Comments by Scott_Boyd

LCP charts Coastside commute times

July 17, 2006
Now you can get a live graph, up-to-date all day long of both inbound and outbound commute times at the following URL: http://lcp.sanmateo.org/trip/current.html

Letter:  Why hasn’t anything been done about the evening commute?

July 15, 2006
Well, that tunnel feasibility study that Caltrans conducted, for one. After reading it, I disagreed with some of their conclusions, but the basics were all there. The instability of the outside that you refer to is driven primarily by the incessant pounding of the ocean at the toe of the mountain. The slide action is compounded by seasonal rains that lubricate the exterior. The similarities between that and the inside of the mountain slated for the tunnels really aren't there. Yes, the mountain is…

Letter:  Why hasn’t anything been done about the evening commute?

July 14, 2006
The entire county got to vote on Measure T (see http://tunnel.org) because allowing the project to change from a freeway to a tunnel or a permanent repair in-place required a change in the Local Coastal Program (the county LCP). Changes to the county LCP require a vote of the people of the county. The many people who volunteered untold quantities of time to the campaign would have loved to have been able to focus their energies on just the coastside. It would have made the effort far easier. One…

Letter:  Why hasn’t anything been done about the evening commute?

July 13, 2006
Karen Flick asked about charts from earlier dates. Yes, indeed! Charts for earlier dates can be found at the following addresses: June: http://lcp.sanmateo.org/trip/june.html July (so far): http://lcp.sanmateo.org/trip/july.html Traffic this morning heading from Montara to HMB is notable for the unbelievably sharp rise in travel time at 7:30AM. What's up with that?

Letter:  Why hasn’t anything been done about the evening commute?

July 13, 2006
I checked with the city public works department. No timing changes have happened with the lights. Clearly, by looking at the trip time graphs at http://lcp.sanmateo.org/trip/july.html it's obvious that something significant has happened on the Hwy 1 southbound commute into HMB. I'll try to keep the graphs updated.

Letter:  Why hasn’t anything been done about the evening commute?

July 11, 2006
Many have described their experiences while driving. Perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words. You can see July's commute times at http://lcp.sanmateo.org/trip/july.html Click on any of the small images to see larger versions. Graphs on the left are the morning commute showing two lines, one from Montara to HMB, the other from HMB to 280. Graphs on the right are the afternoon/evening commute showing 280 to HMB (typically the much higher value), and HMB to Montara.

Traffic is flowing well Monday morning

April 18, 2006
Tuesday at 7:45PM traffic was stop-and-go at 92 & the light at the reservoir. I took a stroll at Sawyer Camp trail, saw rabbits, bats, and heard a bird I couldn't quite place. At 8:15, 92 was clear to the summit, but then a crawl to the bottom. Took another 20 minutes to get to HMB. Clear sailing from HMB to Montara.

Caltrans padlocks road, closes trails on Slide to hikers

April 12, 2006
I appreciate that Caltrans is concerned about safety. That's appropriate. What puzzles me is the perceived relationship to trails in the state park. You can see the trails here: They do not provide access to the closed portion of the slide, and they are above the falling rocks.

Caltrans padlocks road, closes trails on Slide to hikers

April 12, 2006
Anyone know the rationale for limiting access to state park trails? The trails above do not provide access to the roadway at the Slide, so where's the risk?

Caltrans repair of slumping road on Devil’s Slide is a temporary fix

April 02, 2006
Now the Slide itself is closed. Both lanes showed longitudinal cracks earlier today, open to about 4". Caltrans was on scene checking things out. As of 7PM tonight, the road is closed with the ominous message from CHP: "6:39PM ^^HAVE TMC ISSUE ADVISORY - UNK DURATION FOR SLIDE ON THIS *** GROUND BENEATH ROADWAY IS GIVING WAY"

Conservation District sponsors Coastside water “Blue Circle” meeting

March 25, 2006
We had a terrific event recently as the Pilarcitos Creek Watershed forum, held on a Sunday afternoon. As challenging as it can be to make time on weekends, weekday events are simply out of the question for many working folks. I hope this one can be aired on Ch. 6, at least, since so many interested folks cannot attend.

HMB City Council video is no longer available on Coastsider

March 06, 2006
Public agencies pay to have meetings taped and broadcast on a channel provided specifically for public access. Many of these same public agencies just made an appeal to the Board of Supervisors to provide funding to MCTV at a time when their funding appears to be in jeopardy.

Must-See MCTV: City Council détente breaks down

March 09, 2006
The registrar's team of counting specialists are truly specialists, and their careful, time-consuming efforts were praiseworthy. With all due respect to Mr. Farbstein's use of truthiness, the record of the totals from the precincts, painstakingly arrived at, leaves no doubt that (1) Bonnie got more votes, and (2) the number of those votes was 8. Those precinct totals were read aloud and cross-checked. Bonnie's supporters were there taking down the same count numbers as Mike's supporters without protest.…

Must-See MCTV: City Council détente breaks down

March 08, 2006
For those who weren't able to attend the recount over the course of several work days in San Mateo, the gap was narrowed to 8 during the course of the extensive and careful recount. While Joel is correct that the official count was not updated to reflect the results of the recount, the reader should know that that's because the recount was called off by the candidate when it looked rather certain that the gap would not get much smaller than the 8 certain votes garnered in the recount. Calling it…

Coastside power outage started in San Bruno

February 12, 2006
Montara gets power from the north and from the south. It's not uncommon to have half of Montara out while the other half is powered. Driving into Montara from Pacifica that evening, it was mighty odd to see such darkness. From the traffic light at Westborough, getting ready to turn west under 280 and up the hill to Sharp Park, I saw a very bright flash. Driving Sharp Park, most of the traffic lights were out. Pretty dangerous. Most of the traffic lights on Hwy 1 through Pacifica were on despite everything…

Coastal Commission staff spanks Midcoast LCP update

December 06, 2005
It's nice to see C4PR (Californians for Property Rights) assert clearly that they are pro-growth. Any label they stick on anyone else, though, has to be seen through that lens. Their pro-growth stance does not make those concerned about the healthy future growth of the community "anti" anything. As to the old saw, what would the appropriate response to a very bad idea? If everyone complained, would the policymakers be on the right track?

Mike Ferreira asks for recount

December 06, 2005
Absentees were due at the same deadline as regular ballots, 8PM voting day. If they had shown up at the elections office, any of the precincts, city hall, they were to be counted. Absentees represented about half of the vote this time. That is up considerably from past elections. Provisionals are ballots voted by people who claim a right to vote but, for some reason, they would otherwise be unable to vote. For example, if their name was mistakenly left off the precinct rolls, or their absentee ballot…

McClung leads Ferreira by 15 votes and McKimmie leads King by 5; totals may still be incomplete

November 21, 2005
1549 to 1490, a 59 vote lead with 8 of 8 precincts reporting was a considerable lead. Cheerfulness seemed indicated. Has Half Moon Bay ever seen a change in the outcome in the late count before?

McClung leads Ferreira by 15 votes and McKimmie leads King by 5; totals may still be incomplete

November 20, 2005
A provisional ballot is one that a voter may request at the precinct when there is insufficient information available to a poll worker to allow that person to vote a regular ballot. An earlier Coastsider article gives more details.

McClung leads Ferreira by 13 votes, McKimmie leads King by 2; results still incomplete

November 20, 2005
When a ballot is not readable by the machines, it is rejected and examined. The ballot may have been torn, badly crumpled, damaged by water, or, more likely, improperly marked by the voter. For example: - a voter used pencil or some other marking device the machine can't read - a voter circled the candidate's name and/or arrow instead of connecting the arrow - a voter liked a candidate so much they connected the arrow and wrote in the candidate's name - and more! If the intent of the voter can be…

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