Comments by Brian

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 10, 2006
Mr. Pettengill, You and Mr. Olson have cited two different sets of numbers, both of which appear in the data referenced. At this point, I am fairly certain that the spin you put is misleading at best (both in this forum and in the ballot arguments). The numbers you cited I believe are the *total* property taxes in this area as compared to statewide averages, which of course are higher due to the outrageous property values. But only a fraction of those taxes go to the school district, so using property…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 09, 2006
Mr. Pettengill, Could you please read my post in this thread dated Jun 08, 06 at 11:10 pm? I'd like to know specifically why you believe my read of the data is wrong. From what I can tell, Mr. Olson is correct. Thanks, Brian Dantes El Granada

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 08, 2006
Mr. Olson, One other thing...you wrote: "And now we are seeing the real agenda behind voting No, which is to try and make a negative impact on the Board. Come on, they have not lost anything. Because of this election I don’t think I trust or believe what the NO faction states." I was part of the NO faction literally until the moment I got to the voting booth. My pen literally wavered above the ballot for a minute. With all of the discussion that has happened since, I think I ultimately made the…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 08, 2006
Mr. Olson, I do very much want to believe that the majority of us really have the same goal at heart: improving the schools for our children. I do hope fervently that the bitterness fades quickly and together we put something together via the bottom up this time. I am told that is how La Honda got some of their funding done - through grass roots consensus before it even reached the ballot. If that's true, perhaps someone in that community can lend some advice? Now a little bit about the statistics...I…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 08, 2006
Mr. Olson, You wrote "give me one benefit our children have received by measure S not passing? All you stated above is just how much you dislike the board." Despite the need for funding (which I happen to agree with you is correct -- in spite of the flurry of confusing statistics), such funding does no good if there is little faith in the managers of that money. And such unfortunately is the case between the electorate and CUSD. Measure S had good goals for the funding (although I and others believe…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 07, 2006
Mr. Olson, "Valid" is onviously a subjective term in this discussion, but I'm truly amazed that you found none of the arguments I made in my earlier post to be so: <https://coastsider.com/comments/1429_0_1_70_C/> I know for a fact that I am not the only parent with kids in CUSD, arguably the group with the most vested interest in seeing Measure S pass, that had these concerns. Do you honestly not find Ken Johnson's alternative measure much more reasonable given that there is a deep loss of…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 07, 2006
Mr. Schiller, I'm trying to temper my reaction to your inflammatory post. Perhaps you missed Mr. Parr's earlier admonition for civil posts(*)? I and others with children in CUSD had serious reservations about Measure S -- and none of us appreciate being labeled as "child abusers." I'm also sorry that you consider rectifying some of the major misgivings with Measure S as "fine-tuning." I find people of your type of "faith" to be far less "understanding" and more "ugly" than we "barbarians." Brian…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 07, 2006
I have also heard rumored that over $35,000 was spent marketing Measure S. That's a good chunk of a teacher's annual salary. The alternative measure on cusd.info looks reasonable to me although I'd like to see any exemptions removed unless they are based on verfifiable income levels. But Mr. Johnson's efforts hits on the key issues -- that any measure will have to acknowledge the electorate's deep distrust of CUSD and include strong oversight. But most importantly, the next effort needs to go through…

Measure S loses with 61% of the vote

June 07, 2006
It is with mixed feelings but no surprise that I saw Measure S defeated (by even a larger margin than the last attempt, no?). I definitely think our kids lost out here, and I read in the HMB Review online article that supporters don't anticipate trying again in the "foreseeable future." I think that would be a sad mistake. Please see my June 6th post in "Coastsider endorses Measure S" thread for why I think Measure S didn't garner the super-majority it needed <https://coastsider.com/comments/1429_0_1_70_C/>.…

Albertsons closing in HMB

June 06, 2006
If folks are serious about this, I suggest you start showing up at HMB Council meetings and making your desires known. But as I said above, I bet this doesn't stand much of a chance. A vendor like Trader Joe's or Whole Food's isn't going to come over here without support and encouragement from the local government, and I bet HMB local merchants will actively be against such an idea. You can bet that HMB Council won't help out -- look how they've shot everything else down (like a movie theatre). Brian…

Albertsons closing in HMB

June 06, 2006
Trader Joe's or Whole Foods would be fabulous. But I bet HMB local merchants will resist. Brian Dantes El Granada

SamTrans adding buses from Coastside to BART

June 01, 2006
What about all the people between Montara and HMB? Are people from El Granada or Miramara, for example, supposed to drive to one of those stops and catch the bus there? Why isn't Princeton Landing (where there's a park and ride lot now, right?) one of the stops? Also, the last bus at 630pm out of San Bruno BART is a bit early for some workers. Finally, an express bus to a Caltrans station (San Mateo, for example) would be nice. Brian Dantes El Granada

SamTrans hasn’t addressed Coastside concerns

June 01, 2006
Mr. Lundell, I simply don't buy the argument of hobbling infrastructure needed for current needs based on the premise that it will encourage further growth and a never-ending cycle. In the near term, average families have to endure the existing infrastructure - and major social changes take time. It is simply intractable to get everyone onto mass transit overnight. I liked much of what your wife, Ms. Chamberlain, had to say at the MCCC meeting in terms of what she'd like to do to protect the Coastside.…

SamTrans hasn’t addressed Coastside concerns

June 01, 2006
Ms. Chamberlain and Mr. Lundell, I don't think anyone wants a huge buildout of roads. However, I think most people are moderate and want something in the middle. The current roads are inadequate for the current needs - both for capacity and emergency access. There needs to be parallel access to all of the communities beside SR1. 92 needs to be 4 lanes all the way to 280 -- particularly given all the heavy truck traffic from the quarry and the dump. The state of congestion on that road (even when…

Travel times on Highway 1 are now available

June 05, 2006
Between 850am and 930am this morning, the traffic was quite thick from Princeton's Landing all the way to SR92. So I don't think the traffic at Capistrano Road in El Granada was the only issue. In all fairness, I did not notice any issue with merging with northbound SR1 traffic this morning, but this was well after folks would have dropped kids off at school. But now that school is almost out -- we'll never know if the metering lights would have helped with that traffic. Thanks a lot HMB. Brian Dantes…

Travel times on Highway 1 are now available

June 02, 2006
Mr. Lansing, Since you were there, I know you recall that Mr. Keyhan Moghbel at Caltrans told the HMB City Council that his traffic engineer travelled SR1 four or more different times over several days. From that data, they determined that the SR1/SR92 intersection was the root cause chokepoint and thus decided to install the metering lights. I have no explanation for the apparent sudden decrease in transit times. It's certainly good news - but I hesitate to rely on it as an established trend. The…

Travel times on Highway 1 are now available

June 01, 2006
Mr. Lansing, I have noticed in the past week or so that traffic is lighter than it has been on the tail end of the morning commute. I have no explanation. However, it is my understanding that the early commute (from 6am to about 730am) is still hell. Is there a way to see trended data on 511.org for a particular time of day? Brian Dantes El Granada

Caltrans seeking consensus, not approval, from HMB on traffic light

May 28, 2006
Ms. McGuire, It's not Caltrans that is "dithering" or going to "discuss the study" - it's the HMB City Council. Caltrans was fully prepared to enable these lights a couple of weeks ago and "monitor the situation" just as you suggested -- but HMB officials obstructed them. You should write the HMB City Council and show up at their next meeting on June 6th. They need to know that people consider their actions inappropriate. You should also make your feelings known to Caltrans: Keyhan Moghbel, project…

Caltrans seeking consensus, not approval, from HMB on traffic light

May 27, 2006
Caltrans was prepared to turn these lights on over a week ago - but the HMB City Council somehow successfully stalled them until June 6th at a minimum. This despite Mr. Keyhan Moghbel's promise during the previous council meeting that the lights would be disabled if they didn't provide an overall good. Mr. Moghbel also stated that their traffic engineer had already established that the merge was causing a problem with the main choke point at SR1 and SR92 - so a further traffic study should have been…

Highway 92 travel times are now online

June 05, 2006
I believe the 511.org info is also based on readings from the solar-powered radar transmitters that Caltrans has mounted up and down Highway 1. These are all over the major interstates in the Bay Area as well. Brian Dantes El Granada

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