Comments by Lisa Ketcham
October 18, 2009
I'd give it a try. Always enjoyed choir and glee club in school.
September 28, 2009
The Big Wave team touts their line at every public hearing opportunity. This Wednesday's public hearing on the County's revised Housing Element will probably be no exception. The project is no where near approved -- we haven't even seen the draft EIR. There is still time to voice your concerns. Housing Element Workshop, HMB Village, 9 Bloom Lane, Sept. 30, 6-8:30 pm.
September 20, 2009
Some trail improvements could be moved along with volunteers in the near term, such as pruning willows that block the trail, and creating better beach access from the ends of Princeton streets. If this is something you'd be interested in, or if you have other ideas, please join us (or even post a comment here).
July 31, 2009
Being bi-lingual is indeed a big advantage -- something you'd think should be given extra credit when evaluating kids by standardized tests. Eliminating bussing hit many low income residents at Pillar Ridge hard. Cunha & HS kids manage on SamTrans, but the only option for elementary school kids is private transportation. When my neighbor's kid started kindergarten I think his dad dropped him off on the way to work, but at noon his mother walked with baby in stroller to El Granada school to pick him…
July 31, 2009
Granted, I was just observing and gauging casual spoken English among the children, fluent, with American accent and current slang. I wonder if the lower scores reflect the price they pay for being bi-lingual from an early age?
July 30, 2009
At the same time the Moonridge kids started being bussed to Farallone View, the Pillar Ridge kids were all switched from FV to El Granada, breaking up friendships and whatnot. I've never really understood who are the Spanish-speaking kids in the school district. In my multi-lingual community, I'm always amazed how young children who have Spanish-speaking parents so quickly start speaking English as they reach kindergarten age and even before. They seem to learn it from their friends and older siblings.…
July 29, 2009
From today's CA State Parks Foundation email:
>...It is expected that this will result in the closure of more than 100 of California's 279 state parks, more than 1/3 of the state park system! <
July 29, 2009
At Montara Beach what State Parks presence/expense is there besides servicing the bathroom (assuming any capital projects are not going to be happening at this time anyway)? Could County Parks take over servicing that bathroom? I wonder what level/organization of local resident support it would take to convince the State to let us adopt this beach and keep the parking lots open? I wonder how State and Local government and interested groups will communicate about possible cutbacks or closures, so…
July 21, 2009
Today's email from CA State Parks Foundation says, >The details are not yet in print, but several sources are confirming that $70 million of the park system's General Fund allocation will be eliminated, with $62 million backfilled by other funding sources on what appears to be a one-time basis. This leaves the state park system with an $8 million gap, and is expected to result in park closures. At this time, there is not a list of certain closures, we do not know how many or which parks may be closed…
May 21, 2009
You'd think CalTrans would get their figures from the census. Various studies use it too, like the Big Wave financial analysis. The data is available down to relatively small blocks -- that's where I got the population figure of 850 for Pillar Ridge back in '02. When residents were discussing a new name for our community in '04, we wanted a name attached to the place. Someone suggested Misty Pines, but I said that will surely cause some kind of plague that will kill all the pines within 10 years.…
May 15, 2009
>I’m kind of into illeration so my terminology has evloved to where I now prefer wetland weeds.<
Illiterate alliteration?
April 14, 2009
At public hearings much emphasis is made on the urgent needs of the group of very appealing young people, as though the proposed project, rushed through, is their only hope to live independently on the Coastside with their friends. My comments at the hearings have always invited people to consider the affordable homes available right now in Pillar Ridge. There’s even a lot available for a new home. Group homes could easily be set up here. Resident ownership is the only requirement. There is the…
March 19, 2009
Scratching my head at the map of inundation zone -- Pillar Ridge is in the current tsunami zone which I understand is set at 30 feet. Our lowest point is around 19 feet. I don't see how the predicted sea level rise puts that under water.
Re the beaches -- the more bluffs we preserve now, the more beaches would survive in this scenario. As preserves they'll be able to crumble and form new beaches naturally.
February 05, 2009
I love Kunstler's comment about trying to "remedy mutilated urbanism with nature" -- "to make ourselves feel better we put a nature band-aid in front of it."
Like the proposed Big Wave office park behemoth buildings with perimeter planting of a tight row of fast-growing tall trees to attempt to hide the 52ft+ buildings in 10 years.
Lisa Ketcham
January 12, 2009
I could see how in your frustration you might connect vandals to environmentalists. But how about the repeated vandalism of POST trail signs at Moss Beach Bluff about restoring sensitive habitat, asking people to stay on trails. What's with these people who think it's OK to destroy signs they don't agree with and who think that's going to change anything for the better?
November 17, 2007
This afternoon (Sat 11/17) after walking the length of Montara Beach, I noticed I had tar over most of the bottom of my bare feet. I hadn't noticed any tar balls on the beach but there it was stuck on me. I can't imagine how that could be cleaned up by a crew, with the tide shifting the sands around every day. What a shame -- our pristine beach -- in all the fortunate years I've walked our local beaches, I've never before gotten tar on my feet.
Lisa Ketcham
June 26, 2006
Farming is indeed a hard and risky way to make a living, but this is not the family farm. Let’s not forget the field belongs to a developer who is hot to pave it over. For the last 2-3 years we have seen much prep work on the land and precious little grown and even less harvested. It looks like a lot of money being spent there, with very little, if any agricultural income. In regard to this latest filling and grading, it doesn’t make much farming sense to invest in such extensive land preparation…
June 26, 2006
Importation of soil and changing the grade of a site is not “routine agricultural activity”.
Even if you are farming, this should require a grading permit. It does in Solano County – why not here? Why is the County letting Big Wave get away with this?
June 24, 2006
Mary,
Please don’t characterize me as someone who wants to eliminate farming on the coast. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
To answer your question, I have a degree in agriculture (UC Davis), experience farming (5 years in Dixon), and a career in horticulture.
I live next door to the Big Wave site and reported earlier on their dumping in the streambed last winter which caused flooding in our community.
June 23, 2006
Having daily observed the activities on this property the last few years, I’d say it is hardly “routine agriculture”. This isn’t about growing pumpkins -- it’s pre-development by ag equipment. I thought the goal of agriculture was to plant a crop and harvest it and hopefully make a profit. The deep ripping of the soil a couple years ago was a surprise – you don’t hear of that practice much anymore. Then late last summer a hasty ag well was put in and about one quarter of the prepared…
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