December 29, 1999

A bit of spindrift blowing in the wind

If you're interested in serious stuff today, reread an old column on my website. This is trivia time. Nothing here today weighs more than a wisp of cotton blowing in the wind. There'll be another 53 Wednesdays before the new millennium arrives. That's plenty of time to be serious. San Mateo County is divided into five supervisorial districts. Each supervisor represents and lives in his or her own district, though elected countywide.

We're in the third district, represented by Rich Gordon. Does that mean he lives nearby? Not exactly. He has a Menlo Park address, only a short distance from Supervisor Rose Gibson in East Palo Alto. Both could easily walk to San Francisquito creek, on the county's southeastern border. On the other hand, the other three supervisors, Jerry Hill, Mike Nevin and Mary Griffin, all live within 10 miles of Pacifica City Hall, two under six miles distance. That's as the well known crow flies.

Which reminds me that Pacifica has far more crows these days than ever before. Some good crow lawyers must have read the ordinances that forbid shooting inside the city, and makes all of Pacifica a bird sanctuary. No more farm boys in Pedro Valley practicing their shooting skills on stray crows and jays. It's even illegal to fire off a slingshot or a bb gun inside city limits.

In a couple of years, after the 2000 census, the county will be redistricted. Daly City, which has added substantially to its population in the last ten years, will probably have a Supervisor almost exclusively to itself. Today it shares Mike Nevin with western South SF. Will Pacifica once again be lumped with Atherton, San Carlos, Pescadero and portions of Menlo Park, or will we be associated with nearby cities?

Pacifica varies in height from sea level to about 1250 feet. That's about the same height as the Empire State Building, for several decades the world's tallest building. Going from Nick's restaurant, at sea level, you would arrive at about the 50th or 55th story at the top of Fassler Avenue. In 1986 Pacifica had about 85 miles of improved streets. I guess improved means you could drive them. At that time there were 10 traffic lights. There's at least one more, in front of Linda Mar Shopping Center. That one's a nuisance which could have been avoided with better planning. Pacifica has about two miles of sewer line for every mile of street. The pier is 1200 feet long. The power of the ocean, including its wave power and its corrosive power, combine to make sure any pier is just a temporary structure.

Pacifica owns only about 100 acres of parkland. However, within the city or on its edges are thousands of acres of parklands, watershed and open space, owned by the city and county of San Francisco, water districts, and San Mateo County, as well as the federal and state governments.

Laguna Salada is much larger than the city of Pacifica, since the city stops at the water's edge and the school district boundaries are three miles out to sea. If there's ever an oil well next to the western edge of the pier, LSUSD gets first dibs on the taxes.

Some recent Reactor columns may be found at Paul Azevedo's website, http://www.thereactor.net/ Reach him by e-mail at Paul@thereactor.net