Morning News Roun-Up -- 4.27.09: Atherton's BFF Edition...

Just when you thought all the controversy in Atherton was dying down...it roars again. Watch Dog (and the Civil Grand Jury) wrote about the Menlo-Atherton High School facilities' report that the Civil Grand Jury recently came out with. Well, it seems Atherton Councilmember Kathy McKeithen (and her BFF on the Atherton Council Jim Dobbie) are "disgusted" with the report. However, McKeithen didn't say, "These damn kids make so much noise...don't they know this is Atherton?!" (Ms. McKeithen and Mr. Dobbie, here is what BFF means...)

Congresswoman Speier is busy...really, that's what this story is about. Well, it talks about her first year in office. If you read Watch Dog at all, you know that we know Speier is busy, and effective.

More plans for the (much anticipated/much delayed/much written-about) Burlingame Safeway have been released. Take a peak, pictures and all...

The San Bruno Mountain Watch Conservancy is born. They are trying to raise enough money to buy private property and maintain some sense of nature on the mountain...

Lots of school news to Round-Up today...

• Two Sequoia Union High School District principals have said good bye recently, so two new were just named: Bonnie Hansen at Sequoia High School and Raul Zamora at Carlmont High School. Hansen is already well-known in the District because she has been at Sequioa for 14 years. Zamora, is coming back to the District after a stint in Orinda. Welcome to Watch Dog friends.
• In other (musical chairs) school news, Palo Alto Unified's Assistant Superintendent Scott Laurence will leave the District to become the Superintendent of the San Mateo High School District.
• Hey all you out-of-work Auditors (and CPAs too) -- you should check out the Palo Alto Unified's website, they are looking for folks to give a check-up on their performance related to the spending of nearly $400 million in bond money. Your future starts here...
• The La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District is in trouble. They (seemingly) botched the spending of a bunch of bond money, their Superintendent is leaving, the District is being sued by the local watchdog/lawyer, and the San Mateo County Office of Education has some ideas about they need to do to get their act together. The spot light has been shone upon the La Honda-Pescader Unified...we'll see how they respond.

A Half Moon Bay group of folks concerned with the sudden closure of the Coastside Family Medical Center have launched the "Phoenix Project" to see about re-launching a medical facility on the Coast. Perhaps its time for another Coastside Town Hall Supervisor Gordon?

Riptide delves into some truth: Pacifica is in fiscal trouble if Measure D (the sales tax hike) doesn't pass...but they are in trouble if Measure D does pass too. Sort of like California with Measures A-F...

And it isn't just finances that are on folks' minds in Pacifica, so is the General Plan update.

Redwood City is taking advantage of a down real estate market (while at the same time drawing down some capital funds from a variety of sources). They will purchase a 9.5 acre site for $4.45 million for a water tank (?), a park, a place to park its trucks, public access to the Bay, and a commercial use.

The dusky-footed woodrat will take center stage tonight at the San Carlos City Council...along with NIMBYs and a developer...about the Devonshire Canyon (5-home) development being considered.

Sue Lempert's Daily Journal column today reminds us that there was once a crappy President who wanted to let us put our Social Security money in the stock market...seriously.

San Mateo City Council candidate David Lim checks in through his campaign blog about overcrowding in some San Mateo apartment complexes. It isn't that we are only following David, it is just that other folks don't seem to be that "with it" with their web presence. Supervisor Rich Gordon, who is running for a much higher office than San Mateo City Council, hasn't really updated his site since he announced he was running...