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Mike Ferreira: Coastal Activist in the Spotlight

Carolyn Krammer Native Northern Californian Mike Ferreira moved from Palo Alto to Half Moon Bay with his wife and two kids in 1985. He is now well known around town for his public service: he spent the past year and a half as a member of the City Council and the previous four years as a Planning Commissioner, serving twice as chair. But Mike says his earlier years in Half Moon Bay were "not enlightened."

Back then, local citizen awareness of issues like Local Coastal Plans (LCP) was not high. According to Mike, the Coastal Act "never had the right presentation to the citizenship," and because of that, a lot of what he saw happening around him, a lot of the expansion and development, just shouldn't have been happening.

He decided to take a more direct and active hand in local politics after watching large subdivisions shoot up everywhere in the early 90s, in ways that he could view only as irresponsible. He knew that something had to change or the town would grow out of control. So Mike got more involved. The times were certainly different, and many of the players have since changed, but Mike is still there, and his involvement has only grown.

"When I first got on the Planning Commission, I was someone who'd been a lifelong Sierra Club quiet member. I was never involved with Club activities. I was sympathetic to environmental issues but I wasn't necessarily unsympathetic to development." Then, the first time a big development proposal came before the Commission he decided that he should go look at the spot at the base of the eastern foothills where this subdivision was going. "I went out to look at the location and saw that they were proposing to develop this amazing piece of coastal wetland," he says. Needless to say, this was not what he had been led to believe he would find, and it set off the first of several preservation battles that still rage today.

Mike sees the current City Council in Half Moon Bay as full of bright, hard-working people, doing their best to make a real difference. But one thing that has not changed is the vocal and well-financed "Old Guard," who are working equally hard to further their own agenda -- an agenda that is decidedly pro-development. "There has been a constant negative drumbeat coming" from the Old Guard, he said. "The upcoming Council election will be very interesting in terms of whether that drumbeat has an effect."

Asked about the victories that give him the most pride, Mike gets quiet for a minute. Victories are often, it seems, hard to assess from the inside. Successes need to be counted as places where the fight continues, and Mike is realistic. "You win battles. You lose battles. Many of the battles" that were introduced many years ago "are still going on," because where coastal development is concerned, there can be huge payoffs. The battles just move to higher courts. "That any of these things are still up in the air, these sub-divisions and tentative maps, those are the victories," he says.

Mike tries to stay humble. He doesn't crow about all that he has accomplished, and while he must be aware of the huge difference he has made, even though he lives in a community of active and energized coastal activists who set the bar very high, he's not going to be the one to brag about it. He's been involved in saving many unnamed wetland and riparian resources and to him that "means more than the big headline grabbing things."

As for the future, Mike is very interested in updating Half Moon Bay's LCP. He and the Council are working at a faster pace now, meeting once or even twice a week to sweat out the various policy issues and get rid of conflicts and inefficiencies. When a new battle needs to be fought, or one of the old battles reappears, Mike is there.

"When you are in your 60s, you work to shorter horizons," Mike says. But on the horizon for Mike is a hopeful realism. He's not making slogans or writing grand headlines; he simply tries to get the full story, not settle for what he's been told, and make up his own mind. He just wants to leave Half Moon Bay with more coastal protection than he found when he first arrived.

Read about other coastal activists.