Voice of the Coast

It was with surprise and great pleasure that I saw a stack of Voice of the Coast (VotC) at the local post office. In the mid-1980s a group of volunteers also resurrected the original votc to address pressing local issues. A brief review of the newsletters of that era reveals that the hot topics were the Devil’s Slide bypass, reopening of the El Granada quarry, and a water user’s revolt against Citizen’s Utilities. It is interesting to note that all of those issues have been satisfactorily resolved, thanks to the hard work and activism of dedicated local citizens.

It is hard to believe, but in those days the votc was published without the use of computers, e-mail, the internet, or desktop publishing software. Articles were typed (on a typewriter), cut into columns, and then the entire volunteer staff got together for a “paste up” party. Photographs had to be half-toned before paste up, and then the copy-ready galleys would be rushed off to the printer. We had a circulation of 4000 at that time.

I wish the publishers much success with the new VotC, and welcome another source of information on current critical coastside issues.

Bill Bechtell
Montara
Editor, Voice of the Coast, 1983-84