Half Moon Bay Community

Main Street Mural

(click image to enlarge)

Next Week's City Council And Other Meetings

Agenda is posted here. City Council meeting, Tuesday night, May 3, 2005.

HMB Requests Grant For Community Park...Last November?

Just received this, and have not yet had a chance to read the whole thing. But...a budget item of $1.5M for artificial turf? (See page 14 for the whole $4.4M budget.) What the...? And this was sent to the "Youth Soccer and Recreation Development Program?" If this was sent in and requested in November 2004, why are the surveys of the HMB citizenry just happening now, to "ask" for what ammenities would be desired at the park? Fait accompli and lip service?

From Page 1 of the application:

"The proposed public park will consist of three soccer fields, one baseball/softball field, two tennis courts, a basketball court, a skate park, turf areas for active and passive recreation, a paved loop trail around the park, bocce ball courts and horseshoe pits, picnic areas, youth and tot play areas, bicycle parking, two restroom buildings, a 50 car parking lot and a maintenance yard."

And from Page 8.

"Annual Visitation: The estimated annual visitation of the park is 100,000 people, or 500,000 hours of use. As the only community park and soccer field facility in the region, which is geographically isolated from the rest of the S. F. Peninsula, the park will see numerous annual visits by a large percentage of the Service Area's population of 21,837."

100,000 annual visitors.

With fifty parking spaces.

And Stone Pine Road as the only access.

With all traffic coming up through the stop sign at the corner of Stone Pine and Main, which already backs up from Hwy 92 any time there are more than a handful of cars on the road.

*shakes head*

Here's the whole thing (15MB download):
HMB Community Park Soccer Grant Proposal November 2004

Coastside Wardriving

Love the wifi access the Eric, Rob and Drew over at Coastside.net have put around town. But there are a couple of places out of range that have popped up that seem to have (*cough*) free (*cough*) open wifi access points. The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and Flying Fish grill both seem to have open access points (I'm actually posting this from Flying Fish...salmon taco...yum...).

Highway 1 Truck Accident At Nurseryman's Exchange

On my way into town this morning at about 8:30, found this tractor-trailer in the ditch in front of Gate 3 at Nurseryman's Exchange. It appears the driver was going northbound on Highway 1, and took the right-hand turn into the parking lot just a little...bit...wide. Traffic was minorly snarled in both directions.

(click the thumbnails for larger versions)

Update:

Barry Parr adds a panoramic shot over at Coastsider

Cypress Cove Spa - Conclusion

Was it Bob Marley who performed "Redemption Song?" Yes, I think it was. And that's what's running through my head right now.

Word just came through that the Cypress Cove board has seen the light (and about freakin' time), that a spa in the community (a) is an ammenity that residents want and (b) is something that positively affects property values. The spa will stay open, with a few changes to help keep it that way. Huzzah!

Now, if we can just get the CC board to revise the draconian and overbearing parking policy, which has resulted in a number of residents cars being towed...

Agenda For City Council And Related Meetings, Week of 18April2005

A number of city meetings coming up next week. Here's what's going on:

Tuesday, April 19th

Finance Committee Meeting, 6:00pm
Agenda: link to Finance Agenda

City Council meeting, 7:30"Special Meeting" at 7:00, Regular Meeting at 8:00 pm

Agenda: link to City Council Agenda

(Additionally, here is a link to the Minutes of the March 15, 2005 City Council Meeting)

Wednesday, April 20th

Architectural Review Committee, 4:30pm
Agenda: Link to the agenda

Thursday, April 21st

Continued Special Meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Half Moon Bay, 7:00pm

Agenda: Link to Agenda of the Continued Special Meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Half Moon Bay

An Easy Way To Help The Cabrillo Unified School District

Wanna do some good, while doing the things you're doing anyway? Check this out. I just got a note from Andrew Dunlevie over at Coastwave.net.

"Hey – We’re running a cool deal where we donate all the profits we raise from keyword searches to the Back To Basics Fund who then donate $ to the Cabrillo School District.

So… Wondered if you could help spread the word that [we are donating] any profits we see from searches done here: http://www.coastwave.net/CoastWave_search.html

If we can generate some real traffic every day, we can really get some cash into the schools coffers.

Thanks.

-Andrew

I normally shy away from the "please blog our stuff!  please?" types of requests, but this is a good cause being driven by good folks.

After trading a few more notes with Andrew, here's how it works behind the scenes:

1)  You do a search, but instead of going to Google, you do the search from this search page.

2)  The results page you get is the same results page you'd get normally from Google, but tagged in such a way that the folks at the GooglePlex know it came from the Back to Basics search page.

3)  Any links you click on from that search results page that are sponsored (e.g. the ones up at the top that are clearly noted as such, just like on any other Google page) will generate a few pennies or dollars for the CUSD.

So, you're searching anyway.  No real reason not to do it through this way, and help the community.  No down side, as far as I can see.

The Cypress Cove Spa Conversation Continues

Had the opportunity to have an email conversation with Al Connell, whose insurance agency has handled the insurance for the Cypress Cove HOA since the time when there were only 11 units in the community.  (Disclosure:  I am also a customer of Al's in contexts outside of Cypress Cove.  I also recommend him highly.)

A caveat from Al:

"In response to your questions, I am not an attorney nor a claims adjuster, but here are my thoughts."

Duly noted.  Now, onto the Q&A:

CC: What exposure, if any, would exist if someone willfully climbed over the spa fence and injured themselves?  Is this sort of thing covered by the association's insurance?

AC: In that the spa is located in the HOA common area, the insurance policy covers the spa area. In that there is a fence around the spa, I believe that the HOA has made an effort to keep it protected. If someone were to injure themselves and the HOA was deemed to be somehow negligent, there would be liability coverage from the policy.

CC: If there is any potential exposure, what could be done to mitigate it?

AC: Short of taking the spa out, I don't know what could be done.

CC: Are you aware of (or do you cover) any other organizations that might have a similar situation (e.g. hotels, parks, etc.)?  What are other folks doing to reduce their exposure, from a physical standpoint (e.g. what have they done to the areas to make them reasonably safe without going overboard)?

AC: I have seen other HOA's who have completely enclosed the spa and have a key lock to access. They may have been built originally that way, I don't know for sure. 

Additionally, Al notes:

"Your property manager, Rob Cochrane [Compass Management], is a very experienced manager. He has managed properties here as well as in So. California. He may be an excellent resource for his thoughts and experiences at other properties. I would suggest that you discuss this with him. Let me know if you need anything else."

Thanks, Al!

Wavecrest And The Unbuilt Middle School: Sordid Friction

Barry Parr fires up the time machine and has put together great timelines of both the Wavecrest and Middle School stories that date back to the original Measure K vote in 1996 (for the school) and back to 1995 (for Wavecrest). 

If you're interested in how things have developed over the decade that these stories have been evolving, read on.

Wavecrest:  The First Decade
CUSD's Unbuilt Middle School:  The First Decade