Morning News Round-Up -- 2.12.10: When the going gets tough...

Mavericks Saturday... Now we see what the delay was. The organizers probably wanted the combination of big waves and a weekend...

Pat Gemma is retiring... and you might too if you were him. He is the Superintendent at the Sequoia Union High School District. He is probably exhausted from fighting the Charter Schools in his District and constant cuts... But there are some real long timers getting out of the action: Buffington, Slocum, Gemma... when the going gets tough...

Well, some of the tough try to get elected to a different office... like Supervisor Mark Church, who officially threw his hat into the ring for Slocum's office.

South San Francisco Unified has a little problem on their hands... Administrators are due to receive raises and teachers are none too pleased...

The Daily Journal advocates that some school districts team up to spread resources around better... good luck with that idea.

The COWs of Woodside wrote up the City Council meeting in January -- or you could take an Ambien...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.1.10: Nothing to sneeze at...

Big waves were all over the coast this weekend. Unfortunately, one wave brought a Berkeley woman out to sea and she drown in Pacifica.

On a more pleasant Pacifica note, the contractor hired to save the Esplanade Ave apartments in Pacifica are making headway...

Assemblymember Jerry Hill no longer likes red-light cameras. He wants the State to look into it. Perhaps Hill could do it quickly? Like before my $271 infraction needs to be paid...

Speaking of Assemblymembers, or wannabes, a new organization has sprung up locally: the Redwood City Woodside Democratic Club. As their coming out party, they are hosting the (trimmed down) line-up of candidates for the 21st Assembly District on February 24th in Redwood City. Is it too early for the candidates to use all the opposition research they are conducting?

Watch Dog is sick of the San Carlos artificial turf issue. While the anti-turf people are bringing a lawsuit, the City of San Carlos is looking for folks to do the laying...

$2 million in grants is nothing to sneeze at during these tough times... the Peninsula Health Care District handed that much out this week. Presumably some of it will go to stopping sneezing, ironically.

(Political) Martydym hits in San Carlos... Councilmember Andy Klein is passing up his $300 per month stipend. Perhaps he wants to donate that to Watch Dog to keep this blog up and running...

Speaking of Andy Klein...

Sue Lempert's column in today's Daily Journal looks a youthful trend on the local political landscape...

COWs of Woodside has an announcement for everyone... there is a seat on the ASRB Commission... for those of you who don't know Woodside Town government well, that's the Architecture and Site Review Board.

The San Mateo Union High School District would really like to sell the "Crestmoor" site in San Bruno. The problem is that the community doesn't necessarily feel the same way and sort of feels shut out of the process. Well, tomorrow the District is going to hold another (rowdy? unpleasant? boring?) public meeting on the issue. If you miss it, however, you can watch it on San Bruno TV...

And if you are one of the 7 or 8 people who ride SamTrans (just kidding) you should bring some extra cash today, fares are going up.

If there is an election coming up (and there is, in June) then there are likely to be School Districts looking for extra cash through parcel taxes. Menlo Park City School District and the Portola Valley School District are both expected to go to the ballot.

For years the City of East Palo Alto and Page Mill Properties spent time in court fighting about the rent control ordinance in that city. Now, Page Mill Properities is in bankruptcy court seeking protection. Today was going to be the day when the 1,800 units in East Palo Alto that Page Mill Property owns was going to be on sale... but it is delayed.

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.25.10: Enhancement Edition...

It is still raining... the Chronicle has a piece about how spectators are lining up to watch the Esplanade apartments fall into the Pacific in Pacifica... weird.

Ahh, good old "revenue enhancements" will be discussed this week at the Board of Supervisors. That is the well-known euphemism for tax hikes and the County will consider a bunch of options in advance of the June election. Of course, that puts Supervisor Rich Gordon on the spot -- if he approves putting a tax hike on the ballot, he'll be saying yes to higher taxes at the same time that he is running for higher office, which doesn't always work out that well for candidates...

Here is something we like to see... an anti-NIMBY/ pro-High Speed Rail group growing called Californians for High-Speed Rail. Watch Dog is a member -- well, in spirit if not financially.

The State of the City (of San Bruno) and the State of the (Hill Assembly) District were delivered on Friday. Times are tough... but when the going gets tough, everyone should blame Sacramento.

The State of San Carlos Crime is up (about 25 percent), which will be reported to the City Council this week by the Police Chief. Of course, the timing is good for the police department to report that crime is up as the City Council looks to cut budgets. Here's a prediction, the San Carlos Police Department won't get cut in the face of "rising crime"...

The State of Crime in Hillsborough is up too... Several cars were vandalized. We love the advice from the Police in Hillsborough: "Police are advising residents to park their vehicles in a garage or out of plain view whenever possible, and to remove all valuables from parked vehicles." That makes sense, especially because of this: "Police are also reminding residents that parking on any street in Hillsborough between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. is illegal without a permit." Yeah, so if your car is parked on the street it is either likely to be vandalized or towed...

The State of Pot in Redwood City is on hold... and will likely remain that way for a while... Sorry dude.

That State of Solar is thriving at San Mateo Union High School District... at a price tag of $31.5 million...

Brian Bothun, a former editor of the Palo Alto Daily News and former reporter for the Daily Post pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of pornography on Friday. Mighty. Fallen.

NIMBYs in San Mateo are holding up Serra High School's plans to put in a new pool based on noise concerns from coming from swimming activities. What type of noise? Student athletes having fun? How many of those Serra neighbors moved into their homes when Serra already had an outdoor pool?

Thank you Citizens of Woodside for providing a run down of the COWncil meeting a few weeks back. Good stuff.

Morning News Round-Up -- 11.4.09: Champagne Hangover Edition...

So many campaigns, so much champagne, such a bad headache... the winners, and losers...

• New hotel taxes are coming to Burlingame, San Mateo, Millbrae, San Bruno, SSF, and Brisbane... but a sales tax hike in San Carlos failed, so did a business license tax in Redwood City.
• Atherton passed its parcel tax extension. Portola Valley passed a utility tax. Phew... we weren't sure Athertonians or Portola Valleyians would be able to afford it...
• Speaking of Redwood City... incumbent Jeff Ira got re-elected to the City Council along with Planning Commissioners Jeff Gee and John Seybert...
• David Lim, who has been running for the San Mateo City Council for a very, very long time won. For a complete list of the results, check it out here...
• Coastside, Naomi Patridge, Allan Alifano, and Rick Kowalczyk will take their seats on the HMB City Council. Good luck.
• The Sequoia Union High School District is getting two new Board members. Remember, this is the School District that has had an ongoing battle with the two Charter Schools. As a possible rebuke by voters to how the School District has acted, Chris Thomsen got the most votes... you see, Chris Thomsen, has a kid at one of the Charter Schools. Perhaps a new day is dawning at Sequoia?

Citizens of Woodside advocate for MOOTube... and some donations...

And the San Mateo County blogosphere has new member. What seems to be an anti-Pacifica Riptide blog, Fix Pacifica, is now on the scene... Welcome Fix...