Pacifica Riptide

Keep Pacifica Scenic: Report City Nuisance Code Violations

2013-05-23T13:23:00-07:00

If your neighbors don't maintain their property, you don't have to suffer blight in silence. The City of Pacifica has a well-developed code that prohibits property owners from creating public nuisances such as graffiti, storing junk or garbage cans in the front yard, loud noises (including barking dogs), allowing the home exterior to degrade excessively, storing inoperative vehicles outside, stacking combustibles, uncontrolled weeds, and illegal deposits into creeks.

If you want to report a problem, or are not sure if there is a prohibited activity, see the Pacifica Municipal Code on the city's website:

http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=16544

The site also contains a link under Planning Department Code Enforcement (650-738-7341) for the short form to report problems. The form requires you to identify yourself, but the city will not disclose your reporting. Offending neighbors will get a letter directing them to correct the prohibited activity.

Nobody may know who helped clean up blight on your street, but your property values and those of your neighbors will be improved due to your action. Link to code enforcement worksheet:

http://www.cityofpacifica.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=4536

Memorial Day Might See Some Rain

2013-05-23T12:31:27-07:00

PACIFICA RIPTIDE

2013-05-23T07:32:00-07:00

EVENTS

Wright Solution for Wrong Bay Bridge: Sell It on Craigslist

2013-05-23T02:11:00-07:00

There is a simple solution to the myriad structural problems with the eastern-span replacement of the Bay Bridge: Sell it on Craigslist.

The facts are simple. This particular bridge design is not good (as was assumed) for resisting earthquakes and corrosiveness of a marine environment. To resist earthquakes, the bridge must use members of superior strength far and above that of more "normal" structures such as high-rise buildings. The strength of some of the critical members must be five or more times stronger than "normal" steel found in most steel buildings.

The quandary is what to do about such brittle members that must be protected from the infection of the marine environment. Such infection only leads to poor structural performance.

The answer is quite simple and a bit obvious: Sell the bolted-together bridge tower (40 percent off and free shipping) to a place that needs a structure of this stature but that has neither earthquakes nor a marine environment. California taxpayers wouldn’t see additional costs since the $3 billion sale of the tower would easily cover the cost of a cheaper, simpler replacement.

This is all quite plausible since the tower with its roadbed portions was fabricated in China, shipped to the Bay Area, and assembled on site. That can be easily disassembled and shipped to a buyer in a better location.

The Labor Day opening party should happen. The Bay Area should get to celebrate its state-of-the-art bridge – just don’t drive on it. Need to keep that "new bridge smell" for the buyer.

Putting the bridge up for sale on Craigslist is no joke. The notoriety of such an act would get worldwide attention, something that we want to find a buyer for the bridge. Unlike most modern proposals, there is no need for a “video” of the new bridge because potential buyers can come and kick the tires.

The bridge replacement? That’s pretty easy. One could do worse than consider Frank Lloyd Wright’s "butterfly wing" design, which world-renowned structural engineer T.Y. Lyn said was "eminently buildable with today’s technology. It would be seismically very safe.” The design even incorporates passenger rail inside its structure – something the current design leaves out altogether.

When proposed a few years ago, it was a question of Wright versus wrong. Now that the wrong bridge's structural integrity is in question, it’s a matter of using the Wright design for the Bay Bridge eastern-span replacement.

Leal Charonnat, Architect
Oakland, California

Drone Strikes Out at Taco Bell

2013-05-23T02:03:00-07:00

We had the bizarre experience of being blitzed by a drone on Saturday afternoon (May 18) while we sat on the deck at Taco Bell, Linda Mar Beach. We were there between 3 and 4:30 p.m. and were really surprised, especially when its "eye" kept swiveling in the direction of everyone on the deck (perhaps because a pretty young blonde woman kept on giving it a middle-finger salute). It seemed too large (about the size of a seagull with its wings outspread) and too expensive to be a hobbyist's, but someone was having fun. It wasn't us.

Evelyn Safiri

OffShoots @ Surf Spot, May 23; Plastic Onion @ Chit-Chat, May 24

2013-05-22T23:07:00-07:00

The OffShoots Band plays indoors at the Surf Spot, Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m.

The Plastic Onion Band is back at the Chit-Chat Cafe for the all-Beatles fun time. All ages welcome. Friday, May 24 from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Jim's Jams: Jim Grantham Jazz Quartet @ Monkey Forest Road

2013-05-22T17:35:00-07:00

Jim Grantham Jazz Quartet plays every Thursday night from 7:30 to 10 at Monkey Forest Road, 3265 Grand Avenue in Oakland. No cover. Wine bar. Coffee bar. Indonesian art gallery. Riptide's favorite jazzmaster Jim Grantham says, "Everyone seems to like the new venue. It is very nice and the music is hot. Hope you can swing by sometime. The music will be real, interesting, and varied. We'll feature different musicians and guest artists. No Thursday will be the same." Check them out online at Nightbird Music.

Rare Color Video of London in 1927

2013-05-22T14:34:13-07:00

Transport Yourself to 1927 London

Pear Energy: Go Green on Your Electric Bill

2013-05-22T14:10:42-07:00

Switch to the Clean Alternative

International Animation @ Coastside Film Society, May 24

2013-05-22T12:56:00-07:00

For the fourth year in a row, Coastside Film Society calls on famous animation scholar and collector Karl Cohen to build an evening of world-class animated shorts. This year Karl dips into his vaults looking for great international shorts that exhibit a wide range of techniques and new creative approaches to storytelling.

Karl warns that this is not a kid's program full of cute, silly animals: "Here my goal was to pick brilliant, contemporary, award-winning animated shorts that invite you to think deeply, and they are guaranteed to amaze any audience of adults and teens."

Some of the films are fascinating puzzles: In Mt. Head (Japan), a swallowed cherry seed sprouts and takes root in a man's head. Luminaris (Argentina) brings us a world controlled by light. In The Fantastic Flying Books (U.S.), literary works live. Romance (Canada) makes us think hard about love.

Films with more political content or great humor include: Body Beautiful (England), about a woman who becomes a role model. Adam and Dog (U.S.) tells the tale of Adam's other companion. Black Hula (Canada) journeys to a once-beautiful tropical paradise. Jumping (Japan) lets us see the world from a child's perspective. In Morning Stroll (England), a New Yorker and a chicken go for a walk.

Karl leads a discussion on his selection of films after the program. This is a guy with deep roots in the animation biz. He is one of the world's best-known animation historians and collectors, a professor of animation history at San Francisco State University, author of countless articles and books about animation, and longtime leader of ASIFA, the international organization of animation professionals. He will gladly sign one of his books or regale you with stories about your favorite cartoon character or the animator who brought it to life.

Friday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes Street, Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)
More into at: www.HMBFilm.org