Why? Why? Why?

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Why is it that everything that makes the Coastside “the Coastside”–the place that is (and has been) so different from other places….Why is it that everything that makes the Coastside unique has to go?

I am reminded of the giant Cypress tree on Hwy 92 that used to greet us as we drove into Half Moon Bay…it wasn’t just a tree, a Cypress tree; it was a genuine landmark, warm and welcoming, dependable. Around the corner on Main Street, near the concrete bridge (built in 1900; the first of its kind) there used to be a classic barn…it belonged to Pablo Vasquez, the son of Tiburcio, who once “owned” all the land from around the bridge to Miramar. It was an old, old barn that hadn’t been taken care of but it had character, lots of personality.

Both the grand Cypress tree and the Half Moon Bay barn are gone…

Now I hear the goats I so enjoyed seeing going back and forth on Highway 92 have been evicted (and some say they are headed for the slaughterhouse). I understand the goats were kept there rent-free and the owner of the goats had a lucky break== but the goats grazing in their green patch of pasture also made the Coastside “the Coastside.”

And that’s what attracts people to the Coastside and why many of them want to live here.

But why such a rush to erase every special thing that makes the Coastside “the Coastside”?