Morning News Round-Up -- 7.16.09: Do you have faith in HMB's financial future? Chop Keenan hopes you do...

Thanks for a loyal Watch Dog reader, we corrected a story yesterday about a proposed tax in San Carlos. Watch Dog said there was a 2/3 requirement to pass the proposed tax, which was bad news because the poll San Carlos conducted did not have a tax passing by that threshold. However, because the proceeds of the tax will go to the General Fund of the City, it only needs 50% + 1 vote. Sorry San Carlos friends, Watch Dog was wrong...
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Congrats Millbrae! Your fire assessment tax renewal passed. Now your financial situation isn't as bad as it could be.

That didn't take too long now did it? Only 4 years to break ground on a new elementary school in Redwood Shores. Congrats to you as well.

Watch Dog guesses the Sacramento beating given by the Daily Journal Editorial, at least one Michelle Durand "Off the Beat" piece, and most recently the Jon Mays/Jackie Speier criticism, Assemblymember Ira Ruskin responds with a piece in today's Daily Journal. No time like the present, we guess, for Mr. Ruskin to get his two cents in. There is plenty of 'the Governor is being a jerk' and 'we need to do away with the 2/3 requirement' in the piece. (The term 2/3 appears five times...) We do learn that Mr. Ruskin took a voluntary 10 percent pay cut in February, which begs the question: only 10 percent? We like Assemblymember Ruskin, we really do, but Sacramento is becoming more and more of a joke. Don't you think?

All is not (completely) dire in the local economy. Taking a cue from Jon Mays, new businesses are opening up in downtown San Mateo. That's pretty courageous... make an effort to check out the yogurt, the books, and the burgers sometime this week. We'll see you there.

Watch Dog loves the local political scene, mostly because it makes for good Round-Ups. Redwood City will see a hot political race this November as 6 folks vie for three open seats on the City Council. In the non-contested side of the political spectrum, the Palo Alto Unified incumbents (Barb Mitchell and Dana Tom) seem to be the only ones lining up to run.

If you have faith in Half Moon Bay's financial future, perhaps you would like to buy a HMB bond? At least they will be putting the revenue from the bond sale ($16 million) to good use... HA!

The Blue Ribbon Compost Task Force in Palo Alto has made a recommendation to keep composting. Seriously. We can't make this stuff up.