RIPTIDE

Devil's Slide Trail Vistas

Paul Donahue photos

Stupid Sea Cruise: Entitlement and Irresponsibility

Public Outrage

 

Parents Tossed Responsibility Overboard

 

What can you say about two adults who take their two toddlers sailing around the world, then suffer a mechanical and medical emergency requiring a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard rescue operation that cost taxpayers at least half a million dollars? On top of that, the couple does not apologize, though the wife apparently said on Facebook that it was one of the stupidest things they had ever done. Well, duh! How about fessin' up and paying up?

 

You Know You Grew Up in Pacifica When...

Darryll Fletcher is one of several administrators for the wildly popular local Facebook site called You Know You Grew Up in Pacifica When...
 
Darryll says, "The site was started by people who grew up from day one and love the town they were blessed to live in. Thankful to their parents to pick such a beautiful place that made everyone feel like family—so much so that (I don't know if you noticed) all the guys say, 'I love you, man,' and truly mean it."

Pacifica's Space Program: How Do We Pay for It?

It’s interesting that Pacificans want Pacifica to remain beautiful, in good shape financially, and its infrastructure intact. Folks see that happening in different ways. Most people who live here stay because they want the open space and to be away from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco or Daly City. In fact, I know one person who says we Pacificans are spoiled because our town is so beautiful – that made me smile.
 
We don’t need to fill up our “empty space” with buildings in hopes that businesses will come here and stay. We have empty business spaces, for instance, Eureka Square. I’ve been told that rents there are very high; rumor has it the owner wants to sell that or build condos, but who knows. We do need more business, but basic businesses that will stay, not simply niche businesses. Niche businesses are good and fun, too, don’t get me wrong.   
 
Folks who think that building is the answer to our problems should ask themselves why they think empty space is “wasted” space. Someone actually said that to me. If buildings attract business, then why do we have empty storefronts? If that’s true, then just move up to Daly City or SF. 
 
As for widening Highway 1, I’ve driven to San Mateo for nearly 17 years now for work. I leave before 7 a.m. to get there without the hassle of traffic. I can honestly say two things: When school is out, I can leave 10 or 15 minutes later; and widening a part of Highway 1, then narrowing it again, does not truly solve traffic woes – it would be like a heart surgeon cleaning out part of your artery but leaving the rest of it clogged.  
 
“Gang of No” is a label meant to segregate and isolate a specific group of people and give that group a negative connotation. That does not help anyone because it turns ideas into conflict. It is not productive. People will argue. Big deal. But ALL sides need to realize there will be give and take. It’s not a contest; it’s a process to reach a mutual goal.

(name withheld by request)

Linda Mar Hummers

Gary Hanauer says this one (above) is a "male Anna's hummingbird—a common, year-round resident in California, and the only type of Western hummer with a song (squeaky, metallic-sounding). The females don't sing."

Jeff Bagshaw photos

Pacifica City Council: Budget Blues

Get Documents Here

Or Here

See pages 35-41 for a real shocker: $35 million pension bond obligation.

Would You Get Married Here?

Sewer Plant Weddings

Tim Williams forwards this story (above) about a Washington state water treatment plant that rents out its facilities for weddings.

Bluebird of Happiness

Sighting of the day: a male Eastern bluebird in spring plumage at Rockefeller State Park, Tarrytown, New York. (Tom Hair photo)

Coastside Hope

Spring Newsletter

Ed Brown's Garage, Leechburg, Pennsylvania

Ed Brown's Garage, Leechburg, Pennsylvania

Heartbleed Bug: Protect Yourself

Are You on This Hit List?

City of Pacifica: Draft EIR on General Plan Update

Notice of Availability

City Website

Stuckey's Sustainable Seafood & Meat Coming to Pacifica

Stuckey's Sustainable Seafood and Meat store opens soon at the corner of Francisco and Clarendon in Sharp Park. Click the link below for an idea of what might be offered. Thanks to Alan Wald for the link.

Dan Stuckey

Opinion: The Gang of No and The Gang of Yes

By John Maybury, Editor and Publisher

Pacifica has a long history of infighting, probably a function of our disparate neighborhoods without common interests. Scattered along 10 miles of coastal hillsides, deep valleys, beaches, and floodplains, our 40,000 residents range from blue-collar workers to white-collar professionals, and self-employed entrepreneurs to retired civil servants.

Lots of new money is coming into town, while lots of old money desperately hangs on. There is plenty of friction, resentment, bitterness, and distrust. This atmosphere engenders a kind of McCarthyism in which groups that have nothing in common blame other groups for Pacifica’s woes, demonizing and dehumanizing them with silly labels.

Reading comments on the four blogs of the apocalypse (Riptide, Index, Fix, Patch) and Pacifica Tribune letters to the editor, you may have seen a “Gang of No” label applied to various local environmentalists and conservationists because of their principled opposition to the highway widening and other public or private development/construction proposals.

As one of the aforementioned bloggers, and as a Tribune columnist, and as a member of the much-maligned “Gang of No,” I would like to ask for a timeout.

I do not claim to speak for my fellow gang members. They are fully capable of speaking for themselves, and many of them do so on the blogs and in the Tribune's inky pages.

I simply want to say that as a green-to-the-gills enviro, I am not primarily a naysayer. I love Pacifica’s green hillsides and blue waters. I moved here and I stay here because of the natural beauty of this little burg, just over the hill yet worlds away from the mad, mad mess of San Francisco.

Okay, I do say “NO” to anything that I think would endanger all this great scenery or all this laid-back small-town vibe. To me, bigger and faster is not better. I want to fix the town’s problems as much as anyone does. I may not share the same ideas as you about what is good for Pacifica, but make no mistake: I belong to “The Gang of Yes.”

I say “YES” to slow growth, smart development, small business, and green initiatives. From my deeply felt opposition to bad ideas and poor planning comes a wealth of positive alternatives and creative solutions.

Now if only I could get the powers-that-be to listen to me and my gang members once again, as they finally did with the Tom Lantos Tunnels at Devil’s Slide. That brilliant and popular transportation solution came from the very same people who are now unfairly smeared as “The Gang of No.”

 (A slightly different version of this op-ed ran in my April 9 Pacifica Tribune column "Wandering and Wondering.")

Opinion: Common Sense on Highway 1 Safety

Pete Shoemaker: Tribune Op-Ed

"My experience shows that when people try to scare you into supporting something, it often means that the rest of their arguments are weak, and/or they have hidden agendas. Be aware, and beware."

Hill's Bills: Jerry Keeps His Foot on the Gas

State Senator Jerry Hill—joined by San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson and Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network (TURN)—announced at an April 11 press conference in San Francisco that California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey has accepted gifts totaling more than $230,000 in international travel and spent more than 200 days on these trips since he was appointed commission president in 2003, according to the filing of statements of economic interest with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

The account of Peevey’s declared travel came a week after Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E), which contributed to the nonprofit that funded most of Peevey’s trips, was indicted on 12 federal criminal counts resulting from the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood.

Last year, a consultant’s report commissioned by the CPUC revealed that staff members said they do not believe the commission makes safety a top priority and blame a workplace culture that gives regulated industries too much "access to the PUC building, documents and personnel."

Hill’s Senate Bill 831, which addresses several ethics issues, includes provisions that would prohibit elected and appointed officials from accepting more than $5,000 a year in travel-related gifts from nonprofits, and would require nonprofits providing travel-related gifts to disclose to the Fair Political Practices Commission the name of the donors paying for the travel expenses.

Hill also announced that in the wake of the gun-trafficking and bribery indictment of Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, Hill is amending SB 831 to prohibit elected officials from using campaign funds to pay legal bills in criminal cases.

Years of Living Dangerously: Coping with Climate Change

Showtime Series

Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, narrate this documentary about real human beings dealing with the effects of climate change.

Vehicle Thefts and Break-ins: A Pacifica Crime Wave?

This is merely a casual observation, but it looks to me like there's been a noticeable uptick in the number of vehicle thefts and break-ins reported in the daily police logs. Pacifica had a spate of break-ins a few years ago targeting cars parked at our beach lots and at trailheads. This time, the break-ins and thefts appear to be in residential areas. I've just started noticing this "wave" within the past two weeks or so. Be safe out there.

Chris Fogel

California High-Speed Rail: $15 Billion Gap

Train to Nowhere

Follow Dan Walters’ political analysis in the Sacramento Bee (sacbee.com), especially his columns on state government shenanigans, including the $15 billion gap in funding for the Train to Nowhere (Governor Jerry Brown’s vanity/legacy high-speed rail project, whose bloated budget now exceeds $68 billion and whose route plan looks like the Chutes and Ladders game board).

 

Scientists Predict 2014 "Monster" El Nino

Warmer, Wetter El Nino?

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus writes the "Future Tense" column for Slate.