by Charise McHugh

Highway 1 median.

April 2011 — There have been times when I thought I would never write this letter. In January, I took the final walk-through on the Highway 1 medians. It was a good feeling knowing that at least we have gotten a major portion done. We hope to extend the plantings north of 92 all the way to North Main Street and south of Kelly between Hatch and Cunha schools. Will we ever get the far north and far south done? I don’t know.

The price tag for what you currently see was about $400,000. The city procured a grant — thank you, Mo Sharma — from the City/County Association of Governments for $250,000 in 2010. The rest came from what the Chamber’s foundation raised for the project. This was money that was available for a “shovel-ready” project and we were ready. We really had no competition for this money; next year that won’t be the case, so keep your fingers crossed. Also, feel free to donate to the Half Moon Bay Coastside Community Foundation housed at the Chamber to help with the completion of Phase 2.

Why do I think this project is so important? Not only because as Coastsiders we deserve to look at nice medians rather than weeds and garbage, but because I hear all the time that visitors passed our town right by because Highway 1 looked so awful they didn’t think the town had anything to offer.

Now for some answers to your frequently asked questions. Yes, they are native plants and plants that do well on the coast. Yes, they will need water for the first three years to help them get established. Why was it so expensive? Well, there is the water — thank you, Stoloski & Gonzalez — and drip system, and also French drains to prevent oil and gas from getting into the soil, and barriers to prevent run-off to the creek. There are also lots of plants to prevent weeds from taking over, crushed granite to keep the dirt in place, just to name a few of the costly items.

Why didn’t a local company do the work? Because local companies didn’t bid for it. This was disappointing to me; perhaps they thought they might not get paid due to the city’s financial position. Steve Kikuchi and his staff — especially Tom Conroy — did an amazing job in designing every aspect of this project and making sure everything was done to their specifications. Curt Luck did a great job as project manager for the city. The city did a great job in supporting all our efforts for almost 15 years. Marina Fraser helped me convince CalTrans in the first place — thank you Bijan Sartipi.

We also had a lot of donations from all of you. We need to especially thank Jude and Julia Damasco and the Pearlstein Foundation for major contributions; this project would never have come to fruition without them. And thanks to Kevin Palmer, Cameron Palmer and Priscilla Klass for holding fundraisers. And thanks to the board of the Chamber for allowing me to work on this project for almost 15 years. I started in March of 1996 when I first accepted the job as CEO. I thought, “Oh, this will be a piece of cake; I can get the medians planted!” Out of the mouths of babes — or just the ignorant regarding government red tape. But we did it! Thank you all for the continued support! Now on to Phase 2?