Morning News Round-Up -- 2.8.10: When the Saints...

Garbage Saga Coastside... the Garbage Saga for much of the County is pretty much over, unless of course the construction off of 101 goes over budget. But in Pacifica, they have their own Garbage Saga. Pacifica was having major problems with its garbage company, Coastside Scavenger. And by major problems, we mean that Coastside Scavenger wasn't paying Pacifica what it was supposed to. So... Pacifica went looking for another company. Instead, what Pacifica seems to be getting, according to Pacifica Riptide, is a company that is taking over Coastside Scavenger (and the contract). Recology will get the sweet contract -- which is the same company that got the original Garbage Saga contract for most of the rest of the County. It is turning into a one-garbage company County.

We all know that the Coastside Family Medical Center is in bankruptcy... but the medical records are about to be released to the good folks at the Phoenix Project who will then begin to distribute those records to former patients. Here is some more info about the Phoenix Project and how to get your records...

While some School Districts do everything they can to stop Charter Schools (Sequoia Union High School District, we mean you), others are embracing them, sort of. The San Carlos Elementary School District has converted all but one of its schools to a District-run Charter School and they want to do the last one soon too...

While the turf (legal) war continues in San Carlos, the City got back bids for the soon-to-be-turfed park and it looks like it will cost a lot less than originally expected. Which is good news. Too bad the extra money can't go to legal fees...

San Bruno daytime, home burglaries are on the rise... sort of like in Atherton. A public meeting is slated for February 17th.

Just as Spring Training is about to start, a baseball story... sort of. Barry Bond's son will stand trial in June on misdemeanor charges of battery, false imprisonment, vandalism, threatening a police officers, and obstructing a police officer... all of this from a fight with his mother.

While Congresswoman Jackie Speier is going to stay Congresswoman Jackie Speier for a bit longer because she isn't going to run for Attorney General, it (apparently) doesn't mean she won't jump the Congressional ship in the future. According to Matier and Ross in the Chronicle, Speier's "confidants" are looking ahead to Feinstein's seat...

(Late) Morning News Round-Up -- 12.11.09: Scammers and Christmas, like peas in a pod...

Here is a story that will warm your heart. Someone is using the holiday season good cheer to rip people off by telling them they are donating to the San Mateo Police Officers' Association... fuckers.

On the other hand, a good way to spend money would be to help schools -- which is what the San Mateo County Community College District might ask you to do next year... but it would be for taxes, not for gifts...

And while the Community College District is looking for a tax, the Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School Distrit is looking for a bond... maybe.

The San Bruno Park School District is also looking to improve their facilities -- specifically the Parkside Intermediate School.

You go Daily Journal Editorial Board! They say that pots clubs are worthy of discussion in cities... especially if that discussion is slightly slurred and interspersed with giggles...

You know the economy is bad when this is the headline for a company and it reads as good news: Bay Area-based airline startup Virgin America narrows loss. (Thank you County Times...)

The Governor honored two lifeguards from the Coast this week. Other than that, the Governor is keeping a higher profile in Copenhagen than he is in California...

Here is some more good Coastside news thanks to the Review. The clinic formerly knows at the Coastside Family Medical Center is getting some federal stimulus money to renovate. Thank you Congresswoman Eshoo...

Morning News Round-Up -- 7.20.09: Day 5, with one less Juror

We knew that the William Ayres' molestation trial would be a wild one... but we thought that after the jury got the case and was deliberating, the fireworks would die down for a while... well, we were wrong. A juror was dismissed on Friday for having a personal conversation about an "inappropriate event" in her own life that made her more likely to believe the (alleged) victims' memories... An alternate was seated instead. William Ayres Watch reminds us it is Day 5 of Jury deliberations...

Here is a story that first came across the local newspapers on Saturday: A hiker from San Carlos is missing in an area near Skeggs Point in unincorporated San Mateo County. The latest updates come from the Half Moon Bay Review from Sunday afternoon and the Chronicle this morning. At that point, there was still no sign of the hiker.

If there are two issues that get folks going in Belmont it is parks and neighborhoods... so when you try to plan for a new neighborhood park, get ready for some exciting times. That's the case with a proposed park on Davey Glen Road (just off of El Camino Real)...

Speaking of parks... and housing... and industrial growth... and a bunch of other "land use" stuff, Redwood City is moving ahead with a revised General Plan. Which is pretty dry stuff in most places, but with Redwood City, land use and growth is never dry.

There was a fire Saturday at Zibbibbo Restaurant in Palo Alto... origins of the flames were undetermined at the time of this blogging... We hope we can still get our herb roasted top sirloin tonight.

Supervisors have started the conversation about new taxes and fees to help address their "structural deficit." Join the club...

It is Monday, which (usually) means that Sue Lempert gives her take on local happenings in the Daily Journal. Today she gets in on the health care discussion in DC and a health care-related Civil Grand Jury report in 2008. She also talks about the Feds with how stimulus dollars are being used locally. (And to the loyal Watch Dog reader who often sends wise ass emails, stimulus dollars are not being used here...)

The Coastside Family Medical Clinic on-again/off-again bankruptcy filing is off-again... at least until July 24th when the next hearing will take place...

There was some scary excitement over the weekend when a local bomb squad detonated an explosive devise at a Pacifica apartment complex...

0n a final, sad note, former Burlingame Mayor Don Lembi died at the age of 63 from "complications from diabetes."

Morning News Round-Up – 6.29.09: Trouble in wave-land…

Coastside Family Medical Center Trustee, E. Lynn Schoenmann, wants to dismiss the bankruptcy protection and put record handling back on the defunct non-profit’s former leaders. Schoenmann says the non-profit “squandered resources” creating a “medical [records] disaster.” Good luck getting your own records back, for the moment they live in San Jose.

That thud you heard was the other shoe dropping as County Tax Assessor Warren Slocum told the Board of Supervisors more than half the houses reassessed were worth less. The Daily Journal’s Michelle Durand chatted with a few of the players while Pacifica Riptide rips a Realtor’s ad claiming housing inventory is low…

Ayers Watch is keeping up with weekend reports on the progress, or lack of, as well as main-stream media coverage of Watch’s own blog. Joining Ayers Watch in the courtroom is a blogger from Sprocket & Company, True Crime Reporting – as lurid as it sounds, Caligirl9 avoids the gruesome details.

Sue Lempert is back in the Daily Journal asking parents how sensible is building a new school when you can’t afford the ones you have and agrees with the Economist that Summer vacation is a “mental eraser.” Watch Dog can hear the kids screaming at the thought of year round school, while parents cheer...

East Palo Alto’s Housing Director Wilbert Lee called the ongoing vandalism at the Courtyard at Bay Road unforeseen. Wheelchair bound Arnold Hart complaints he can’t get in, carpets used as toilets and a crowbar modified elevator are a few of the problems giving San Jose’s Community Housing a headache.

Look for sparks as the Central County Fire Department pushes for independence from Burlingame and Hillsborough – and more communities move for firefighter mergers.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory scientists had a chance at one of their own as US Energy Secretary Steven Chu dropped by to talk global warming.

Palo Alto’s “Open City Hall” may be open for business but no one seems to know…

Consternation abounds. Menlo Park’s Planning Commission has a challenge ahead, will a proposed City Hall gum up parking?

Seems big wave pioneer, Jeff Clark, didn’t gracefully dismount that Mavericks stick. According to Clark there was rough surf at Mavericks Surf Ventures and he got worked after an orchestrated wipe out. Surf Ventures’ Keir Beadling called it the end of “tyranny.”

San Carlos’ Kevin Scott is schlepping through Yosemite hoping enough people care about education to put up a penny a mile to watch him do it. Big Brother, and the rest of the world, will follow Scott courtesy of SPOT.

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.26.09: A King of Pop-Free Round-Up...

Dr. Ayres' trial is picking up steam. Coverage from the Daily Journal and other main stream media... but William Ayres' Watch is much more in depth...

In an (un)related case, a San Mateo County man was sentenced to 24 years in prison for molesting his granddaughters... Perhaps he and Dr. Ayres will meet someday?

Budget problems:

• San Mateo Union High School District = $3.5 million.
• We'll put this Editorial from the Daily Journal under budget problems, but the problem in Half Moon Bay is not just about the budget, it is about "political naivety" according to the Journal...
• Congratulations Shaun Bishop. The County Supervisors are (finally) looking at their expenses during this economic downturn...

It wasn't just Unelected Supervisor Carol Groome who got Civil Grand Jury attention this week. Pay Cut Gate got some love as well. Not surprisingly, the Civil Grand Jury found that the Daly City City Council wasn't justified in cutting the City Clerk's pay. PP Examiner chimes is as well...

Watch Dog spies tell us that the Civil Grand Jury report that we've all been waiting for is coming... it can't come soon enough. That said, we hope that the Civil Grand Jury doesn't cave to PR pressure and release it in the dead news cycles of the July 4th long weekend...

Atherton. How we love thee. The trial of a Public Works Supervisor who is facing misdemeanor assault and battery charges against a female Atherton Police Officer started yesterday.

The Coastside Family Medical Center's bankruptcy could be dismissed. Watch Dog is no lawyer (obviously) and the details seem sketchy in this story from the HMB Review. Hopefully more will come out...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.28.09: A new Coastside hero?

The Coastside Family Medical Center, which closed earlier in the year and subsequently filed for bankruptcy, may reopen under a new plan by put forth by former Sheriff, current Sequioa Healthcare District Board member, and soon-to-be Coastside hero Don Horsley. We'll see what happens, but this is the first good news the former patients of Coastside Family Medical Center in a long, long time.

Bad budget news follows... if you don't want to read it, skip ahead...

• The public (including Watch Dog) doesn't want Caltrain to cut their weekend service. But while the public says one thing, Caltrain's budget may say another...
• San Carlos (and everyone else) doesn't really have weekend services to cut like Caltrain, but it does have fees. And the fees are going up for almost everything in San Carlos...
• The County of San Mateo (probably) does have services to cut, but they are going to tap reserves instead of making huge services cuts.

The Bearded One/Assemblymember Jerry Hill speaks (writes) in his own words today in the Daily Journal. The OpEd blends the College of San Mateo graduation with Japanese American's internment.

The Almanac asks an important question about shifting funds from Atherton's flush Library Fund to the not-so-flush City Hall Fund. Like everything else in Atherton, expect a fight. Especially because Councilmember Charles Marsala is leading the charge. The anti-Marsala wing of the Atherton Town Council will put up a fight just because... (at least that's Watch Dog's experience since we've been writing...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.4.09: Intergovernmental Disputes and Gray Mondays...

LOCAL HEALTH EMERGENCY... a.k.a. today's Swine Flu update...

While we are on healthcare... The Coastside Family Medical Center made it official, they filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday. This is just as three doctors who used to work at the Coastside Family Medical Center plan to open up shop in private practice...

And a check in on some intergovernmental disputes that Watch Dog likes so much...

• The dispute between the City of Foster City and the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District will take center stage on Thursday at the School District's Board meeting. You'll recall that the District's enrollment is due to grow a lot in the coming years and they need to new classrooms, so they are working with the City to identify City-owned land for new schools. Now, the City is a lot less interested in helping because the District would like the land at little or no cost. It seems the City Council in Foster City doesn't understand that when they approve new housing developments, the schools feel a brunt of the impact with new students... and those students need to go to school somewhere... If you want to follow this brouhaha, the City has its own webpage dedicated to the issue... Ironically, as the City of Foster City is pinching pennies when it comes to helping schools, they are spending money like drunken sailors on other capital projects -- up to $3 million worth will soon be fast-tracked...
• The Everest Charter School versus Sequoia Union High School District squabble is about to take another litigious turn. To refresh your memories: Sequoia said no to the Everest Charter School, which the Charter School appealed all the way to the State Board of Education, who finally said ok. The District then provided space in East Palo Alto for the Charter School, which the Charter School said wasn't good enough. Now there is about to be a legal battle as the Charter School prepares to sue because they don't want to be in East Palo Alto.
• Riptide has more details about the Sharp Park Golf Course hearing last week in San Francisco. The only thing that everyone can seem to agree on is that feelings were, and are, hurt as a result of the meeting... which is probably just how Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi wants it. See, in San Francisco, when wild public meetings happen, the focus is on the wild public meeting, not the policy that is about to be jammed down Pacifica's throat.
• And the intergovernmental dispute of all intergovernmental disputes (at least locally) -- Peninsula cities versus the High-Speed Rail Authority. The Chronicle is picking up where local papers (and bloggers) have been pointing out for some time: Peninsula cities want the train to be in a tunnel...

San Mateo County and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation are stepping up to help local nonprofits weather the economic storm...

While the County giveth to help local nonprofits, the passage of Propsition 1E will actually take $2.52 million from County coffers and hand it over the State... Not much of a selling point to local voters, Watch Dog would guess.

With ideas like 1E, some (all?) of the State propositions on the May 19th ballot are losing in the polls... perhaps it's because nobody trusts/likes/respects Sacramento?

The Devonshire Canyon annexation/development will take a big step on Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors will approve the "tax exchange" -- essentially handing the land over to the City of San Carlos... There has been no official word from the woodrats about their position on this new development...

If you like working on your call in your driveway and garage and you live in San Bruno, you could be SOL... The San Bruno City Council would like to put an end to excessive automobile work in your driveway...

Speaking of cars, it seems if you live in San Carlos, the chances are pretty good that you, or your neighbor, or someone on your street has had their car (or cars) broken into this year...

The Half Moon Bay bailout bill got altered a bit up in Sacramento. (This is Senator Leland Yee and Assemblymember Jerry Hill's effort to help Half Moon Bay stay out of bankruptcy court as it pays off its settlement to Chop Keenan.)

A man died while (apparently) trying to cross 101 in Redwood City on foot early Sunday morning...

And in 2010 election news:

• Sue Lempert breaks down the 2010 Governor's race in her weekly Daily Journal column. Of note, she seems to have a real beef with Attorney General (former Mayor, former Presidential candidate, former Governor) Jerry Brown. Also, by way of blogger correction, Republican Tom Campbell is actually from San Jose, according to our the Silicon Valley Dog...
• And while we are on big 2010 elections -- the Palo Alto City Council will see a shake-up in 2010. Two folks are termed out (Jack Morton and Yoriko Kishimoto - who is running for Assembly) and three more are coming to the end of their terms. Former Councilmember Larry Klein is expected to reenter the fray, but current Councilmembers Petere Drekmeier and John Barton have yet to declare their intentions...

The COWs of Woodside are clapping their hooves over MOOTube... seriously.

And in other local blogs... David Lim chimes in again on his run for San Mateo City Council, breaking down his trip to the Consumer Protection Conference hosted by the the California District Attorney's Association (who do not endorse his campaign...)

Finally: Watch Dog screwed up (again!) last week... the Lehman Brothers hearing in front of the House Financial Services Committee is tomorrow...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.10.09: La Honda Escapee Edition (again...)

An Editorial in today's Daily Journal gives props to the Congresswoman Speier for her openness with her Federal earmark requests. Luckily for the Daily Journal (and Jon Mays) Watch Dog brought up the "Bridge to Nowhere" Wednesday for their reference...

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation's plan for a hospital in San Carlos is officially on hold. The $300 million hospital, which would be an affiliate of Sutter Health, no longer has a definitive timeline.

In other healthcare-related news, Half Moon Bay's shuttered Coastside Family Medical Clinic is holding off on filing for bankruptcy...for now.

While Half Moon Bay doesn't currently have a health clinic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants Half Moon Bay to revamp its Emergency Operations Center -- and is dedicating $750,000 to the effort. Send your thank you notes to Congresswoman Eshoo...

If you work in Santa Clara County (or read Watch Dog Silicon Valley) you may have realized the phone craziness yesterday. Tens of thousands of folks had their phone lines screwed up all day. AT&T blamed the problem on vandals who cut fiber optic lines. The episode caused emergency response and public safety officials to declare a state of emergency because 911 lines were messed up.

What is clearly becoming a trend, a 16 year old that was in the County's juvenile detention facility in La Honda escaped, but was captured shortly after. By Watch Dog's count, this is the third such escape (and capture) since we began publishing...

If you take BART, start cobbling together 10% more change for your fares...

We thought this week's only car-related news was the Putnam Subaru versus Carlsen Subaru battle. But a Daly City body shop, PAR Auto Body Shop, has cracked this week's (local, auto) news cycle with a story about their environmental efforts...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.30.09: Pay Raises for Everyone Edition a.k.a. Garbage Saga Continued...

Garbage is back with a vengeance today. And it isn't about who the new garbage men will be. It's about the agency that oversees the whole shebang. And guess who is the yelling the loudest? San Mateo County's bearded Superhero/Assemblymember Jerry Hill. It seems the staff of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (the garbage Joint Powers Authority) conducted some research about what other government staff got paid. Guess what? They would like to make more money...surprised? Now, Jerry Hill (and Belmont's Bill Dickenson) are on the case. Add this to Hill's anger over how the new garbage contract was dolled out, and you are looking at increasing the friction, and attention, on the SBWMA...

Watch Dog has to wonder, was the move by the SBWMA staff a preemptive strategy to get their raises before the Hill-initiated (critical?) Civil Grand Jury report comes out on how the SBWMA staff handled the new contract process? (Watch Dog thinks yes...)

Thank you PP Examiner. Mr. Balshone gives a run-down of the Pacifica/San Francisco battle brewing over the Sharp Park Golf Course. Is it an environmental battle, or is it Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi on a soap-box? Watch Dog will go with soap-box...

Enough about AIG...what about the HMB bail-out? Well, State Senator Leland Yee wants to use $10 million in State bond money to help Half Moon Bay with their legal settlement costs that they owe developer Chop Keenan.

Speaking of bail-out...the County is poised to spend $500,000 helping area non-profits that help the needy.

Watch Dog guesses the Coastside Family Health Center was not in dire enough shape to receive state or local bail-out cash...but the now-closed Coastside Family Medical Center Board of Directors is on a bit of a PR kick. They are now trying to explain its actions to angry residents in a Memo.

Sue Lempert gets in on the Daly City Pay-Cut Gage action today in her Daily Journal column...sort of. She really just runs down who has an elected City Clerk and who doesn't, and that electing City Clerks is pretty much a bad idea. Take that Daly City...

We love political races. Remember the Atherton City Council race last fall -- it was awesome. In political races, there is always news and always insiders willing to spill beans...we know next year's Assembly District 21 race to replace Assemblymember Ira Ruskin is going to be a doozy. But the race to replace Supervisor Rich Gordon will also be fun to watch as well. Former Sheriff Don Horsley, coastsider April Vargas, and Sequoia Healthcare District Board member Jack Hickey are all throwing their hats in the ring. (Horsley has already raised over $100,000 -- seemingly overkill, considering the race is more than a year away...but that's just me...)

Speaking of Atherton politics...the biggest issue they discuss in Atherton is generally development of people's homes. In one such area of town, the lots are so small (by Atherton standards) that some folks want to increase the size of their home, but their lots are too small to legally do it. These folks were looking to the Council for some help...but too bad. You want to live in Atherton, you have to live with its City Council. The anti-growth/say-no-to-anything majority won out last week on this issue over the objections of Councilmembers Charles Marsala and Elizabeth Lewis.

A small plane departed from the San Carlos Airport on Saturday...but landed in a marsh a 1/4 mile a way almost immediately after that. Three folks were hospitalized.

County Manager David Boesch get his profile taken in the Daily Journal. (FYI - he has a new desk...)

Peets in Menlo Park reopened over the weekend following their fire. SUV-driving Menlo Parkers are now back on their drug-of-choice...

As with everything about High-Speed Rail on the Peninsula, an agreement between the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (that oversees Caltrain tracks) and the High-Speed Rail Authority has folks in a tizzy...

Here's something new: A fisherman (Duncan MacLean) was named the County's Farmer of the Year. The first time a fisherman was so honored...it is not true that a farmer will be named the 2009 Fisherman of the Year...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.25.09: Dial-up Internet Edition...

Watch Dog doesn't want to brag...but we will. Our ongoing harassment of Jay Thorwaldson's horrible blogging (10 posts in 3 years) has led the Palo Alto Weekly to find community bloggers to make the online version of the paper a bit hipper. They have a ways to go. Aside from their world-travelling blogger (Kevin Schuman), they have added a new blogger today, Paul Losch. Unfortunately, Losch's first paragraphs reveal that he doesn't really know what blogs are all about or what blogging really is. Don't worry Mr. Losch, Watch Dog will monitor and critique your posts...like today's is too long and not that interesting, no offense...

Speaking of local blogs, David Lim, the once and future candidate for San Mateo City Council, has been busy. He provided testimony up in Sacramento this week and blogged about it here.

Watch Dog has become accustomed to local governments jacking up rates on garbage and sewer...but it is rare that local governments, once they have decided to increase rates, go back and look at their decision. But that's what Belmont is doing with its sewer rates. Since 2000, sewer rates in Belmont have gone up 93 percent, according to today's Daily Journal, the 8 to 9.5 percent extra that the Belmont City Council already decided to hit residents with was reconsidered last night...

Sequoia Healthcare District has found its new CEO, Lee Michelson will take the helm on April 27th.

In other healthcare news...

• John Horgan at the County Times gives us a perspective on how the fiscal crisis has caused two Bay Area counties (but not ours) to limit free/low-cost routine care to undocumented immigrants...
• The County Times goes into lots of detail about Monday's public meeting in Half Moon Bay about the closure of Coastside Family Medical Center which was led by Supervisor Gordon.
  
• On a related note, the Health Plan of San Mateo picked up the records of the nearly 2,000 patients of the Coastside Family Medical Center.

Jon Mays at the Daily Journal describes in detail the newsroom's challenges with no Internet. Sounds fun, actually. If that ever happened to Watch Dog, we'd be screwed....

Palo Alto is looking for a new Police Chief. Presumably one that thinks before he/she opens their mouth...