Morning News Round-Up -- 5.21.10: Simitian gets some anti-High-Speed Rail company...

Last week State Senator Joe Simiitian started hedging his High-Speed Rail bets and pulled up a chair to the NIMBY table... well, Congresswoman Jackie Speier may be following Joe...

Get ready for some fireworks... M-A is getting lights! Expect a high-energy NIMBY-meeting sometime soon...

That is a very slow news day... but like a Major League Baseball General Manager, Watch Dog can only do so much if the players aren't very good... and today, our best player, the San Mateo Daily Journal, seems to be having an off day. Some forgot to press the PUBLISH button...

Sorry...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.12.10: John John John Johns goes to Disneyland... on your dime

The John Johns wrongful termination settlement appears final in Atherton. The long, Town nightmare is finally over... interestingly, Johns gets his job back for one day as part of the deal and collects a bunch of cash ($225k)... and we learn that he is going to Disneyland. Impressively,the Town of Atherton blog actually has an update on this topic.

Here we go... it was only a matter of time before legislators on the Peninsula started listening to all the NIMBYs... and Joe Simitian is the first to crack. In the Chronicle's Matier & Ross today, Simitian raises questions and doubt about the financial projections to High-Speed Rail... but reading between the lines, Watch Dog thinks this is really about neighborhood opposition up and down the Peninsula... who's next? Jerry Hill? Paul Fong?

Sue Lempert has a good look at High-Speed Rail issues swirling about in her Monday column in today's Daily Journal...

And to San Carlos...

San Carlos is set to get in on the pot club action... sort of. Nobody has been knocking down the City's gates to open a pot club, but if they do, there will be strict rules about where, when, and how they operate. Watch Dog is sure there will also be a big financial benefit to San Carlos should the potheads move in...

If San Carlos does go down Hope Road, it might be the Redwood City Police Department that keep a close eye on the clubs... that's because Redwood City might put in a bid to be San Carlos' outsourced police department... of course, they'll have to out-bid the Sheriff, who has also put a bid into San Carlos.

That takes care of San Carlos' Police Department, but it is their shared fire service that has people very angry. San Carlos has thought for a long time that Belmont doesn't pay its fair share... and, like all break-ups this isn't going to end well. Belmont Councilmember Coralin Feierbach had this to day in the Daily Journal: "If they go through with this, I for one will never reconsider them again..." To be continued...

This is weird: South San Francisco has had a mini-scandal with their red-light cameras... San Carlos is doing away with their red-light cameras... But Belmont is moving forward to install them. Doing the same thing but expecting a different result...

Daly City is looking to raise fees to address budget challenges... who isn't?

Pacifica is facing some challenging budget times too... and they have a meeting tonight to look at raising fees and taxes. Luckily for all of us, Pacifica Riptide looks at the details, including the "800 pound gorilla in the room" - pensions.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.22.10: Making NIMBYs and naysayers irrelevant...

Something strange is happening in Atherton. Are you surprised? This is actually a pretty weird story with a few twists, so read carefully.

• Part 1: A guy was arrested in his Atherton home on alleged domestic violence charges. He got those charges dismissed and was found "factually innocent." He then sued the Atherton Police Department and now wants Atherton to start a Police Citizens Oversight Committee. The City Council said no.
• Part 2: After the suit was filed, but before the Citizens Oversight Committee idea came to the Atherton Council, the guy that filed suit against Atherton was asked by Councilmember Charles Marsala for a $500,000 loan. (We guess this stuff happens all the time in Atherton?) The guy said no to Marsala and then Marsala voted against the Citizens Oversight Committee.

The guy is claiming Marsala voted no because Marsala didn't get the $500,000 loan. Perhaps the US Attorney is interested?

We know that nearly every hamlet and village in San Mateo County is concerned about High-Speed Rail, even though County residents voted overwhelmingly for it... we also know that some developers and property owners are concerned about the impacts of construction. But we learned this weekend that San Mateo Union High School District is concerned because of how close Burlingame High School is to the rails. The concerns are vibration, noise, safety, etc. Of course, the fact that Burlingame High is also about as far from 101 as it is from the train tracks, hasn't (apparently) concerned anyone ever. Or perhaps the good folks in San Bruno Park School District could share with the Burlingame High folks real concerns with vibration, noise, and plane exhaust...


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All you Coastsiders... don't take Devil's Slide on Wednesday because it's going to be closed for part of the day. Someday someone will tunnel through the gigantic mountain and we'll be able to drive through no problem... Go John Henry...

From the budget file:

The County is trying to fix $150 "structural deficit"...

One of the items dogging State government is escalating pension costs... and Joe Simitian would like to cut down on "spiking," the practice of jacking up your salary in the last few years of work in order to increase you pension. That will make Joe even less popular in Sacramento than he already is...

Even though times are tight for local government, Redwood City is finding $300K+ to hire a PR firm (Davis Public Affairs) to fight the new County jail proposals for its city. Ironically, Davies Public Affairs' website states: Davies makes NIMBYs and naysayers irrelevant...

Perhaps the wrong side of this issue hired a PR firm...

Also worth noting about Davies is this: Too often, people fight mining and industrial operations based on a fear of the unknown. Until this fear is addressed, the benefits of jobs, tax revenue, and economic stimulus will fall on deaf ears. We demystify complex processes and present them simply, while telling your proactive environmental story. Any PR firm that can spin mining...

While Redwood City spins... Hillsdale High School plans some real-life protests. They will be holding an anti-anti-gay rally when they put on the play "The Laramie Project."

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.2.10: Ground-Hog Fundraising Reports...

Cut-throat local politics make blogs a lot more interesting to read... sorry, we have to say it. Sowhen Congresswoman Jackie Speier's name popped up as a possible candidate for Attorney General, not only did the Attorney General's race get a lot more exciting, but the real action is going to happen if she decideds to give up her seat... then the local political scene becomes very interesting: Simitian? Yee? Hill? Lempert?...

Bruce at the PP Examiner looks into all the incarnations of what might happen if Speier jumps...

There was a big, 2009 year-end political filing due yesterday which had candidates all over the place scrambling to get their stuff in. In the huge primary battle for the Democratic nomination for the 21 Assembly seat (the one Ira Ruskin will be leaving) -- race newcomer Josh Becker kicked everyone's ass in fundraising and has the most cash on hand going into the new year, over $200k+ to be exact. San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon has $133k+ on hand and Palo Alto City Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto has just over $100k to work with... of course, Kishimoto put in $40k of her own money this period, so she is being way outpaced on the fundraising side of the campaign. Becker is new to the race so his fundraising has been impressive...

Yay! Safeway in Burlingame! The plans got approved by the City Council last night. Can you believe it?

And while NIMBYs take a hit in Burlingame, they are getting their voices heard about the "transit village" plans in San Carlos.

Speaking of NIMBYs and Safeway... Safeway's plans to have a few outdoor seats in Menlo Park is going to be heard on the City Council because one resident sent a hand-written note objecting to the plan...

And what would a week be without another story about how DMB Associates plans to bring water into the the Cargill Salt Flats development in Redwood City? Put it this way, it sounds pretty complicated, feasible, but complicated...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.22.10: One giant leap for lights at M-A...

Storm, storm, storm... but drought not over... power out because of storm... etc., etc., etc....

Watch Dog loves this story: Menlo-Atherton High School may get lights on its football field. (Welcome to 1985... right?) Anyway, because of where M-A is located (in the NIMBY capital of the world), the Sequoia Union High School District is approaching the idea carefully. They are doing an Environmental Impact Study and talking to "stakeholders." We expect lawsuits to challenge the EIR but that lights will be a reality before the current crop of Freshman graduate... hopefully.

If State Senator Joe Simitian hosts it, anti-High Speed Rail people will come... that was the scene last night in Palo Alto when hundreds showed up to have their voices heard, or at least their heads counted for a State Senate Committee hearing in Palo Alto.

Tesla is getting an influx of cash the new (as opposed to old) fashioned way... from the Federal Government... $465 million from the Department of Energy. That's a lot of scratch for a company that sells $100,000 cars to venture capitalists...

This is the type of story that warms your heart, and may hasten your grabbing your kid's cell phone from their hands and smashing it on the floor... A substitute teacher pleaded no contest to sexting (and having phone sex with) a San Mateo High School student... There were 400 "sexually explicit text messsages" involved in this case -- now there are 60 days in jail where John Oliver Jacobson will no doubt learn some interesting things about sex that he never knew...

This isn't good. Both Congressmembers from the area said yesterday that they will not vote from the Senate health care bill. It is unclear why Speier and Eshoo did this now, other than the fact that Democrats are worried about a Republican winning in Massachusetts. Trust Watch Dog Jackie and Anna, San Mateo County is more blue than Massachusetts. Vote for the health care bill that comes back before you... please. Watch Dog needs to see the vet sometime soon...

Morning News Round-Up -- 7.24.09: What would you do with hundreds of Chuck E. Cheese tokens?

There is now an unfortunate update to a fire that occurred yesterday morning. The Columbus Salame plant burned down.

The NIMBYs that were getting their hand-scribbled notes together for the Eshoo/ Simitian High-Speed Rail community meeting on Saturday will have to file those notes away for a while. Eshoo pulled out of Saturday's meeting and will reschedule. She has to be in DC for votes -- something about a healthcare bill... (But if you must complain about something to someone, Assemblymember Jerry Hill will be hosting "sidewalk office hours" at the Coastside Farmers Market on Saturday...)

Speaking of Eshoo and healthcare... A special OpEd in the Mercury News criticizes Congresswoman Eshoo for wanting to protect the biotech industry a bit too much in the pending healthcare bill. (The OpEd is written by biotech/ pharmaceutical industry watchdogs...)

If it is Friday, it is (apparently) San Mateo County crime day:

• A robbery at Chuck E. Cheese was an inside job and the insiders are going to prison... could you be any dumber? Robbing Chuck E. Cheese? What are you going to do with all those tokens?
• A pervert who was at a job fair at Sequoia High School and took pictures of a kid in a bathroom is out of jail for a bit, pending appeal...
• A different pervert who (allegedly) tried to expose himself to a woman in San Carlos is the subject of a police investigation in San Carlos...
• A fire at a San Bruno youth center for abused kids was burned Wednesday and it is now being called arson...

And here are your "State budget is screwing local government" stories for the day:

• Dropping revenues mean that SSF voters will (officially) decide on a hotel tax hike this November...
• Bro... the proposed skate park that is supposed to be part of Foster City's teen center was put on hold last night.
• Coastside public agencies are feeling the pinch too...

A local project that is not on hold, thanks to funding from the County and the Feds, is a project to house the homeless in Redwood City. The City just purchased a 23-unit apartment complex for $2.4 million.

Finally... This is always fun: It is Festa Italiana in San Mateo this weekend. Yum. (An Editorial in the Daily Journal provides many more ideas for your weekend fun after a hella depressing first couple of paragraphs...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 7.22.09: the Everest/Sequoia chess match continues...

The Everest Charter School versus Sequoia Union High School District chess match took an interesting turn this week. There has been the battle about where Everest would open. Sequoia wants to put Everest on a plot in East Palo Alto. Everest doesn't want to be on the EPA site. So, Everest began the work to move into an office building in Redwood City. The School District countered by raising environmental issues about the site Everest wanted. Well, the pendulum has swung, perhaps permanently, into Everest's direction. They have change the Redwood City site where they want to open school on August 24th, and it seems that may be their new home -- no matter what Sequoia does. Checkmate?

A State budget deal is done, as you have probably read and heard. But the budget includes a huge money grab from local governments. Well, local governments are mad and they aren't going to take it anymore. (Or at least they don't want to take it anymore...) Schools are also concerned with what the budget means for them because of "deferrals" and "mid-year cuts"... Local beaches are set to be cut also...

Pacifica Riptide has an idea about how to avoid the State stealing money from local government, to fund schools, and to avoid closing State beaches... Repeal Prop 13. (Their idea, not Watch Dog's.)

Daily Journal Editor Jon Mays gets in on the State budget action too and calls the budget deal "evidence of ailing state..."

If this wasn't an obvious headline: Jail site options drawing concern. Watch Dog is shocked. SHOCKED! Actually, not so much. We predicted some pretty harsh reactions to the County Sheriff's jail-siting public meetings.

For all you High-Speed Rail NIMBYs who are upset that there has been a slow down in public meetings over the summer to hog the microphone, here is your chance. Congresswoman Eshoo and State Senator Joe Simitian will be hosting a town hall meeting on Saturday in Menlo Park.

And if the NIMBY's in Menlo Park can't wait until Saturday, there will be a public meeting tomorrow night about the "Menlo Gateway" project, a.k.a. the Bohannon project.

SSF is the latest city to consider hiking its hotel tax. Belmont already considered, and dropped, that idea, but Burlingame's hotel tax is now officially on the ballot in November.

Here is something we can probably all agree on: fewer sewage overflows that lead pollute the Bay. This is a result of a lawsuit recently settled by the Burlingame Hills Sewer Maintenance District.

$7 million worth of heroin was seized in East Palo Alto on Tuesday. That's good news...

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.15.09: Post-Flag Day Edition...

Wow! Foster City Mayor John Kiramis goes on the record with a CYA Op-Ed in the Daily Journal about the relationship between the City of Foster City and the San Mateo-Foster City School District. He is upset that the role of the City is being misconstrued (and presumably that the City is looking like the bad guy). You should read it yourself if you are interested...

It is also Sue Lempert's day in the Daily Journal... she goes in depth on the proposed DMB development in Redwood City.

A full-service market in East Palo Alto got approved by the EPA Planning Commission on Friday, which is good news. Some folks showed up to object to the Mi Pueblo proposal, but it got approved over those objections..

Here's a County Times' headline that will warm your heart: Redwood City woman sentenced for drunken driving with child in the car

Ken Kreitman was all amped up about something in the weekend Daily Journal. Not that surprising... Here's the 1,280 words he used to tall you all about it...

A legal suit filed against the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District is headed to court on Friday... recall that this is the trial a local lawyer brought against the School District for illegally spending bond money on a construction projects.

The Chronicle reads Watch Dog (or Riptide or some other San Mateo County paper)... they picked up on the Pacifica whale-warning story a day late...

It is windy in the Brisbane Baylands, but not windy enough for wind turbines, apparently...

The economy is bad... here are some impacts:

If you get arrested and thrown in jail, it could cost you more than the cost of a lawyer and a bail bond... the County is considering increasing the charges to arrested folks to $246 for "processing costs".

Big cuts are coming to SamTrans. (Surprised?)

To deal with the budget crunch, State Senator Joe Simitian would like to make it easier for school districts to pass parcel taxes... which is good news for school districts, probably less good news for tax payers, and really late news for the Redwood City Elementary School District...

Also to deal with the budget crunch, Burlingame is considering hiking its hotel tax by 2 percent. I guess when you have airport hotels in your neighborhood, they always look like a good revenue source...

As we've said before, the political season is heating up. We wrote about City Council races San Mateo and Palo Alto recently. Now, San Carlos folks are getting in line. Mayor Bob Grassilli is going to run for reelection. No word yet from Councilmembers Matt Grocott or Brad Lewis, but if Grassilli, Grocott, and Lewis all run, they will face a real election because Andy Klein, head of the General Plan Advisory Committee has already thrown his hat in the ring... that could be 4 heavyweights for three seats. Get ready for some fun.

Speaking of politics...

Coastsider goes into the politics behind the Sequoia Healthcare District's idea to take over the (bankrupt) Coastside Family Medical Center... you see, the idea was put forth by former Sheriff Don Horsley's, who is on the Sequoia Healthcare District Board and is running for Rich Gordon's Supervisorial seat next year. One of the people he is running against is April Vargas, who lives on the coast. So, the thinking goes, Horsley's healthcare plan for Coastside is driven by his political ambitions... (and hopefully good public health policy)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.19.09: Wasteful-Spending Angry Man Edition...

Recession Repercussion 1,001: Schools face cuts because they had money invested with some (safe?) failed banks and the State is in a state. San Mateo Union High School District is today's -cost-cutting-public-agency.

But don't worry, the State Legislature approved a budget plan...such an efficient bunch in Sacramento...

Speaking of Sacramento...

"Senator Joe Simitian: Your cell phone law sucks." That's not Watch Dog saying that, that is a billboard on 101 in East Palo Alto, thanks a wasteful-spending angry man named Grant Paulson...

As if someone predicted it...oh wait, someone did predict it. The weather, and a mechanical glitch, almost caused a catastrophe for the South Bayside System Authority's waste water treatment facility. Good thing taxes are going up to pay for improvements...

Partly because of the Great Recession, and partly because of an $18 million lawsuit payout -- the woes continue for Half Moon Bay...now the San Mateo County Times is even on the story...

It was here yesterday though, thanks to the fearless reporters at the HMB Review...if only spending huge sums of money on Sacramento lobbyists could get you out of a financial crunch...

What do a clown suit, federal officers, a small bicycle, and Redwood City have in common? You have to read this story to find out. It almost sounds like an Onion story...

Two agencies asking for money must be better than one. Right? That's what the game-plan is for CalTrain and the California High-Speed Rail Authority as they petition for federal stimulus money for Peninsula tracks...

Speaking of High-Speed Rail, if you still haven't gotten everything off your chest about how angry you are with the fact that it is going to be running through your back yard, the California High-Speed Rail Authority has extended its deadline for your comments...

Michelle Durand does her best Debbie Downer impression in today's Daily Journal "Off the Beat" piece...



The new plans for the Burlingame Safeway which were disclosed earlier this week and are now (seemingly) on a fast-track have a whole group of folks a little pissed. I guess that makes sense since the group's title is the Safeway Working Group...

State Senator Leland Yee (and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano) have put forward a bill to mandate police oversight at BART...perhaps that would have been a more helpful bill last session?

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.23.09: Democracy Crumbles Further...

A giant Watch Dog apology for yesterday. I did the work, but forgot to hit "publish"...so yesterday's news is below...sorry.

On to today...

Something stinks in San Mateo. Seriously. The San Mateo City Council met last night to (undemocratically) appoint someone to the Council to replace unelected Supervisor Carole Groom who replaced Jerry Hill when he headed to Sacramento. One of the (many) qualified candidates in the running, Karen Herrel, vowed to not run for election in November. That's why Watch Dog thought that was a smart choice (so did Jon Mays at the Daily Journal). But the Council decided that Planning Commissioner Fred Hansson was the best choice to hand a seat to. He'll run as an incumbent in November. But here's what stinks the most: Hansson won the seat in the first round of voting -- meaning in one ballot, 3 Councilmembers voted for Hansson. Really? This is either a major violation of the Brown Act or the biggest coincidence in the history of politics. If I were one of the 13 folks who didn't get the nod, I'd be really pissed, and probably file something with the FPPC to see if they will investigate a Brown Act violation. This thing seems to have been over before it even began. A 3-1 vote for Hansson seems fixed. (For those of you who don't know what a Brown Act violation is -- it is when a City Council (like San Mateo's) actual decide amongst themselves how they are going to vote before the meeting...)

The fight between San Mateo Union High School District and everyone else continues to have repercussions. You'll remember that San Mateo Union decided to keep all its fields and facilities under its own control and start passing the true cost of operating the facilities on to the folks that use them -- like sports leagues, community groups, and non-profits. Everyone seems angry with the District, but not Watch Dog. Districts have to do what they have to do in these troubled times. Would you rather have more severe cutbacks in the classroom or a bump up in field usage fees?

Local schools stand to gain from the economic stimulus package expected to get through Congress and the President by mid-February. The biggest local beneficiary? South San Francisco Unified School District and San Mateo-Foster City School Districts -- who both stand to get $4 million each. Thank you Anna and Jackie...and the new guy in the White House.

While San Mateo Union is raising money through raising field-use fees and some districts may get some Federal cash for construction projects, the San Carlos Elementary School District may seek voter approval for a $78/year parcel tax to get some more money. This may go to an "all mail" ballot in May. Which is the same time Burlingame is likely to go to voters for lots or money for drainage systems...Watch Dog thinks schools will fair better than drains in an election...

And to help schools even further...

State Senator Joe Simitian thinks the State budget crisis might be close to an end...according to his interview with the Palo Alto Weekly...don't bet on it...have you ever known the folks in Sacramento to do something on a timeline that is predictable?

Sue Lempert gives us her Inaugural play-by-play in her column in the Daily Journal. Watch Dog hopes she is outraged about the process in San Mateo as we are and writes about it...

In December, the death of a woman on the West Sharp Park golf course looked a lot like a murder. But now the Coroner says Laura Jessica Valentine may have been trying to cool herself down from drugs by taking a dunk in chilly pond. She probably suffered from hypothermia and drown. The waiting in on for when the Pacifica Tribune will actually post a story about this tragic event begins now...but, as usual, Riptide has it covered...

Remember the spate of animal-related crimes last year? There was the cat stomping, the dog stealing, and the dog beating. The dog beating guy pleaded not guilty yesterday.

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...

This headline isn't news to folks in Atherton and Menlo Park: High-Speed Rail Worries Peninsula Residents...there are some sessions where you can let the California High Speed Rail Authority know what you think. Either way -- this thing looks like it is happening if all the money comes through...sorry Atherton and Menlo Park NIMBYs...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.1.09: Dean Martin (forever cool) for Council...

The list is set for the San Mateo City Council (undemocratic) appointment process to replace unelected Supervisor Carole Groom. 14 people (I counted) have applied. The list:

1. Planning Commissioner Fred Hansson
2. Planning Commissioner Robert Gooyer
3. Community Relations Commissioner David Lim
4. Supervisorial Aide (and Watch Dog respondent) Randy Torrijos
5. Marlene Andrade
6. Fel Anthony Amistad
7. Retired Police Lieutenant Robert Ross
8. Library Foundation President Tish Busselle
9. Former Planning Commissioner Karen Herrel
10. Former Planning Commissioner Bertha Sanchez
11. Labor leader Rich Hedges
12. Matthew Francis Nathan
13. Dean V. Martin (forever cool)
    
14. Gail Berkley

Interviews will happen next Wednesday and the appointment will be made on Thursday. Of all these candidates, Karen Herrel has agreed to be a placeholder until the next election -- which would ensure that there is actually a democracy still intact in San Mateo (or in the County for that matter)...but don't bet on her appointment. There are some powerful people applying. Some have organized labor's support while others clearly have experience with land-use issues and public safety. Plus, Dean Martin...if a member of the Rat Pack joined the San Mateo City Council it would be so fun...A new President on Tuesday and a new San Mateo Councilmember on Thursday. Could this be any more exciting?!

Hillside homes in Hillsborough is going to be a tough sell -- especially when the plan is to build those 25 homes on 48 acres of now open space near the Crystal Springs Reservoir. Add to that the school-aged kids that will go into those homes and the chance of more neighborhood traffic and you have a recipe for a NIMBY Battle Royale. Which is (perhaps) what the owner of the property wants...what do I mean? Well, if the owner of the 48 acres, Chirstian de Guigne IV, creates enough stir about putting up housing, perhaps the Peninsula Space Open Authority will be pressured into paying a premium for the piece of land to keep the space open. Just a theory, but not one that is out of the question according to de Guigne's team. He has hired a small army of lawyers and spin-meisters..including Greg Hampton and Peter Callander...

State Senator Simitian is proposing (again) to lower the threshold for local tax measures to pass at the ballot from 2/3 to 55 percent. 2/3 is a tough threshold that many local school districts and agencies have trouble reaching. That's actually why the 2/3 threshold exists in the first place. Nonetheless, there would be much less pressure on local government if the State government would do its job and stop stealing from their local brethren...

And speaking of the State not doing its job...Evidence that they don't really know what their doing becomes incredibly clear today in this Tea Party Alert...if you are expecting some of your tax money back from the State this season you might get an IOU instead because the State doesn't have any money. Can you imagine if millions of Californians don't get their tax over-payments back? There will be a full-fledged revolt -- mark Watch Dog's words...

The Civil Grand Jury has been busy. First garbage...then water...now schools -- specifically fire safety in schools. Watch Dog is still waiting for the Jerry Hill-requested garbage contract report from the Civil Grand Jury...

Anyone who rides their bike to the train to avoid burning fossil fuels should be commended. Unfortunately, there is never enough room (apparently) for all the cyclist that want to ride the train. Scott Wildy was sick of it. So he refused to get off a full train with his bike and was arrested. Now he must pay a fine -- which is a lot better than spending a year in prison, which was also a prosecutorial option...

The Bair Island boardwalk is being rebuilt -- you know how you can tell? All the helicopters hovering right off 101 in Redwood City. Cool to watch, but please keep your eyes on the road...

The Chronicle (finally) gets in on the action covering the Royal Hairness (Gavin Newsom's) visit to San Carlos on Tuesday.

And finally, a look around the other blogs in San Mateo County...Pacifica Riptide continues its awesome-ness posting constantly about Pacifica and world issues, while Jay Thorwaldson's "blog" continues to stink (he hasn't posted since December 9th). The newby, San Mateo Public Policy Examiner (or PP Examiner), hasn't posted in a week (which is weak)...

Watch Dog stands corrected...

Last week, Watch Dogs around the Bay Area ran a piece about State Senator Simitian's "There Oughta Be a Law" contest and how Legislators in the North Bay, East Bay, and throughout California have ripped the good Senator off.

Well, Watch Dog stands corrected...

Debra Gravert, Chief of Staff to Assemblymember Jared Huffman, who was accused by Watch Dog of stealing the idea from Simitian, responded to Watch Dog to set us straight. Here is her response -- unedited and reprinted with permission....

FYI – Actually, former-Assemblymember Richard Floyd started the “There Oughta Be a Law….or Not” Contest back in the early 90’s when I worked for him and I have brought the idea with me to every boss I’ve worked for since.

Thank you Debra for reading Watch Dog and setting us straight. Watch Dog still has concerns about the spelling of "oughta" however...

This Week Around Watch Dogs...

An eventful week on Bay Area Watch Dogs -- San Mateo, Silicon Valley, East Bay, North Bay.

• Watch Dog unearthed the fact that Legislators around the Bay rip off San Mateo/Santa Clara County State Senator Joe Simitian...and we believe there oughta be a law against ripping him off that bad...
• A school district in Marin debates naming a school after President-elect Barack Obama -- as opposed to using the current name Dr. Martin Luther King Academy. (Un)Surprisingly, there are some folks that aren't that psyched about the possible name change.
• The Tesla Chronicles continue as Tesla gets nothing (so far) from the Big Three bailout. Apparently Tesla's 100 cars that have rolled off the lot don't qualify as "big." Watch Dog Silicon Valley predicts Tesla will not make it to their San Jose plant set to open in 2010...make that 2011...or never...
  
• Not to seem self important, but Watch Dog San Mateo called out Palo Alto Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson for his blog...or lack thereof. You see, Mr. Thorwaldson has a blog, but has only posted 8 times in 2 years. That's why Watch Dog San Mateo asked if this was a real blog or an afterthought for the Editor. Watch Dog predicted that after the public shaming, Thorwaldson would post within in a week...well, it took less than 24 hours for Thorwaldson to post. Watch Dog success...
• The garbage saga continued in San Mateo County, and this time it may be serious. The Civil Grand Jury is taking a look at one of Watch Dog's favorite topics in San Mateo...trash..
• Watch Dog Silicon Valley uncovered the (blogo)sphere of influence between a local blog, San Jose Revealed, and San Jose City Councilmember Nora Campos. The blog recommended a strategy at the beginning of the day that Campos implemented at the end of the day. Watch Dog was there to point it out...

Thanks for visiting your local Watch Dog -- and come back again next week...

there oughta be a law against this...

Watch Dog has been operating in San Mateo County for some time now on Watch Dog San Mateo while we are relatively new in some other areas...Watch Dog Silicon Valley, Watch Dog North Bay, and Watch Dog East Bay.

One of the benefits of operating in a variety of Bay Area locations is that the Watch Dog team gets to seek out and cover information across a wider area -- making our jobs, and hopefully the blogs, a bit more interesting.

And that's where we found ourselves yesterday.

Watch Dog's staff was talking amongst our Watch Dog selves about our State Legislators...San Mateo Watch Dogs first mentioned State Senator Joe Simitian's "there oughta be a law" contest and how it was a pretty cool idea...but then our North Bay friends said one of their legislators does something like that...and then our East Bay friends said the same thing...so we sought out the truth...

San Mateo/Santa Clara County's Senator Simitian has been conducting his "There Oughta Be a Law" Contest for eight years. Horrible spelling aside, the Contest has gotten significant attention. 14 of the ideas generated from this contest have turned into laws. Including a law that addresses the pesky "trees vs. solar power" debate -- according to Simitian's website.

Our friends at Watch Dog North Bay let us know that their State Assemblymember Jared Huffman has his own contest...he has changed his a bit, but the spelling hasn't changed. Huffman's contest is known as the "There Oughta Be a Law...or Not" Contest. Huffman is on his 3rd Contest -- meaning that he probably ripped off Simitian somewhere around 2006...or the minute he got sworn into office.

And to ring the Bay, our Watch Dog friends in the East Bay let us know that former-Assemblymember and newly elected State Senator Mark DeSaulnier did it too.

Making this a Bay Area wide rip-off!

But it doesn't stop there...Watch Dog got on their research hats (Google) and found that there are other rip-off artists out there as well...and it is a bipartisan rip-off.

Assemblymember John Benoit does it.
Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter does it.
So does Assemblymember Mike Eng...

Leading to some obvious questions:

Does anyone have an original idea in Sacramento?
Was Simitian the first person to run the contest?
If he was, does he collect royalties?

But Simitian, Huffman, DeSailnier, Benoit, Carter, and Eng aren't alone in this "there oughta be" contest...Writing.com has their own contest and some funny ideas came up there. Most notably and relevant, is this one:

The ought to be a law...voters should be allowed to vote "None of the Above" during elections.

Watch Dog has our own "there oughta"...and it is obvious...

There oughta be a limit on oughta be a law contests.