Three months after a Coastside gathering at which public officials promised to do something about the area’s chronic vulnerabilities — to wind, rain and all manner of calamity — it appears there is finally a developing plan to address our emergency infrastructure needs.
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Three months after a Coastside gathering at which public officials promised to do something about the area’s chronic vulnerabilities — to wind, rain and all manner of calamity — it appears there is finally a developing plan to address our emergency infrastructure needs.
It’s not all that often that your place of birth gets a name change. Constantinople changed to Istanbul in about 1930 for obvious Turkish reasons. But a name change is rare except when a location needs a new name, like “Pacifica” upon incorporation in 1957. Prior to that people were using “V…
We joke in our house about the “roads to nowhere” — by which we mean the bike paths on the east side of Highway 1 that almost, but don’t quite, connect in Miramar (much to the amusement of Nextdoor users).
I have received criticism from members of the community and Supervisor Ray Mueller because I opposed adding amendments to the recently passed ordinance “restricting the use of county resources to assist or cooperate with immigration authorities” and feel compelled to respond.
On May 16, San Mateo County Health Department chief Louise Rogers quietly issued a brief statement noting the recent end of the federal Public Health Emergency. She called it “another milestone” and shared dense links filled with sometimes confusing information on the state of COVID-19 infections.
President Joe Biden is right. The massive tax cuts under the Trump administration turned out to be nothing more than a giant giveaway to the world’s largest corporations.
I am sad to hear that Sea Bowl is closing. I wrote two haikus about it and hope readers can relate:
They came in a utilitarian manila envelope, the kind that usually means government documents and a headache. Not this time.
One of the unspoken problems with going totally electric is PG&E. If you live on the Coastside, or even on the Peninsula, you've received some of the worst service in recent memory this past winter/spring. The severe weather was partially to blame, yes, but the power went out several tim…
The generous spirit of the people of the San Mateo County coast is alive and well. If there was any doubt, consider a pair of events this month that reveal our neighbors’ good nature, giving spirit and willingness to live a life beyond their own personal interests.
I listened to the entirety of the April 25 Board of Supervisors discussion about the county’s collusion with ICE. The ordinance “restricting the use of county resources to assist or cooperate with immigration authorities” had been approved 4-1 on April 11.
In the April 26 Tribune, I read Eileen Campbell’s front-page article on “Police (Pacifica) have trouble recruiting, retaining officers” with some alarm, but not surprise. After all, who would want the job these days? The police are put in impossible situations for which they are constantly s…
A 911 call from a school. Dispatchers answer but no one is there — only voices in the distance… “Shoot!” “Don’t shoot!” Then screams…
Fishery managers announced recently that salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon is completely closed this year. No weekend trips on the river, no local salmon on the barbecue, no opportunity to see your kid reel in a fish.
On April 11, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to pass an ordinance that will stop all cooperation with ICE in our county. The San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights was instrumental in bringing about this important ordinance. I work with Pacifica Social Justice an…
Being a good neighbor is not difficult. Looking out for and caring about our neighbors is what we should be doing. And for many years under their previous pastor, Westside Baptist Church was an excellent neighbor to the point of clearing branches from trees on their property to improve the v…
San Mateo County supervisors voted last week to stop using taxpayer resources to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their quest to deport undocumented people who, regardless of their immigration status, are human beings worthy of community support. While that may not b…
Being a good neighbor is not difficult. Looking out for and caring about our neighbors is what we should be doing. And for many years under their previous pastor, Westside Baptist Church was an excellent neighbor to the point of clearing branches from trees on their property to improve the v…
An application has been submitted by Bayland Soil Pacifica LLC for approval of a quarry reclamation plan. The application is known as File No. 2016-001 and includes Quarry Use Permit UP-71-16.
On April 11, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted to pass an ordinance that will stop cooperation with ICE in our county. I work with Pacifica Social Justice and we are part of the coalition, San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, which was instrumental in bringing about…
Recently, we learned that local government officials were moving to stock Narcan — the brand name for naloxone, a synthetic drug that blocks opiate receptors in the central nervous system — in local schools and libraries. We admit it was a shock, but once we got over the initial horror of co…
Pacifica doesn’t really have a lot of claims to fame. People love the ocean and the hills, but other California towns have those naturally occurring gems.
What a fun-loving upbeat person Jeri Flinn was (Tribune, March 29). Once a week we would spread our mats on the floor at the Doelger (Senior Center) for our weekly stretching and light yoga class. We all knew that she had diabetes — she was not shy about it. There were times she would leave …
During the March 27 Pacifica City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Sue Vaterlaus questioned whether there was some way to circumvent the public vote regarding housing in the quarry.
As surely every Pacifican knows, Sea Bowl isn’t just a bowling alley. It’s a gathering spot, an increasingly rare citadel that attracts young and old alike for hours of frivolity that can’t be bought online for any price. It’s a doggone shame to hear that owners will be closing it down this spring.
You may have read in the Tribune that Sea Bowl will be closing down; what you didn’t read was that the owners have sold out to a developer who plans to build 260 market-rate condos/apartments.
I’m following up on my letter to the Pacifica Planning Commission of Feb. 27 regarding the Rockaway Quarry Reclamation Plan. An application has been submitted by Bayland Soil Pacifica LLC for approval of a quarry reclamation plan. The application is known as File No. 2016-001 and includes Qu…
The article about Recology in the March 29 issue states “... any plastic marked with those triangular symbols ... all have well-developed markets to recycle them into new products.” Unfortunately, this is not true. According to a Greenpeace report issued in 2022, only a very small percentage…
There is no more potent, relevant, necessary skill for a child than learning to read. If you agree, you should know that we are in the process of failing a generation of Californians.
Addressing racial and economic inequality in California requires policies that improve the material circumstances of those groups in our society who face the greatest hardship. One such group is women of color, and one such policy would be the introduction of universal health care coverage.
Teachers and nurses and essential service providers cannot afford to live in Pacifica, and we suffer workforce shortages that affect our quality of life.
Jeri Flinn, my wife, had a morbid fear of Dr. Phil.
Children and teens should not be using smartphones in the adult world, regardless of which social media platform is used. Children and fragile teens are not prepared to face adult issues. Parents should protect their children, not push them to compete in the adult world. Kids should not have…
On Feb. 27, three representatives of the San Mateo County Harbor District got on airplanes for a trip across the country to the California Marine Affairs and Navigation Conference in Washington, D.C. The trip at taxpayers’ expense was preapproved by Harbor Commissioners, two of whom made the…
At a time of polarization, when so many Americans can agree on so little, Meals on Wheels stands as an exemplar. Whatever quibbles one might have with the way the program is run (and, frankly, we know of none), there is no arguing with the premise: Far too many of our elders are hungry and l…
Thank you so much to the Pacific Tribune and Eileen Campbell for the thoughtful article about Chinedu Okobi, tased to death in 2018 by the San Mateo Sheriff's Office, simply for being a black man walking in Millbrae (Tribune, March 8).
Climate activists in Pacifica, propelled by Third Act national and the San Francisco Bay Area chapter organizations, are staging an event at the Chase Bank in Linda Mar Shopping Center on March 21, 2023. The 32123 local event is just one of close to 100 actions at Big 4 banks across the coun…
In a recent op-ed in the Pacifica Tribune, Dan Walters from CalMatters opined on causes of homelessness. I suggest alternative insights. I believe California critically lacks low-income and supportive housing. We don’t need reduction of environmental and community control, we need policies a…
Perhaps the best part of any goal-setting exercise is the engagement of participants and the wisdom of a group working together in a creative endeavor. When government agencies set goals for the coming year, it’s interesting to see what they come up with, of course, but the best part may be …
I have lost count of the many Coastsiders who, over the last couple of weeks, have taken time out of their busy schedules to congratulate me on my ascension to publisher of this newspaper and the other news outlets owned and operated by Coastside News Group Inc. I literally have been moved t…
Most of us living along the state’s coast tend to think of the California Coastal Commission as another faceless bureaucracy. We might think that it rules from on high, considering parochial issues that are monumentally important to us locals but don’t always extend beyond our county borders…
The Feb. 15 Pacifica Tribune front-page article “Group presses city for progress on climate plan” makes the important point that the city should revisit and update its outdated Climate Action Plan. However, the article does not mention two important points related to this topic.
A new reclamation plan for the Pacifica Quarry has generated renewed concern about any potential plans to use the somewhat infamous Rockaway Quarry as anything other than a free dog park and pampas grass forest. There’s also a city sewer plant on 12 acres of the 86-acre parcel.
Carol Johnson of Good Cities asked me for the causes of homelessness. I believe causes date back decades:
Lots of people on the Coastside enjoy sunsets, especially on the beach. But even better than the luminist visual of orange disk and pink cloud is the sound, a genuine therapy unto itself. It’s an experience so awesome it needs a name. I propose “surf-sound healing.”
On Jan. 19, 1994 — nearly three decades before the mass shooting at Half Moon Bay area farms shocked us out of our lull — a Half Moon Bay Review staff writer named Tara Gruzen wrote an exhaustive and exhausting multipart story under the headline, “Labor camps caught in crisis, grim condition…
Run. Hide. Fight.
America seems unable to solve our problem of homelessness, despite our best intentions and expenditures. But America did find a solution once, when the problem was even worse. We should do it again.
Now is the time for our community to have a serious discussion about the lack of affordable, accessible housing. A timely community forum will be held to discuss options at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, at Mavericks House.
It’s not all that often that your place of birth gets a name change. Constantinople changed to Istanbul in about 1930 for obvious Turkish reasons. But a name change is rare except when a location needs a new name, like “Pacifica” upon incorporation in 1957. Prior to that people were using “V…
We joke in our house about the “roads to nowhere” — by which we mean the bike paths on the east side of Highway 1 that almost, but don’t quite, connect in Miramar (much to the amusement of Nextdoor users).
I have received criticism from members of the community and Supervisor Ray Mueller because I opposed adding amendments to the recently passed ordinance “restricting the use of county resources to assist or cooperate with immigration authorities” and feel compelled to respond.
On May 16, San Mateo County Health Department chief Louise Rogers quietly issued a brief statement noting the recent end of the federal Public Health Emergency. She called it “another milestone” and shared dense links filled with sometimes confusing information on the state of COVID-19 infections.
President Joe Biden is right. The massive tax cuts under the Trump administration turned out to be nothing more than a giant giveaway to the world’s largest corporations.
I am sad to hear that Sea Bowl is closing. I wrote two haikus about it and hope readers can relate:
They came in a utilitarian manila envelope, the kind that usually means government documents and a headache. Not this time.
One of the unspoken problems with going totally electric is PG&E. If you live on the Coastside, or even on the Peninsula, you've received some of the worst service in recent memory this past winter/spring. The severe weather was partially to blame, yes, but the power went out several tim…
The generous spirit of the people of the San Mateo County coast is alive and well. If there was any doubt, consider a pair of events this month that reveal our neighbors’ good nature, giving spirit and willingness to live a life beyond their own personal interests.
I listened to the entirety of the April 25 Board of Supervisors discussion about the county’s collusion with ICE. The ordinance “restricting the use of county resources to assist or cooperate with immigration authorities” had been approved 4-1 on April 11.
In the April 26 Tribune, I read Eileen Campbell’s front-page article on “Police (Pacifica) have trouble recruiting, retaining officers” with some alarm, but not surprise. After all, who would want the job these days? The police are put in impossible situations for which they are constantly s…
A 911 call from a school. Dispatchers answer but no one is there — only voices in the distance… “Shoot!” “Don’t shoot!” Then screams…
Fishery managers announced recently that salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon is completely closed this year. No weekend trips on the river, no local salmon on the barbecue, no opportunity to see your kid reel in a fish.
On April 11, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to pass an ordinance that will stop all cooperation with ICE in our county. The San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights was instrumental in bringing about this important ordinance. I work with Pacifica Social Justice an…
Being a good neighbor is not difficult. Looking out for and caring about our neighbors is what we should be doing. And for many years under their previous pastor, Westside Baptist Church was an excellent neighbor to the point of clearing branches from trees on their property to improve the v…
San Mateo County supervisors voted last week to stop using taxpayer resources to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their quest to deport undocumented people who, regardless of their immigration status, are human beings worthy of community support. While that may not b…
Being a good neighbor is not difficult. Looking out for and caring about our neighbors is what we should be doing. And for many years under their previous pastor, Westside Baptist Church was an excellent neighbor to the point of clearing branches from trees on their property to improve the v…
An application has been submitted by Bayland Soil Pacifica LLC for approval of a quarry reclamation plan. The application is known as File No. 2016-001 and includes Quarry Use Permit UP-71-16.
On April 11, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted to pass an ordinance that will stop cooperation with ICE in our county. I work with Pacifica Social Justice and we are part of the coalition, San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, which was instrumental in bringing about…
Recently, we learned that local government officials were moving to stock Narcan — the brand name for naloxone, a synthetic drug that blocks opiate receptors in the central nervous system — in local schools and libraries. We admit it was a shock, but once we got over the initial horror of co…
Pacifica doesn’t really have a lot of claims to fame. People love the ocean and the hills, but other California towns have those naturally occurring gems.
What a fun-loving upbeat person Jeri Flinn was (Tribune, March 29). Once a week we would spread our mats on the floor at the Doelger (Senior Center) for our weekly stretching and light yoga class. We all knew that she had diabetes — she was not shy about it. There were times she would leave …
During the March 27 Pacifica City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Sue Vaterlaus questioned whether there was some way to circumvent the public vote regarding housing in the quarry.
As surely every Pacifican knows, Sea Bowl isn’t just a bowling alley. It’s a gathering spot, an increasingly rare citadel that attracts young and old alike for hours of frivolity that can’t be bought online for any price. It’s a doggone shame to hear that owners will be closing it down this spring.
You may have read in the Tribune that Sea Bowl will be closing down; what you didn’t read was that the owners have sold out to a developer who plans to build 260 market-rate condos/apartments.
I’m following up on my letter to the Pacifica Planning Commission of Feb. 27 regarding the Rockaway Quarry Reclamation Plan. An application has been submitted by Bayland Soil Pacifica LLC for approval of a quarry reclamation plan. The application is known as File No. 2016-001 and includes Qu…
The article about Recology in the March 29 issue states “... any plastic marked with those triangular symbols ... all have well-developed markets to recycle them into new products.” Unfortunately, this is not true. According to a Greenpeace report issued in 2022, only a very small percentage…
There is no more potent, relevant, necessary skill for a child than learning to read. If you agree, you should know that we are in the process of failing a generation of Californians.
Addressing racial and economic inequality in California requires policies that improve the material circumstances of those groups in our society who face the greatest hardship. One such group is women of color, and one such policy would be the introduction of universal health care coverage.
Teachers and nurses and essential service providers cannot afford to live in Pacifica, and we suffer workforce shortages that affect our quality of life.
Jeri Flinn, my wife, had a morbid fear of Dr. Phil.
Children and teens should not be using smartphones in the adult world, regardless of which social media platform is used. Children and fragile teens are not prepared to face adult issues. Parents should protect their children, not push them to compete in the adult world. Kids should not have…
On Feb. 27, three representatives of the San Mateo County Harbor District got on airplanes for a trip across the country to the California Marine Affairs and Navigation Conference in Washington, D.C. The trip at taxpayers’ expense was preapproved by Harbor Commissioners, two of whom made the…
At a time of polarization, when so many Americans can agree on so little, Meals on Wheels stands as an exemplar. Whatever quibbles one might have with the way the program is run (and, frankly, we know of none), there is no arguing with the premise: Far too many of our elders are hungry and l…
Thank you so much to the Pacific Tribune and Eileen Campbell for the thoughtful article about Chinedu Okobi, tased to death in 2018 by the San Mateo Sheriff's Office, simply for being a black man walking in Millbrae (Tribune, March 8).
Climate activists in Pacifica, propelled by Third Act national and the San Francisco Bay Area chapter organizations, are staging an event at the Chase Bank in Linda Mar Shopping Center on March 21, 2023. The 32123 local event is just one of close to 100 actions at Big 4 banks across the coun…
In a recent op-ed in the Pacifica Tribune, Dan Walters from CalMatters opined on causes of homelessness. I suggest alternative insights. I believe California critically lacks low-income and supportive housing. We don’t need reduction of environmental and community control, we need policies a…
Perhaps the best part of any goal-setting exercise is the engagement of participants and the wisdom of a group working together in a creative endeavor. When government agencies set goals for the coming year, it’s interesting to see what they come up with, of course, but the best part may be …
I have lost count of the many Coastsiders who, over the last couple of weeks, have taken time out of their busy schedules to congratulate me on my ascension to publisher of this newspaper and the other news outlets owned and operated by Coastside News Group Inc. I literally have been moved t…
