Where she peaks, nobody knows. The *lower* bid of slightly under $300 million for just the tunneling phase of the project should remind many of the heady Measure T campaign when one tunneling firm estimated about $60 million for the same work. (Of course, that was before the unnecessary doubling of the tunnels from one to two.) Before it is done, the two tunnels under Devil's Slide will rewrite the definition of "fiscal flatulence." Or at least they would if there was not the…
November 03, 2006
Looks like someone doesn't know that some houses in Miramar were built callously and greedily (to say nothing of being in violation of zoned lot size requirements)in a tsunami hazard zone. Why would someone wish to respect the feelings of someone who knowingly does something stupid like that? They set themselves up for a little sarcastic ribbing, don't they?
Carl May
November 02, 2006
A "tasteful addition"? Oops, too late.
Carl May
November 01, 2006
Gee, if it takes five engine stations for fire protection and emergency services, I guess all the little one-horse towns and rural areas beyond throughout the West should just throw in the towel and let their communities burn. (And, no, not all of these turn operations over to CDF in California.)
Carl May
November 01, 2006
So, is there a specific format in which Bob's name must be written-in for the vote to count?
Carl May
November 01, 2006
Stella and Bob Pilgrim, as Pacifica citizens, have been involved with Highway 1 in this stretch for decades, quite without prompting from the Sierra Club. Why would this particular piece of Highway 1 be studied for widening when it is already the width of the highway on both ends, namely two lanes in each direction? Quite bizarre. One must ask, who, specifically, benefits? In the several previous widening schemes, a number of small businesses on the east side would have had the front part of their…
October 31, 2006
Barry wrote: "I support either eliminating funding from all non-human entities (including PAC’s, unions, and businesses) or limiting them to the same contribution as individuals." What the heck are you trying to do, Mr. Parr, start a democracy? Next thing we know you'll be trying to limit the contributions of candidates to their own campaigns to the limit that anyone else is allowed to donate. These represent steps toward an unAmerican denial of the right to buy and fix elections. Carl May
October 24, 2006
I don't know if it was Rain or Kulda, but one of my favorite moments was the woman who asked for a greater percentage of coverage by hardscaping because of pesky gophers. The local Farm Bureau almost always comes out in favor of developing close-in properties. Protecting their members' "rights" to raise the "final crop," I suppose. The LCP revision for the midcoast is all about how to go urban, not about planning to conform locally to the requirements of the Coastal Act. With a lot of work, people…
October 24, 2006
Pacifica's Measure L is a pig in a poke. But Peebles and the PR people he has conducting this latest campaign to get Pacifica voters to change the zoning for the quarry area are slicker and much more thorough than those conducting the campaigns of previous promoters. And they are also boosting candidates for City Council who will favor their schemes for all the additional steps and clearances necessary for the project in the future. They are even debating this stuff in the schools. There's a good…
October 22, 2006
In addition to the midcoast, there have been some great examples of geolologic ignorance and stupidity in development of private property and infrastructure on the coastlines of Pacifica and Daly City over a bit more than the past half century--the period energized by the "full steam ahead" of the contrived growth ethic. Some will remember several periods when the bluff of the RV and mobile home parks along Palmetto fell off in big chunks, causing loss of the properties and all sorts of tries at…
October 22, 2006
But it's not necessary to compare differing bluffs for the situation in question. Look at historic photos of the cove for the north-facing, retreating bluff in question. The line of retreat was fairly consistent along the face of the bluff. Now there is a concave bite out of the bluff between the rip-rapped bluffs on either side. Some component of storm wave energy is being deflected laterally from the armored areas rather than being dissipated by the rip-rap or reflected back toward the ocean, and…
October 22, 2006
Comparison with the retreating bluff south of the Distillery is apples and oranges for the specific, multiple known forces working the beach and bluffs. The beach and retreating bluffs at any given location are dynamically linked. Focus on a simple rate of erosion for the bluffs is, in the first place, specious because it does not consider the whole system at a location like the cove. The direction storm waves come in is a factor, and so is the height of the storm surge. The tides on which the storm…
October 21, 2006
It's a naturally retreating bluff in that cove. Eighty-five percent of the California coastline is retreating (eroding). The question is not whether or not the bluff is eroding. It is about the changed rate and location of erosion due to armoring. Beaches are not lost because bluffs retreat. In fact, if their sand sources persist, they maintain their width and follow the bluff. One source of beach sand on our coast, by the way, is bluff erosion. While it lasts, armoring starves the beach of the sand…
October 21, 2006
Leonard, Just musing, but do you suppose the supes decision to allow relatively little development on the Burnham Strip in the LCP revision is mostly about driving another nail in the coffin of the Harbor District (which pleaded for greater development options on the strip as they have used the developable value of their property to collateralize a big loan)? Or were they just tossing a crumb to those who want the strip open to preserve Burnham's plan while they further overburden the community with…
October 21, 2006
Lost your library card? Read the few pages here on impacts (beginning on page 13) to see brief mention of most of the major and varying factors that need to be considered for a location before placing artificial structures on retreating bluffs:
http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/jointplan/reptoad/mb_pdf/development.pdf#search='deflection%20of%20waves%20by%20riprap'
Carl May
October 20, 2006
The basic information is out there for folks to get past step 1 in their knowledge. Bob and Kevin found sources, others can too. We are talking about interacting natural forces observable to all. To suggest that government is responsible for a private landowner's mistake on a bluff moves responsibility one or two steps down the line from the origin of the mistake. To suggest that government should pay for extending a type of damage already done and permitted is nothing less than a con job to get…
October 19, 2006
I check in to see if anyone has learned anything about beach sand and associated bluffs that would allow them to make sensible statements rather than simple-minded ones that defy, at least in part, basic geological knowledge. In "geological knowledge" I include the natural phenomena studied and characterized by the field of geology, not the contrivances rent-a-geologists might come up with to try to ameliorate the forces of nature over the short term for a particular piece of property in service…
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