Morning News Round-Up -- 3.23.10: Belmont + Menlo Park = Anti-Redwood City

Belmont is going to join Menlo Park in opposing the Cargill development in Redwood City. Let the games continue...

San Carlos heard the community last night... proving once again that sometimes public budget meetings are a horrible idea...

In a seemingly never-ending political and legal and public relations battle about the former Page Mill Properties properties in East Palo Alto, BRIDGE Housing is now going to hold a series of community meetings to figure out what to do next. Finally, something constructive...

Here's some news to make your Tuesday: 500+ educators got pink slips.

There was a small plane crash at HMB Airport... everyone is alright.

The 2nd Amendment gets an Op-Ed in the Daily Journal, and the beauty of Google Ads are on full display too:

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.26.10: The Anti-Cargill Development Team Starting Line-Up Announced...

About 100 current and former lawmakers in the Bay Area signed on to a letter opposing the Cargill development plans in Redwood City. In response, the developers re-announced the support they have from their business-friendly folks... Redwood City looks like it will go ahead with the EIR anyway. This is going to be fun... again...

The "voluntary transfer" program at the Ravenswood City School District is coming under scrutiny. As with any issue related to schools and race, this is a touchy one...

Recession Repercussion time:

• The Menlo Park City School District placed a parcel tax on the ballot for this May... and if it doesn't pass, things are going to get ugly in the District -- which we learned last night at their Board meeting. Cuts, cuts, and more cuts... so vote yes, vote yes, and vote yes again -- that's the message they wanted you to get, by the way...
• San Mateo Union High School District... same thing as Menlo Park City School District...
• Cuts to the Community College District... and perhaps taxes too...
• Not to be left out... cuts to Cabrillo Unified unless their parcel tax passes...
• Here's a story that is related to the recession, but has a positive impact: the MidPen Regional Open Space District bought a big piece of land on Highway 92 and Santa's Tree Farm Village. Santa will be very happy...

Burlingamer Ted Crocker responds to Quentin Kopp's piece in the Daily Journal this week. Ted doesn't like High-Speed Rail one bit...

Finally, a team from a local newspaper got to sit down with Atherton's Meg Whitman. The Merc grilled her and she seems to respond well. Of course, if you dodged the media for a year, you might be able to prepare yourself well too... Watch Dog's conversation with Whitman is slated for next week.

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.2.10: Ground-Hog Fundraising Reports...

Cut-throat local politics make blogs a lot more interesting to read... sorry, we have to say it. Sowhen Congresswoman Jackie Speier's name popped up as a possible candidate for Attorney General, not only did the Attorney General's race get a lot more exciting, but the real action is going to happen if she decideds to give up her seat... then the local political scene becomes very interesting: Simitian? Yee? Hill? Lempert?...

Bruce at the PP Examiner looks into all the incarnations of what might happen if Speier jumps...

There was a big, 2009 year-end political filing due yesterday which had candidates all over the place scrambling to get their stuff in. In the huge primary battle for the Democratic nomination for the 21 Assembly seat (the one Ira Ruskin will be leaving) -- race newcomer Josh Becker kicked everyone's ass in fundraising and has the most cash on hand going into the new year, over $200k+ to be exact. San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon has $133k+ on hand and Palo Alto City Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto has just over $100k to work with... of course, Kishimoto put in $40k of her own money this period, so she is being way outpaced on the fundraising side of the campaign. Becker is new to the race so his fundraising has been impressive...

Yay! Safeway in Burlingame! The plans got approved by the City Council last night. Can you believe it?

And while NIMBYs take a hit in Burlingame, they are getting their voices heard about the "transit village" plans in San Carlos.

Speaking of NIMBYs and Safeway... Safeway's plans to have a few outdoor seats in Menlo Park is going to be heard on the City Council because one resident sent a hand-written note objecting to the plan...

And what would a week be without another story about how DMB Associates plans to bring water into the the Cargill Salt Flats development in Redwood City? Put it this way, it sounds pretty complicated, feasible, but complicated...