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In the 1970s my uncle, who at that point was the president of Ocean Shore Railroad, mentioned that they received monthly checks from the person who ran the colony and was buying the cove. We used to go there on a Sunday with Dick Baldwin and spend the afternoon—no problem.
JAN DUTTON
[from idealbite.com]
Pacificans Scott and Patty McKellar successfully defended a poor, hapless owl sitting in a tree in their backyard. Four noisy ravens were hassling the owl, so Scott and Patty used their million-candlepower, high-beam flashlight to ward off the ravens. Nice work, guys.
Hey, Riptiders, for your convenience, we have gathered together all our posts and comments about Shelter Cove and the looming public beach access crisis/confrontation. Now you can find it all in the Shelter Cove category listed in our right sidebar. How's that for customer service! If you have stories and pictures about Shelter Cove, send them to us for posting and send a copy to Chris Mejia at chris@bigsalad.com
Thanks to Chris for suggesting this improvement to our site and for spearheading this issue in general. Good luck, Chris, may the force be with you.
WALT HENSLEY: Ghost Riders In the Sky/Pickin' On New Grass (Rebel)
COUNTRY GENTLEMEN: Bringing Mary Home/The Early Rebel Recordings (Rebel)
SELDOM SCENE: I've Come To Take You Home/Like We Used To Be (Sugar Hill)
DEL McCOURY BAND: It's Just the Night/It's Just the Night (McCoury Music)
KATHY KALLICK: Burying Ground/Call Me a Taxi (Sugar Hill)
FRONT RANGE: Silent Ground/Silent Ground (Sugar Hill)
THE RARELY HERD: Simon Crutchfield's Grave/Midnight Loneliness (Pinecastle)
KAY JUSTICE & GINNY HAWKER: The Unquiet Grave/Come All You Tenderhearted
(June Appal)
DONE GONE: Quiet Grave/The Done Gone Band (self)
DEL McCOURY: The Ghost Of Eli Renfrew/My Dixie Home (Rebel)
DREADFUL SNAKES: Who's That Knockin' At My Door?/Snakes Alive! (Rounder)
TONY RICE: Brown Mountain Light/Plays and Sings Bluegrass (Rounder)
DON RIGSBY: Bluestone Mountain/Empty Old Mailbox (Sugar Hill)
ROBIN & LINDA WILLIAMS: At the Crossroads Again/Devil Of a Dream (Sugar
Hill)
COOKE DUET Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down/Family Circle (Smitty's
Tapes)
HAZEL & ALICE: Long Black Veil/Pioneering Women of Bluegrass
(Smithsonian-Folkways)
NASHVILLE BLUEGRASS BAND: Dark Shadows Of Night/Unleashed (Sugar Hill)
STANLEY BROTHERS: Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Of Me/The King Years,
1961-1965 (King)
BILL MONROE & THE BLUE GRASS BOYS: Devil's Dream/Live at Mechanics Hall
(Acoustic Disc)
AUSTIN LOUNGE LIZARDS: Hillbillies In a Haunted House/Never An Adult Moment
(Sugar Hill)
[compiled by Peter Thompson of KALW 91.7-FM, host of Bluegrass Signal, KALW]
A record 17.9 million U.S. homes stood empty in the third quarter. A mere 2.07 million empty homes were for sale. Let's do the math: 15.83 million vacant homes just sitting there. How long can that last? That is a huge potential supply of homes that for some reason or other is not listed yet. I suspect many of those are REOs (real estate owned) by banks and mortgage companies such as Countrywide. Every passing month that those REOs sit on the books waiting for higher prices means lost property taxes, upkeep costs, and balance sheet impairment.
Every month the figures get worse. For example, Countrywide has 13,000+- REOs for sale, but it also has 82,000 foreclosures. That alone represents significant pent-up supply as those foreclosures become REOs. See Option Arm & REO Problems At Countrywide OPTION ARM AND REO PROBLEMS AT COUNTRYWIDE for more information.
Add to that pent-up supply those with a second home who want to sell it as soon as they can "get even" on it. In the meantime, those people are "content" to rent. That contentment will turn to sour milk given enough time, or any problems necessitating a sale sooner rather than later. The siren song from Realtors is that now is the best time to buy ever. Straight up, it's easy to see that is a lie. The best time to buy was 10 or more years ago and the best time to sell was in 2005. It's still a long way down from here. Rising inventory, falling prices, and pent-up supply should be proof enough.
Mike Shedlock/Mish
GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
In the Pacifica Tribune legals:
October 17: 33 foreclosures
October 25: 29 "
October 31: 28 "
And in San Mateo county in general: "Notices of default, which signal that a borrower has missed making payments, doubled from the third quarter of last year to the third quarter this year, according to a report released last week by a Southern California-based research firm. In the third quarter of this year, there were 581 such notices filed in San Mateo County compared to only 290 in the third quarter of 2006, according to the report from DataQuick Information Services. Loans in San Mateo County were among the least likely to go into default, along with those in San Francisco and Marin counties, according to the DataQuick report. Borrowers in Merced, San Joaquin and Riverside counties were most likely to default." (San Mateo Daily News, 10-30-07)
MONKFRAME
Pesticide-free tea time. Although it's outlawed in the United States, tea from other countries can still contain toxic baddies like the pesticide DDT, and while you can wash away pesticides on your non-organic veggies, you can't wash 'em off your tea.
No strings attached. Prevent waste by opting for biodegradable teabags without staples or strings, or, even better, loose-leaf teas. Little things add up...
Fairer field wages. Look for the fair-trade seal, which guarantees that tea-estate workers are paid fairly.
Better health. Tea, especially green tea, is rich in antioxidants. Take a hint from big tea-drinking countries like Japan, home to fewer cases of heart disease and cancers than America.
Choice English Breakfast Tea - well-balanced classic that's fair-trade and organic; oxygen-bleached, stringless bags in bulk ($33).
Republic of Tea Ceylon Breakfast Tea - organic, fair-trade, whole-leaf black orange pekoe tea with a smooth finish, in a refillable tin ($11).
Srina Young Hyson Tea - full-bodied green loose-leaf packaged in recycled materials and grown without pesticides by well-paid workers in Sri Lanka ($10).
Honest Tea First Nation Peppermint Tea - organic, mellow mint tea. Proceeds help to fund Native American programs, and it's packaged in completely biodegradable teabags without staples or strings ($5).
[from idealbite.com]
Does it really matter if I wear my left headphone on my left ear and my right headphone on my right ear? When I switch them, I can't tell the difference. Does this mean I am not a true audiophile?
DUMB AS A POST
When the Coastal Commission evaluates all of the data gathered from the questionnaires, here are the two big questions they will be asking: Did people feel like they used/ had access to Shelter Cove Beach as if it were a public place? Did people who went to the beach feel like they needed any permission to be there? If the majority of the answers are Yes and No, respectively, and the timeframe of unrestricted "permissive" use was at least five years, then they will have a good case for establishing legal prescriptive rights (i.e., a public easement) to the beach.
It is important to note that if you were invited to Shelter Cove by the owner, a resident (renter), or a business, then you were there by implied permission. This would NOT support our case for prescriptive rights. Think about your experiences there. Even if you were invited to Shelter Cove at times, it is important to recount times that you were there and were not particularly invited. Were there other members of the public coming and going at will? There are some fine lines, for sure.
Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try my best to answer them. Keep in mind: I'm not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night :-)
Chris Mejia
chris@bigsalad.com
[from idealbite.com]
(the author emailed replies to questions from Chris Mejia)
Your e-mail asks some questions that I can readily answer. First of all, my family leased the house on the Shelter Cove land. We came and went as we wanted. About the Forties, Mr. Lewis (owner at that time) started charging 50 cents per car. People still came at will. Weekends were the busiest times for visitors. To my knowledge, people just came down there to the beach when they wanted to - no invitations. You should see the pictures in my book, Shelter Cove the Early Years. You will see people sitting on the beach. Mr. Lewis did not "invite" them to come. They just showed up (like you would go to Ocean Beach in S.F.)
=========
In answer to your question about a period when there was no charge to the general public, it would have to be in the Thirties. The fifty cent charge did not come into effect until the late thirties. I don't believe that anyone paid to get down to the Cove before that time. I think that a person could park elsewhere (maybe by the old depot) and walk down to the beach - just a few blocks away. {the book is available at Florey's bookstore on Palmetto}
=========
In 1927, my Dad was a realtor in San Francisco in the office of Charlie Burns. Charlie had a client who wanted to sell a small cottage that he owned at Shelter Cove. Dad, my Grandfather and two other relatives bought the house at the Cove for a mere $300 for summer get-aways. It was the land that was leased by the owner at the time, George Lewis. In my book, I have pictures that show a smaller house that my family remodeled, adding a garage, another bedroom and a large porch with windows that faced the ocean. We also added a wash room and sink with running water.
=========
Another story that I remember is that the neighbors talked about the train that used to run above the houses. Every time it passed, gravel rolled down the hill on top of the roofs below. Amazing what people will put up with when they want to live in a certain location! Our family did not have the house down there at that time. The train stories were so interesting. I was fascinated by the tales I was reading in the old newspapers that I found at Redwood City Library. There is a wealth of information available if you are willing to search for it. I spent a lot of hours in the library digging up the facts, and it was well worth it.
Lenore Navarra Lafayette
Rick Steves, reporting from England, says they have public hiking trails all over the countryside. He says that once a year, on a specified day, hikers all over the country simply hike the trails to assert their easement rights. This sounds like something you could do with a group of interested hikers, going onto the beach that is supposed to be public. Just thought I’d pass this along as a possible peaceful and inexpensive (not legal action) solution.
LEGAL EAGLE
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Kind Regards,
Cheryl Long, Editor in Chief
A friend from San Diego sends these amazing photographs from the fire lines in Southern California. See photo album in our lower left sidebar.
Voting Activists Smash Diebold Machine at SF Civic Center and Ask ***WILL THE NEXT ELECTION BE CONDUCTED FAIRLY?***
Election procedure reform IS proceeding, say voting rights activists in Sacramento and San Francisco, but FAR too slowly. "A very real and still present danger is the use of secret computer code controlled by private manufacturers of voting machines," says national voting rights activist Brent Turner.
Activists dramatized the failures of the voting machine industry. A Diebold TS Touchscreen Voting Machine, one of the worst offenders, was tried, sentenced, and smashed at the rally. Open Voting Foundation president Alan Dechert, who participated in the rally, has examined the inner workings of one of the Diebold TS touch screen voting machines. Dechert said that "with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version." This very model is used widely in public elections in the United States. Dechert said that "mistakes, conflicts of interest, incompetence, and outright corruption are turning the issue of voting modernization into a national scandal."
The Raging Grannies performed songs about voter rights to start off the rally, followed by a trial of the Diebold Touchscreen Machine for "Crimes Against Democracy." Rally participants were part of the jury, heard testimony against secret software, and witnessed justice delivered by a sledgehammer.
* See OPEN VOTING FOUNDATION for pictures of the actual voting machine on trial.
Sponsored by :
The San Francisco Election Integrity League www.sfeil.org
DemocracyAction www.democracyaction.org
League of Young Voters www.theleague.com
Black Box Voting www.blackboxvoting.org
Election Defense Alliance www.electiondefensealliance.org
Raging Grannies Action League www.RagingGrannies.com
Why not install movable dividers on Highway 1 (as they do on the Golden Gate Bridge) that would adjust for rush hour traffic outbound and inbound, easing the bottleneck between Linda Mar and Sharp Park? We offer this idea as a public service. We welcome your comments (click Comments at the bottom of this story) or write to editor@pacificariptide.com
Photos by Christine at christine.ci7@gmail.com from Esplanade Beach in Pacifica. She has contacted the Marine Mammal Center. People should stay away from the rotting carcass. Christine says her dog became ill after getting too close to the carcass. See Christine's photos on FLICKR.
In Game 1 of the World Series, the Boston Red Sox slapped a Denver boot on the Colorado Rockies, 13-1. It was an embarrassingly lopsided loss for the formerly hot Rockies, who were coming off a twentysomething-game winning streak. Thursday night's Game 2 at Fenway Park was totally different, a tight pitching duel that the veteran Bosox won 2-1, sending the young mountaineers down to a 2-0 series deficit. Then on Saturday night back in their humidor-ball Coors Field, the Rockies went down swinging again, losing 10-5 despite a midgame rally that Boston quickly erased with an answering power surge. And finally, on Sunday night, the Beantown Bashers outlasted the crestfallen Coloradans 4-3. So that's it for baseball. See you all next spring! And go, Red Sox!!!
There are many raptors in the quarry, probably because there's lots of food - gophers, voles, mice, snakes. For a while now I've seen a rotund hawk hanging around. He looks quite well fed.
PETER LOEB
Fall colors in the vineyards and a little birding for good measure: Sonoma County birds and vines.
Have you noticed fewer songbirds in your yard this year? Do they arrive and leave at different times than in the past? Do you see a trend over the years? Make note of when you see spring and fall migrants, including day and time every year for the next five years. See a pattern?
In the meantime, take a look at a slide show posted in Grist magazine of Gary Braasch's new book "Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World" (University of California Press, 2007, available at bookstores and Amazon—order directly from Amazon search box on our right sidebar ). "Featuring more than 100 photographs, Earth Under Fire shows species, cultures, and entire ecosystems at risk due to rapid climate change," says GRIST.
Dr. Terry Root on the radio, discussing how climate change affects wildlife migration, reproduction, life patterns: TERRY ROOT. Dr. Root talks about how global warming brings early spring, and what that means for wildlife: EARLY SPRING
Find out more on bird conservation: ALL ABOUT BIRDS. Find out more on birds and global warming: BIRDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE, MORE ON BIRDS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
SUMMER RHODES
Take a few moments to let your senator know you would like science research to be reported on by scientists, safe from political interference. Why do this now? A recent presidential directive would give the White House excessive control over the work of federal agencies, making science more vulnerable to political interference. Unless something is done, this directive will embed political appointees inside federal scientific agencies where they could more easily prevent inconvenient science from ever seeing the light of day. Soon, senators will have the chance to stop this White House power grab by cutting the funds for this directive.
PLEASE CALL SENATORS BOXER AND FEINSTEIN TODAY!
Just a few phone calls on this critical issue will make a huge difference. Senator Barbara Boxer may be reached at (202) 224-3553 and Senator Dianne Feinstein may be reached at (202) 224-3841.
John Maybury photos
Tim Flannery, one of the greatest biologists of the century and leading mammalogist, talks with Amy Goodman of DEMOCRACY NOW about global warming and his book THE WEATHERMAKERS. He discusses current facts and attitudes about global warming and the worsening dangers of climate change denial.
A friend was just killed riding his new bike without a helmet. It makes me sad to have to repeat this, but in his memory I will tell you the plain truth: Everyone must wear a helmet when riding a bike. Bike helmets aren’t just for kids; they’re for adults, too. Be smart, stay alive, and wear your helmet.
JOHN MAYBURY
BY LIONEL EMDE
Exclusive to Pacifica Riptide
We've seen two responses (that I know of) to the rate increase story by NCCWD board members regarding what it is we're paying for and why we need to pay a lot more.
Director Tom Piccolotti: "The District's innovative work on the infrastructure has saved the District over $2,000,000 over the last three years. Unfortunately, much more work is needed (you can look on-line at our web site to see the work and progress on the highest priority projects). In addition to the infrastructure needs of our District, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the wholesale agency from which the District purchases its water, is also undergoing a large $4.3 billion CIP program to address its aging infrastructure and to seismically retrofit the system. This District will need to pay its share (over $58,000,000) of those improvements which in turn is raising the rates the District pays for water."
Director Bob Vetter: "The San Francisco PUC is in the midst of what started out to be a $3.6 billion earthquake retrofit to their system. That cost has expanded to $5.4 billion. The customers in the NCCWD are going to have to fund about $100 million in construction, which is the reason the rates have been going up."
Now then, boys and girls, you got it? It's either $58 million or $100 million that we'll have to pay, and it's either $3.6 or $4.3 or $5.4 billion for the SFPUC renovation. And more than $2 million has been saved in working on the infrastructure, although nowhere on the NCCWD Web site could I find evidence of this.
My suggestion for a fun game, and we've still got time: Go to NORTH COAST COUNTY WATER DISTRICT and on the home page there's "Ask a director (or board member) a question." Email them a question, preferably the same question to all five members. Watch the fun begin! Unfortunately, the Web site was down at this writing (Friday night), but keep trying, boys and girls, because math is fun and sooo good for you!
Pacifica City Council members Julie Lancelle and Sue Digre have shown their strength and spirit on so many occasions it's hard to pick a defining one. Recently here on PacificaRiptide.com and in the Pacifica Tribune, these two Council members graciously explained their visions for a future in an attempt to foster discussion and debate about two crucial issues in Pacifica.
Digre's call for a moratorium on building has more to do with redefining the city's future than stopping growth. I think she is correct in asking for a reworking of the General Plan before we fill up what little is left in Pacifica. The usual suspects who are the political street gangs in town were able to work together successfully to author a Strategic Plan two years ago. I'm sure a cattle call debate on the General Plan can be equally productive.
Lancelle's recent guest column on funding and revenues was a brave step that needs to be taken by all of us. Proposition 13 has reduced our share of property tax to only 11 cents on the dollar. If you pay $1,000 a year in property taxes, only $111 is returned to Pacifica, and the rest goes to fund state, county and, educational districts. Additionally, Pacifica receives only one penny for every 8.5 cents of sales tax collected when you purchase items locally. The remaining 7.5 cents, like our property taxes, go to state, county, and other special district measures such as Measure A, which funds transportation improvements in San Mateo County.
Like me, if you enjoy Pacifica the way it is and are willing to put your money where your mouth is, remember that Pacifica is not alone in its money woes, San Jose has a $25 million structural deficit akin to Pacifica's $1.5 million structural deficit. Most cities in the state face similar problems. Unless we are brave enough to bear an additional voluntary burden of increasing our property taxes by assessing ourselves 25 cents to 30 cents a day in a special tax devoted to Pacifica's general fund, I don't see how we can criticize anyone but ourselves for Pacifica's revenue problems. Mathematically, we as a community cannot build or buy our way out of the lack of revenue Pacifica is infamous for.
For an additional $100 a year on our property taxes devoted to the general fund, we as a community can make our city what we all want it to be. For the cost of one cigarette a day or one latte a week, we can support our local government in its unrecognized, superhuman, day-to-day maintenance of our standard of living. At the very least, it's time to discuss the possibilities. Like it or not, the responsibility is on us and us alone this time. No amount of City Council bashing will change the math. It's time to admit that we must take responsibility for ourselves as a city.
TODD MCCUNE BRAY
This is part of the job, too. No glory, no problem: Locals pull fire mop-up duty
RANCHO SANTA FE — The canyon walls were scorched. The bushes, the scrub and the chaparral had turned to ash. And, off in the distance, a million dollar home was reduced to 1,500 square-feet of white rubble gleaming in the sun...
»SLIDESHOW: Photo slideshow from the Southern California fire lines Like most of the firefighters in his five-engine strike team — an
assortment of men from the Daly City, South San Francisco, Colma,
Pacifica and Brisbane fire departments and elements of the state-run
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — he would have
rather been fighting new fires than examining old ones..... Steve Engler, a Pacifica battalion chief and co-leader of the
strike team, hadn't yet joined the rest of his men. Sitting shotgun in
his sport utility vehicle, a map of the neighborhood underneath his
arm, Engler took a moment to tell a reporter about his morning. When he woke up, he couldn't wait for the 6 a.m. briefing at
fire camp. He had been crossing his fingers, hoping against hope, that
he would be leading his men on the front lines of one of the
still-blazing fires. Maybe something along the lines of the fire they
had battled when they first arrived. The smoke had choked them and blinded their eyes with tears,
but his team had gotten a taste of action and adrenaline — and they
wanted more. He looked off toward the smoke-free sky and the pretty panorama. "This is part of the job, too," he said. Asked how he most wanted to spend the remaining hours of his shift, Engler didn't hesitate. "A reassignment. And if there's a hot spot, we'll go there and do it — and do it with a smile."Article Last Updated: 10/26/2007 05:53:14 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
Editor's note: San Mateo County Times reporters Aaron Kinney and
Michael Manekin and photographer Ron Lewis spent 48 hours in San Diego
with San Mateo County firefighters and doctors who responded to the
devastating wildfires.
Colma and Daly City firemen travel through woodlands while mopping up a wildfire near Escondido.
(You can reach staff writer Michael Manekin at 650-348-4331 or email mmanekin@sanmateocountytimes.com.)
PACIFICA -- Faced with a financial crisis three years ago, Pacifica firefighters backed the formation of the North County Fire Authority, a joint-powers agreement that centralized fire command for the cities of Pacifica, Brisbane and Daly City. Now they, and some city council members, are having second thoughts about being a part of th
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