Monday, March 26, 2012

Reminder - City Coucil meeting tonight, March 26, 2012


Meeting begins at 7pm, or shortly there following. Link to article and agenda.

Item 13, agenda update 3/26/12, 1:57pm:  Letters of Interest for the vacant city council seat were received from the following applicants: 1)  Gil Anda, 2)  Bruce Banco, 3) Karen Ervin, 4) Cal Hinton, 5) Ginny Jaquith, 6) William "Leo" Leon, 7) Gary Mondfrans, 8) Victor Spano, 9) Susan B. Vellone.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

#5 please

Anonymous said...

#5 please and lucky to have her!
Thanks Ginny for coming through for Pacifica once again!

Anonymous said...

Interesting how this choice of city council replacement seems to have been known at 3:41pm, whereas the decision was made after 9:30pm.

Thanks for the "heads up, Anon 341, How does that work?

Anonymous said...

Yeah WTF? Another Brown Act violation?

And wasn't Ginny recalled successfully? Kind of a slap in the face for the voters.

Chris Porter said...

To all the Anonymous' out there...how dare any of you say any type of negative comment about Ginny Jaquith. You all wish you were half the person she is in this community and believe me she would not be afraid to voice her opinion using her name. How someone as involved as her can put aside her personal time to help this City when we so deperately need her experience and guidance is a testament to her character.

Kathy Meeh said...

"...wasn't Ginny recalled successfully?" (Anon 804)

20 years ago over a "proposed for ballot street light assessment tax" along with other city council members. I don't remember this very well. Others may fill-in.

Anonymous said...

News Flash Brownactphobia hits Fix Pacifica.
Post @341PM yesterday was merely my hope Ginny Jaquith would be the choice and my thank you to her for volunteering. Until I heard she'd sent in a letter my bet was on Karen Ervin. I'm generally not psychic. Generally.

Anonymous said...

ANON 804, yes Ms. Jaquith was recalled a number of years ago, along with 3 other council members over a proposed street lighting landscaping assessment. The 5th held on to her job by changing her vote at the last minute.
The recall cost Pacifica dearly. in terms of real talent and lost initiative. It discouraged good people from public service. That recall taught councilmembers to avoid controversy, stick together, take only safe positions, and never annoy the big mouths and slur-mongers. That recall was capricious politics at its worst. How grand that Ginny Jaquith is right back where she belongs. And you have the ignorant nerve to suggest her appointment is a slap in the voters' faces? Plenty of us voters say slap me again!

todd bray said...

Well said Anon 3:06. When I read her name yesterday I knew it would be her.

Anonymous said...

Bray likes her, but Hallman doesn't. I'm so confused as to whether I should like her or not.

Anonymous said...

The people who recalled Ginny will not accept her. SHE WAS RECALLED. Ervin is tax happy. Keep searching.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:02, it's over. It doesn't matter if she isn't accepted by a small group of malcontents. The decision has been made.

Anonymous said...

Anons why don't you make up your own mind about Ms. Jaquith based on what she does and how she does it during her short term in office? And the folks behind a disastrous recall over two decades ago? Who the hell cares? Many of them have themselves been given the Ultimate Recall or moved to some Sun City/Del Webb bunker where they're endearing themselves to a whole new generation of public servants.

Anonymous said...

Ervin is tax happy? No. Ervin is smart enough to know the good things in life and the things that make life good aren't free. You didn't like the school tax? Decent public education isn't free. The old money sources are gone. Probably for good. You might be one of the petulant sour bunch that feels they have no stake in this country and won't pay for anything that they can't personally use but there are still a lot of us who aren't willing to give up just yet. We didn't get in this mess overnight and we won't get out of it overnight. And some profound and permanent changes have taken place. Karen Ervin seems up to the challenge and I hope she runs for office in November because she knows what's important and she's not afraid to stand up for it.

Anonymous said...

uh oh anon at 940 you used the M word. Bless your heart.

Anonymous said...

Ervin is tax happy. We need to find a candidate that does not think that raising taxes is the only way out.

I have been warning Pacificans a good decade of what is now happening everywhere. Ervin is another very uninformed, naive activist.

All of you deserve what is now happening. All of you. You voted for this mess, not me.

I and others for years have offered other solutions only to be ignored. And now you want us to raise taxes? forget bout it. Live within your means, do without.

Cause you really have no choice. Learn now how to get your water from the river.

Chris Porter said...

All you anonymous people...If you have some good ideas, put your name behind them and come forward. If not, keep quiet please because your self righteousness is annoying.

Anonymous said...

I think you have this blog confused with riptide. They love to sensor shite over there.

"Unlike some other Pacifica blogs, Fix Pacifica won't bury viewpoints we disagree with. "

Anonymous said...

Chris Porter didn't say to censor anyone. She expressed her opinion and politely asked people to come forward with good ideas. If not, shut the eff up.

Anonymous said...

Reading comprehension is not your strong suit Anon 1129

And by Chis's comment shouldn't YOU STFU? haha

Anonymous said...

Language is not your strong suit Anon 1232. Should you follow your recommendation?

Anonymous said...

That's Pacifica folks!

Anonymous said...

Just curious about one of the items on the Closed Door portion of the March 26 City Council meeting: the negotiation/talks on the Colt property.

Seems that the City is planning to spend some money here. Particularly in these harsh economic times, shouldn't there be some public disclosure as to what is being discussed?

Anonymous said...

No shit, Sherlock. They can't stop themselves from spending, particularly if it's something we don't need and might not even want.
Bam! We own it.

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute. Exactly where is the Colt property?

Steve Sinai said...

I believe the land in question is on Pedro Point, and the city needs an easement or something for the Devil's Slide bike and hiking trail they want to build once the tunnel is open.

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh that sounds like an absolute essential. Spare no expense Pacifica!

Anonymous said...

The Colt property ( formerly Victor Magrin's) is comprised of two parcels totaling about 15 acres. It is situated on the hillside directly behind the Ace Hardware and Castle Kitchen & Cabinets building. While technically within the boundaries of Pacifica, it is outside the San Pedro Terrace-By-The-Sea subdivision and only shows on the County maps as MTM which I have no idea what that stands for. I suppose the property could be regarded as similar to "Cattle Hill" which runs between the Rockaway and Vallemar subdivisions, but is outside those boundaries.

The entrance point to the property from the Pacifica side is the gated road between the Castle Kitchen building and the Barlolo (sic) Restaurant. You can see a large anchor on the left side of the driveway.

Not knowing exactly what type of easement the City is trying to get, I can tell you that the assessed value for both parcels is in the neighborhood of $800k. The City has been looking for quite a few years for some kind of access point to the top of Pedro Mountain. As I understand it, when Scott Holmes was in town, some kind of access was cut out through the road to the right of Hwy 1, just across from the bridge to the tunnel approach ( the green gate).

Evidently some kind of slide has taken out the roadway and made that access difficult, if not infeasible.

M point is when I see comments such as "where is the Colt property?" and "I think it's on Pedro Point," that not enough information is being made available to the residents of Pacifica.

While I'm sure that somewhere down the line, it would be desirable to have an access to the top of Pedro Mountain, the fact is that this is the same land that the Pacifica Trust has been futily trying to turn over to the GGNRA for open space for at least the past ten years, if not longer.

For whatever reason, GGNRA has been spinning its wheels and has not accepted the property. So with all the talk about cutbacks, outsourcing, even insolvency, should the City even be conducting negotiations to purchase an easement, and particularly doing so in closed door meetings?

Anonymous said...

In a word, NO!

Anonymous said...

Well duh. What are ya? New in town? Of course they need to do this behind closed doors.
Closed, locked, reinforced, guarded doors. It's holy work they're doing in there, spending the taxpayers money. Quiet! We'll
have no interruptions from the rabble.

Heather said...

... so we have $800K for an easement, but we can't shake $83,000 loose from the couch cushions for the Resource Center?!?!

Anonymous said...

The back-story on the pedro pt trail.
http://scc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/pdf/sccbb/2011/1111/20111110Board10_Pedro_Point.pdf
The trail will be regional, or if you believe the COASTAL CONSERVANCY's overheated rhetoric , of national or intergalactic importance. It will be safe from ocean rise.

Funds are taken from Pacifica's ball field and parks budget. Money that could have been spent on ball fields of more use to Pacifica taxpayers (and kids) and less traveled by regional folks.

Pacifica gets to pay for maintenance forever. Nice.

Greater-than-local interest: The proposed project has exceptional regional significance, as it could lead to the addition of the Pedro Point Headlands to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is a cornerstone to the future recreational opportunities that will evolve as the Devil’s Slide tunnel is completed and the current Highway One alignment becomes an attraction of national renown.

Sea level rise vulnerability: The property proposed for acquisition is not vulnerable to sea level rise, as it is located on the inland side of the Pedro Point Headlands, which rise to 625 feet above sea level.

The City will assume management responsibilities once the property is acquired.

Anonymous said...

and ballparks for our kiddies are at sea level and will be under water in 50 years. So you see, what we have here is some cray cray people in charge who are out to push us out of our linda mar ranchers.

Run for the hills!

Pacifica Index said...

Coastal Trail/Pedro Point land acquisition action has been indexed back through 2011 City Council agendas.

See "PEDRO POINT" within The Index for these documents.

Anonymous said...

Cool your jets...a little. All but $50,000 of the purchase money comes from grants by the Coastal Conservancy and SMC Transportation Authority. The $50,000 comes from Pacifica's Parks and Playfields Fund. Money from that fund can only be used for Capital Projects including land acquisition. The $50,000 will cover the costs of the sale. Council allocated the $50,000 on September 12,2011. As I recall, hardly anyone noticed. The purchase of the Tronoff and Colt parcels is part of the master plan to connect the Coastal Trail through Pacifica with the Coastal Trail (old highway?) going South through Devil's Slide. All of this trail-blazing stuff was brought on by construction of the Tunnel. Apparently after the purchase there will be a transfer to the GGNRA for maintenance. Is that also a transfer of ownership or just a maintenance contract? This really should be made clear to the public. Come right on out and say it. At this time, the project to build the trail connection is unfunded but not to worry. This city has never seen a trail they didn't want to pay for. There must be something we can cut!

Anonymous said...

Whoopee! There goes another 15 acres to the GGNRA. Maybe they'll pay our bills?

Anonymous said...

Yes the $50K from the PB&R Capital Projects fund can be used for this land purchase but it could also have been used to purchase new playground equipment,construction, or for any other PB&R fixed asset. Seems like the land purchase would have gone thru without our $50K and I'm sure PB&R
needed it somewhere for Pacifica kids and seniors. Guess we should be grateful we don't have to maintain the trail when it's built.