Women's art organization "Balancing Act" exhibit, San Jose

From the Pacifica Trtibune print version, 7/27/16, Local News/Community Notes, A2. "Pacifica Artists at San Jose State."

Balancing act? Okay, me too.

"The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library presents work by the Peninsula Women's Caucus for Arts.

The exhibit, "Balancing Act," opens August 2nd, and will be on view through September 29th in the second floor Jenifer and Phillip Di Napoli Gallery. The theme 'Balancing Act' offers the artist an opportunity to incorporate art work with a diverse number of interpretations.

Pacifica artists are represented in the exhibit by Alysanne McGaffey, MFA, an accomplished watercolorist; Tanya Lin, innovative photographer; Deanna Taubman, painter; and Marian Yap, abstract painter.

Other members from San Francisco to San Jose have created works in a variety of 2 D mediums including oil, ac rylic, and watercolor painting, textile and fiber art, as well as wood, stone, ceramic and metal 3 D work. The exhibit is curated by Yvonne Newhouse."

Submitted by Alysanne McGaffey

Reference, organization. Women's Caucus for Art (National WCA),  Facebook.  Northern California Women's Caucus for Art (NCWCA).  Peninsula Women's Caucus for Art. Silicon Valley Women's Caucus for Art.

Note photograph by Barcroft Media (1 of 14) from The Telegraph, UK, "Balancing act: the delicate artwork of Bill Dan."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Manor post office reopens

Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, Staff Writer, 7/29/16. "Manor post office reopens after long reconstruction."

Manor post office is again open for business.

"The Manor post office quietly reopened last week without any fanfare, quite unlike the dramatic vehicular accident that closed it last September when a driver accidentally ran into it.

....  Post Office District Manager Gus Ruiz explained the delay. 'We had to work with the landlord and our facilities people. While we were working through all this, we needed to make sure our customers were taken care of. Finally we got it fixed. It had to be right and we had a lot of documents that we had to review and others had to sign off on. There was a lot of red tape that we had to go through. It took longer than anticipated,' he said.

....  'We opened July 19 on a trial basis to see if the network was going to work after we took everything out of the mobile van. On the first day, we had a glitch, but now we are open. We want to apologize for the delay. It’s not our building. Counters had to be custom made and the construction all had to meet city code,' she said."  Read article. 

Related.  ChicoER news/Pacifica Tribune, 9/29/15, "Manor Post Office closed indefinitely." "The Pacifica Main Post Office located at 50 W. Manor Drive, will be temporarily closed for repair due to a vehicle that went out of control on Monday, September 21, at 7:45 a.m., and hit the front of the office causing severe damages to the retail window unit. An emergency contingency action plan to relocate retail operations has been implemented for the safety of employees and customers." The Mercury News/Bay City News Service, 9/25/15, ".... Police Capt. Joe Spanheimer said the driver was a 58-year-old Millbrae woman who accidently drove forward through the plate glass windows into the lobby of the post office.  The post office was closed at the time and there were no injuries, Spanheimer said. The driver was not arrested." 

Note photograph.  Manor post office image by Engr. Armando M. Balajadia from Angel Fire.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Planning Commission meeting, Monday, August 1, 2016

Attend in person, 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd floor.  Or, view on local television or live feed Pacificcoast.TV, (formerly pct26.com).  If you miss civic meetings, view on PCT 26 You Tube!  The planning commission meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following.  Planning Commission updates, archives are available on the City website/Planning Commission.

  

Item 2.  136 Stanley Avenue, Pedro Point

Item 1.  252 Stanley Avenue, Pedro Point

Planning Commission Agenda, Monday 8/1/16, pdf pages 92.

Closed Session, none.
Open Session, 7:00 p.m. Administrative (pages 1-2):  Order of the Agenda; Approval of the Minutes 7/18/16; Liaison to next City Council meeting, none.
Communications:  Public oral communications. 
Consent items, none. 

Continued public hearing
Item 1.  PSD-808-16, CDP-365-16, PV-516-16 permits: 252 Stanley Avenue (APN 023-019-210).  To an existing 2-story residence, addition of a 3rd garage space, and bedroom above to legalize the existing second unit; add a half-bathroom and laundry room, and expand the master bedroom.  CEQA, class 1. Approve as conditioned. 

New public hearing
Item 2.  CDP-365-16 permit: 136 Stanley Avenue, (APN 023-936-100). To an existing 1,285 sq. ft. 2-story single-family residence, construct a 78 sq. ft. addition first floor; and a 728 sq. ft. addition 2nd floor. CEQA, class 1. Approve as conditioned. 

Consideration items, none.
Communications: Commission, Staff.
Adjourn.
----------
Reference, acronyms.  APN, Assessor's parcel number. CDP, Coastal Development permit. PSD, Site Development permit. PV, Variance.  California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), class 1. 
CA CEQA Code of Regulations, (Guidelines) .  Reference.com/R1 zoning, (typically freestanding, single-family residences).  
----------
Related, Real Estate information.  Redfin, 252 Stanley Ave, includes a view photograph, "... Pedro Point location with options. Gorgeous ocean views throughout the house..." Note photograph of the house is a facepage image to a Zillow/Pacifica general housing link.  Realtor.com, 136 Stanley Avenue, "... Single family, 2 bedroom, 2 bath located in Pedro Point-Shelter Cove..." Note  photograph of the driveway and house from this link. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

As a species, we may survive if we collaborate with others

Dear brother, let's share.
This time you get to clean-up.

Mashable/World/Gianluca Mezzofiore, 7/29/16. "Stephen Hawking has a stark warning for what Brexit could mean for the human species."

"Stephen Hawking has penned a thoughtful appeal for post-Brexit Britain to reconsider the role that wealth plays in society, warning that isolationism and envy could even lead to the end of the human species. 

In a Guardian essay, the world-renowned physicist made the case for a more comprehensive and generous definition of wealth "to include knowledge, natural resources and human capacity."
Noticing that we're living in "perilous times," Hawking lists all the multiple challenges that the planet and human race face: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, and acidification of the ocean.

"Such pressing issues will require us to collaborate, all of us, with a shared vision and cooperative endeavour to ensure that humanity can survive," he says. "We will need to adapt, rethink, refocus and change some of our fundamental assumptions about what we mean by wealth, by possessions, by mine and yours. Just like children, we will have to learn to share."  Read more.

Note photograph. Facepage image to Popsugar, "Reasons to have a second child."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Devolved candidate, Donald Trump

CNN/Stephen Collison and Tom Kludt, 7/28/16.  "Trump walks back email hack comments, but damage lingers."

I can save the world, boom.

Only words, why do words or facts matter...
even in your city, lighten up!

"Donald Trump said Thursday that he was being sarcastic when he appeared to suggest that Russia should use espionage to find Hillary Clinton's deleted emails. But he's finding out that presidents -- and by extension, presidential nominees -- don't get that luxury when the topic is national security.
.....  But when they step up to accept their party's nomination, candidates move into an arena where the stakes are higher and the bar for mistakes is much more unforgiving than the rough-and-tumble of a primary campaign.

.... Trump's remarks about Russia and Clinton's emails came at a news conference in which he was discussing the hack of the Democratic National Committee that led to the publication of thousands of emails on WikiLeaks. The emails showed officials strategizing against Clinton primary rival Bernie Sanders in his campaign for the Democratic nomination at a time when the DNC claimed it was neutral in the race. US officials believe that the hacking likely originated in Russia, opening the possibility that it was the result of an espionage operation. The Clinton campaign alleges that the leak was a deliberate attempt to damage her campaign and help Trump, who some experts believe the Kremlin prefers to be the next US president." Read more.

Related,Yahoo/Olivier Knox, 7/27/16, video 3 minutes, "Leon Panetta scorches Trump at DNC, as crowd boos and chants, 'No more war!" “Donald Trump says he gets his foreign policy experience from watching TV and running the Miss Universe Pageant,” Panetta said. 'If only it were funny. But it is deadly serious.' Trump, he charged, 'asks our troops to commit war crimes, endorses torture, spurns our allies from Europe to Asia, suggests that countries to have nuclear weapons, and he praises dictators, from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin.' Panetta, who served former President Bill Clinton as chief of staff, vouched for the former first lady’s leadership. 'In this election, here’s the only candidate for president who has the experience, the temperament and the judgment to be commander-in-chief: and that’s Hillary Clinton,' he said."

Note Donald Trump photographs.  So what do you think?  image to unrelated suzou.net photo web blog.  Finger up from  Esquire/Luke O'Neil, 5/25/16, "The Onion's Founding Editor Paints Scary Picture of a Future With Donald Trump."

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Whales continue to migrate north: for some the journey ends, Pescadero

The Daily Journal (San Mateo County), 7/27/16.  "Female humpback whale washes ashore near Pescadero."

Just saying hello I'm here.

"A 32-foot female humpback whale washed up ashore at a beach near Pescadero in San Mateo County and scientists believe it might have been struck by a vessel, Marine Mammal Center officials said Tuesday. 

Washed ashore, possibly
strick by a ship.

Six scientists from the Marin Headlands-based center and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco responded Monday to Bean Hollow State Beach to perform a necropsy (same as autopsy) on the juvenile humpback whale, which is an endangered species. The scientists found massive fractures to the back of the whale’s skull, evidence of blunt force trauma consistent with a vessel collision. It also had a cut on the front right flipper that could have been from a previous entanglement, center officials said.

“Every whale stranding serves as an opportunity to learn about these majestic creatures, and how we can prevent future deaths,” Marine Mammal Center research assistant Barbie Halaska said in a statement.  Humpback whales have been sighted along the San Mateo County coast recently as they migrate north.  

Some of you saw me in Pacifica?
Gray-whales travel north too.

Earlier this month, scientists from the two organizations responded to a 30-foot male humpback whale that also washed ashore at Bean Hollow State Beach and had injuries consistent with a ship strike. In recent years, the Marine Mammal Center responds to up to 11 whale strandings per year, according to the center. Anyone who sees sick or injured marine mammals can report it to the center by calling (415) 289-SEAL."   

Related article.  NBC News/Brendan Weber, 7/25/16, "Juvenile Humpback Whale Carcass Washes Ashore on Bay Area Beach."....  "Humpback whales have been sighted along the San Mateo County coast in recent months as they slowly move north, feeding on their migration route. The whales are among the most endangered whales in the world. Fewer than 10 percent of their original population remains. ... Nearly 1,400 humpbacks frequent the California coast in the summer and fall now. The humpback's global population is estimated to be between 35,000 and 45,000."

Reference, mammal center and education. The Marine Mammal Center/Humpback Whale, ....  "BEHAVIOR: Acrobatic humpbacks regularly breach (jump out of the water), stroke each other, and slap the water with their flippers and flukes. Scientists believe these activities are forms of communication because they create a great deal of noise, which can be heard at long distances under water. Humpbacks swim in groups or pods of up to a dozen at calving grounds, and in smaller groups of three to four during migration. Unlike other baleen whales, they can often be seen feeding cooperatively." 

Note photographs. Whale on the beach by Jae Cee from the related NBC news article. Jumping whale from Sub Sea Tours and Kayaks, Whale Watching Morrow Bay/Humpback. Up for air from Whale Route/CA Coast/ gray whale.

Posted by Kathy Meeh