Volume ı ı ı Number 52 | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 7B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifi eds a 3C

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

CITY GOES BACK TO

CHOPPING BLOCKPOLICE CHIEF,

OTHERS MAY LOSE PAYBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Half Moon Bay elected offi cials were set to consider $900,000 in work reductions, salary cuts and layoffs to the city workforce at their public meeting Tuesday night. They warn that even more cuts are coming when

the next budget is unveiled on May 4.

The new cuts will impact every city department and have already been negotiat-ed with the city’s four em-ployee unions. The list of cost savings comes as the city is grappling with a $2.1 million shortfall, which it needs to balance before the

next fi scal year.The proposed cutbacks would lay off As-

sociate Planner Sean Gallegos and one un-identifi ed administration position and po-lice offi cer. Various city offi cials will now be working only three days a week, including Police Chief Don O’Keefe, Recreation Su-pervisor Dirk Alvarado and one unidentifi ed clerical employee.

Most City Hall employees will be taking two furlough days off each month, which amounts to a salary reduction of more than 9 percent.

The city police force will take an equiva-lent reduction by suspending holiday pay and taking a 4 percent pay cut.

City offi cials admit the new cuts will hurt local services and require further reorgani-zation of the city.

Along with personnel reductions, the city will use $1.2 million from its reserves to balance the budget. City offi cials are plan-ning to advance a new sales tax measure for the November ballot as one way to bring in more revenues.

The City Council was to consider the pro-posed cuts Tuesday night after Review dead-lines. The newspaper will report out of that meeting on its Web site, hmbreview.com.

The city has been in the midst of a pro-longed period of fi nancial distress. For years, the city battled over land-use issues on mul-tiple legal fronts in court cases that cost mil-lions to defend. Those efforts reached a head in 2008, when a federal court judge ruled the city effectively took property belonging to Peninsula developer Charles Keenan. Ul-timately, the city agreed to pay Keenan and fl oated bonds to cover the $18 million settle-ment price.

The city’s current fi scal morass extends

[ d r e a m m a c h i n e s ]

Before you started Dream Ma-chines, were you a gearhead? I had two older brothers, and if something had wheels, we raced it.

How many vehicles, whether planes, trains or automobiles, would you say you’ve owned in your life? Probably 40. My favorite was a Jaguar ’76 XJS — my son and I raced it in Mexico. Good, good car. It went like hell.

So it’s been 20 years since Dream Machines started. What was the original thought behind starting this event?Three people came up and asked me to start this. I was known then as the village nut as far as getting involved. They wanted to know whether I’d get involved in a fundraiser for the Coastside Adult Day Health Center. I had a lady working for me for many

‘We had a hell of a good time’

DREAM MACHINES FOUNDER DISCUSSES EVENT’S PAST AND FUTURE

The Pacifi c Coast Dream Machines comes to the Half Moon Bay Airport this Sunday, and for all of its 20 years, the guiding force behind the event has been now-77-year-old Coast-sider Bob Senz. A full-blooded motor lover, Senz has been racing cars since his youth grow-ing up on a small Oregon farm. Review reporter Mark Noack spoke with Senz about Dream Machines and how the event has changed over the years.

‘Birdemic’ splatters Half Moon Bay

By Mark Noack[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Half Moon Bay is home to many beloved things: pump-kins, beaches, farmland, fi ne hotels and restaurants. Now, fi nally, one fi lm captures all of that … and throws in a bunch of mutant eagles that urinate acid.

That fi lm is “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” It’s a low-budget schlock horror pro-

duction that has found un-fathomable success as a cult favorite. For weeks the mov-ie has packed theaters across the country. Fans have been watching computer-generat-ed birds swooping, squawk-ing, puking and defecating all around Half Moon Bay sites — in what could be the most unexpected, and perhaps un-wanted, publicity in the histo-ry of the Coastside.

“The main character of this

fi lm is Half Moon Bay itself,” Director James Nguyen pro-claimed between sips of a Bud-weiser at Cameron’s Restau-rant and Inn, which serves as the backdrop for several scenes in the fi lm. “The syn-opsis of the movie is a platoon of eagles and vultures attack a small beautiful California town called Half Moon Bay … Who will survive?”

Nguyen, a jovial and very animated 44-year-old Vietnam-ese immigrant, got into fi lm directing through love, luck

CULT SENSATION FILMED ON COASTSIDE

Lars Howlett / Review

Movie director James Nguyen holds a coat hanger – like those used to ward off mutant birds in his fi lm, “Birdemic: Shock and Terror.” The fi lm is set in Half Moon Bay and has some familiar scenes in the background.See BIRDEMIC a 7A

[ m o v i e s ]

Lars Howlett/ Review

Dream Machines founder Bob Senz refl ects on 20 years of hosting one of the Coastside’s biggest parties. The benefi t for Coastside Adult Day Health Center is set for Sunday.

Dream bigWhat: The 20th annual Pacifi c Coast Dream Machines

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday

Where: Half Moon Bay Airport

Cost: Adults, $20; Seniors and kids ages 11 to 17, $10; younger children free.

Inside: Schedule of events and fea-tured machines included in your pro-gram, which is inserted free inside to-day’s Review

See DREAM a 7A

Police Chief Don O’Keefe

See CUTS a 7A

Organic farms face

scrutinySMALL

SOUTH COAST ENTERPRISES FINED

By Mark Noack[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Small organic farms are cur-rently enjoying a Bay Area re-naissance, but the practice is more diffi cult than simply throwing seeds in the ground. The labor-intensive nature of the work has left some local farms on the wrong side of state law.

Organic agriculture requires more weeding, planting and back-breaking labor than con-ventional farming, and that means the popular new farms need lots of workers willing to do tough manual chores. And a crop of struggling new farm-ers have been learning expen-sive lessons about what the state considers fair employ-ment practices. Under a surge of new oversight from state regulators, Coastside farms have been hit with numerous violations for their labor prac-tices.

Fifth Crow Farm, a Pescade-ro farm that started up last year, was hit with $5,000 in fi nes during a routine work in-spection in October for failing to keep adequate tax records and provide workers compen-sation.

One year earlier, Blue House Organic Farm, a neighboring community-supported agricul-tural concern, faced $5,500 in fi nes for not keeping adequate paperwork for the farm’s three interns.

“We were new business owners, and we got an expen-sive lesson,” said John Vars, co-owner of Fifth Crow Farm. “It was our fi rst year. It’s been a tremendous effort with fi nan-cial sacrifi ce, and none of us were taking in income.”

The two South Coast farms were both started by groups of young farmers who say they are committed to sustainable practices and education. Small farms nationwide frequently offer educational internships

See FARMS a 7A

GUNG HOJensen honored by fellow Marines > 3B

A FRIENDLY GAMELittle Leaguers share skills with special friends

Sports 8B