Cab fare - SFO to Pacifica

Anyone know the best cab company to take from SFO to Pacifica?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60713-i30-k5726520-SFO_to_Pacifica-San_Francisco_California.html#43342822

Submitted by Steve Sinai

SF Public Golf Alliance August Newsletter

AUGUST  UPDATE:  VIDEO GAME AND FUNDRAISING  1. Public Golf Alliance Member's Golf Video Game Is Big Hit.   World Golf Tour, a golf video game created by SF Public Golf Alliance member Yu-Chiang Cheng, is the talk of the business world. Click here to read the article in the September 10 issue of Forbes Magazine.   2.  Fry's.com Open Ticket Sales to Benefit SF Public Golf Alliance. The Fry's.com Open -- the PGA Tour's mid-October Silicon Valley tour stop, scheduled for October 10-14 at the Cordevalle Resort -- will donate to the Alliance 20 percent of ticket  sales to Alliance members. It's a great way to support the Alliance, while watching top professionals such as British Open Champion Ernie Els, and taking in the Fall Colors at the beautiful Cordevalle Resort in the Santa Clara Valley wine country south of San Jose. See below for ticket information and instructions on how to credit your ticket purchase to the SF Public Golf Alliance. See you at Cordevalle in October! PGA TOUR RETURNS TO SILICON VALLEY OCTOBER 10-14, 2012 BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!  20% of San Francisco Public Golf Alliance ticket sales will go to San Francisco Public Golf Alliance Purchase your tickets online at www.frysopengolf.com/tickets/.  Be sure to enter partner code PUBLIC GOLF ALLIANCE in the Partner Code (promo) box in “ALL CAPS” when you login.  Daily Tickets:  Wed – Fri $35 per day Daily Tickets:  Sat – Sun $45 per day All-Week Badge:  Wed – Sun $125 One general admission badge good all week. One Child 14 and under gets FREE admission when accompanied by a paid adult Each ticket also includes FREE convenient parking. For additional information, please go to our website www.frysopengolf.com or Contact Jun Lee, Ticket Sales Manager at 408-487-4653 / jun.frysopen@gmail.com Donations are greatly appreciated. To donate, please visit our website: Donations Page

We are on Twitter (@SFPublicGolf), Facebook and our website Contact us at info@sfpublicgolf.com   Submitted by Richard Harris

Fast food fading fast in Pacifica

 Pacifica Tribune, Letters to the Editor, 8/28/12.  "Disappearing business."  Father Piers Lahey

Where did those businesses go?

The old familiar fast food places are gone

"Editor:  I can sort of remember some of the words from that old song, "I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places," but if the trend continues, I won't be using the song anymore.

Maybe they fell off the edge of the world

My old familiar places are biting the dust, one by one. First it was the Subway shop at the Fairmont Shopping Center, then Round Table at Linda Mar and just today I realized that Straw Hat Pizza on Oceana near Manor had faded into the sunset (though with all the fog, it's sometimes hard to watch the sunset).

As a tribute to the latest casualty,  I offer these quotations from my collection: 1) from Yogi Berra, "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six," 2) not sure of the author, "I could get a pizza delivered in thirty minutes or less, but to get toner I had to run across town or order online and wait for an expensive overnight shipment. It was such a pain." 3) from Emma Bunton, "I love vegging out in front of the TV eating pizza!"

I wonder if other folks have lists of old familiar places and if their lists are wasting away like my list."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Another pizza restaurant in Pacifica gone

Pacifica endangered list:  business 

Pacifica Tribune/Jean Bartlett, Correspondent,  8/28/12, "Straw Hatt Pizza on Oceana Boulevard closed."

"While there is no sign at the door, the shuttered blinds, card-boarded windows and locked doors clearly explain that Straw Hat Pizza at 549 Oceana Blvd. is closed. A follow-up call revealed nothing other than the generic pre-recorded message: "We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

As recently as July 23, Straw Hat Pizza was one of seven "pizza places" put up for a vote in the Pacifica Patch competition — "Best Pizza in Pacifica Patch Reader's Choice 2012." Straw Hat Pizza closed in early August. Online commercial real estate listing service LoopNet notes the 3,000 SF restaurant/retail property is off-market."  

Related  -  LoopNet Listing. "Pacifica freestanding restaurant, 549 Oceana Boulevard, Pacifica, CA. Retail Property - Off Market." 

Update - Cityfeet.com. The 549 Oceana Boulevard restaurant space is available for lease,  $4,350 per month.  

Posted by Kathy Meeh

City releases proposals for police outsourcing; Debate about appropriateness of closed session continues

By Jane Northrop

Pacifica Tribune Staff Writer

Posted:   08/28/2012 05:08:40 PM PDT

Updated:   08/28/2012 05:08:40 PM PDT

The debate goes on about whether or not City Council should have met in closed session to discuss potential police outsourcing. In the meantime, city staff has released the two proposals City Council discussed.

City Council decided not to pursue outsourcing police services after meeting in a closed session meeting earlier this month. The meeting was held with a consultant engaged to review police outsourcing in the community. Proposals from both the County of San Mateo Sheriff's Office and the city of South San Francisco were reviewed.

Director of Administrative Services Ann Ritzma and the City Attorney Michelle Kenyon said closed session was the right place to discuss the potential police outsourcing.

"Any time a city contemplates contracting out union work, they are required to give direction to their labor bargaining team in a closed session," Ritzma said. "If City Council decided to do it, it would be negotiated at the table with the labor unions. The City Council decided not to contract out, therefore it is no longer a closed session item."

The City Attorney said City Council met to discuss labor negotiations on several dates.

"The sheriff's proposal and the proposal from South San Francisco are public record and we are going to make them available to the public. There was a request for the public record and it was released," she said.

Jim Ewert, general counsel of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, and  Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, said the decision to hear that matter in closed session was not appropriate.

"Closed session is authorized for hearing reports from the city labor negotiator and giving further instruction about things that are being bargained," Francke said. "Whether or not the city hopes to outsource police services is not a bargainable issue. That is not something they are required to negotiate with employees. That's up to their discretion. I don't believe that topic belongs in closed session."


Read more...

Posted by Steve Sinai

Governor Jerry Brown's CA state employee pension reform

The CA legislature votes to approve the Governor's pension reform bill, Friday 8/31/12.

The deal, estimated to save between $40 billion and $60 billion over 30 years, is considered the key to the success of Brown's November tax-hike initiative because the governor and Democratic leaders need to prove to suspicious voters that they are serious about controlling spending.  A single bill that contains all of the reform package, AB340, easily passed a conference committee Tuesday night and will be voted on by the Democratic-controlled Legislature on Friday.

Pension reform is happening

.....  The pension reform agreement requires all new public employees to pay for at least 50 percent of their pensions, with the same formula being phased in for current state employees over the next two years.

For the formula to take effect at the local level, it would have to go through the collective-bargaining process. But local governments could impose 50-50 shared costs by 2018 if negotiations reach an impasse. The reform also bans employees from enhancing pension payouts by artificially inflating their final salaries -- a practice known as "spiking."  Silicon Valley Mercury News/Steven Harmon, 8/28/12.  "Governor Brown unveils pension compromise that caps benefits."   Read Article.

....  "...  pension reform advocates said the Democratic proposal fails to address the long-term costs of the state's pension liabilities, largely by leaving benefits for the state's more than 200,000 employees unchanged without contract changes negotiated with unions.

Defusing the taxpayer pension/benefits bomb

The reform deal does not include putting new government workers in a hybrid system that includes a 401(k)-style plan, greater independence for the board that oversees the state's main pension fund, or a reduction in retiree health care costs, which are skyrocketing.

....  Still, Brown hailed the deal as a landmark achievement and said it will make pension benefits for public employees lower than they were during his first term in office, in 1975. A legislative committee passed the bill on a 4-2 party-line vote late Tuesday, setting up a full vote by lawmakers Friday.  CBS News/Politics, 8/29/12.  "Compromise pension reform deal reached in California."   Read Article.

Related -  Time Magazine/Politics/Fareed Zakaria, 6/25/12 "Why we need Pension reform."  Picture from the Time article.

 Posted by Kathy Meeh

San Mateo - City code change flexibility when times change

The Daily Journal (San Mateo)/Bill Silverfarb, 8/29/12.. "City moves to relax retail requirement downtown."

Office/Retail flexibility downtown San Mateo

"The San Mateo Planning Commission approved a resolution last night that could allow for greater office use on ground floors in downtown depending on a future City Council vote.

Many existing and older commercial buildings are up to 130-feet deep in the downtown corridor but the current typical retail store depth is not more than 75 feet, according to a staff report. 

To maintain a retail frontage in its downtown core, the commission approved a resolution last night that recommends that the City Council allow for alternative uses, such as office space, in the rear of retail buildings which are no longer viable for retail use." The article includes more specifics, including a history of downtown retail/office code changes in 1986, and 2000.  Read Article.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Dan Wu and Shiloh Ballard: Why state's CEQA laws need update

By Dan Wu and Shiloh Ballard
Posted:   08/25/2012 08:14:46 PM PDT

Updated:   08/25/2012 08:14:47 PM PDT

For nearly 40 years, the California Environmental Quality Act has served as an important law to ensure that any proposed project receives adequate environmental review, community input and that any potential impacts on the environment are adequately evaluated and mitigated.

However, CEQA now is being abused by project opponents to file lawsuits to delay or kill projects -- not to further the interests of the environment. While many of us hoped that important reforms would have been adopted this month, pledges Thursday by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Sen. Michael Rubio to work with a coalition co-chaired by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group for substantive CEQA modernization is a hopeful sign.

Locally, several good projects have been held up by CEQA challenges that have little to do with the environment and more to do with plain-old project opposition. A Netflix plan to expand in Los Gatos and create close to 800 new jobs in an existing office park is being challenged by some who say the building will be too tall.

A union is challenging a transit-oriented housing development across from the future Milpitas BART station that would create much needed housing and support public investments in transit. And, in San Jose, a small-business owner would like to add three gas pumps to his gas station but faces a CEQA challenge from a competitor. All three projects would help spur economic development, community renewal

and achieve broader sustainability goals.

While these stories are good illustrations of how CEQA is misused to advance a nonenvironmental agenda, one of the saddest stories is about an affordable housing proposal for seniors.

Almost 10 years ago, the Santa Clara Methodist Retirement Foundation and Charities Housing proposed building 162 affordable homes for seniors across from Westfield Valley Fair mall and the adjacent transit hub.

After undergoing a four-year CEQA process and completing an environmental impact report (EIR), the project was approved by the city in 2007. A local opposition group initiated a referendum against the project and voters overwhelmingly supported building the housing.

The opposition then sued under CEQA to try to overturn the project but was rejected by the courts.

It's now been 10 years since the project planning began and five years since the council approved the project. But the project has not broken ground because of the delays caused by the frivolous CEQA lawsuit, delays that jeopardized funding for the proposal.

Clearly, this type of abuse of CEQA was not what was intended when the law was passed, and it's not serving any environmental benefit.

Read more...

Posted by Steve Sinai

JUHSD appoints Kalimah Salahuddin to fill vacancy

Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, 8/21/12.  "Newest JUHSD board member embraces community services, political activism." 

Kalimah Salaluddin and children

"Over the summer, the board of Jefferson Union High School District appointed Pacifican Kalimah Salahuddin to fill the seat vacated by Laurie Frater, who resigned for personal reasons. 

Salahuddin who has chaired quite a few parcel tax campaigns for both the Pacifica School District and the JUHSD, has a deep background in community service. She is the single mother of three children -- Karim Tulloch, 16, a Terra Nova student and twins Amirah and Ananda Tulloch, who just began their freshman year at Oceana. 

List of organizations Kalimah is involved with:  Jefferson Union High School District, trustee; Saving Pacifica Schools, president; Educate our State, board member; Oceana High School PTSO, Terra Nova High School PTO; Special Education Parent Advisory Committee;  Habitat for Humanity, regular volunteer; Pacifica Democrats; California State Democratic Delegate (going to the convention to represent our district in support of President Barack Obama in North Carolina Sept. 3)."   Read Article, 

Related - article - Fix Pacifica reprint, Pacifica Tribune, 10/14/10, "Pacifica Elementary School District candidate."   interview - Wavelength, Kalimah Salahuddin (Saving Pacifica Schools) interview with Ian Butler, August/September, 2011, 29 minutes.  Organization blog posting, 2/11 - Saving Pacifica Schools.  Note:  photograph is from the Saving Pacifica Schools blog posting. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Trail news - La Honda preserve 8 years planning to achieve balance

Half Moon Bay Review/Mark Noack, 8/27/12.  "MROSD approves final plan for La Honda preserve."

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District directors approved a final master plan for the La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve on Wednesday night, setting the long-sought park on course to open by 2015.

Open Space plan applauded by humans, critters and cattle

The new master plan caps more than eight years of planning by MROSD officials for how they would manage the 5,700 acre preserve just north of La Honda. Stewardship of the property requires balancing out public recreation with conserving the area as a nature habitat, and district officials say they have been intentionally cautious in how they proceed.

The district envisions eventually opening more than 25 miles of trails at the La Honda Creek preserve, with sections for cycling, dog-walking and horseback riding. Part of those trails will join with the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which is currently being phased to spread along Skyline and up through the Pilarcitos Creek watershed.

Much of the ranchland will continue being used for cattle grazing. MROSD work crews have worked to convert a series of cattle ponds into suitable habitat for red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake."   Read Article.

Reference - Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, includes map.  Note:  "Limited parking, not wheelchair accessible". At this time, hikers and horses allowed.  No restrooms, no camping, no bicycles, no restrooms, no camping. and no dogs on or off leash. Note:  Photograph from the website.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Rover landing on Mars, successful and so is the transmitted voice of Bolden

CNN/Jethro Mullen, 8/28/12,   "Human voice makes giant leap in space thanks to Curiosity."

Mars, unlike Pacifica has no weeds to pull

The voice of NASA's chief has boldly gone where no voice has gone before -- to another planet and back. Words uttered by Charles Bolden, the administrator of NASA, were radioed to the Curiosity Rover on the surface of Mars, which in turn sent them back to NASA's Deep Space Network on Earth, NASA said in a statement Monday.

The successful transmission means Bolden's space-faring comments are the first instance of a recorded human voice traveling from Earth to another planet and back again, according to NASA.  In the recording, Bolden congratulated NASA employees and other agencies involved in the Curiosity mission, noting that "landing a rover on Mars is not easy." "Others have tried," he said. "Only America has succeeded."

 

Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator

The announcement by NASA of the voice transmission, the latest in a series of advances by Curiosity since it landed on Mars earlier this month, comes just days after the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.  "We hope these words will be an inspiration to someone alive today who will become the first to stand upon the surface of Mars," Dave Lavery, NASA Curiosity program executive, said in the agency's statement. "And like the great Neil Armstrong, they will speak aloud of that next giant leap in human exploration."  

"...NASA on Monday released new photos of the Martian landscape taken by Curiosity. The images show the knobbly terrain on the side of Mount Sharp, an area that Curiosity is eventually intended to explore. Read article, and view embedded 1.12 minute video.    

Reference -  NASA, "Mars Science Laboratory:  Curiosity: Could Mars have once harbored life?" Note:  photograph from NASA.

Related Article-  Associated Press/Science/Alicia Chang, "Can Curiosity Mars mission inspire like Apollo?"

Posted by Kathy Meeh

San Mateo County schools should get back excess redevelopment revenue

Not yet passed by the California Legislature, then signed by the Governor, but our schools should gain back cash overages that were taken away because of the redevelopment fallout. Counties affected include San Mateo, Napa and Marin Counties.  Nice going Assemblyman Jerry Hill for moving forward a trailer bill to fix this financial error. !!!

"The Daily Journal (San Mateo)/Michelle Durand, 8/27/12.  "Hill proposal will save county more than $1 Million."

Adequate and good schools need money

San Mateo and two other counties will not forfeit extra property taxes to the state under a proposal by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that tweaks an early redevelopment cleanup bill and means more than $1 million annually for local schools, cities and special districts.

The trailer bill eliminates the provision that counties with excess Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds after funding local schools not receive the balance. For San Mateo, Napa and Marin counties, that part of the redevelopment agency bill passed in June meant the loss of $3.2 million.   

$1 million will help

.... “There’s an equity issue here. They said no one was going to be harmed, which is not true. Plus, taking money from the county violates Proposition 1A,” Hill said, referencing the prohibition on the state reallocating property taxes that would cause counties to lose revenue.

Hill said he got a commitment from Senate Budget Chair Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to correct the mistake and met with the other counties involved and the departments of finance and education to find out how it got in. Hill claims the two departments placed the language in as a way to hold on to a little more money in the budget.

....  Hill anticipates the trailer bill passing out of the Legislature during the session’s final week before heading to the governor’s desk. Gov. Jerry Brown will have until Sept. 30 to either veto or sign the bill."   Read Article.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

No parking meters in Pacifica because no reason

Aka:  the advantages of living in a city where not too many people live, work or want to spend more time than is necessary, except to drive though.  

Newer parking meters

San Francisco Chronicle/City Insider/Rachael Gordon, 8/26/12. "Metered parking in San Francisco inches up to $5.25 an hour at some spots."

.... " The Municipal Transportation Agency announced the seventh parking rate adjustment under the experimental SFpark program that attempts to manage parking with meter rates. The goal is to set the price so there’s approximately one parking spot always available on every metered block. The cost will be adjusted based on demand; the more popular the location to park, the higher the cost.

....  Once the rate adjustments go into effect this week, 1.7 percent of SFpark meters will cost $5.25 an hour and 4.3 percent will cost 25 cents an hour. The largest number — 43 percent — are priced at $2 or less; 2.4 percent cost $5 or more. The rest  fall in between. The highest they can go is $6 an hour, unless there’s a special event, such as a ballgame or popular street fair in the vicinity. The cap for those times has been set at $18 an hour.

Reality, and what that feels like

The meter rates aren’t the only things changing. So are the parking policies. The agency plans to expand meter operations into the night around the Giants China Basin ballpark, and starting citywide on Jan. 1, drivers will have to start plugging the meters on Sundays."

Related - Sclick.net, 12/13/10, (coolest electronic technology gadgets blog)."Digital parking meters, San Francisco Parking project - accept credit and debit card."  "A new digital parking meters that accept both debit and credit cards has been introduced at several seaside areas in San Francisco. This is part of the SF Park project to provide extra convenience to car users. The basic idea is using wireless sensors capable of transmitting data feed to various electronics devices including street signs, web and smartphone’s applications."


Posted by Kathy Meeh

Pacific ocean visitors pass by Pacifica traveling north, and south

Pacifica Tribune, writer not identified, 8/21/12. "Endangered leatherback turtles seen off Pacifica coast."

Hello, goodbye Pacifica

Confirmed sightings of endangered leatherback sea turtles by scientists and naturalists offshore of San Francisco are being reported to the all-volunteer Leatherback Watch Program run by the non-profit SeaTurtles.org over the last two days. Leatherbacks were first sighted July 14 offshore of Monterey and have been sighted regularly throughout the last month with the most recent sighting Sunday offshore of San Francisco in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary by observers with the Oceanic Society. In total, 20 individual leatherbacks sightings have been reported offshore of Northern California in July and August.

....  Leatherbacks grow up to eight feet long, can weight close to a ton, have survived the extinction of dinosaurs over 65 million years ago virtually unchanged, but are now under a serious threat of extinction in the Pacific. Populations of the Pacific leatherback have declined by approximately 90 percent in the last 25 years under the constant assault of industrial fishing, particularly the deadly interactions with longline and gillnet fishing gear. Illegal poaching, vessel strikes, entanglement in marine debris, and plastic pollution ingestion all harm and kill these imperiled animals.  Read Article.

Related - Note: picture from  Reptilian Rants."A turtle without a shell?"  "Yes, it’s true, leatherback turtles have lost their shells. Shell reduction is relatively common in turtles. It seems a little funny. After going through all the trouble of evolving impregnable armour, many taxa then went out and removed large chunks of it. We see shell reduction in snapping turtles (Chelydra and Macrochelys), soft-shelled turtles, and even other sea turtles. None of them, however, reduced their shells to the point of actually removing them."  Note:  The photograph is also from the Reptilian Rants  website.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

San Mateo county government, week of August 27, 2012

Palo Alto Daily News/Staff, 8/24/12.  "On the Docket". More detail and the full article.

Monday - 8/27/12, San Carlos.  City Council to approve fiscal year 2011-12 dissolution costs of the former Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department, $537,660. Approve a consultant contract for a downtown parking study, $62,493.
 

Not  the right season for Government or whale watching

Tuesday - 8/28/12, Menlo Park   City council will discuss the city's emergency preparedness. Discuss and vote on a polystyrene food ware ban.  Consider "an appeal against a planning commission approval of a use permit for a new preschool.."   NIMBYS are everywhere. 

Tuesday - 8/28/12. Palo Alto.  The "Regional Housing Mandate Committee will  discuss the city's response to the Adopted Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the 2014-22 housing element cycle." *

Tuesday - 8/29/12. San Mateo County.  The Board of Supervisors will receive "an update from the sheriff's office on the new jail's building options."

* Related -  City of Palo Alto, City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo website  C/CAG Regional housing needs allocation process.  Photo from Coast View Magazine, 1/17/11 "It’s whale watching season again on the San Mateo County coast. Here are some popular venues.".

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Initial view of Pacifica city council candidates - Mary Ann Nihart

Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, 8/21/12.  "Mary Ann Nihart launches campaign."

Pacificans can "come together" to protect and improve our city

....  Nihart said her first two years in office were pretty tough because of the issues that faced the city. "We were taking in less than we were putting out, but we are now making decisions a new way. We can take care of ourselves and make ourselves fiscally stable. We do it every time we come together," she said.

Nihart said she'll be calling on voters to support plans for a new library and to continue to hold the bottom line. "We can continue to maintain our beautiful hills, but we need a marketing plan," she said.

She said she was excited to see a new shuttle -- joint effort between Recology and the Chamber of Commerce -- coming to town. She said those who are best suited to lead Pacifica must also be able to work with the rest of the county,   Read Article.

Reference - From the Mary Ann Nihart, election 2012 candidate website.  "With your support, I will work to: revitalize aging business districts, promote a vigorous economic base, seek out and encourage new businesses, protect our hills, open space, and environment, build a new library/life long learning center, support our schools and children, and even find room for two or three dog parks."  

Related - photograph above from  Dr. Phil's television show.   Mary Ann Nihart was part of the professional discussion panel. The embedded video is only 31 seconds, and does not include panel discussion..The text includes participant comments. The topic is children acting out in a classroom setting, "To restrain or not restrain?"

Posted by Kathy Meeh

National politics, what could possibly go wrong?

And, how in the world could national policies affect Pacifica?

All eyes are on Tampa, despite stormy weather delaying the start of the Republican convention.

Not as much wind as Ron Paul will blow in

Mild convention setback

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said over the weekend during an appearance on CNN, "We're 100 percent full-steam ahead on Tuesday." He added, "I think you're going to see that there might be some shortening of speeches. But most of our guests are going to be accommodated."  Huffington Post/Politics, 8/27/12. "Republican Convention 2012, August 27 in Tampa (Live Updates), and live blog.

Real Clear Politics, 8/26/12,  "Fox News Sunday" Panel on the Republican Convention,  Embedded Video, 5:46 minutes.  Panel includes  "Bill Kristol, Kirsten Powers, Mike Huckabee and Juan Williams as they discuss the Republican National Convention."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

State safety official urges PUC to impose sanctions against PG&E

"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A top California utility safety official is slamming Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for "meaningless" pledges after the fatal San Bruno pipeline explosion in 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.  (refers to the second article)..

Did PG&E Corporation learn anything?

Corporate culture problem, safety failed

In a regulatory filing this week, safety program manager Raffy Stepanian urged the state Public Utilities Commission  to impose sanctions on PG&E in connection with the explosion, the newspaper said.

"Jingles and slogans aside, PG&E Co. has not changed its focus from serving the board to serving its customers, captive ratepayers and people of California," Stepanian wrote in urging the commission to impose sanctions against the company.  "PG&E Co. has not delivered real corporate culture change," he said.  San Francisco Chronicle/Associated Press, 8/25/12. "Safety official slams PG&E over San Bruno blast."  Read Article. 

  ....  Pacific Gas and Electric Co. made "meaningless" pledges following the San Bruno pipeline disaster while doing nothing to change its corporate emphasis on profit over ensuring the safety of its natural-gas system, a top California utility safety official alleges in an extraordinarily harsh regulatory filing." 

Fire coverage and lawsuits.

8 people dead, 38 homes distroyed

The company has said it expects to be fined a total of more than $200 million for several regulatory violations stemming from the September 2010 blast, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Meanwhile, it began a $10 million advertising campaign last month that features CEO Tony Earley, who joined PG&E after the pipeline explosion, acknowledging that the company "lost its way" before the disaster and promising to improve safety. 

Toothless' changes.  Stepanian also challenged PG&E's overall commitment to safety, saying that although the company has created several committees to upgrade safety, they "appear to be toothless." The committees lack performance criteria or specified powers to influence the corporate board in favor of safety, he said.

As for PG&E's post-accident pipeline-improvement efforts - including stepped-up strength testing, replacement and leak-inspection programs - Stepanian said most simply follow existing law or regulators' orders. "PG&E is being forced into a new safety paradigm," Stepanian wrote.  San Francisco Chronicle/Jaxon Van Derbeken, 8/24/12.  "PG&E slammed for 'meaningless' Changes."  Read Article.

Reference - PG&E website.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

California only Gray Wolf adapting to Plumas county wildfires

San Francisco Chronicle/Peter Fimrite, 8/25/12. "Lone California wolf fascination with wildfire."  

"The famous lone wolf of California has been roaming curiously close to a large wildfire in Plumas County this week in what experts think might be a fiendishly clever ploy to pick off prey fleeing the flames.

Plumas County wildfires

The first wolf to enter the state in almost 90 years was tracked using his GPS collar to within a mile of the 63,160-acre Chips Fire, which was still burning out of control near Lake Almanor on Friday.

"Over the last week he was pretty darn close to the perimeter of this fire, strangely so," said Karen Kovacs, the wildlife program manager for the California Department of Fish and Game. "There was speculation that he might be going after animals that are moving away from the fire.

 Fire no problem for OR7, easy dinner

Nobody really knows for sure what the wolf, known as OR7, is up to, she said, but there aren't many other reasons the canine predator would be lurking so close to towering flames. The fire has blackened some 98 square miles around the Plumas National Forest, threatening 900 homes and forcing evacuations in Canyon Dam, Big Meadows and, earlier, Seneca. Evacuation advisories were issued in Rush Creek and Prattville." Read Article.

Related - Plumas County fire.  The Willits News,8/24/12, "Plumas County: Containment number on Chip Fire is 55 percent, but winds are picking up."  Monterey Herald. 8/22/12,  Governor declares emergency in north counties hit by wildfires". California Emergency Management Agency, Fire Wildfire Map, 8/25/12.

Related - Lone Gray Wolf.  Discovery News/Tim Wall, 2/29/12, "California Gray Wolf First Since 1924. The picture is from this article.  includes picture.  Fix Pacifica archives, Tracking the gray wolf into California.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

City Council meeting, Monday August 27, 2012 Cancelled

That's easy!

Dog days of summer, you've heard?

The City Calendar indicates there is a city council meeting, Monday, August 27, 2012, but there is no Agenda because there is no meeting. The meeting seems to be cancelled on the last Monday of August every year. Nothing unusual about that, except for the information on the city calendar.  

Related -  Dog days of summer explained.

Posted by Kathy Meeh 

The Mayor did not return this citizen's phone call

We are all aware that Maria Marlies Jansen, a Pacifica woman has been missing for one month (7/26/12). And searches have brought-up nothing. Her husband, Christian also left a voice message for the Mayor asking for further assistance, but there was no call back. What happened?

Marlies Jansen

Pacifica Tribune, letters to the editor, 8/21/12.  "Missing Marlies" by Christian Jansen

"Editor: Marlies, the love of my life for 56 years, is still missing.

    The Mayor didn't return this call?

I would like to thank Jane Northrop of the Pacifica Tribune for printing the story and posting Marlies' picture so that the residents of Pacifica may be aware of her disappearance and with that be helpful in finding Marlies.

I would also like to thank the Pacifica Police Department, the San Mateo County Sheriff Department and all the volunteers for their assistance in the intense search during the crucial first five days of Marlies' disappearance. Also, a special thank you to my friends the Bode and Binsfeld families and to my friend Bill for their search efforts on Saturday, August 4.

As a resident of Pacifica since 1965, and in desperation, shortly after Marlies went missing, I called City Hall the Mayors office and left a message to see if they could somehow assist in the search. Regretfully, my call to this day has not been returned or even acknowledged. It is my hope that this letter will be a reminder that Marlies is still missing and that somehow it may lead to Marlies' return. A website (Marliesjansen.com) has been created to post any new information. Thank you kindly." 

Palo Alto Daily News/Staff, 8/24/12. "$10,000 reward for info that helps find missing 76-year-old Pacifica woman."  

"The husband of a 76-year-old Pacifica woman who has been missing for almost a month is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to finding her.

Christian Jensen has told Pacifica police that on July 26 his wife, Maria "Marlies" Jansen, was discovered missing from her residence on Park Pacifica Avenue. He described her as an avid walker who regularly takes the trails at San Pedro Valley Park.

"Despite an exhaustive search of the areas she is known to frequent, she has not yet been located," Christian Jensen said in a flier that offers the $10,000 reward. She is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 100 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was possibly wearing yellow gardening shoes."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Water off Pacifica may be included in National Marine Sanctuary

NOAA wants to expand Sanctuary outside Golden Gate

The Associated Press

Posted:   08/23/2012 12:46:21 PM PDT

Updated:   08/23/2012 12:46:21 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO—Federal officials are proposing a plan to expand the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to include the busy waters just west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's plan would enlarge what is already the biggest ocean refuge in the continental United States. Federal officials plan to discuss the idea at a meeting in San Francisco on Thursday, according to the San Jose Mercury News (bit.ly/O8KvAZ).

The proposal would expand the sanctuary's boundaries by 101 square miles to include the busiest section of the Northern California coast, heavily traveled by oil tankers, container ships and fishing boats.

The marine region stretching form Pedro Point in Pacifica to the Point Bonita Lighthouse in Marin County is home to myriad seabirds, marine mammals and great white sharks.

The expansion could lead to restrictions on fireworks shows near the Golden Gate Bridge as well as the use of personal watercraft and tourist helicopters. It could also lead to more wildlife protection and research money.

"That area is of unparalleled beauty," said Maria Brown, superintendent of the adjacent Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. "We want to protect this area, to make sure our kids and grandkids will have the opportunity to see the amazing wildlife and incredible views that draw people from around the world."

Read more...

Posted by Steve Sinai