Comments by Deborah Ruddock

POST is buying Wavecrest

August 27, 2007
First, I'd like to clear some confusion regarding Wavecrest and the Coastal Trail. The developer had committed via development agreement to maintain a 1000-foot setback from the bluffs, along which they would construct and maintain the Coastal Trail with their dollars. Following execution of the POST deal, POST, or the City and POST and other partners, will need to secure funding for trail construction and maintenance in addition to securing acquisition funding. Second, I think we can expect POST…

POST is buying Wavecrest

August 16, 2007
Congratulations and many thanks to Audrey Rust and Bruce Russell for exercising genuine leadership in the resolution of this critcally important issue. The road to this point has been twisty and bumpy and for long periods impassable. The problem of Wavecrest has sucked up untold City, Coastal Commission, citizen and developer resources, made and undercut political careers, and forged and snapped political alliances and personal relationships. I know, I spent about 14 years of my life wrestling with…

Who should replace David Gorn?

July 13, 2006
It's one thing to plan for and approve infrastructure that is consistent with and ACCOMMODATES planned growth, it's another thing to approve infrastructure that INDUCES growth above and beyond that called for in applicable general plans and local coastal programs, infrastructure that directly or indirectly: --Fosters unplanned economic or population growth that precipitates the need for construction of additional housing; --Taxes community service facilities requiring new ones; or --Encourages or…

City will add agriculture to Boys and Girls Club lease

June 22, 2006
Well, let's see now... It was a verbal proposal to an unnamed planner who gave a verbal exemption for the Boys & Girls Club to grade for pumpkin growing purposes a contaminated parcel leased from the City for the pupose of building a Club. Gosh, how many Easter Bunnies did it take to drive the bulldozer?

City will add agriculture to Boys and Girls Club lease

June 21, 2006
There is no doubt in my mind that David Cline, realtor and omnipresent gadfly, knew exactly what he was doing. He's read the papers and witnessed the brouhahas over mowing and grading and no doubt remembers discussions between the City, the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the likely wetland footprint. He did it because he knew he could get away with it with the new council majority. To set a good example of the member of the B&G club, he ought to come clean and…

Letter: Sign and distribute a petition to Trader Joe’s

June 20, 2006
Why not a movie theater like the Parkway Theater in Oakland, operated by Speakeasy Theaters? It has couches and comfy chairs, and you can bring a bottle of wine, eat pizza and kick back to enjoy a good movie. Click on this link http://www.picturepubpizza.com/ to find out more about it. Something like this would be a good fit for the location and HMB, I think, and could accommodate the Film Society program as a special event. Yes, the Parkway does show "art" films, but they also are showing Mission…

Letter: Ferreira says “Let’s give Bonnie McClung a chance”

January 04, 2006
I'd like to make a correction to my own comment. The council's restructuring scheme is not "radical" it's regressive. And the more I think about it, it's actually kind of silly. Instead of making a mess of things to get "their people", their mouthpieces, on the planning commission, why don't they just assume the planning function themselves? They can do this under California law. Everyone is going to assume they're manipulating their appointees anyway. By assuming the planning function, they will…

Letter: Ferreira says “Let’s give Bonnie McClung a chance”

January 03, 2006
I agree with Lani Ream. The city council's plan is not only "radical" and "political", it's divisive as well. The new majority's campaign backers clearly are in a great hurry for changes favorable to their agenda, but it's going to cost the council a lot of ill will from other folks in the community. Hope it's worth it.

HMB City Council pushes ahead with HMB Planning Commission restructuring

January 04, 2006
Was Mayor Marina Fraser trying to mislead the public and her fellow council members at Tuesday's city council meeting? During discussion of the new council majority's scheme to politicize the planning commission, Mayor Fraser stated that the City of Burlingame's planning commission has 6 members. A check of that city's web site reveals that the size of its planning commission is 7 members. The reason only 6 citizens currently are seated is that one of the commissioners has vacated the position and…

HMB City Council pushes ahead with HMB Planning Commission restructuring

December 28, 2005
Kevin Lansing's characterization of Chris Mickelsen's tirades is, I believe, accurate. Chris Mikelsen has never like operating in a context with constraints. He and the other water board members do not understand their role within the regulatory context, and have always bristled at the fact that their special district has to collaborate with local government in order to provide essential services in a manner compliant with, and consistent with, California law. They don't hold one progressive idea…

HMB City Council pushes ahead with HMB Planning Commission restructuring

December 28, 2005
Joel Farbstein is comparing apples to oranges in his planning commission size comparisons. Joe Falcone gets it. When I was researching the issue of planning commission size, I looked at communities with coastal zone jurisdiction, as well as semi-rural communities like Woodside. At the time, Woodside had a seven member planning commission, and I seem to recall thay also had a seven member architectural review committee. I didn't/don't care about the size of Colma's or Burlingame's planning commission…

The recount is over, and Bonnie McClung is the victor

December 31, 2005
Wow, now that's really constructive. That was the sentiment the voters overthrew beginning with the election of a residentialist canddidate in 1989. Too bad you didn't move here in the 70s; you'd be mainstream rather than fringe. You might even have been appointed to the beet root commission. What didn't you like about Tracy? Deborah Ruddocik

The recount is over, and Bonnie McClung is the victor

December 27, 2005
I'd like to address issue of smart growth. The new pro-development council majority has absolutely no record that would provide supporing evidence for Jim Reed's claim that they will be for smart growth. Council member Patridge in the past approved new subdivisions without benefit of environmental impact reports and without requiring that the developer provide the kind of public amenities that other communities have benefitted for years. Coiuncil member Patridge was in a position for more than a…

The recount is over, and Bonnie McClung is the victor

December 27, 2005
I don't know who James Reed is, but my sense is that he has not lived in HMB or the Coastside for very long. The city councils of the 70s and 80s were notorious for back room dealings, developer sellouts, and rude treatment of the public, and now that their representatives are back on the council, I suspect the wise old saw about leopards not changing their spots will be ground truthed once more. Hey, I'm perfectly willing to be proven wrong. Prove me wrong, please. Deborah Ruddock Former HMB Mayor

Letter: Deja vu—Newly-elected Council members take aim at HMB Planning Commission

December 17, 2005
I strongly support maintaining a seven-member planning commission. I initiated the action to expand the number of planning commissioners in the mid-nineites as a key plank in my own city council platform. The reasons I brought this idea to the table were several, and still apply: Seven commmission members means there will almost always be a quorom in attendance to do the public's business. Seven commission members means there will be more eyes and ears attending to important planning issues, and…

Supervisors unmoved by LCP pleas from Coastsiders

December 27, 2005
The Board of Supervisors actions regarding the county's LCP should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed their decision making on land use issues for 20 plus years. Their behavior reflects a deeply-rooted political culture dominated by politicians, republican and democrat, whose primary allegiance is to the business community and to the construction trades, who generally have yet to comporehend, embrace and internalize the concept that healthy ecosystems are critical to human health and…