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 -- 5.20.10: Calling all Steinbecks...

The big news today is that workers living in a labor camp in Pescadero may have been drinking contaminated water for a decade... this is a troubling story. The housing is part of Marchi farms and has been closed down by the County, although it seems families may still be living there. Where is John Steinbeck when you need him?

The Daily Journal gives a run down of the candidates in the 21st Assembly District... Rich Gordon, Yoriko Kishimoto, and Josh Becker... How many more run-downs do we really need?... Endorsements anyone?

Lee Duboc must be very pleased today... the pension reform initiative is heading to the ballot in Menlo Park. Could this be a Silicon Valley trend among cash-strapped cities? The Mayor of San Jose has been talking about asking voters in San Jose to vote to do away with the often-expensive binding arbitration...

The County is considering requiring (?) companies to offer employees a pre-tax transit option to get to work. This should help SamTrans and perhaps Caltrain and BART too...

Welcome to Millbrae, where the City might cut a program to help feed needy seniors... That's probably not fair of us, they are looking at cutting employees too...

You know the black box that records the last seconds of plane crashes... well Congresswoman Speier would like one in your car too... I'm sure privacy advocates will love that.

The Jefferson Union High School District may be asking voters to dig a little deeper into their wallets this fall... their polling looks good.

Silicon Valley has some serious interest in the upcoming Republican primaries for US Senate and Governor. New polls are out together. The first one actually confirms what Steve Poizner said a few weeks back -- that his race against Whitman is tightening... The second has Carly Fiorina leading (slightly) over Tom Campbell, but within the margin of error... (Joey Lucas will explain everything later...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.26.10: Big (losing) guns help(?) Whitman...

Meg Whitman = Big Connections... and she showed it on Friday night when Mitt Romney and John McCain showed up at an event in Redwood City. Of course, both of those guys lost their last election, so perhaps she should invite more folks on a winning streak... just a thought.

San Carlos is thinking about jacking up sewer rates... again.

Dave Pine, who serves on the San Mateo Union High School District Board did double duty on the Charter Review Committee. He penned this piece in favor of District elections and it ran on the 21st. We are sorry we missed... thank you for the heads up, loyal Watch Dogger. We agree with you Dave: More democracy!

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has introduced a $1 billion Bay clean-up bill, which is the good news. The bad news? Well, it seems that a $1 billion very local project is often called pork inside the beltway... Don't worry Congresswoman, around the Bay we call that great work.

It seems Atherton will get down to some governing today for a budget session as opposed to politically charged hits against colleagues and settling years-long lawsuits...

Leave it up to Pacifica Riptide to do some reporting that others won't/can't/don't... this time it is about "Pacifica's unfunded pension liability..."

Here's a heartwarming story to start your week: 4 teenagers were stabbed at the Marriot Hotel in San Mateo on Sunday morning. It seems it might have been part of a post-prom-party kerfuffle... Watch Dog remembers when proms were innocent affairs that only involved awkward teenage gropping...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.21.10: San Mateo-Burlingame Police? Not. So. Fast...

Well, the San Mateo-Burlingame Police Department hit a road block yesterday. San Mateo approved moving forward, over the objections of David Lim. But Burlingame is balking at the idea... The Burlingame Voice was on the scene as the Burlingame Council looked at the police issue...

Congresswoman Eshoo testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee this week to blast Lehman Brothers for ripping off local governments, like the County of San Mateo. She also is pushing the Restitution for Local Government Act of 2010, sort of bail out for the 40 local government folks who lost $1.7 billion. Why should banks get bailed out for screwing up, but the local governments they screwed not get some help, the thinking goes...

Our other Congresswoman is busy too... Jackie Speier is trying to get $100 million in federal money for Bay restoration...

Menlo Park has serious concerns about High-Speed Rail... are you surprised? Anyway, they are sending a letter to the High-Speed Rail Authority, which the High-Speed Rail Authority will file under N, for NIMBY...

Ah, the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury. We missed you. Yesterday, the Civil Grand Jury recommended that the County consolidate nearly every job in the County into one position: Chief Financial Officer. The job would be controller, treasurer, tax collector, and we assume registrar as well. Because it would be a lot easier to pinpoint blame when the County loses buckets and buckets of money if there was one Chief Financial Officer...

A murder in Woodside? What will the COWs say?

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...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.3.10: No Battle Royale...

Jackie Speier isn't going to leave DC... yet. She announced yesterday that she will not run for Attorney General. Which makes Watch Dog sad because we sort of looked forward to Battle Royale locally that would have ensued...

Remember last week when the County Executive David Boesch sent a stern letter to Deputy Sheriff's union explaining how the union must not understand the economic crisis affecting the County? Well, the union shot back yesterday saying that they did offer salary concessions to the County, but County Administrators (in Boesch's office) never forwarded the union's proposal to the Board of Supervisors...

Menlo Park is about to make national news. Following in Belmont's footsteps, MP is about to enact a pretty far-reaching anti-smoking ordinance. Menlo Park, meet Fox News. Fox News, meet Menlo Park...

San Carlos has a major parks problem... and we aren't talking about the 'to turf or not to turf' issue. They have no money for maintenance and may close some parks, stop mowing lawns, and stop cleaning up graffiti. Welcome taggers...

San Bruno neighbors continued to tell the San Mateo Union School District not to sell the Crestmoor High School site in San Bruno...

Folks in the Burlingame Elementary School District have ballots in their hands for Measure B, renewing a parcel tax for schools. 2/3 of them need to say yes for the tax to get renewed... vote early and often, that's Watch Dog's motto.

Speaking of Burlingame, the Daily Journal's Jon Mays chimes in on the epic, 13 year struggle to get Safeway approved. In the process, he gives us all a pretty good indication of reporter Heather Murtagh's age...

Continuing the big weak for Safeway on the Peninsula, the Menlo Park City Council is allowing Rubio's and Peet's to get outdoor seating in the Safeway plaza...

This is sad, the Half Moon Bay Downtown Business Association is taking a vote on whether to disband. That isn't a very good sign...

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 -- 1.29.10: AG Speier...

Today's Daily Journal "reports" that Congresswoman Jackie Speier is considering a run for Attorney General... which was reported earlier in the week by the Chronicle and stolen by Watch Dog immediately thereafter. Thank you for reading Watch Dog... The Journal also talks to folks who might seek to replace her...

Here are three things you almost never, ever see:

1. The Daily Journal Editorial Board is NOT supporting a parcel tax in the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District... (If it helps, Watch Dog will endorse the measure...)

2. South San Francisco approved a two-tier system for public employees. Could it spread like wildfire?

3. Wild boar... so delicious, so big, so ugly, so scary. There was one in Half Moon Bay that was shot and killed (and eaten?)...

High-Speed Rail is getting a jump-start with $2.25 billion (with a "b") more money from the Feds... NIMBYs (with an "n") better jump-start their efforts too...

Menlo Park is facing a little citizens' revolt led by Lee Duboc... the pension reform issue could go before voters if all works out. And we thought all the political intrigue (and in-fighting) happened in Atherton...

Speaking of Atherton, the Town officially apologize for keeping a $230,000 sexual harassment settlement under wraps... they did it by fax, to the newspaper, and didn't include anyone's contact information for follow-up calls. Very Atherton...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.27.10: A local mad-dash, scramble, free-for-all?

We never came back for a post yesterday, apologies to everyone...

Oh my... Matier & Ross in the Chronicle have this tidbit: Congresswoman Jackie Speier is thinking about a run for Attorney General of California this year. Imagine the local ramifications of that? It would be a mad-dash, scramble, free-for-all. Hill? Yee? Ruskin? Watch Dog? Gavin Newsom?

This isn't getting top billing in any of the papers or on Watch Dog, but it is perhaps the most important story of the day, at least for the long-term. South San Francisco is considering a two-tier retirement system for public employees. Is this the shot heard round the (local government) world?

The County may have found the most popular thing to tax you on... the hospital. And if they are going to tax you, they better identify some cuts first -- which they did and they described them as "bold"... good timing.

The Belmont/San Carlos war of words (and dollars) about who is to pay what for the Fire Protection District continued with some action. Belmont rejected San Carlos' plan. San Carlos thinks Belmont should pay more, Belmont doesn't agree. The fun squabble continues... In response to San Carlos' unhappiness, Belmont Councilwoman Coralin Feierbach said these fighting words: “If San Carlos wants to go somewhere else, they can.... We subsidized them for 20 years.” She did not say: "And I will meet them on any street corner and kick their scrawny little San Carlos asses too..."

The Daily Journal's Jon Mays rocks. He outs the DMB Saltworks developers for political tactics trying to embarass the Menlo Park City Council's decision to oppose the DMB development. Mays ends with this: "...By engaging in subterfuge and ripping reputations, the argument for the development loses its focus..."

Speaking of the salt flats. The Redwood City Council will accept a report that says that the development of 12,000 homes and their impact won't have any "insurmountable issues" related to traffic or water or other stuff.

Cliffside engineering? Federal funds to rebuild? Disaster area? If it is raining, we are talking about Pacifica...

The Skyline College shooting suspect was convicted yesterday of possessing a gun in public as part of a plea deal. 3 years probation and he can't go to campus again... perhaps the dude is getting his application ready for CSM?

Morning News Round-Up -- 8.24.09: Pay Cut Gate Revisited...

BREAKING NEWS: The Chronicle reports that San Mateo’s Hillsdale High School is being evacuated this morning and the bomb squad has been called to the scene in response to a blast. That's no way to start the new school year...

Daly City sent a letter to the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury saying the City refuses to restore the salary that City Clerk Annette Hipona got when she got elected last year. You remember the Pay Cut Gate story, right? In June, the Grand Jury concluded that the City was unjustified in slashing Hipona's pay from $101,374 to $52,988 a year and recommended that the decision be reversed.

State cut-backs are one thing, stupid accounting mistakes are quite another. Both are leading to cutbacks in the San Mateo County courthouse.

Scientists + Sharp Park Golf Course = Less and Less Golf...

What's better than Target? A bigger Target. That's what's coming to Colma, along with increased sales tax revenues to City cofers..

San Mateo and San Carlos are thinking about forcing its commercial businesses to recycle. Steve Sherman of Cascadia Consulting, which is working with the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), noted that while recycling is popular, “Americans, in general, do not like to be told what to do.” Good point, especially by these guys...

Jury selection starts today for the trial of the East Palo Alto gang member accused of shooting and killing a police officer more than three years ago in front of a teenage police explorer doing a ridealong. It’s the first County death penalty case in six years.

More than 300 supporters and opponents of the proposed healthcare reform bill showed up to voice questions and opinions at a relatively peaceful Sunday Town Hall meeting in Montara hosted by Congresswoman Jackie Speier. She restated her support for healthcare reform to the 300 people who showed up. She also told them that in her district there are 46,000 uninsured folks who would be eligible for healthcare under the reform proposals. All this and she managed to make her point without relying on the phrases “single-payer” or “public option.”

In case you didn't get enough: Congresswoman Anna Eshoo is having her own telephone town hall meeting tonight so residents can vent about that public option plan.

Palo Alto is reeling after the suicide death of a 13 year old on Caltrain tracks where two other Gunn High School students died in the past several months. Former Palo Alto Mayor Victor Ojakian and Supervisor/former Palo Alo Mayor Liz Kniss are considering a committee to examine the issue.

Here are two stories about how things get done (or not) in Palo Alto:

Here's a shocker... The City of Palo Alto doesn't like the design of the new Lucile Packard Childrens' Hospital.

Bowlers are hoping to spare the popular Palo Alto Bowl from being demolished. The group plans to let the City Council know how they feel about the 53-year-old alley.

Residents living near the Caltrain tracks and their intersections with Encinal, Glenwood, Oak Grove and Ravenswood avenues should buy earplugs. The next four weeks Caltrain will be working on nearby railroad crossings.

And more good news from Caltrain… higher parking fees and fewer trains starting Aug. 31. Who doesn’t love paying more for less?

Screw Caltrain and ride your bike. About 500 cyclists from all over the Bay Area took part in the fifth annual Tour de Menlo Saturday. All riders stopped at the Picchetti Open Space Preserve and Winery in Cupertino for lunch, before heading back.

Morning News Round-Up -- 7.15.09: Taxes, taxes everywhere...

The molestation trial of William Ayres is in the jury's hands now. So we wait... if you haven't already, you should check out William Ayres Watch(dog) for more details.

Yesterday we learned that Palo Alto's Mayor won't seek reelection in November, today it's San Bruno Mayor Larry Franzella's turn to call it quits...

And in an unexpected move, at least to Watch Dog, the Belmont City Council said no to putting a hotel tax on the November ballot. Perhaps Belmont wants their hotels to be cheaper than San Mateo...

Because San Mateo put two measures on the November ballot: 1/4 cent sales tax increase and a 2 percent hotel tax hike.

Atherton is also (likely) going to the ballot with a tax. In Atherton's case, it is a renewal of a parcel tax that seems to fund everything in Town and is expensive... the average household pays $750 per year.

Speaking of taxes... Millbrae property owners voted to renew (or not) a fire assessment. The ballots were due yesterday and are now being counted...

Daily Journal Editor Jon Mays gets Congresswoman Jackie Speier's perspective on the State Budget mess. She's been to Sacramento and now she's in DC -- so she knows her stuff. A choice quote: "...I think they've lost their way..." Yup.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.09: A Supreme Tuesday Edition...

As we come back from a long weekend, the news today will be dominated by Supreme legal stuff... California Supreme Court's decision on Proposition 8 and Obama's pick for the US Supreme Court.

But Watch Dog must ask that you don't forget the local stuff...

Good news. The San Carlos man/Olympian/Alzheimer's sufferer who wandered away from his home was found in Oakland. He is ok and his family is relieved, as you can probably imagine.

The Sequoia Union High School District battle with Everest Charter School took another turn. We know Everest is taking their battle with the School District to court, but they are also getting a vacant office space ready for school in the fall, while the School District is getting the proposed site for Everest, a vacant lot in East Palo Alto, ready. This is all getting pretty confusing (and costly), but expect the situation to get worse before it gets worse...

Take THAT State. San Carlos is (probably) going to declare themselves in "severe fiscal hardship" in an attempt to limit the amount of money that State can pilfer from its local coffers. No word yet as to what the "severe fiscal hardship" designation will do for San Carlos' bond rating... To alleviate some of that "severe financial hardship" it may cost a lot more money to do stuff in San Carlos... like park illegally, receive a permit, or get a copy of a police report...

Speaking of fiscal hardship, that's what San Carlos School District parents may feel if their kids need summer school. That's because the School District just axed its summer school plans to save money.

It looks like South San Francisco will have a contested City Council race this November. Three seats are open, two incumbents have announced their intention to run again, one is on the fence, and two challengers are lining up to run. Expect a busy Labor Day-to-Election Day sprint...

Belmont wants to make sure that land now designated a park will stay a park forever. The Belmont City Council doesn't seem to trust the wisdom of future City Councils and would like to permanently make parks parks.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier placed an OpEd in the Daily Journal in honor of Memorial Day.

(Not wanting to be left out, San Mateo City Council candidate David Lim blogged about Memorial Day.)

First, Belmont banned smoking in apartment complexes, now an apartment complex wants to ban smoking in their own apartment complex. This time in San Mateo. This renter-driven initiative may be part of a trend, or maybe their is just smoking-ban-envy on the Peninsula...

Speaking of people taking action on their own... 8,000 homes in San Mateo are voting on a whether or not they want to pay an annual assessment to pay for flood protection. Three weeks from now we'll know the result of the vote.

There is a public battle (re)brewing in Redwood City. The DMB plans for development are back on the drawing board, causing a Redwood City resident to ask, "Folks, can't we all just get a long?" in today's Daily Journal OpEd. Those words didn't really work for Rodney King, and Watch Dog bets they aren't going to work in Redwood City either...

CORRECTION: Watch Dog was wrong...

Watch Dog has written about the story of the Domestic Partners in Pacifica whose family is on the verge of being torn apart by the Federal government.

Here is what we wrote on April 3rd, when this story first came out:

The Chronicle features a Pacifica couple who have been together for 23 years and are Registered Domestic Partners in California. One (major) problem, the Federal government wants to deport one of the partners because she is not a legal citizen. Half of our County's aforementioned Dynamic Duo (Congresswoman Speier) got a three-week stay of deportation for Shirley Tan...everyone is waiting to see what is going to happen next, including Watch Dog.

And here are excerpts of what we wrote on April 24th:

...In Pacifica, a family (which happened to be lesbian couple with children) was about to be ripped apart by the Federal government as one of the registered domestic partners was set to be deported for overstaying her visa. Senator Feinstein stepped in and is now playing the hero role. (We have to wonder how this worked its way through D.C. When the story was written about originally, Congresswoman Jackie Speier got a three-week stay for the deportation, now Feinstein is in the lead role...I guess the spotlight is only so big, especially when you (Senator Feinstain) are trying to divert attention from a growing controversy...very gracious Congresswoman Speier.)

Watch Dog admits when we are wrong -- and our implication about what went on between Congresswoman Speier and Senator Feinstein was wrong. So, here is an email note from Mike Larsen of Congresswoman Speier's office to clarify:
---
Dear Watchdog:

While your description of political intrigue at work behind the scenes in the effort to save Shirley Tan from being deported made for excellent reading, the way it really happened is actually quite dull.

Ms Tan and her partner contacted our office and Congresswoman Speier was briefed on her situation. (In a committed relationship for 23 years, with twin 12 year-old boys, she's about to be deported to the Phillipines because of an outstanding order that her previous lawyer neglected to tell her about.) We examined the facts and looked into what could be done. Because the House and Senate have different rules for immigration bills - In the Senate, a stay of deportation is issued the moment the bill is introduced, while in the House, the bill must go through the regular committee process (which can take months) before a stay is issued - it was determined that contacting one of California's Senators would be her best chance of a favorable outcome.

Ms. Tan had already contacted Senator Feinstein's office, so the Congresswoman spoke to the Senator and was told that Senator Feinstein's staff was examining the case but that the file was thin and they needed more documentation. Since the deportation date was just 48 hours away, Congresswoman Speier contacted an immigration official in San Francisco and arranged to delay the date long enough for the family to get its papers in order and Senator Feinstein's staff to examine them.

Upon review of all the materials, the Senator decided that Ms. Tan's case was worthy of private legislation and she introduced the bill.

Senator Feinstein did a very good and courageous thing, in my opinion. Even in California, taking a principled stand on issues like marriage equality and immigration is not without its risks.
---
Record corrected. Thank you Mr. Larsen.

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.24.09: An Anti-Climactic End to the Garbage Saga?...say it ain't so...

Watch Dog may have to find a new obsession other than the Garbage Saga...it looks like the Saga may be coming to a slow (and anti-climactic) ending. The South Bayside Waste Management Authority Board approved the recycling company yesterday to run the facility on Shoreway in San Carlos. The Saga does have one last chapter, and it could be big. The Civil Grand Jury is due to report on the contract process -- thanks to Assemblymember Jerry Hill's Sacramento going away present. That report is sure to be a doozy... In other garbage news, the new recycling company may be required to use folks from the County's Vocational Rehabilitation Services to sort recycling...

200 NIMBYs had their time yesterday with Assemblymember Jerry Hill as he hosted a High-Speed Rail Town Hall in Belmont. To Tunnel or Not to Tunnel, that is the question...

PP Examiner gets back into the blogging game with a real gem. Bruce gets an op-ed from the Anti-Shark Park Golf Course folks, but then rips the op-ed to shreds in his own comments. (Not to mention that San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has probably never been to Pacifica...)

What Watch Dog thought was a collaborative effort between the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District and the City of Foster City has turned into an Us versus Them inter-governmental squabble. Unbelievably, Foster City Mayor John Kiramis would like the School District to look at increasing class-sizes from 20 to 30 students in Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. That's the political and policy equivalent of a City letting go 50% of its police officers and fire fighters. Good solution Mayor Kiramis...because the School District is in a strong financial position already...

The San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District is not alone in their capacity problems. The San Carlos Elementary School District is getting a whole bunch more Kindergartners...

The Governor/Terminator has offered a $25,000 reward for information about the murder of a TGI Friday's employee last year in San Mateo.

Parking + Caltrain = Pain. This equation might change a little...

Here is something you don't read much about these days...new housing developments. In San Carlos, the City Council may decide Monday night to approve annexation part of unincorporated Devonshire Canyon for the construction of...5 homes.

Speaking of building homes...Citizens of Woodside are covering Apple's Steve Jobs' attempt to build a new home on the Jackling Estate. Perhaps he wants to build an enormous, but eco-friendly, mansion like the Chief Googler does in Palo Alto...

The next chapter in Stanford development is being written right now. Recently, Stanford gave up Mall expansion plans in order to focus on hospital expansion and other campus efforts. But the City of Palo Alto is not done complaining/micromanaging what happens at Stanford. Palo Alto wants Stanford to connect any new development with an "urban village," whatever that is...

Pacifica Riptide continues to update the endorsement race for Measure D, Pacifica's sales tax hike measure: Pacifica School District Board - Support, San Mateo County Labor Council - Support.

Finally, we wrote about this issue previously: In Pacifica, a family (which happened to be lesbian couple with children) was about to be ripped apart by the Federal government as one of the registered domestic partners was set to be deported for overstaying her visa. Senator Feinstein stepped in and is now playing the hero role. (We have to wonder how this worked its way through D.C. When the story was written about originally, Congresswoman Jackie Speier got a three-week stay for the deportation, now Feinstein is in the lead role...I guess the spotlight is only so big, especially when you (Senator Feinstain) are trying to divert attention from a growing controversy...very gracious Congresswoman Speier.)

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.15.09: Almanac in the dark...

This is big news, especially if you are Stanford or the City of Palo Alto. Stanford dropped its plans to expand its Mall with new shops and a hotel. Stanford says it is because that expansion has been a distraction from their hospital and other expansion plans on campus. (Perhaps the economy has something to do with it too...) Former Palo Alto City Councilmember Bern Beecham had a different take. He is blaming the much talked-about "Palo Alto Process" for the demise of the Mall plan and said, "To me, this is a real black eye for the city process..." Tell us how you really feel Bern.

Earlier this week, the San Carlos artificial turf saga (hopefully) wound down after 10 years. And it looks like the Carlmont-Belmont-San Carlos traffic saga will wind down next year when the City of Belmont attempts to fix the traffic headaches it caused.

Remember this? A guy was working at a restaurant, stealing patron's credit card information, and buying stuff at the grocery store from his wife who worked there...he pleaded no contest to five felony counts yesterday. The wife is looking to do the same after some immigration issues get cleared up -- and the mastermind of this horribly stupid and easily-traceable scheme has already pleaded no contest on second-degree felony burglary and other felony charges.

In cased you missed it, yesterday was incredibly windy. If you cross the San Mateo Bridge at all -- you know the wind was a pain before the big-rig jacked knife yesterday afternoon, but you may not have realized that a boat hit the bridge as well. Add that to down power lines and you have one hell of a day...

Some of the downed powerlines yesterday caused the Almanac offices to go dark. Of course, some of the more critical and vocal folks in Atherton and Menlo Park have been asking for the Almanac to go dark for sometime...just kidding.

Daily Journal Editor Jon Mays hearts downtown San Mateo. (He also does his best to make it sound like Manhattan...)

Watch Dog noted Congresswoman Jackie Speier's openness about the earmarked funding she is seeking from the Federal government. One of those projects is levee improvements for San Mateo's South Bayfront Levee Improvements Project.

The Chronicle has a profile of Mike McArdle, a South San Francisco custom car and motorcycle paint shop. The shop is called Brokeneck Kustoms, which gives you a pretty good hint why this story is so cool...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.14.09: Artificial turf grows, after 10 years...

Garbage Saga Alert: The San Carlos City Council did its best to punt making a decision on who should be the recycling contractor for the South Bayside Waste Management Authority starting in 2011. Seemingly, they are leaving it up to their City Staff to decide...that is some kind of leadership in San Carlos...Why make a decision for yourself when you can blame City Staff when everything goes haywire? At least the Board of Supervisors made a decision for Hudson Baylor over South Bay Recycling...

And as one (Garbage) Saga heats up (again) -- another one seems to be winding down. It looks like (after 10 years) the Highlands Park fields will become artificial turf...

The Daily Journal breaks down State Proposition 1A and what it means for San Mateo County (aside from higher taxes, of course)...

Speaking of taxes:

San Bruno is seeking to raise the hotel tax there by 2 percent in order to raise an additional $270K per year. Of course, they will need to win a 2/3 election to get that done and they are eyeing the November 2009 ballot.

and more taxes...

Tonight, Millbrae will look at ways to renew a fire assessment to fill in a budget gap of $1.7 million.

Pro-Bridge and Anti-Bridge folks are lining up in Menlo Park. The issue is whether or not to rebuild the pedestrian bridge between Belle Haven and Flood Triangle neighborhoods...this issue is (obviously) not about a bridge, but about a lot of other stuff. (Hint: It is the same stuff that makes Everest Charter School folks upset that the Sequoia Union High School District wants to put them in East Palo Alto.)

A dude got arrested for having a pot farm in his San Bruno home. Now he'll have another home for a year...the San Mateo County jail. Bringing up the obvious question: Who will take care of his plants when he's gone?

The well-researched Bohannon project in Menlo Park will begin with a series of public meetings over the next 10 months. That should be fun...

The previously announced field hearing with Congressman Barney Frank (and the Dynamic Duo of Eshoo and Speier) has been canceled/postponed for this week. The idea was to have Frank visit San Mateo County and hear testimony about how Lehman Brother screwed over local governments.

Finally, Pacifica Riptide reports that Sharp Park Golf Course makes money -- which will be a poke in the eye to the Imperial Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Yesterday, Watch Dog asked Sue Lempert to make this her cause. But we are now thinking that this is an issue for Assemblymember Jerry Hill. Please Jerry...pretty please. Stand up for Pacifica...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.8.09: San Francisco's Imperial Supervisor...

Attention San Mateo County (especially Coastside residents): San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (pictured right) would like to take Sharp Park Golf Course away from you. It is easy for him to do this because he doesn't live near the golf course or in Pacifica or near San Mateo County. Let's see him try to take away a golf course within the City/County limits of San Francisco and run for Mayor at the same time. If you want to call and tell Mirkarimi that he is full of it, here is his office number: (415) 554-7630 and here is his email address: ross.mirkarimi@sfgov.org. One can only guess that Mirkarimi has spoken out against US imperialism...but the San Francisco imperialism seems to be ok with him. Perhaps Congresswoman Speier could place a call?

Speaking of Congresswoman Speier...

Congresswoman Jackie Speier is asking for earmarks...but not a lot of them and they have at least been vetted these folks. Her earmark asks can be seen here...it is a pretty good bet that a Bridge to Nowhere will not be built in San Mateo County on Speier's watch

Some good news for the San Mateo Union High School District, $11 million will flow once again from the Pooled Money Investment Board...whatever that is.

The cloak and dagger is intriguing...Trader Joe's may be coming to the Hillsdale Shopping Center. Shhhhh. A spokesperson from TJ's says, "I have nothing to confirm at this time..."

Dude...San Mateo County is considering more regulations on pot clubs...

Measure 1B gets reviewed in the Daily Journal. 1B is for schools...and to help bail out the State.

Speaking of elections. Bruce at the PP Examiner runs down local ballot measures coming up in the County (thank you Bruce):

May 5th

• Jefferson Elementary School District - $85/parcel tax
• San Carlos School District - $78/parcel tax
• Woodside Elementary School District - $242/parcel tax renewal

May 19th

• Pacifica $.01 sales tax hike
• Big-ass State election
  

June 2nd

• Redwood City School District - $91/parcel tax

Residence at the Franciscan Mobile Home Park in Daly City are none-too-pleased with their proposed rent hike. The owners of the Park, LINC Housing, aims to hold a public meeting with residents of the 500 mobile homes.

Yesterday, the Half Moon Bay Review wrote about (and Watch Dog covered) a story about a lawsuit a local lawyer brought against the Pescadero Unified School District's use of bond money. Later in the day, the County Times got in the action...

The huge Peninsula Park project in Redwood City may not happen after all, according to Paul Powers, the guy who was to develop the project. Blame the economy...

Big budget decision are causing (relatively) wide divides between Menlo Park Councilmembers about how to get out of the hole. Perhaps they will behave better than Palo Alto during budget discussions...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.3.09: Supervisors takes on Hollywood...Dynamic Duo takes on Lehman Brothers

Sequoia Union High School District's "final offer" to Everest Charter School was revised a bit on Tuesday night. But it doesn't matter. The Everest folks just don't want to be in East Palo Alto, and there is nothing the Sequoia Board of Trustees can do about that.

This is unbelievable. I can't encapsulate what is going on any better than Shaun Bishop did in his piece about what the Supervisors are up to:

The endorsement of the Smoke Free Movies campaign, approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors, calls for the motion picture industry to adopt stricter regulations on the depiction of smoking in movies.

Supervisors think they can dictate what happens in movies? They should have spent as much time discussing how to keep the Coastside Family Medical Center open as they did talking about this...

Never has a field's conversion from real grass to artificial turf taken longer or been more discussed and argued over than in San Carlos. Now, the end may (?) be near...and the Daily Journal Editorial Board asks that the movement to (safe) turf proceed...please. Perhaps then the City of San Carlos can move on to important topics of discussion, like stopping smoking in movies...

The window that opened months ago closes this weekend...Mavericks will not happen this year. If you are a big wave surfer and you read Watch Dog, you must be very disappointed this morning...

The Dynamic Duo of Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Congresswoman Jackie Speier (not this Dynamic Duo and certainly not this Dynamic Duo) will hear from local agencies that got screwed by Lehman Brothers at a hearing on April 16th in the San Mateo County Supervisors Chambers.

High-Speed Rail is causing several head-aches up and down the Peninsula. San Mateo, which supports the idea of High Speed Rail, is now considering its full impacts on its downtown. Now?

This may make things a bit easier on the High-Speed Rail front. The phrase "four-track rail alignment" will (seemingly) be eliminated from the conversation between CalTrain and the High-Speed Rail folks.

But Menlo Park's letter protesting High-Speed Rail was thrown out of a lawsuit that the City wanted the letter to be part of. This is a weird story, but it seems to question whether Menlo Park ever actually sent a letter into the High-Speed Rail Authority at all in 2007. Lee Duboc, do you have anything to say on this matter?

One of our State Senators, Leland Yee, has a bill being considered in Sacramento that would "make it illegal for businesses to prohibit the use of foreign languages in their establishments." Well, that doesn't seem to sit too well with some folks -- and Senator Yee is hearing about it...and the calls he is getting are ugly.

Someone yelled "fire" at the Stanford Theatre, and they weren't kidding...a projector was on fire...

The Palo Alto Weekly's great blog experiments got another post from economist Stephen Levy. Beware readers of Stephen Levy, he is going to make you register to comment and he (alone) will decide if your comments are worthy of posting. Watch Dog, on the other hand, we'll pretty much post anything. After all, that's what online communities are all about. Take it or leave it Mr. Levy.

The Chronicle features a Pacifica couple who have been together for 23 years and are Registered Domestic Partners in California. One (major) problem, the Federal government wants to deport one of the partners because she is not a legal citizen. Half of our County's aforementioned Dynamic Duo (Congresswoman Speier) got a three-week stay of deportation for Shirley Tan...everyone is waiting to see what is going to happen next, including Watch Dog.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.18.09: Visually Aided Edition...

Our County is blessed with folks who care a great deal about our community. This is especially critical during tough times...which these are. Foundations and parent groups and other non-profits are going into high fundraising gear to make up the shortfall for key agencies...especially schools.

Speaking of raising money...

Chris Anthony of San Carlos will be attempting to beat the longest drum roll ever on Saturday to raise money for MS and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records...

Look for the "As Fresh as it Gets" sticker on locally grown produce and seafood. This is a San Mateo County thing and Watch Dog is trying to get our "Fresh" sticker (a different fresh, though). Michael Pollan would be so proud of our County...

A fire in downtown Menlo Park torched Peet's and the Calla boutique on Santa Cruz and University.

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Daily Journal's Editor Jon Mays gets in on two big national stories (and one huge local story) in his piece today.

• National Story 1: He does his best Sarah Palin impression by saying "thanks, but no thanks" to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's newspaper-coddling proposal...
• National Story 2: He asks why anyone would be surprised by AIG, and
• Huge Local Story: He (joins Watch Dog) and asks Michelle Durand to stick around...

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has a different view on AIG than Jon Mays...

Dude. The pot ordinance in San Mateo is moving forward...Seriously dude...

Colma's Interim City Manager Laura Allen is no longer Interim. We hope the Colma City Council doesn't pull a Daly City and rip away half of her salary now that she has the job officially...

Speaking of the Daly City Clerk's salary cut. Thanks the Pacifica Riptide, we found the YouTube video of Annette Hipona speaking out to the City Council...she is forced to stop speaking by the Police Officer in the City Council Chambers...the tension is palpable and Watch Dog highly recommends watching the clip. The drama comes at the 5 minute 30 second mark when Hipona begins to speak...



And speaking of videos...A 35 year old was caught video-taping a high school kid urinating, was arrested, and may face a year in jail and mandatory registration as a sex offender. This is a horrible (and creepy) story. But within some horrible and creepy stories, there is a great piece of information. Check out this detail from the San Mateo County Times' story:

"The student, then 15 years old, was not initially aware of Hill's [the creepy guy's] presence [in the bathroom], according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. But when the teen noticed the man with his camera, he grabbed Hill, put him in a headlock and walked him out to a teacher, Wagstaffe said."

Many many times Watch Dog (and everyone else) has written about high-speed rail. It is sort of our latest County past-time to either complain about the train or embrace the train. Now, those that are on the complaining side are trying to get everyone signed on to a letter to send to the California High Speed Rail Authority. This is causing a rift, which is always fun to read about. My favorite part is that San Mateo and Redwood City, who are largely in favor of the train, have a "...fear of being linked with cities such as Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton..." Ha!

You remember the string of gas station robberies, the last of which was a robbery and a sexual assault in San Bruno? The (alleged) perp pleaded not guilty yesterday...on 14 felony counts.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.12.09: When Lessig says something is brilliant...it is...

We'll start today's Round-Up with our County's elected officials doing what we put them in office to do...(mostly)...

• Jerry Hill celebrated a major milestone yesterday in Sacramento...he survived 100 days. Much to Jon Mays' dismay, the former Supervisor introduced 22 bills in his first 100 days...that seems excessive. But since he is our bearded local hero, we'll let it slide...
• Congresswoman Jackie Speier is so cool. She is setting up a local panel to evaluate any possible earmarks coming into her District. So it won't just be big campaign contributors or insiders, everyone should/could get a fair shake. And the panel that Speier is setting up is high-level -- Lawrence Lessig is chairing it...and when (our hero) Lessig calls someone else's work "a flash of brilliance" it is high praise...
• Speaking of Speier and our other Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (who reads her Blackberry in the bathroom) -- they met with Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to discuss San Mateo County getting some money back from Lehman Brothers' collapse through the Troubled Asset Relief Program...

And on to the rest of today's Round-Up...

A suspicious package in Palo Alto down the street from a Jewish day school caused the school's evacuation. The make-shift package was made to look like a bomb and carried with it a menacing note...That is a scary story...

And here are some scary stats: more than 1/3 of the San Mateo County non-profits are expected to make layoffs or reduce staffing and only 5% consider themselves financially strong. This is all according to The Alliance of Nonprofits for San Mateo County.

Everest Charter School...again. This time, the expected happened. The State's Board of Education said yes to Everest 's Charter even though the Sequoia Union High School District and the San Mateo County Board of Education said no. So much for local control, I guess...Sequoia Union High School District and the Everest folks are still fighting about the space that Sequoia has set aside for Everest. Sequoia thinks that the space in East Palo Alto is good for Everest. Everest (apparently) doesn't want to be in EPA. Watch Dog thinks that Everest's anti-EPA stance is suspicious/curious...

We have a great update on the cockfighting story from Pescadero. The guy arrested for holding the (alleged) cockfight is now saying that all the animals were for a giant barbecue...(they were going to eat Little Jerry Seinfeld?) An interesting defense since the police who broke up the cockfight (apparently) found syringes, fighting spurs, and antiseptic a.k.a. cockfighting paraphernalia...

And what would the Round-Up be without another school district in trouble looking at taxes...this time it is the Burlingame Elementary School District studying a renewal of their parcel tax...

Panic time? When the sea level rises, our County is in trouble...that according to the Pacific Institute who released a report yesterday. Watch Dog worries that we'll lose our blog-crush, Pacifica Riptide...

The 20-year old karate instructor who was arrested for (allegedly) molesting a 13-year old pleaded not guilty yesterday to four felony counts of child molestation yesterday...

The City of Palo Alto and Stanford University don't always get along. Although neighbors and inextricably linked, land-use and taxes and traffic and housing cause all kinds of disputes. Take the proposed new hospital Stanford would like to build. Palo Alto is concerned about the impacts to roads, housing, etc. The City of Palo Alto and Stanford officials are set to meet to discuss the hospital and other Stanford-expansion projects in 3 days...in a thinly-veiled move to make the hospital look better to residents (and perhaps to the Palo Alto City Council as well) -- Stanford release a report yesterday pointing out that the hospital expansion would add $18 million in revenue to the City of Palo Alto...

That noise you hear in the middle of the night (starting March 18th) will be Caltrain grinding its tracks...that sentence hurts my teeth to even write...we anxiously await complaints from Atherton and Menlo Park neighbors...