LINDA MAR WOODS DEVELOPER CALLS OUT VANDALISM & HACKING

John Kontrabecki op-ed

Comments

[Julie]

If he’s asking for waivers and variances, we should be able to vote on it.
It’s our traffic and quality of life.

That’s why he’s insulting the architect in the other thread. A public vote on these projects would kill them.

[Daddy]

The developer has plenty of money to install a custom, engraved sign (which was very well done, btw. Hope they used someone local.), but none to put someone in place for appropriate PR and social media management. Tone-deaf responses, with appeal-to-emotion logical fallacies. This doesn't instill any trust that the company will do right by the community. It's all lip service, as far as I'm concerned. This is the Bay Area. If you're not managing your outreach and responses professionally, nor acting accordingly by following through, you're a dinosaur. The lack of dedication is incredibly transparent. But hey, it's gonna happen at some point whether anyone likes it or not. So we can go all kick rocks, I guess.

[John Kontrabecki]

Skeptical:

I understand your comment about either restore it or remove it. I am exploring a third option. I may use it as a structure to post a banner inviting people to volunteer to help restore Old San Pedro Mountain Road. The banner will cover up the blight for a while until I replace the sign.

We have said on our website (www.lindamarwoods.com) that one of our goals is the restoration of Old San Pedro Mountain Road. Many people do not know that our property is a gateway to a network of hiking trails that trace the path of Old San Pedro Mountain Road from the end of Higgins Way through McNee Ranch State Park to Montara State Beach. This is a distance of about 10 miles. In fact, Old San Pedro Mountain Road connects a collection of parks we call Pacifica Mountain Parks. This includes the San Mateo County coast and beaches Parks (Montara Beach, Gray Whale Cove, and McNee Ranch), San Pedro Valley County Park, and Rancho Corral de Tierra (part of the National Park Services' Golden Gate National Recreation Area).

This is incredible. The entrance to the largest expanse of public recreation land south of San Francisco is in Pacifica at the end of Higgins Way! Very few people seem to understand how important this is and some do not value having a proper trailhead and trail leading to this network of parks. If the public did understand, they would be motivated to support our efforts to renovate Old San Pedro Mountain Road. We are going to try to educate the public about this wonderful resource and join us in our renovation efforts.

[John Kontrabecki]

Linty Marr:

I have said that I do not know who committed vandalism on our sign. If I did, I would report them to the police. I did file a police report and the Pacifica Police Department is aware of the crime committed. I do know who incited this action. It is the "Protect San Pedro Mountain" group. I have spoken with mountain bikers at the property and they told me they got information from this group's website that led them to believe we were going to destroy the mountain biking trails. This of course is false. The Protect San Pedro Mountain group should scrub their website of the propaganda and engage in a public debate based upon facts. They should be transparent about their motivation, which is to stop the widening of their street and stop wrapping themselves in a false blanket of environmentalism.

[Linty Marr]

Wanton destruction of property is a crime. If you know who did it, then you have an obligation to the community to report it to the police. If you can only speculate who did it, you have a moral obligation not to write defamatory accusations. Which is it?

[Skeptical]

I can't stress enough how much I loathe vandalism and graffiti. The people who are doing this are scum. That said, the Pacifica muni code does not allow a property owner to leave graffiti up because it is considered a nuisance and just encourages more of the same. I have had to call code on more than one property owner who decided not to clean up the graffiti and blight on their land. Please either restore or remove the sign, because allowing blight on your property is not an option. Thanks.

[Julie]

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time." (Maya Angelou)

[John Kontrabecki]

Skeptical:

I am sorry to say the sign was not restored on August 8 because it cannot be restored. The vandal who did this came back after we started to remove the paint and carved obscenities into the wood. At this point, we would have to have a new sign fabricated to replace what is there.

I do not intend to replace the sign now. I want the visiting public to see the sign in its current condition as a reminder of the harm some opponents of this project are willing to inflict on the public to express their opposition. The project's opponents apparently think creating public blight by defiling the entrance to this property is okay. It is not. I want the hundreds of people who visit the property every week to become disgusted by what they have to look at when they enter the gate. Maybe then the public will see that we are the ones who are trying to protect San Pedro Mountain Road.

[John Kontrabecki]

James Nolasco:

I do not know what you are referencing about "unwanted, unaffordable homes." We are proposing an economically integrated neighborhood with at least 30% of the homes priced as affordable housing for moderate-income households, according to State of California income guidelines. We are also proposing homes that are of a variety of sizes so that they are "affordable by design." This is neither a typical tract home development nor a McMansion development. Go to www.lindamawoods.com.

[John Kontrabecki]

Skeptical:

Thank you for acknowledging that vandalism and terrible graffiti is blight. As for my assertion that the "Protect San Pedro Mountain" group has incited this is libelous, I take exception.

A complete defense against libel is the truth. The "Protect San Pedro Mountain" website is full of inflammatory misinformation. They have taken information from our Planning Department filing and misrepresented it. They have tried to connect another development we are doing called HIllside Meadows that is planned for multi-generation housing to Linda Mar Woods, saying they are one project. This is false. They have put links on their site that connect to files for a project we have not proposed. They have suggested that we plan to shut down the mountain biking trails on the property, which is false. Even the group's name is a fraud. They apparently do not know where San Pedro Mountain is. It certainly is not the hill and forest we call Linda Mar Woods. And their call to action of "Stop Reckless Development in Lindamar" is libelous because there is nothing "reckless" about creating a proper trailhead at the entrance to the property, restoring Old San Pedro Mountain Road for hikers and bikers, renovating the hiking and biking trails, initiating forestry best practices to address the wildfire risk, and preserving recreational access to the property for the public for free in perpetuity. They appear to be motivated by one issue: our plan to widen Higgins Way to improve it to city standards and facilitate the development of a neighborhood on the crest of the hill. They do not want to experience the disruption that will come with the widening of the road. They are faux-environmentalists who use the language of conservation to further their own personal agenda. The irony is if you take their mission from the name of the group at face value, our interests are aligned. They should be supporting at least our efforts to protect San Pedro Mountain Road.

[Skeptical]

Vandalism is terrible, and graffiti is blight, but blaming this act on the "Save San Pedro Mountain" group is libelous.

Based on a video posted to Save San Pedro Mountain Group Facebook page, the sign looks like it was restored as of August 8.

[John Kontrabecki]

Julie:

Thank you for condemning the vandalism. It not only reflects poorly on the community, but the graffiti has also left an ugly scar at the entrance to the beautiful San Pedro Mountain Road trail. Everyone entering the trail must look at this. Sick.

Let's give the traffic engineer a chance to respond before you take a victory lap.

[James Nolasco]

I love how you only mention the development of unwanted, unaffordable homes in one sentence.

[Julie]

That's one way of not answering why you are basing your development's traffic impact on a proposed highway widening at Rockaway that was dead in the water two years ago.

I certainly condemn the vandalism. Your arguments are being destroyed here, no need to destroy the property.