Morning News Round-Up -- 5.25.10: 2-40-2 Head line Bold herej head line bold goes here and here's more headling bold jyg

San Mateo County loves LOVES trying to consolidate things... trash, water, sewer, police, fire... and now the San Mateo Fire Chief Dan Belville is also going to be the Fire Chief in Foster City. Why pay two dudes when you can pay half a salary? That seems to be the thinking... and it may just be tip of the San Mateo/Foster City Fire Department iceberg...

The former Hillsdale High student who planned to pipe bomb the school last year was indicted by a grand jury Friday. Alex Youshock now awaits psychiatric evaluations about whether he is fit to stand trial...

Caltrain's spokesman Mark Simon writes a piece for the Daily Journal today about electrification... and he uses the word "diminishment," which looks funny.

Yesterday there was a story about how Belmont just launched their red-light cameras, and today there is a story about how Burlingame is abandoning theirs. Does Belmont not pay attention?

A two-pronged bond approach will be hitting voters in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District this November. One for the elementary schools and one for Ralston Middle.

Some of you were probably at the big Stanford Hospital/ Palo Alto public meeting last night at the Palo Alto City Council... well, it is a busy week for the NIMBY set because tonight there is a big public meeting on the Bohannon "Menlo Gateway" project...

Finally, does pointing out the Merc's technical difficulties ever get old? (Remember the re-launched County Times?) Watch Dog doesn't think so... this was a headline for a breaking news story last night:

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.30.10: Shhhhhh...

High-Speed Rail could be in trouble, according to a new State audit because it... "...suffers from 'weak oversight,' 'lax' management and a shaky funding plan..." Funny, we thought that was the norm for things coming out of Sacramento... One thing for sure, this audit will be the talk of the country-club set in Menlo Park and Atherton this weekend...

Students at Aragon, San Mateo, and Hillsdale High are having a silent-in today to protest Arizona's ridiculous new immigration law... We stand quietly with you students... shhhh...

Lee Duboc must be happy, sort of. The Menlo Park City Council is going to "impose terms" on part of its unionized work force. That is a unions worst nightmare, obviously. San Jose imposed terms earlier in the week and Menlo Park followed suit. Trend. Growing...

In other union news, sort of. The teachers in Redwood City School District are contesting their pink-slips... the union thinks the District issued more layoff notices than it needed too. Well duh... doesn't every District do that?

The Daily Journal Editorial Board is endorsing Joe Galligan for his bid to replace Lee Buffington as County Treasurer...

Joshua Melvin at the San Mateo County Times might win the Best First Sentence in a News Story Award this year: "...A San Mateo woman who tied up her teenage daughter with duct tape and poured dish soap in the girl's mouth after a fight over a cell phone bill was sentenced Thursday to probation and six months in jail, a prosecutor said..." It is a creepy story obviously, but we are sure that Mr. Melvin will clip that one for his cubicle... reporters have very sick senses of humor...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.2.10: A story so nice they ran it twice...

Yesterday we sent props to the Mercury News folks who allowed the County Times to have their own website. Well, it seems like they are still working out the kinks. Here is what their homepage looked like this morning. Maybe the story is so important they wanted to post it twice...:

Another rain storm, another chunk of land in danger of falling off a cliff in Pacifica. This time it is Pacific Skies Estates...

Are you surprised about the this headline about a meeting in Menlo Park?: High speed rail meeting fails to sway crowd. I can't believe Menlo Parkians couldn't be persuaded to love High Speed Rail...

On the opposite side of things...

Here is something new: an elected official in San Mateo County looking to work collaboratively with the High Speed Rail Authority to get some of the stimulus money they just received ($2.5 billion). We knew we liked San Mateo Councilmember David Lim when he launched his blog way back when...

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 -- 11.24.09: Late is better than never, right?

A woman was struck and killed by a car in Redwood City early yesterday morning moments after she struck a parked construction truck herself on southbound Bay Road. Careful out there folks as the long weekend takes shape...

San Carlos plows ahead with synthetic turf. Here come the lawsuits.

San Mateo County Times columnist John Horgan admits that living on the Peninsula ain’t no bed of roses. Blasphemy!

Watch your back… crime is up in Belmont. Specifically, assaults and burglaries. Can neighborhood watches be far behind? But crime could be worse if you live in San Mateo or Daly City. According to a new report, crime rates rankings in both cities.

And here is a good time to welcome the new Police Chief of Daly City... who is leaving San Jose as that department faces tough times...

The former Chuck E. Cheese employee prosecutors convicted of helping another man rob his boss after hours by taking the man’s identification and threatening to kill his family was sentenced to seven years prison.

Multiple party-goers reportedly attacked a Half Moon Bay Police Officer and tried to steal his gun while he was trying to break up a fight at a crowded quinceañera party on Saturday night. Balls. That never happens on MTV...

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.11.09: Really? Really?! Really?

The Belmont "Parks Forever Campaign" story has been moved to the next chapter. Earlier in the week, the Belmont City Council, through lack of folks voting (2 recused themselves and one refused to vote), failed to put a measure on the ballot in November. But that hasn't deterred Coralin Feierbach, who has vowed to get the Parks Forever on a ballot in the future in order to protect Belmont's parks through signatures (hell and high water...)

Speaking of elections... there is one going on right now in Millbrae to renew their fire assessment tax. Ballots are due back by July 14th. Good luck Millbrae leaders.

Bruce at PP Examiner continues to be on the Peninsula Health Care Board story, writing about the appointment of a new Board member. Another elected body in San Mateo County, another appointment...

In addition to the PP Examiner, Bruce chimes in on the State of the Media... and even mentions Watch Dog San Mateo in his "Bloggers are part of the fourth estate" piece... Thank you Bruce for the mention. Riptide picks up on Bruce's props too... (However, we still would like a little credit for the Pay-Cut Gate title...)

We knew the Redwood City Elementary School District had a big budget gap, who doesn't? But they are looking to have 51 fewer classrooms next year... yikes!

The latest animal cruelty in San Mateo County got resolved yesterday. The prosecution of the couple who neglected their German shephard because of "financial concerns" ended, the case against the husband got dismissed and the wife pleaded no no contest. Watch Dog hopes we won't see an animal cruelty case for a while -- it hurts our feelings.

Really? The San Mateo County Times is now on the story about Pacifica swapping out its garbage hauler. Really? You are now on this story? Really? In a twist, Riptide picked up the story from the San Mateo County Times, who picked up the story from Riptide initially (Watch Dog guesses)... Really?



A (relatively) big, new development project got approved yesterday in Palo Alto by the Planning Commissioners. Amazingly enough, folks who live in the area of Palo Alto Bowl also seem supportive of the 4 story hotel and housing development.

The County of San Mateo is going to stop buying bottled water... expect a lot of thirsty County employees...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.22.09: Early long weekend get-away (especially for SBWMA staff?)

The Belmont Chamber of Commerce is in full crisis communications mode. Their Board President/Beau Monde Flooring owner Michael Kazarian was arrested on multiple counts of child molestation. Chamber Board VP Lenore Griffin came forward with a by-the-PR-textbook statement, "...The alleged victim and Mr. Kazarian should both be allowed to rely upon the justice system..." Watch Dog is projecting that Mr. Kazarian will step down from this post "temporarily to focus on his legal issues and his business." (Hint to the Belmont Chamber: remove Mr. Kazarian's personal email address from your website. He might start getting some pretty nasty emails...)

The dreaded/beloved Academic Performance Index scores came out yesterday grading our schools. No surprise to anyone that some San Mateo County schools score incredibly high... and some not so much. The San Mateo County Times generously calls this "mixed results"...

Speaking of the County Times, there are new plans for their old building. Intracorp (which sounds like a made up name for a big corporation in a movie) has plans for a partly residential, partly office building development that will go to the San Mateo Planning Commission on Tuesday. (58 townhomes, 9 duplexes, a single family home, and a partridge in a pear tree.)

Robert Jeangerard, a 75 year old San Carlos resident and former Olympic Gold Medalist in basketball (1956), walked away from his home earlier in the week and is missing. If you have seen the 6'4" man, let the San Carlos Police know. (650) 802-4277.

The Daily Journal (finally) gets on the Half Moon Bay NOT filing for bankruptcy story... others had the story earlier in the week.

Lucky for everyone else, Michelle Durand read the Civil Grand Jury report on San Mateo Medical Center's drug administration system. The first page put Watch Dog to bed... so thank you Michelle for the run down.

We are still waiting for the grand daddy of Civil Grand Jury reports about the Garbage Saga. If it comes out today (which Watch Dog projects) expect the SBWMA brass to have left on an early long weekend... On the other hand, expect Assemblymember Jerry Hill to be available for comment...

The San Mateo County Harbor District is looking to sell 6 acres of the "Burnham Strip" in El Granada across Highway 1 from Surfers Beach. The sale is going to be to the Granada Sanitary District for "wet storage"... which may be something really gross...

The failure of Measure D in Pacifica leaves some pretty bad budget cuts to make. On May 28th you can attend a budget session to have your voice heard...

Ron Kroichick, the golf columnist at the Chronicle, chimes in on Sharp Park. (Hat tip: Riptide) He advocates for a "middle ground." Way to stick your neck out Kroichick. I guess even writing about something controversial is big for a golf columnist...

The COWs of Woodside write up the idea to have green building standards in Woodside...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.19.09: Election Day...Can you feel the excitement?

The Daily Journal's Michelle Durand wants you to vote today... (so does the County Time's Editorial Board) but I think we all feel the same way Michelle does: this election does not stir warm fuzzy feelings...

Redwood City and High-Speed Rail... not exactly NIMBYism like in Palo Alto/Atherton/Menlo Park... Instead, they want workshops and discussion and hand-holding... (Oh, and a High-Speed Rail station in Downtown Redwood City.)

Speaking of trains... Caltrain will hold a public meeting (complaint session) about proposed service cuts/rate hikes on Wednesday, May 27th in San Carlos.

A rash of car fires have been going on in San Mateo. Not cars overheating and bursting into flames, rather, cars being set on fire. Yesterday was the third in three days. Which reminds Watch Dog of another thing burning in a nearby city...

And the fire yesterday didn't stop with cars... there was also a grass fire near 92 yesterday. Perhaps the County's new motto should be: San Mateo County, We're Hot!

It is a June parcel tax vote for the Redwood City School District. Watch Dog screwed up earlier and said it was both today and in June. Sorry y'all.

Pay-Cut Gate...an apology to Ms. Hipona

Pay-Cut Gate has received much attention here and elsewhere. When Watch Dog wrote about it most recently, however, we made a mistake and we'd like to correct it. Here is what we wrote referring to this story:

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More important than the Pay-Cut Gate story today, someone's grammar was way off in this piece: either Hipona, reporter Christine Morente, or the County Times Editor left their grammar checker off. (Watch Dog's money is on Hipona...) The story has this gem of a quote, commenting on the fact that it won't matter what the Attorney General says about Hipona serving in two elected capacities, because:

"It's now a mute point..."

Really? A mute point Ms. Hipona? Not a moot point?

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That quote should be attributed to Jefferson Elementary School District Governing Board President Hans Hansen, not Ms. Hipona. Our money was on the wrong person because the quote didn't belong to Ms. Hipona. Our apologies.

That said, it is still unclear who made the error: Mr. Hansen, Ms. Morente, or the County Times Editors...Watch Dog will not place bets this time, because we lost our shirt last time.