Morning News Round-Up -- 5.13.10: A few minutes late today... I was biking to work

We apologize in advance to Supervisor Carole Groom, because for the next little while, we are going to revert back to what we started calling her when she first got appointed: unelected. Since she has served on the Board of Supervisors she has been unelected, and now she is gearing up for her big race for Supervisor so folks can ligitimately vote FOR Unelected Supervisor Carole Groom. Of course she is going to win by a huge margin, which reinforces what Watch Dog (and others) thought long ago -- that Supervisors should have called for a special election so that Groom doesn't have a seat for life... What brought all this up? The Daily Journal looks into the "race"...

Remember how much fun Governor Gray Davis had with the Vehicle License Fee? It cost him his job... and put the Terminator into the Governor's mansion (?). Anyway, San Mateo County may be getting its own VLF if they vote favorably in November. The money will go to congestion management... Perhaps Gray Davis is free to do the TV ads for the campaign...

That beautiful orange and black "The Times" sign just off 101 will be replaced with 74 housing units and a self-storage complex... paved paradise, put up housing and storage...

Live shows again at the Fox Theatre? Send thanks to Eric Lochtefeld, a San Mateo

entrepreneur...

San Bruno made the seemingly smart decision to forgo red-light cameras because it was going to cost them money, as opposed to bolster city coffers. Plus, now you can't catch us...

Shocking... Belmont needs to raise sewer rates...

Another shocker...

The Burlingame Voice is on part 16 of their anti-High-Speed Rail campaign, this time talking about Union Pacific's opposition.

In other blog news, PP Examiner's Bruce goes into the voting records of the Assembly 21 candidates... which proves that he is getting the same emails that Watch Dog is getting featuring hit-pieces from one campaign on another.

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.8.10: Burlingame News Day

The race to replace Assemblymember Ira Ruskin just got a little more interesting... or perhaps it got a little less interesting. One of the people that was in the race, Kai Stinchcombe, dropped out to support the latest entry into the race, Josh Becker. So the field looks like this, for those of you keeping score: Josh Becker, Rich Gordon, and Yoriko Kishimoto. Stinchcombe joined Marc Berman as folks who were once in the race but are now out of the race..

It is Friday Burlingame News Day:

• Could there be a new school coming to Burlingame to meet enrollment at the growing Burlingame Elementary School District? That's what the discussion will be Tuesday. Burlingame + Schools = Good times...
• Burlingame + Safeway = Good times as well... now the plan includes more trees, in case you were concerned. And it seems like some folks in Burlingame were.
• The Daily Journal chimes in on Burlingame's Bayshore golf center/convention hall proposal... their message: "Anyone in support of such a development should not get their hopes up."

A family in Atherton came home from a New Year's vacation to find their home burglarized and their car ripped off... we like to joke about Atherton politics, but this isn't funny.

Just down the street, the Citizens of Woodside announce COWmission and COWmittee openings of Woodside...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.19.09: Supervisor Rich Gordon a candidate for Assembly...officially

If you read Watch Dog or PP Examiner or the Palo Alto Weekly or the Almanac, then this won't come as a surprise...Supervisor Rich Gordon is running for State Assembly next year. He made it official yesterday. Watch Dog can't wait for this race. Gordon is officially in. Palo Alto's Yoriko Kishimoto and Community College District Trustee Hal Plotkin (also from Palo Alto) are in the race as well. Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson is unofficially in the race at this point too. This is going to be a good one...As discussed previously, the District is split pretty evenly between San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties -- making this a double the pleasure double the fun type of race for the Watch Dog Network...

San Carlos Elementary School District got an unexpected surprise recently...nearly 70 more kindergartners signed up for next year's school year than expected. Expecting about 333, just over 400 little ones want into the Charter School district.

And while San Carlos Elementary School District is dealing with a rush of Kindergartners, the San Mateo-Foster City School District is working with the City of Foster City to find land and build some new facilities for the future influx of students...

The Daily Journal's Michelle Durand hasn't left yet...perhaps she wants to take Watch Dog up on our offer for coffee? She is Off the Beat today and writing about plastic bag bans (and pornography and smoking)...

Watch Dog remembers this story fondly. Here is what (allegedly) happened: An employee at an Indian restaurant (Mr. Singh) was ripping people's credit card numbers, Mr. Singh gave the credit card numbers to a middle man (Mr. Barkley), and Mr. Barkley would bring them to Safeway to buy stuff from Mrs. Singh, who worked there. Mr. Barkley just pleaded not guilty yesterday on 12 felony counts...

Dave Bohannon is a developer who has land and wants to build a big project in Menlo Park. To gauge support for his project, Mr. Bohannon conducted a poll of Menlo Park residents to see if they would support his $300 million plan. Unfortunately for Mr. Bohannon, news of the poll leaked out a while ago and now Menlo Park officials are forced to let everyone know that they will not give much credence to the poll results. That's an expensive oops for Mr. Bohannon...

The County Times' John Horgan gives us the 411 on the hugely popular Adult Education programs in the County and how budget cuts are having a major (negative) impact.

Investigators are still looking into what caused the big Peet's fire in downtown Menlo Park on Tuesday morning. One thing we all know is that it may take months for the affected stores (Peet's and Calla boutique) to reopen...

You have got to admire Rod Diridon. He loves walking into the lion's den to pitch High-Speed Rail. He was at it once again in Palo Alto at the Palo Alto Rotary Club meeting at Ming's. His speech came just as Palo Alto is asking the High-Speed Rail Authority to study underground tracks through the Peninsula...a dollar short and day late?

Former Menlo Park Mayor Lee Duboc is a thorn in the side of the Menlo Park City Council...perhaps that's why she wasn't invited to a breakfast with current and former Mayors and Councilmembers? Keep at it Lee, we like reading your stuff...

It looks like the County of San Mateo was helping keep the Coastside Family Medical Center afloat for a while before its eventual closure this month. The clinic was asking for more taxpayer money and the County just couldn't stomach it...

As if Half Moon Bay didn't have enough bad news these days (Coastside Family Medical closing, $18 million owed to a developer, cutting City employees, Coastside School District taking hits) Moon News will close its doors in April...

It is good to know that someone is watching the Woodside COWncil these days...check out Citizens of Woodside for a pun-filled round-up...

Finally, there is a story today in the Almanac with the headline: Hundreds apply for Charter Schools. Watch Dog is working on a bit about this story, thanks to some interested Watch Dogs following this closely...if you have any information about Everest/Summit or have a view, email me...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.5.09: Yes We Can(nabis)

As much as we have written about the Garbage Saga, sometimes there are some surprises. Like yesterday, when the Board of Supervisors went against the recommendation by the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA) about which company should run the recycling facility off of 101 in San Carlos. The SBWMA wants South Bay Recycling to handle that facility -- but the County Supervisors voted to give the contract to Hudson Baylor, a rival vendor. The Supervisor's vote, may not mean much if other members of the SBWMA vote for South Bay Recycling...but it certainly does add to the drama. The real drama will come when the Civil Grand Jury has their say on this issue...when will that report be done?

The Kmart site on Delaware Street in San Mateo is already slated for "transit oriented development" -- but now the developer wants to tweak those plans in order to best accommodate uncertain economic conditions. The new plans including more flats, fewer townhomes, and more office space.

And some crime news to start your day off right:

• The 15 year old Daly City kid who shot a stolen gun at a Lexus carrying a mom and her 3 year old is going to be charged as an adult...the 15 year old kid pleaded not guilty yesterday...
• A 20 year old karate instructor in Foster City was arrested by San Carlos Police yesterday for child molestation. Police are investigating to see if there are other victims.
• As the Republican Party on the state and national level is struggling, one California Republic Party official (who lives in Palo Alto) is not suffering and made nearly $900,000 over the past two years from the GOP...(this isn't a crime story, rather Watch Dog's attempt at humor...)
  

Usually, when Sequoia Union High School District stories appear on Watch Dog is it either about the District's views on the proposed Everest Charter School (the District doesn't like it) or about Carlmont High School parents anger about a missing traffic lane (parents want the lane back) -- today, however, it is about Sequoia High School's principal who is stepping down to get her doctorate...

There is (apparently) a big-time power outage in Palo Alto this morning. Crews are "scrambling" to get folks back online...this is the type of problem that the Utilities Department should be handling, rather than this type of problem with Federal law enforcement agents...

Yesterday the Daily Journal's Editorial pages came on line after the Round-Up was already done...so here is Editor Jon Mays' take on how screwed up Sacramento is. He details the silly bills the Legislators introduce instead of doing their jobs...

And Jon's reporter/columnist Michelle Durand's "Off the Beat" discusses Assemblymember Ammiano's Yes We Cannabis campaign...and some potential risks to having more people smoke more pot...

My goodness...if the race for the 21st State Assembly District in 2010 is going to be in the news everyday then Watch Dog will have to give the race its own daily Round-Up...so far we have San Mateo Supervisor Rich Gordon, former Palo Alto Mayor/Councilmember Yoriko Kishimoto, Community College Trustee Hal Plotkin, and...now add San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson. Let's see how PP Examiner examines the race now that two San Mateo County Supervisors are in (or so-to-be-in) the race...does PP Examiner still think that Supervisor Gordon has a clear advantage?

Cuts are coming to the Jefferson Elementary School District ($691,000)...and a parcel tax is going to voters in that District on May 5th...

East Palo Alto may be getting a long awaited supermarket. San Jose-based Mi Pueblo is considering a space in the Gateway 101 shopping center the was formerly Circuit City...

As some folks (in Palo Alto, Atherton, and Menlo Park) protest High-Speed Rail, some folks are still in favor of it, like the San Mateo City Council.

We often search the blogosphere for San Mateo County-centric stuff...here is an update:

• Recently, we noticed that that David Lim's desire to be on the San Mateo City Council didn't end when Fred Hansson was hand-picked by the current City Council to be their colleague. David has continued to run for City Council, he has a blog up, and updates regularly. Today we learn that David received the endorsement of Mountain View Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga...congrats David and we will keep an eye on your updates...
• The Citizens of Woodside (COW) blog has an update about that city's General Plan update that is ongoing...