Morning News Round-Up -- 6.8.09: Zero Press Club Awards for Watch Dog...

We love when a big story breaks in Atherton... the number of people saying "I told you so" swells tremendously... This time, a Public Works Supervisor inappropriately touched a female Police Officer. Inappropriately touching a woman with a gun sounds like a stupid thing to do... but that's just me. My email is open -- start dishing Atherton insiders...

This will make the Ayres Watch people happy... the rumors that there is a plea deal in the works for Dr. Ayres (on trial for child molestation) are (apparently) not true. For minute-by-minute updates, including the breakdown of witnesses, check out William Ayres Watch blog... and things should start heating up as jury selection starts today...

While we are in court discussing molestation... the Belmont Chamber Board President will face molestation charges for molesting his girlfriend's daughter. We've covered this before...

In non-crime related police news, San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer seems to be in the lead for the top post in San Francisco. Why someone would want to leave the City of San Mateo to take on a thankless job in San Francisco is beyond Watch Dog, but I guess there could be an opening at the top of the San Mateo force soon...

More police...

Palo Alto Police and San Mateo County Sheriffs are beefing up their patrols of Caltrain tracks, which have been the scene of two teen suicides and one attempted suicide in the past month alone.

We love the Daily Journal, we really do. We read it first in thing in the morning and it is often our first stop in our Round-Up... but we can't read more than two sentences of Keith Kreitman when he writes. It sounds like he doesn't really like writing his column either based on his pessimism... so between us not liking reading it and him not liking writing it...

But we love Sue: Sue Lempert makes her appearance in the Daily Journal today talking about the Translink card (which will be available on all Bay Area transit soon), El Camino Real traffic light synchronization (from Millbrae to Menlo Park by next year), Hillsborough's John Roos being named US Ambassador to Japan, a Constitutional Convention, and a new Planning Commissioner in San Mateo, Kelly Moran (who seems to be on the outs with developers...). Thanks for the check-in Sue.

Speaking of Watch Dog's love affair with local news outlets, our first love is Pacifica Riptide. Local coverage by local people covering local things that otherwise wouldn't be covered. Over the weekend, they went into incredible detail about the legal challenges for Coastside Scavenger, Pacifica's garbage company. It seems they have their own Garbage Saga over there, and it is hurting Pacifica's bottomline tremendously. Why? Because Coastside Scavenger isn't paying the City of Pacifica its franchise fee...

From garbage to wastewater... Millbrae just got a shit-load of stimulus money from the Feds... (get it?)

If you like jazz, there is one radio station that is a must-listen in the Bay Area, KCSM. But they are strapped for cash (like the City of San Carlos?) They are going to hold a benefit concert at Yoshi's in Oakland on June 30th to raise cash. If you are interested, here's where you can find more information.

Now that Civil Grand Jury has found that "Red Light Camera Increases Safety" in Menlo Park, Millbrae, Redwood City, and San Mateo, San Bruno wants in on the action. Could it have anything to do with the fact that it's also a pretty good fundraiser for cash-strapped cities?

Perhaps if San Carlos has red-light camera it wouldn't be in such a fiscal mess. Actually, it probably would be. San Carlos is now celebrating a decade of budget cuts...

Steve Jobs' desire to demolish the Jackling House in Woodside past the most recent hurdle with the Woodside City Council, but another preservationist lawsuit may hold things up a bit...

This isn't new... the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District wants to get land from the City of Foster City for their burgeoning student population, but Foster City leaders are being a bit stubborn saying, essentially, that the School District should get its own land...

Joe Carcione, the dude that sued Redwood City for their downtown plan, is due $260,000 in legal fees from the City of Redwood City. Seems like a good business model for Joe Carcione: sue a government agency and then get your legal fees (he's the lawyer) paid...

PP Examiner mixed it up in a (rare) Friday column discussing the vacancy being filled at the Peninsula Health Care District. Controversy brewing?

Finally, our local papers received awards of the weekend from the Peninsula Press Club. Palo Alto Weekly grabbed 7, the Daily Journal grabbed 14, so did the San Mateo County Times, and Watch Dog won nothing. Heck, we weren't even invited. Voice your concern here... Don't worry, they covered "new media" by awarding KCBS.com the first place award. Have any of you ever visited KCBS.com? Watch Dog's campaign for next year begins today...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.16.09: Slocum to the rescue...

Pay-Cut Gate is back in the news. This time, San Mateo County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder Warren Slocum is coming to Daly City Clerk Annette Hipona's defense and questioning the legality of the actual pay cut...the story continues...

It ain't COSCO Busan, but it is a boat that hit a bridge. Yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard minimized the threat of a fuel-spill from the boat that crashed into the San Mateo Bridge earlier this week because of high-winds.

The wind is causing problems Coastside as well...

The Guaranty Bank in Burlingame was robbed on Tuesday for the second time in three weeks. It is unclear if the bank is one targeted on www.EasyBanksToRob.com...

"At the end of the day" Michelle Durand sounds off in today's Daily Journal on sin taxes...Which is appropriate "in this economy"...

The local part of $4.4 billion Hetch Hetchy water system upgrades will break ground today...expect lots of politicians, shovels, and the usual back-slapping...

A former Reporter/Editor of several local papers was arrested (again) on drug charges. Brian Bothun was picked up on April 5th in Palo Alto. This just proves that Reporters/Editors love writing about Reporters/Editors. Hell hath no fury like former newspaper rivals...

Assemblymember Jerry Hill (a.k.a. The Bearded One) will honor Nona's Kitchen in Pacifica on Friday...Watch Dog hearts Nona's Kitchen -- and shopping for NorCal gear next door...

The Peninsula Health Care District is headed for a Board shake-up. Sue Smith has tenured her resignation...the Board will decide how to replace her Board seat on April 23rd...David Lim -- get on it! (Thank you Bruce...)

Woodside (and Concerned Citizens therein) are giving props to the Woodside Library's 150th anniversary...they are not, however, taking Watch Dog's advice to cut out the corny puns.

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.2.09: Groundhog Day Edition...

Downtown San Mateo hopes to buck the economic trend (somewhat) by marketing itself to the world. Not to sound overly pessimistic, but good luck Downtown San Mateo Association...

Everyone's favorite electric car company, Tesla, is (apparently) not-ready to leave San Carlos -- which is a good thing, because they are not ready to move to San Jose either...For a full Tesla update, check with Watch Dog Silicon Valley who first broke the story that Tesla abandoned their San Jose plans...

The battle of government agencies continues in San Mateo between the City and the San Mateo Union High School District about the cost of using each others' fields. San Mateo Union jacked up their fees first, the City followed suit. Now, no one is happy, which is too bad for them -- but it is good reading for all of us...

If you park at the BART stations in Millbrae, San Bruno, or South San Francisco, expect to start paying for those hard-to-get spots...and if you take SamTrans to avoid having to get one of those hard-to-get BART parking spots, your fares are going up too...

Everest Charter School (finally) gets a thumbs up (recommendation) from the State. This means they will (almost certainly) receive a thumbs up for next school year. Watch Dog says "finally" because the school has been rejected locally twice: once by Sequioa Union High School District and once by the County Board of Education. The writing was apparently on the wall that Everest was going to succeed in getting State approval because the District set aside some temporary buildings in East Palo Alto last week...So much for local control of schools..

It turns out Watch Dog was right (again)...on January 23rd, we wrote this about the much-discussed lane closure near Carlmont High:

Nothing gets people more angry than forced changes to their routine. Changes to traffic patterns and kid drop-off routines at schools are especially sensitive. So when Belmont eliminated a lane of traffic around Carlmont High, Tierra Linda Middle School, and Immaculate Heart of Mary schools, people went ballistic. Belmont is standing firm that they did the right thing -- but this may cause a full-scale riot...

Well, the rioters went to the Belmont City Council, where they were met with an unsympathetic City Manager who said, "...It’s a school zone — for those who think they have a right to get to work faster during that time, they don’t..." Well, one person went (a lot) too far in expressing his or her concern over the lane closer by sending threatening letters to the Belmont City Council and City Manager. Police are now involved...

San Bruno's ban on Styrofoam still has restaurant-owners upset...

The County has to repay $1.5 million to the Federal government because a consultant told them they were due the money from the Feds. That consultant screwed up -- now the County has to pay. Perhaps the ultra-litigious County can go after the consultant? Just an idea...

$2.8 million grants were given out last week by the Peninsula Health Care District. At least one local agency is doing ok financially therefore spreading those ok finances around.

You may remember this story: a jail cashier responsible for collecting and storing folks stuff while they were locked up was stealing...well, the cashier is getting 60 days in jail. I wonder how she'll be treated while serving her time...

Supervisor Gordon is exploring a run for Ira Ruskin's seat...that shouldn't be news to anyone who reads the PP Examiner who wrote about this story at beginning of January...Watch Dog followed up on PP Examiner's posting with some analysis as well in a post titled: A Friendly Blog Disagreement...The County Times finally catches up...Try reading some insightful, interesting blogs around the County and you might learn something...

Speaking of the PP Examiner, they wrote a piece called: The Failed Leadership in the County and provide some historical perspective to where County government went wrong. PP Examiner also gets on Watch Dog's bandwagon complaining about the number of appointments versus elections happening in the County these days...

Garbage rates going up in Menlo Park...Watch Dog hasn't talked about garbage for a while, but with 24% rate increases on the horizon, we guess folks will be talking about it more and more...perhaps 24% more...