Open Line

I'm calling in response to your coverage of the science fairs that took place on our coast. I cannot believe how much space you gave to Sea Crest School in contrast to Cunha Intermediate School. Not only is Cunha a public school, we serve a much more challenging population. Your newspaper included in-depth coverage of the Sea Crest science fair. You actually went and took interviews with students and yet totally ignored the Cunha science fair. We had more than 200 science fair projects, we had a science fair night in which about 300 citizens attended and we had more than 70 people judge the projects. I know our school contacted you and I find it disingenuous that you spent so much time on a private school like Sea Crest and totally ignored the public school.

"Of course the Half Moon Bay Planning Commission approved the senior housing center. Members want to get people to work, due to the economy. They want to get men building, pounding nails, get people in and also for the seniors. But, as a resident, I say they need to look at the traffic. I have a child that has to be taken to another part of the city for school and no one can make the left-hand turn to Arnold Way because there is so much oncoming traffic already due to Sea Crest School. There are residents who are not seniors in this community and they share that same road."

"Hi. I am calling about the article headlined, ‘City Hits Brakes on Food Trucks' (Review, Oct. 12). You know, I just want to say, as somebody who works in Half Moon Bay in an office where people bring their lunch from home because the restaurants are either too expensive for them or it is just not convenient to go sit at a restaurant for an hour and eat lunch during the day, a food truck would be phenomenal! They are all over San Francisco. They are in Palo Alto, they are in Berkeley, they are in many places. It would show that we are a hip city and are with the times. Of course, people go to the restaurants to eat. But the food trucks, the vendors, are not a substitute for that. People will still go out to eat at night. I think Half Moon Bay needs more things like mobile vending; it is crazy that we don't."

"I am an El Granada resident and I live on Sonora Avenue. I wanted to let the people on the coast know that there is a bat problem. My cat brought a bat home recently and I had to go through animal control, which did a wonderful job. They are just excellent at their job. It is a very serious issue. A lot of times these bats have rabies and are even more dangerous dead than they are alive. So, I just want to let people know that they need to be aware that there is a bat problem. Thank God the tests came back negative on the bat that my cat brought home. I could have lost all of my animals over this. ... Rabies is nothing to mess around with."

"I'm calling about the article on Page 5A of the Sept. 21 edition, headlined, ‘Woman dies in crash on Verde Road.' I'm questioning why you put the quote in there about alcohol possibly being a part in the collision pending the toxicology report. Obviously, that is not a foregone conclusion. I think it is disrespectful to the woman who passed away and her family, and just something to think about for future reference."

"The City Council - were members reluctant to approve a contract for animal control for $165,000? Yet this is the same city willing to pay $250,000 for an emergency center that the city doesn't need, one that already has an emergency operation center. So it seems a little strange that they would be reluctant to approve a contract for animal control that we do need, but they would spend $250,000 for an emergency center that we don't need. Strange."

"I just wanted to say how absurd it is to spend $40,000 on fireworks that most people hardly see in one of our foggiest months. Every charity in this town is hurting and our schools need assistance. This should be banned. This is absurd and I hope it ends."

"I was just reading the article about the delays of the hay maze. I just think it is a shame that they are making such a big deal out of this. This guy is just trying to provide entertainment and he has been doing this for years at the Arata Farm. It is just something fun to do. Why does he have to have all of these use permits. It is a joke!"

"I just got your paper today (Review, April 6) and that political cartoon is absolutely insulting to our workers here on the coast. I just think you went way over the line."

These comments were recorded on the Review's Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com.

City Council should reduce pay

These comments were recorded on the Review's Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com.

“There’s a spelling mistake on the front page of last week’s Review. The young woman who wants a gas torch for metalworking. She wants it to braze and “sauter” metal. Well, solder is spelled, s-o-l-d-e-r. It may sound phonetically like how you have spelled it, but it is not. Check the dictionary, and let’s start off the new year right by remembering to always use spell check when you are setting type.”

“In Stacy Trevenon’s piece on the Virgin of Guadalupe (Review, Dec. 15), I find it completely disrespectful to the Mexican-American population and the Catholics in general when she typifies the chorus as “a lusty Viva la Virgin.” I think that is very inappropriate. The term lusty has negative sexual connotations in the same line as the virgin of Guadalupe. I find it disgusting that she‘d use that term in a spiritual article.”

I live in Cañada Cove park, where we have a voting center set up. Since I am part of that community, I go up there to the clubhouse where it is held, and today (Nov. 2) I was up there a little before 4 in the afternoon. They ran out of English ballots, and they still hadn’t received any by 5 p.m. and they said they were not expecting any more. I think this is newsworthy. I think there is always a way to get ballots.

I never did understand the blaming of Wall Street for our economic woes. Sure did distract us from the real culprit. Thank you Half Moon Bay Review for having the tenacity to research and publish the wages of local government workers. We citizens are outraged when we read about a sewer manager receiving more than $300,000 in salary and benefits a year. So now what is the follow-up? Please find out what the government is going to do about salaries, pensions, benefits and overtime pay that the average taxpayer does not receive at their job. Elected officials, stop asking for more money like Measure K. Find the fat and trim it. Don’t blame John Foley III. If someone offered you that package, you wouldn’t say, ‘Oh no, I couldn’t, that’s just too much.’ SAM board members, what are you getting that stipend for if not to be a watchdog? P.S. I am a supporter of well-spent, government-funded programs.

“I was calling to make a comment on the article about Midcoast utilities’ compensation (Review, Oct. 13). I know you listed several different boards and districts and the positions with total compensation and so forth, which I think is very useful information for our community to have. However, I question your policy of listing the individual names. For example, I was scanning the list and I happened to notice my next-door neighbor’s name and her salary. I just think it is insensitive for people who live in our community to have their earnings posted in the paper. It is sufficient, I think, for us to know what the different positions are and the compensation amounts, but I don’t think we need to have the person’s name spelled out each time.”

These comments were recorded on the Review’s Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com.

“Could the person who is so concerned about infrastructure please arrange to have a 65-foot tower located in his front yard. That would be a win/win for everybody.”

These comments were recorded on the Review’s Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com.

These comments were received on the Review’s Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on local topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com or e-mail letters@hmbreview.com.

These comments were recorded on the Review’s Open Line, which allows readers to give their thoughts on topics of the day by calling 726-3668. If you want to write your thoughts, start a topic on Talkabout at hmbreview.com

“I’m calling in regard to the parkland that is going to be turned over to the Peninsula Open Space Trust, I hope. What I would like to know is who was on the City Council in 2004, and actually I believe the same council was responsible for this Beachwood problem. Could you print out who the council was in the year 2004? It is easier for you to find out than it is me. I thank you very much.”

“Once again, (Review Managing Editor Clay) Lambert allows his politics to be shown very clearly on his sleeve (Review, May 27). It is amazing to me as a heterosexual man who voted for Prop.8, I never realized that I considered myself holier than gay people. I guess that’s Lambert’s spin on it. I guess he is entitled to his opinion. I certainly didn’t feel that it was holier than thou but it kind of sums up his position as today’s left wing political movement. The very last comment is, ”History will not look kindly on the latter day intolerants who think themselves better merely because of who they love.” Who says that? That is your accusation; that is your broad based brush. It seems to me those who scream about tolerance are the most intolerant of all. The left never seems to want to accept any conservative position and/or if they even hear it, let alone shut it down, they will scream, “because you’re not from the left, because you’re not progressive, you are truly not enlightened.” Come on Clay, give it a rest.”