Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.10: 4,500 homes, 10,000 cars...

4,500 new homes in Brisbane? That's part of Universal Paragon Corporation's plans for the Brisbane Baylands unveiled last night to the Brisbane City Council. That should be great for traffic on 101...

Speaking of great for traffic... Check out this Almanac (hysterical) headline: Stanford medical facilities expansion could bring 10,000 more vehicle trips per day to the area. If they are that worried about car traffic, shouldn't they support High-Speed Rail? We're just saying...

It takes a special kind of asshole to "ransack" a school... but it happened again at James Flood Magnet School in East Palo Alto for the second time in a year.

It looks like Burlingame School District may buy, renovate, and eventually reopen the long-closed (former Buddhist center) Hoover Elementary School on Summit drive.

While we're there: the Burlingame Voice has a little perspective on the red-light cameras in Burlingame...

This should surprise absolutely nobody... the City of Belmont needs to dip into reserves to balance the budget next year. So does Watch Dog...

Jon Mays at the Daily Journal hearts the idea of a San Mateo/Foster City Fire Department...

A bit of really good news today: a bigger, better Ron Robinson Senior Care Center at the San Mateo Medical Center will reopen today...

Today is Yoriko Kishimoto's turn for a Will Oremus profile... Unfortunately for her, the Mercury News endorsed Rich Gordon today...

We mentioned earlier this week that we can't resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc... we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn't argue agains that... (There is a story linked here too...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.6.10: Too...Many...Margaritas...

Here's something that has been in the news for as long as Watch Dog has been in San Mateo... the Sequoia Union High School District and the Everest Public High School (charter school) settled their long-standing legal dispute about Everest's facilities... Everyone seems to be turning over a new leaf, as the current Superintendent (Pat Gemma) packs finishes packing his bags.

Speaking of long-standing pissing matches... the new owners of the former Page Mill Properties apartment buildings (Wells Fargo) will be reducing rents in their units.

This will send shock-waves up and down Silicon Valley. Menlo Park is imposing a two-tier pension system for its municipal employees. The beginning of a trend, or the shot heard round the union world?

The Daily Journal gives a run-down of the Supervisors race to replace Rich Gordon... Don Horsley - whose name you probably recognize, April Vargas - a coastside Democrat, Matt Grocott - the always fun to read about San Carlos City Councilmember, Jack Hickey - everyones favorite Libertarian, and Michael Stogner - a car salesman. "A Sheriff, a Democrat, a City Councilmember, a Libertarian, and a car salesman walk into a bar..."

Guess what Steve Poizner's internal polls say? That he's catching up. Guess what Sarah Palin's polls said about her? That she was qualified... it doesn't make it so Steve, it doesn't make it so...

In other political news (about people way behind in the polls), Yoriko Kishimoto gets a write up in the Palo Alto Weekly/Almanac. She is running for State Assembly for Ira Ruskin's seat against Josh Becker and Rich Gordon.

The Tweet that launched a thousand comments... San Carlos City Councilmember Omar Ahmad should probably keep his Tweets to himself during the actual City Council meetings, instead of making comments about who is in the crowd and who isn't...

Stanford Hospital and nurses still aren't getting along nicely. The hospitals just rejected a proposal from the nurses... who previously had rejected the "last, best, and final" offer from the hospital.

Finally, Tom Campbell's campaign has released an online campaign video (and taken their gloves off) that you absolutely have to see. Seriously. It makes the weird sheep thing Carly Fiorina's campaign put out a while ago seem mild. Take a gander... love the head-bob...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.27.10: Rainy Days and Tuesdays...

For the cities that are looking at implementing red light cameras (that's you Belmont) you should read this story from South San Francisco. They need to refund drivers $237k and refund the County Court $250k... have fun with that SSF...

While we're in South San Francisco, some property owners there are not pleased with proposed changes to zoning laws there East of 101... the City wants to change it from industrial to business commercial and technology... seems arcane, but not to the East of 101 Property Owners Association.

Senator Leland Yee's bill that banned young people from buying violent video games will be heard by the US Supreme Court... yippee!

Supervisor Mark Church has someone running against him for County Assessor... sort of. A write-in candidate, John K. Mooney, signed the forms to become an official write-in candidate for Assessor. Of all the positions in local government, wouldn't you want the Assessor to be on top of his game enough to actually file to run for office on time and get his name on the ballot? Just asking...

The East Palo Alto Police Chief may be moving to Seattle... it may be difficult to be the Police Chief of East Palo Alto from there...

The post-prom stabbing that sent the police tot he Marriot San Mateo and sent 4 kids to the hospital was apparently gang related.

A new park in Belmont? Say it ain't so... the first one since the 1970s...

If you love the cafe in the County building... you'd better find another place for lunch because it will close in July...

Thanks to Politicon Valley, we know that Yoriko Kishimoto got the Sierra Club endorsement... adding to a long list of organizations?

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.2.10: Home/Loan Gate... again

The Atherton Home/Loan Gate controversy will get an official airing on April 7th with the Town Council. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you should pay closer attention...

You think your city is having budget problems... check out Caltrain. They are about to cut weeknight service, weekend service, weekday service, and beer service... (they don't have beer service, but if they did, it might help with revenue...)

More folks are lining up on the pro-Saltworks side of things... well, sort of -- the head of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the BCDC Board Chair wrote that they think Redwood City should go through the development review process... Because filling in the Bay is such a good idea.

Speaking of development... what is going to happen to the site that was supposed to be a senior housing project in Foster City? We know one thing for sure, there are folks with the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District that would like a slice...

The Daily Journal editorial pages chime in too: "...What is the harm in weighing the possibility of a six-acre school with community open space and a nine-acre development that provides revenue, senior housing and sense of downtown?..."

The best/ biggest race happening on the political scene these days is for the Democratic nomination to the 21st Assembly District to replace Ira Ruskin. San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon, Palo Alto City Councilmember Yoriko Kishimoto, and Venture Capitalst Josh Becker are the candidates and they spoke at a Silicon Valley Leadership Group forum this week. The candidates were seemingly trying to out-geek one another... which is hard in that race if you have ever seen the three candidates.

The news gets worse and worse for the now-defunct Page Mill Properties... a group of former investors is suing claiming they were defrauded. Funny, that's how East Palo Alto feels too...

Do you remember the story of the man who got sucked into the Pacific in Pacifica and his friends left the beach right after? He washed up on shore on Tuesday.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.1.10: http://mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county

To start March 2010, we have to comment on the change that happened over the weekend on the San Mateo County Times website. They actually have their own website, and now it is obvious that they are the same paper as the Mercury News. Also, instead of saying "Oakland Tribune" on the top of their homepage, it actually says San Mateo County Times. Kudos to all those busy web developers... and their bosses who got the go-ahead to change things up... Oh yeah, and they got their own URL, http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county

DMB's water rights that they intend to use if the Saltworks project ever goes through in Redwood City gets the microscope treatment today. The headline: "Redwood City Saltworks developer poised to become major Bay Area water baron" pretty much says it all. The story hints that Redwood City might be tempted to approve the DMB proposal in the salt flats because the City needs the water that could come with it...

Speaking of controversial... High-Speed Rail on the Peninsula. A big report is coming out in April and everyone is figuring out how to oppose it... like hiring lobbyists or having public meetings...

You don't think people are crazy about schools in Belmont? How about camping out for Kindergarten... we get camping out for Miley Syrus tickets, but Kindergarten?

In the land of constant elections, Burlingame voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballot on the parcel tax measure for the Burlingame School District.

The former Belmont Chamber of Commerce president's molestation trial has begun. For the Belmont Chamber, this trial flies in the face of the old adage that any coverage in the news is good news...

The San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer is now also the head the California Police Chiefs Association...

It is Sue Lempert Monday in the Daily Journal. She looks at the sale of the Crestmoor High School site calling it deja vu... she also talks about all the local races happening, like for Coroner...

And onto Recession news...

• New water rates are coming to Foster City. The new rates will save you money if you save water and cost you lots if use lots...
• SSF Unified is looking at raising taxes, cutting offerings and jobs, or all of that...
• Teachers may be laid off in the Menlo Park City School District. That ought to go over well with Menlo Parkians... and ought to push them to vote yes on the upcoming parcel tax.

Cool stuff about the tsunami that (thankfully) wasn't on Coastsider...

To end today's Round-Up, we go to Pacifica Riptide... Riptide does some reporting today (and perhaps provides some opposition research for the Josh Becker/ Yoriko Kishimoto camps)... it seems Supervisor Rich Gordon has missed half of the San Mateo County Transportation Authority meetings in the past year... oops.

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.25.10: Post-Debate Spin...

Politics leads the day: The 21st Assembly Democratic candidates faced off for the first time yesterday in Redwood City. Rich Gordon, Yoriko Kishimoto, and Josh Becker were there and answering questions. And their respective camps have clearly found and saved Watch Dog's email address... thanks for the updates/spin everyone. We can tell you this: one camp thought it was 'corny' that Josh Becker brought his kid's Thomas the Train to the debate. At least everyone is focusing on the big issues...

One issue that was discussed (a lot, apparently) was High-Speed Rail. And Quentin Kopp chimes in too in today's Daily Journal.

Local budgets (cities and school districts) got lots of time at yesterday's debate too...

• Budget cuts, serious ones, coming to Burlingame...
• Fewer cuts are going to come from San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District, because they won their parcel tax vote... officially. Congrats.
• And a preview of cuts in the Menlo Park City School District can be heard tonight -- including what will happen if the $178 per parcel tax doesn't pass in May...
• Not getting cuts is Belmont's money for "outreach" to residents on High-Speed Rail... which we thought was kind of the City Council's job.

The lawsuit filed against San Mateo County's elections office is moving forward. This is about electronic signatures captured via iPhone being used to sign State elections petitions and is being brought by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley start-up. San Mateo County Elections' chief Warren Slocum rejected the signatures because he couldn't figure out a way to verify the signatures under California law.

Amgen Tour of California will go Coastside... Rogue waves stay away...

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...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.19.10: Rain, rain, go away...

Get your coffee, this is going to be a long one...

Before we begin, be careful out there folks. Especially coastside readers. The Half Moon Bay City Hall was (slightly) damaged, but the storm is still brewing. Stay safe y'all.

It is finally the political season locally, which usually means an uptick in stories about local races and a general influx of mud-slinging in Watch Dog's email-box. No mud today, but a few local stories about political races to come:

Three folks are lining up to replace Assemblymember Ira Ruskin (as he prepares for bigger things?). Supervisor Rich Gordon, venture capitalist Josh Becker, and Palo Alto City Councilmember Yoriko Kishimoto are lined up. (Marc Berman and Kai Stinchcombe were once in the race too, but they dropped out to support Josh Becker.) This will be a local battle of the highest order and, frankly, Watch Dog can't wait. (Remember candidates and political hacks our email is watchdogsanmateo@gmail.com.)

Unelected Supervisor Carole Groom is getting a challenger in her previously free-ride into trying to get elected into the office she holds for the first time... fortunately for Groom, the dude running against her is a cabinet maker, not a seasoned politician. Why is Danial Duane Kaul running? Well, according to the Daily News, because he is against the County's, "...idiotic council members and idiotic supervisors..." Mr. Kaul, please write a piece about all your views for Watch Dog and we will run it, unedited... honestly.

Burlingame's The Sherman floating restaurant faces $60,000 in fines for spilling hazmats into the Bay. (But not being fined for putting hazmats on people's plates? Just kidding.) The place is shut down for the time being.

This may be the most obvious headline ever: East Palo Alto Mayor wants to increase city coffers. To the County Times headline editor: Is there a Mayor in the world that wants to do anything different than that?

There is finally some news coming out of the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District that doesn't involve fiscal mismanagement or retiring while under the gun: the Pescadero High School Principal will be the next Superintendent -- that's good. They are also seeking a new business services director -- that makes sense given the District's history.

Riptide wants you, and presumably everyone else in the County, to take action to save San Bruno Mountain... and while they are on the land-use topic... Riptide is concerned (and has back-up) that Pacifica will become the "Daly City" on the Coast... and that is definately NOT a compliment to Daly City.

Cell phone reception may be getting a bit worse in San Carlos because officials are concerned about noise complaints stemming from the ground-mounted equipment attached to the boxes... wait until San Carlos officials start hearing complaints about the bad cell service... then what?

Yesterday was Monday and Monday is Sue Lempert's day in the Daily Journal. She goes after a certain daily newspaper on the Peninsula and calls their reporting "Yellow Journalism"...

The Dalai Lama is coming to the Ravenswood School District in October. We love His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, but we also don't want the visit to drain resources (security, transportation, staffing) to put a financial burden on the School District. Watch Dog will be watching...

Someone (or someones) apparently set fire to the area of Capuchino High School in San Bruno that is under construction on Sunday night. $25,000 worth of damage was apparently done. Arson investigators are looking into it... Somehow the senior prank at M-A last year seems so much more innocent.

Phew... have a good day folks.

Morning News Round-Up – 6.30.09: Starting the fireworks early...

The grand jury reports keep on coming. The latest is a call to the Sequoia Healthcare District to give taxpayers a break and reject general tax money. The grand jury also suggested the District overcome “minimal communication” with annual snail mail.

Week 5 of Dr. Ayres’ trial continues with more victims taking the stand. Daily Journal and William Ayres’ Watch cover the details for anyone not in the courtroom.

The Belmont Sports Complex faces tough times if they want to use Redevelopment Agency money for a facelift. A pissed off Mayor Christine Wozniak blasted the Sports Advisory Committee for “bullying” their way into council policy and a lack of transparency.

“(We) got plenty of creative ideas…” from comments during a High-speed Rail outreach according to regional manager Dominic Spaething. No doubt including a tunnel starting at the Redwood City/Atherton border and ending just South of Palo Alto...

A BART strike could be in your future. Higher fares start tomorrow. Getting to SFO will run you $4… Still cheaper than parking, if you have a car...

San Mateo-Foster City Schools are thinking Boothbay Park makes the most sense for a new school. Look for a loud response from the city.

Redwood City charter school Everest Public High School opens in 2 months but still doesn’t know their address… Sequoia Union High School District is hoping Everest will take a site in East Palo Alto offered up to replace a PCB infested site in Redwood City.

Foothill-DeAnza Community College District Board Vice President Hal Plotkin will join Chancellor Martha Kanter in D.C.. No doubt he’ll be pulling out of the race to replace termed out Assemblymember Ira Ruskin leaving room for Yoriko Kishimoto, Rich Gordon, and Rose Jacobs Gibson to battle it out.

Pissed off Palo Alto employees marched on City Hall the day before their contract expires. Union leader Mike Keate wants negotiations to be productive and City Manager James Keene wants them to be public, promising entertaining days ahead.

Peninsula cities are falling just short of (actually) thumbing their collective noses at State efforts to get cities to accept their “fair share” of housing. Menlo Park housing manager, Douglas Frederick said the State didn’t put “a lot of teeth” into their efforts.

For a quiet little town Atherton manages to land headlines an awful lot. Public works supervisor Troy Henderson’s attorney said the police officer is all “about money.” Deputy District Attorney Sharron Lee disagrees saying “no means no.”

Forget Michael Jackson, Daily Journal’s Michelle Durand is mourning the loss of TV pitchman Billy Mays and wondering, in these days of pitchman arrests, blandness and internet shopping, who will fill his shoes.

A strong riptide pulled a Mother and daughter to their deaths at Montara Beach.