Big Sur Park School Community Meeting
Month: November 2018
Veterans Day, 2018
A partial repeat: In 1967, the Summer of Love was over. Viet Nam protests were barely beginning, and I found myself without a place to live, and had quit a job with an abusive boss. I did not know what to do, and so I joined the USWACs. The Army was segregated in those days — not by race, but by sex. All WAC training was held at Ft. McClellan, AL and so the Army flew me out to begin my training. It was in Alabama, in 1967 that I first observed racial segregation. I saw “whites-only” bathrooms and water faucets. They were NOT just a “left-over” relic from an earlier and sad time. They were a commentary on how far we still had to come, and have come. Racial segregation, at least not overt, was minimal in California. It was still rampant in Alabama when I was there.
In 1968 I was stationed at Ft. Huachuca, AZ at the Combat Surveillance School/Training Center Headquarters. (Spook School) I was on my way home to California when an automobile accident almost took my life, and did take my leg.
I ended up at the Veteran’s Hospital in West LA, associated with UCLA medical center. The medical care there was the best available. What wasn’t the best, was how they treated women veterans. We were a rarity, and the VA was not set up to deal with us.
There were no changing rooms for physical therapy for women vets, and I was the only one in the program. They had me use a broom closet. Of the over 400 bed hospital, only 16 were for women, and we had a separate open ward.
In 2018, more women have been elected to state and federal offices than ever before in history and more people of color are fulfilling their dreams of public service. There was both a blue wave and an estrogen wave. In my lifetime, women have traversed a difficult path with determination and with grace. We are making a difference.
In Harris County, TX, home of Houston TX, 19 black females were elected to the bench this past Tuesday. In TX. In GA, a black female is still in the running for Governor, as of this writing. This past Tuesday, there WAS a shift in the American conscience. We achieved so much and overcame much of the hatred and racism which had infected some of our leaders. We told them, NO MORE. I could not be prouder of us and how we are taking back our democracy from those who have been trying to destroy it for the last couple years. We are a nation that is inclusive, not devisive. We are becoming stronger than ever before. America is powerful because of our diversity. Let us celebrate how much stronger our love is than the hate. Blessings to all our veterans and those who support them.
Rock Slide 5 miles north of Big Sur Lodge
UPDATE; CHP cleared it by hand about 12:30 am.
Note: Going by the mile markers, this would put it approximately where the old Capt Cooper Slide is.
Incident: 00399 Type: Mud/Dirt/Rock Location: 0 Unnamed Street Loc Desc: SR1 5 MI JNO PFEIFFER BIG SUR LODGE Lat/Lon: 36.243867 -121.776033
| Detail Information | |||||||
| 10:31 PM | 2 | [3] SOCCER BALL SIZE ROCKS IN SB SR1 LANE AND BIGGER ROCKS ON NB SR1 LN | |||||
| 10:31 PM | 1 | [2] SMALL ROCK SLIDE 5 MILES JNO BIG SUR LODGE – IN BOTH LNS | |||||
Road Announcements, delayed, 11/10/18
The latest information from the Sycamore Canyon Project manager:
This will serve as our final status update on the subject project regarding local and public traffic.
The contractor will not be working on Monday, November 12; therefore, the road will be open to the public and locals.
Between November 13 and November 16 at noon, the road will be closed to the public, but will remain open to locals, as the contractor completes the last few remaining items on the project. The contractor anticipates completing all work next week, such that once the road opens at noon on November 16, there will be no further closures related to this project.
I appreciate all the assistance that each of you provided as we navigated our way through this project.
Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2018
District: District 5 (Central Coast)
Contact: susana.cruz@dot.ca.gov (bilingual) or jim.shivers@dot.ca.gov
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Caltrans Announces Plans to Temporarily Close Highway 1
at Mud Creek/Paul’s Slide When Major Storms Are Forecasted by NOAA
at Mud Creek/Paul’s Slide When Major Storms Are Forecasted by NOAA
MONTEREY COUNTY—Caltrans has announced plans to temporarily close Highway 1 at Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and/or Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6), when significant rainfall events are forecast by the National Weather Service (NOAA). Details are as follows:
When significant storms are forecasted by NOAA, we will be sending a 48-hour traffic advisory for the public to be ready in case the roadway needs to close due to an expected significant storm. This will allow time for the public to prepare for the closure, stock up on necessary supplies and make plans. At the 24-hour mark, we will send a traffic advisory either confirming the full closure or providing additional information. These 48 and 24-hour notices apply only to Paul’s Slide and Mud Creek—each closure will be treated separately (two separate closures, one may open, the other may not, depending on assessment).
Caltrans will have our Geotech, Maintenance and Construction units on call and prepared to inspect/clean up during daylight hours when the storm ends and it is safe to be on site. There will be gates on either side of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide that will be key locked. These gates will not be manned when the highway is closed. No one, including Emergency Services or our own employees will be allowed to go through until a proper assessment can be made and any cleanup necessary has been completed.
“The heavy rainfall in the winter months of 2016/2017 resulted in significant landslide movement at many locations on Highway 1 along the Big Sur Coast. The ongoing earthwork projects at Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide have reestablished a traversable route over both landslides but continued movement of the newly formed slopes and landslide features are expected in the future. Closing the highway during significant rainfall events is necessary for the safety of the traveling public and our workers,” said Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins.
Mud Creek (PM 8.9)
Mud Creek had a major slide on Saturday, May 20, 2017, dumping over 6 million cubic yards of material. The new alignment was built out on the slide material for the middle portion and on a compacted embankment on the south and north ends. The new highway extends out towards the ocean upwards of 250 feet from the original highway. The roadway is 150 to 260 feet above sea level. Natural slopes remaining from the landslide and engineered slopes above and below the roadway are anticipated to experience significant erosion and movement as the new landmass matures.
Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6)
Paul’s Slide is still active since January 2017, so the 24/7 traffic signal remains in place with recent repairs to shore up the Hermitage Wall nearby. The highway has been reestablished across the landslide but movement of the slopes above and below the roadway continue to push it toward the ocean. The ongoing project to widen the remaining roadway and protect the highway from slide material continues.
Dangerous Veterans Day weekend, 11/9/18
The State of California is on fire. I have been watching the Camp Fire that has taken out the entire town of Paradise and killed who knows how many yesterday, continue to rage. There is the Hill Fire down in Camarillo, and here (and apparently everywhere) there are huge hurricane force winds. Last night, it was so cold up here – even under my down comforter, that I had to get up and put another thick layer on. It is a 3-day weekend. What could possibly go wrong? NO CAMPFIRES ANYWHERE IN THE NATIONAL FOREST.!
AND, there is a 200 guest private party going on up Willow with a “community campfire” and “professional fire dancers.” The organizer has assured me that he has canceled any fire at this event. Thank you.
Gray Slip Photos taken 11/3/18
Here are some photos showing the depth and width of the cracks with measuring tape so that we can more accurately track the movement. There are also photos showing the three springs (which we believe to be different ones, but which we have no way of knowing whether they all come from one original spring) that have been exposed by Madonna Const. since they dug here to obtain fill dirt for Mud Creek. There is no indication that there is any effort being made to control the water here. You might remember from the article I published on Monday (Here) that water is the key ingredient in landslides and debris flow. “Water is the key ingredient,” said Austrian hydrologist Thomas Thaler, who studies threats to mountain communities. These photos demonstrate that.
The depth of that last crack is 60 total inches. At the end of the slide show, Rock Knocker lost his tape measurer into the crack and had to climb in there to retrieve it. That gives an idea of the width and depth, although the tape could not follow the slope of the crack, so it is actually deeper than 5 feet.
No Tourist Tuesday, today…VOTE!
Wildfire across from Gorda Mtn.
UPDATE- under control in less than an hour.Engine 17 was still there this am.
6:33 pm – small fire, Martha and crews on the way. Were calling for mandatory evac, but may cancel that. Will see. Listening to scanner, now. Looks like they got it.
6:30 pm – Wildfire across the highway, No wind, which is good. I’ll update when I know more.
Global Warming Is Destabilizing Mountain Slopes, Creating Landslide Risks
That was the craziest weekend I can remember us having as a community in a very long time. Fire, crazies, sirens at 4 am, drug crazy confrontations, accidents, and a suicide. Seemed like it would never end. Here is to a saner week ahead.
This is not something most of us want to hear, but it is definitely something we need to pay attention to. I happened across an article with the above title through Weather West (Daniel Swain) whom I follow. Here are a few excerpts:
”A team of scientists monitoring the Swiss peaks above Andermatt say they’ve detected some warming as deep as 300 feet into the rocks. In a few places, some giant rock slabs have moved more than 4 feet in a year, a possible warning sign of a large collapse.”
“Water is the key ingredient,” said Austrian hydrologist Thomas Thaler, who studies threats to mountain communities.
“For us it’s very important to know if climate change has an impact on rainfall, because that has the most influence on landslides and debris flows,” he said. “Climate change will increase the magnitude, not only the frequency, of these events.”
While most of this article deals with the very northernmost mountainous regions, like Norway and Iceland, Switzerland is also mentioned extensively. There are lessons for us to learn here about our landslides and how we prepare. As all of us here know, the challenge is to control the water that permeates these hills and has to come out somewhere. How and where we control this water is crucial. That will bring us back to Gray Slip later this week and more recent photos.
For the rest of this article, see: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26092018/climate-change-mountains-landslide-hazard-thawing-permafrost-rockfall-extreme-weather-glaciers-global-warming
You might even find you want to subscribe to insideclimatenews after reading this article.
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Rincon Fire – CZU
Received this from Cal Fire Santa Cruz Co (CZU) today. This closed Highway 9 last night, when I started following it, and it is still closed today.
