Beth Winegarner

Public land, private hands

More public park spaces in The City could be handled by private management as park leaders hunt for ways to boost revenue. Dozens of city-owned Recreation and Park Department facilities — from Coit Tower to the Japanese Tea Garden — are supported by public taxes and bonds but operated by private firms that lease them from the department in return for a cut of their profits. In fiscal year 2007-08, the department was forced to cut $6.6 million from its budget. It is expected to slash another $8.8 million in 2008-09 and is closely studying its properties to see where lease agreements could help boost cash flow, according to Rich Hillis, the department’s deputy director for...

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SFSU library delay creates headaches

San Francisco State University students will have to live without a central library indefinitely, waiting days for books and hiking to remote corners of campus for study rooms and other services. The university’s J. Paul Leonard Library was closed last fall for a planned $116 million renovation and seismic retrofit of the school’s primary library. Originally scheduled to reopen in late 2011, the project now remains in limbo until California legislators adopt a state budget and lift their hold on all state-funded construction, according to university spokeswoman Ellen Griffin. In the meantime, students must request all their books — still housed in the library building...

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Volunteers mediate schoolyard conflicts

Hillcrest Elementary School Principal Richard Zapien used to see five to seven students — facing discipline for playground squabbles — waiting outside his office after lunch every day. A year later, his office is empty. Last spring, Hillcrest lost five of its teachers’ aides — whose jobs, in part, were to keep a close eye on students at recess and lunchtime — to budget cuts. That made it more difficult to keep student conflicts at bay. Then, the Excelsior district school landed a $450,000 state grant to hire AmeriCorps volunteers and boost staff hours, all to teach kids new ways of settling differences. “Rather than an adult dealing with it, we tell...

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Bid process holds up bookings for festival

Delays in choosing which organization would produce the follow-up to last summer’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park has left the promoter scrambling to book big-name bands. Berkeley promoter Another Planet Entertainment, which produced the inaugural fest last summer, emerged the victor in a three-way bidding war, and was approved by a vote of the Recreation and Park Commission on Thursday to negotiate a three-year lease this month. However, Another Planet thought the deal would be secured earlier — then, in October, Recreation and Park Department leaders launched a competitive-bid process aimed at boosting the department’s revenue for the...

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Budget may burn fire stations

Lean budget times could force staffing-level cuts at firehouses in The City, overriding a law voters approved in 2005. Voters approved Proposition F in November 2005, requiring the mayor and supervisors to set aside funds for full staffing at each of The City’s 42 firehouses. With The City facing a $575.6 million budget gap, the need to balance the budget trumps the will of the voters, Greg Wagner, deputy director of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s budget office, told the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday. Wagner did not report how much money firefighter cutbacks would save. Fully staffing local firehouses cost up to $6.6 million in 2005, according to the...

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Report finds parks vacant of gardeners

Fewer than half the gardeners who water and cultivate The City’s parks were found to be at their assigned areas, according to spot checks done by The City between January and June 2008. Inspectors visited dozens of local parks and checked maintenance schedules, discovering that many gardeners assigned to those areas were missing in action, according to a City Controller’s Office report issued Tuesday. Between January and March 2008, gardeners complied with their work schedules 40 percent of the time. That increased to 54 percent between April and June. The unpredictable schedules of gardeners have been a sticking point among park volunteers for years. They often offer to...

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Free-parking areas in city parks may vanish

Free parking in five city parks could soon end under a new proposal aimed at ousting commuters and raising money for cash-strapped green spaces — but the concept may not fly when it reaches the mayor’s desk. Historically, it has been free to park in San Francisco parks. However, as Recreation and Park Department leaders dig for ways to offset $8.8 million in budget cuts in 2009-10, they’re resurrecting the idea of charging motorists a fee to park at Golden Gate Park, the Palace of Fine Arts, Marina Green, Balboa Park and Lincoln Park. “A few of those parks are being used as free commuter parking lots,” said Rec and Park spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell....

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Funding for homeless students drying up

As the worsening economy drives more families into shelters, public schools are bracing for an increase in homeless students, which will stretch funding for those students thinner than ever before. The number of homeless students, currently at 1,623, will likely rise this year, but the San Francisco Unified School District has made do with the same amount of state and federal funding, just less than $300,000 each year. It relies heavily on nonprofits to make up the difference, according to Tatum Wilson, coordinator of the district’s homeless programs. California school districts are required by law to provide speedy enrollment, uniforms, school supplies and transportation to any...

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Report: Teen pregnancy less likely in S.F.

San Francisco teens are getting pregnant at nearly half the rate of their peers statewide, but Hispanics give birth eight times as often as whites, according to a new report. The City’s adolescents are also less likely to be sexually active — and more likely to use condoms — than others in California, according to “A Snapshot of Youth Health and Wellness,” issued this month by San Francisco-based Adolescent Health Working Group. San Francisco teens 15 to 19 gave birth at a rate of 20 per 1,000 between 2003 and 2005, well shy of the 34 per 1,000 average reported across the Bay Area and 37 per 1,000 statewide. However, Hispanic teens in San Francisco gave...

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Beach visitors’ center will stay open, but unstaffed

Come mid-February, two staffers at the Beach Chalet, San Francisco’s only coastside visitors’ center, will be laid off, leaving tourists to pick up visitor guides — and navigate the site’s historic murals and architecture — on their own. The workers run docent tours and provide tips on amenities citywide, from hotels to museums to parks, said Rosa Robinson, who has worked in the visitors’ center for 11 years. The positions were cut to save the Recreation and Park Department $137,000 per year, which is part of $2.5 million in budget cuts made in December in response to The City’s projected budget deficit for this fiscal year. Their last day...

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Talebi addresses the state of writing in Iran

Niloufar Talebi, the founder of the Bay Area-based Translation Project, which translates Iranian literature into English, talks about the state of writing in Iran. The nonprofit group’s Iranian Literary Arts Festival is Feb. 5-6 in San Francisco. Persia was home to two famous Middle Eastern poets, Rumi and Hafiz. How has Iranian poetry evolved since their era? Contemporary literature is just as rich, but most contemporary poetry is in free verse — Rumi and Hafiz wrote in very formal rhyming structure. In addition, we now concentrate more on writing poetry of the people — social poetry, personal poetry. Are Iranian poets in Iran focusing on different subjects than...

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City’s kids-and-families czar sacked

The popular and respected director of The City’s primary agency serving San Francisco’s children and families has been fired by Mayor Gavin Newsom, officials confirmed Wednesday. Following months of rumors that Newsom planned to fire her, Margaret Brodkin, four-year director of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, said Newsom asked her to leave her post. “I don’t know the reasons behind [his decision],” Brodkin told The Examiner on Wednesday. The move leaves youth advocates fearful that as The City faces a projected $576 million budget deficit for next fiscal year, a voter-approved budget set-aside for child-related needs — one of the...

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Land deal could pave way for new 10-mile trail

A $10 million deal may make way for a vast swath of protected open space — and a new trail from the San Mateo County ridges to the open ocean — on 1,300 acres west of the Purisima Creek Redwoods. The deal could kick off this spring, if the University of California regents agree to sell the Elkus Ranch, 450 acres of rugged hillsides to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. The district is also hatching plans to acquire three adjacent parcels, 240 to 340 acres each, containing farms, ranches and plenty of undeveloped land, according to Sandy Sommer, real-estate manager for the district. Ultimately, the project could lead to a “Purisima to the Sea” trail,...

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Holiday helps families pass customs across generations

As the Year of the Ox approached, Sunset district resident Wendy Dere spent much of her time in the kitchen with her mother, making lettuce cups stuffed with oysters and mushroom caps brimming with ground fish. The annual Chinese Lunar New Year arrives each year with multiple feast days, both before and after the holiday, celebrated Jan. 26 this year. As Chinese-Americans like Dere struggle to maintain the New Year’s traditions, they also look forward to the delicacies of the season — just as many Americans anticipate the sweet potatoes and pumpkin pies of Thanksgiving. “Some of the foods, we only get to eat once a year, like shark-fin soup,” Dere said....

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Zoo meeting info not given to public

Daily doings at the San Francisco Zoo have been scrutinized intensely since a Siberian tiger fatally mauled a patron on Christmas Day 2007, but one of the animal park’s key decision-making bodies appears to be evading the public eye. The San Francisco Zoological Society, the nonprofit agency that has managed the zoo since 1993, doesn’t post its meeting agendas and doesn’t provide key documents related to those meetings, an apparent violation of city and state open-meeting laws. Under its contract with The City, the society is required to follow the same rules for public meetings as the Recreation and Park Department, the zoo’s former manager. Those rules...

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Expulsion rate at SFUSD climbs

More San Francisco public school students have been expelled since August than in the entire 2007-08 school year, and parents and city leaders are questioning whether the school district is following state laws when disciplining kids. Between August and December, the San Francisco Unified School District received 81 expulsion requests from schools and expelled 16 students. The majority of cases were dismissed or referred for counseling, Ricky Jones, the school district’s director of pupil services, said Thursday at a joint meeting of members of the Board of Supervisors and Board of Education. In 2007-08, 97 students were recommended for expulsion and 11 were expelled. In...

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Balance of discipline

Blacks and Hispanics are a small slice of The City’s public school population, but make up roughly three-quarters of students who are suspended or expelled. Blacks make up 7 percent of The City’s total population and 12.5 percent of students within the San Francisco Unified School District. However, half the students who face disciplinary action belong to this ethnic group, according to district data. Another 20 to 30 percent of those disciplined are Hispanic. They account for 23 percent of school district students and 14 percent of San Francisco’s population. Leaders within and outside the school district said the numbers are troubling — and more than one...

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City extends Camp Mather run by two weeks

Folks hoping to get a reservation at Camp Mather — The City's family getaway located near Yosemite — may have an easier time this summer. The Recreation and Park Department, which owns the popular campground in the Sierras, is adding one extra week at the beginning of the Camp Mather season and another at the end, creating a 12-week run from June 6 to August 22, according to department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell. The first and last weeks come when San Francisco public schools are still in session. "Camp Mather has been so popular, we've had waiting lists," Seitz Gruwell said. In 2008, 35,000 people visited the site San Francisco has owned since the 1920s....

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Diverse crowd unites in city to watch inauguration

They came from across the Bay Area, young and old, black, white, Hispanic and Asian — a diverse crowd brought together through an event taking place more than 2,000 miles away. Thousands gathered Tuesday morning in San Francisco to watch the inauguration of the nation’s first black president, with many expressing optimism about a coming change. Crowds hugged, cheered and cried at the San Francisco Civic Center as the inauguration of Barack Obama played out on the big screen with City Hall as the backdrop. Many in the crowd felt the new president would make a big splash for San Francisco. Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting said that Democratic influence in Washington, D.C., will...

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Parents demand crossing guard at dangerous intersection

Parents at an Excelsior district elementary school are renewing pleas for a crossing guard at an intersection where a kindergartener was recently hit by a car. On Jan. 12, a Guadalupe Elementary School student was struck by a car while in the crosswalk, suffering minor injuries, according to Terri Factora, whose child attends the school. “We’re very lucky the student only had minor injuries, because we’re living on borrowed time at that crosswalk,” Factora said. “There are near misses all the time.” Three years ago, a crossing guard was stationed at Prague Street and South Hill Boulevard, two blocks from Guadalupe Elementary and one block from busy...

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Anti-gang program at odds with school

A group that works to deter kids from joining gangs said its programs at Mission High School were banished after organizers protested high suspension rates among Hispanic students. School administrators, however, said it’s a case of miscommunication. After three years at Mission High, Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth was asked to leave the school in December, when it failed to resolve tensions with school leaders, according to Principal Eric Guthertz. While HOMEY officials said those tensions arose because of underreported suspensions and expulsions, Guthertz said they had more to do with a lack of organization on the organization’s part. HOMEY officials asked...

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SFUSD weighing policy for insulin injections

Insulin-dependent diabetic students in San Francisco public schools will continue to receive the injections they need - despite a Sacramento County ruling restricting which school personnel can administer the shots. That ruling, issued in late December, forbids nonmedical school staff from administering insulin injections, overturning a California Department of Education mandate in 2007 that allowed teacher's aides and other staff to give shots if they're trained, according to CDE spokeswoman Hilary McLean. A group of educators and leaders in the San Francisco Unified School District are currently studying what the ruling means for the district, though officials don't believe it applies...

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Schools could ask Redwood City, San Carlos property owners to pay more

Surrounded by a sea of schools buoyed by voter-approved parcel taxes, two cash-strapped districts are eyeing ballot measures that would boost their cash reserves by asking local property owners to pay more taxes. San Carlos School District failed in its November 2008 bid to increase its $75 parcel tax, established in 2003, to $185 — and is planning to return to voters in May or June for another try. The Redwood City School District, which has no parcel tax on the rolls, could go to voters this year after failing to garner support for an $85 parcel tax in 2005. Neither has named a price for a future tax. While school districts receive the lion’s share of their funding...

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Girl, 14, charged with attempted murder in scissor attack

A 14-year-old San Francisco girl was arraigned Thursday on charges of attempted murder and felony assault after she attacked a classmate with a pair of scissors. The girl, whose name has been withheld due to her age, faces two felony counts in court, according to Erica Derryck, spokeswoman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She was arrested Tuesday at Marina Middle School after the fight, according to San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Lyn Tomioka. Students and parents interviewed at Marina Middle School, where the fight occurred, characterized the attack as a run-of-the-mill tiff between classmates, not a potential murder. They also said they felt safe at the...

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Barking up the wrong tree?

City officials could put dog walkers on a shorter leash, but some in the field say a license requirement would put Rec and Park in the doghouse. The Recreation and Park Department faces $8.8 million in cuts for 2009-10, and is exploring cash-generating options, such as charging for parking in parks or an entrance fee at the Botanical Garden. It could also revive a decade-old idea of creating a formal licensing procedure for those who walk dogs for a living, according to Rec and Park finance director Katie Petrucione. “We’ve been working toward the licensing goal, but we don’t think Rec and Park is the department to regulate us,” said Nancy Stafford,...

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San Mateo County not losing hope in fight to help homeless

Raiford Houston lived 44 of his 47 years in San Francisco and thought he had a secure union job driving delivery trucks. But when the bottom began to fall out of the U.S. economy, steady work dried up — and Houston found himself moving into a homeless shelter in South San Francisco. Before moving into Safe Harbor in December, Houston tried to hang on in San Francisco but couldn’t find work or peace of mind in the Western Addition. “It wasn’t a place where I could sit down and concentrate,” Houston said, adding that he plans to live in the shelter only long enough to get back on his feet. While concerns associated with homeless people garner headlines in...

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Local woman's life becomes a TV movie

“Prayers for Bobby,” based on the book about Walnut Creek’s Mary Griffith — and how she came to terms with her son’s homosexuality following his suicide — can be seen Jan. 24 on Lifetime. How did your family’s story become a movie? We met [producer] Daniel Sladek at a book party in Sebastopol. The fact that it’s a TV movie means it’s suitable for all viewers. It wouldn’t be fruitful if only adults could see it. It’s mostly about the validation of young people who are gay and lesbian. What happened to Bobby and how did it change you? We learned about his gayness through his brother Ed. When we found out, I went the way...

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CCSF veteran sets positive course for tough times

The City’s 74-year-old Community College District faces potentially its worst budgeting period in recent memory, yet there’s a peculiar sense of optimism in the air. Much of that optimism comes from the recent appointment of City College of San Francisco veteran Don Griffin as the district’s chancellor. Griffin began serving as interim chancellor in April, when Philip Day stepped down after 10 years at the helm, and officially took the reins Dec. 18. Griffin edged out every other candidate in the pool, in part because of his 39 years as a psychology instructor and administrator with the district. “He was everyone’s pick,” said CCSF trustee Milton...

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Next school lottery may be hectic

San Francisco’s school-assignment process is daunting enough for first-time parents, but a predicted spike in kindergarten applications and enrollment will likely lead to stiffer competition — and force the district to add more classrooms in August. After months of touring schools and grilling principals, parents must turn in their top seven school choices for 2009-10 by today, and wait until mid-March to learn whether their child is assigned to any of them. Although parents of students in all grade levels participate, it’s when students enter kindergarten, middle school or high school that the application process becomes necessary. Thomas McVeigh toured 32 public...

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BART officers carry Tasers, train same way as city police

As BART officials struggle to define the events and actions of the fatal New Year’s Day shooting at the Fruitvale station, the training of the transit agency’s 206 officers has been defined as the equalivelent of other city-based police officers. As rumors and theories circulate that the officer responsible for the killing may have mistakenly used his gun instead of a Taser when he shot 22-yeard-old Oscar Grant III, BART police Chief Gary Gee confirmed on Thursday that officers began carrying Tasers six months ago, after completing a six-hour course. Tasers are worn on the opposite side of the body from firearms in order to prevent confusion about which weapon is being drawn,...

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Yee, Ammiano, Campos call for independent agency to watch BART police

No independent oversight committee keeps tabs on BART’s police force, but that would change under a new law proposed by a trio of local and state lawmakers. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and San Francisco Supervisor David Campos said Thursday they will introduce new legislation to create an independent review committee to oversee the transit agency’s officers. The committee, which would include civil rights and community leaders, among others, would have the power to conduct separate investigations into BART police activity, and respond to public complaints about BART officers’ conduct, Yee said. The legislation was...

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School working to offer students birth control

Students at a continuation high school could get condoms on campus under a proposed program that officials hope will reverse a recent increase in teen-pregnancy rates at the school. After years of decline, rates rose nationally between 2005 and 2006, and local health leaders are seeing similar trends in California and in some schools, including Jefferson Union High School District’s Thornton High School, according to Associate Superintendent Rick Boitano. District officials are developing a plan that could, by the end of this school year, provide condoms on the continuation campus — which works with at-risk students — along with a counseling session to educate each...

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Board members leave legacy of ‘social justice’

Eight years ago, two progressives won big in the race for San Francisco’s Board of Education, leading a wave of change and liberal politics that are likely to persist as they move on to greener pastures. The newly elected Board of Education members were sworn in Wednesday, and Eric Mar, who served for eight years, will be sworn in today to the Board of Supervisors as the new supervisor of District 1, succeeding the termed-out Jake McGoldrick. Meanwhile, former trustee Mark Sanchez, who lost his bid for Tom Ammiano’s seat representing District 9, is already back at his job teaching science at Garfield Elementary Charter School in Redwood City. He plans to earn his...

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School mourns stabbing death of 16-year-old

As students returned to classes Monday, Sequoia High School officials and students grieved the stabbing death of Matthew Johnson, a student and athlete at the Redwood City school. Johnson, 16, was stabbed during an assault in Redwood City early Saturday morning and transported to Stanford Medical Center, where he died, according to police. Although medical examiners have performed a preliminary autopsy, they won’t release the cause of death until toxicology tests are finalized — a process that could take weeks — according to Coroner Robert Foucrault. “The whole faculty is numb. Everybody’s just devastated,” said Ed Huber, athletic director at Sequoia....

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Son of legendary concert promoter gears up for fundraiser

Alex Graham, the 31-year-old son of rock impresario Bill Graham will take part in a fundraising concert Jan. 10 in honor of what would have been his father’s 78th birthday. Growing up, how much did your father expose you to the music scene? Massively. I grew up in Maui and my brother David grew up in Pennsylvania, but during summer and Christmas we’d both fly to San Francisco and hang out with my dad. Practically every single night we’d go to a show [and] we’d spend afternoons in the office helping out. I spent every single New Year’s Eve with the Grateful Dead until I was 13. I got to be the Baby New Year in 1989. What’s something that most people...

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Cyclists seek to lay claim to trails

Some mountain-bike fans are pining for trails of their own in city parks, but others are taking matters into their own hands, cutting trails in remote areas that neighbors say cause erosion — and danger for the cyclists who use them. San Francisco’s park system has multiuse trails for bicyclists, however, they’re shared with dog walkers and pedestrians — a setup that makes trails less fun for everyone, according to Dan Schneider, co-founder of SF Urban Riders. Off-road cycling, including stunt cycling, has become more popular among residents, but San Francisco offers no dedicated space for them, he said. “Multiuse trails can’t have any jumps or...

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Rec centers ‘stretched very thin’

City-run recreation facilities are understaffed and keep unpredictable hours, vexing locals and prompting an edict from the Controller’s Office that the Recreation and Park Department begin keeping better track of its offerings. The department staffs 63 facilities, including recreation centers, clubhouses and playgrounds. Staffing at the facilities has dropped steadily since 2004, according to a report from Controller Ben Rosenfield. As a result, newly renovated recreation centers — such as Upper Noe Valley and Minnie and Lovie Ward — have reopened this year with fewer hours, and don’t have predictable or posted hours, according to Isabel Wade, director of the...

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S.F. teachers to receive boost in pay

Money from a voter-approved parcel tax is rolling into the San Francisco public-school district this week, meaning teachers will begin seeing fatter paychecks in March. The first payment is $16.7 million, and the total earnings from the $198-per-parcel tax will total $31 million by June — more than the $28 million leaders expected, according to Leo Levenson, budget and analysis director for the San Francisco Controller’s Office. The lion’s share of that money will go toward teacher salaries. Some will also pay for technology improvements, higher salaries for some district employees and charter schools. In August, months before teachers would receive higher salaries,...

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District weighs $1m in school-bus cuts

Yellow school buses could soon become more scarce on city streets, as San Francisco school leaders examine $1 million in potential transportation cuts. The San Francisco Unified School District is determining ways to close a looming estimated budget gap of $20 to $60 million, and may have to chop bus service for high, middle and even elementary schools. After preliminary talks this month by the district’s budget committee, several proposals will head to the Board of Education for discussion Jan. 13. Although most students either ride Muni to school or are driven by parents, 4,600 of the The City’s 55,000 public school students ride district-provided buses daily,...

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All-poetry library proposed

San Francisco, often seen as a literary haven, could soon become home to the first all-poetry lending library on the West Coast — one with a decidedly modern twist. The proposed International Poetry Library of San Francisco is the brainchild of Kim Mahler, modeled on New York’s Poets House and London’s Poetry Library. Along with a brick-and-mortar poetry center in The City, Mahler plans to launch a subscriber service similar to Netflix that would lend poetry volumes to writers and scholars nationwide. Mahler is still in search of a location for her library — and has deputized some of her students at DeVry University, where she teaches, to analyze possible sites....

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Hearing today will examine legality of suit

A hearing will be held today regarding the lawsuit filed against The City by the parents of a woman killed in April by a falling tree branch in Stern Grove. Bernard and Mildred Bolton, parents of Kathleen Bolton, sued The City on Oct. 15, accusing San Francisco of dangerous conditions and negligence that led to the death. A redwood tree’s limb snapped off next to a parking lot, crushing Bolton and her car. It had been identified as a potential hazard in a 2004 report from independent consultants HortScience. Today’s hearing will focus on whether Bolton’s parents can legally accuse a government agency of negligence, according to Matt Dorsey, spokesman for the City...

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Healthy food not on students’ menu

You can lead students to the salad bar, but you can’t make than eat. As San Francisco’s public schools have transformed their cafeteria menu options — kicking out the junk food and adding fresh fruit, salads and healthier meals — officials have struggled to make those options enticing to kids. This year, leaders have added two more ideas to the menu: more food options at the beaneries — food carts that operate in conjunction with the cafeterias — and a district-wide point-of-sale payment system so kids don’t have to divulge whether they’re paying full price or getting a government reimbursement. Almost 55 percent of San Francisco...

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Giving Christmas trees second lives

Brown, dry Christmas trees may line the curbs after the holidays — but they will be green again. Trash companies in San Francisco and on the Peninsula will make good use of all those needles and boughs long after the trees are done conveying holiday cheer. In San Francisco, those pines, spruces and firs ultimately turn into electricity, while in San Mateo County they’re composted into nourishment for next year’s garden. In The City, Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Recycling will collect trees Jan. 5 through Jan. 9 and haul tons of timber to the company’s transfer station. There, workers will shred the conifers into wood chips, which will be trucked to the...

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Truancy enforcement ramps up

Parents of kids who skip class are again in the crosshairs, as the San Francisco district attorney gears up to prosecute a new batch of caretakers of truants. The stepped-up enforcement efforts are one piece of a large patchwork of programs aimed at ending chronic truancy in schools. District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office prosecuted parents in six families last summer, after their kids missed more than 50 days of classes. In all cases, the children have since returned to school, although one had to be placed in foster care to make it happen, Harris told The Examiner. The parents were given court-mandated instructions to keep their children in school and get support for the...

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Popular high school teacher dies in motorcycle crash

Burton High School students gathered Monday for an impromptu vigil in honor of one of their favorite teachers, who was killed in a motorcycle crash Friday night. Bonnie Hansen, 45, died after her red Suzuki motorcycle collided with a concrete pillar at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Street and Potrero Avenue, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office. Hansen had taught science at Philip and Sala Burton High School in Visitacion Valley for 11 years, and was popular among students for her wacky sense of humor, said Burton High School Principal William Kappenhagen. “Over the years, she taught biology, physics and health, and had all these fun toys, probably...

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Golf courses in S.F. make money

A new audit of The City’s publicly run golf courses shows that the courses earn money for San Francisco — and could add fuel to the citywide debate over whether to turn them over to private management. Supervisor Sean Elsbernd requested a Controller’s Office audit of city golf finances after an independent consultant, Leon Younger, last fall recommended privatizing the courses to boost income. Younger argued that golf play and revenues were both on the decline in San Francisco, and that “The City has never achieved success in managing public golf.” The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department owns and manages six courses in San Francisco, from...

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New program puts sixth-graders on fast track to college

While The City’s high-school seniors are just receiving their college-acceptance letters, a batch of sixth-graders already know where they'll go to college. City and school leaders launched SF Promise this year, a program that aims to guarantee spots at San Francisco State University for 700 students from the class of 2015 — currently in sixth grade — as well as financial aid for those who need it. While middle-school students are already learning the college-bound mentality, fundraising for a SFSU-based scholarship will formally kick off in February. "The whole concept is to create a college-going culture in our schools," said Hydra Mendoza, Mayor Gavin...

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Wounds from tiger attack linger

It’s been almost one year since the Christmas Day tiger mauling that killed a San Jose teenager, and while the event inspired safety improvements in zoos nationwide, the San Francisco Zoo has yet to recover from the attack. The event, and the riveting details later revealed, drew worldwide attention. A 250-pound Siberian tiger named Tatiana escaped her enclosure Christmas Day 2008, prowled zoo grounds, and ultimately killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and injured two friends. For months afterward, the story played out in the media as rumors circulated that the young men had provoked the tiger, and investigations showed flaws both in Tatiana’s enclosure and zoo...

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Taco truck refuses to say ‘adios’

A taco truck is fighting to remain in its longtime location adjacent to a public high school, despite a city law approved last year that prohibits such vehicles from parking near San Francisco schools. In September, police revoked El Tonayense’s permit to operate the truck, located on Harrison Street near 19th Street — two blocks from John O’Connell High School. However, owner Benjamin Santana is appealing the decision, saying his establishment should be grandfathered in because it has been there longer than the school. As a result, the revocation is suspended pending Santana’s appeal hearing Feb. 4, according to a report from police Cmdr. Sylvia Harper. In...

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City, golf charity could get fair share from PGA Tour

Officials are teeing up ways to make sure San Francisco doesn’t lose money hosting the Presidents Cup next fall and protects funds for a charity organization that teaches golf to local youth. Under its contract with the PGA Tour — the professional golf organization that will stage the Presidents Cup in October at city-owned Harding Park Golf Course — San Francisco will receive a $1 million gift. The Recreation and Park Department is appropriating $500,000 immediately to get Harding ready for the tournament, and expects to appropriate another $500,000 in the 2009-10 budget year to cover the remaining costs associated with hosting the event, according to Rec and Park...

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State, local leaders pursue legal fight over education cuts

State school leaders will sue California about threatened education cuts this year, and a similar lawsuit spearheaded by The City’s school superintendent may not be far behind. Mid-year state budget cuts will likely blow a $20 million hole in the San Francisco Unified School District budget and slash another $10 million from City College of San Francisco. The California School Boards Association voted a few weeks ago to sue the state for not providing enough money for public schools, according to San Francisco Board of Education Member Jill Wynns, who is also a member of the CSBA. Next fall, the SFUSD could face another $20 million to $60 million in losses — which could...

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The City may be running risk of wildfires

Neglect has left nearly a dozen wooded areas in The City thick with underbrush and aging trees, and that has some worried that the region is ripe for a devastating wildfire. San Francisco is home to several large, wooded areas — from the Presidio to the north to McLaren Park to the south. Many are dangerously overgrown. Those conditions, coupled with decreasing rainfall, unseasonably hot days and a lack of controlled burns in the area — an effective fire-prevention technique — could add up to disaster. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has deemed 11 of The City’s park areas “moderate fire hazard severity zones,” ranked only...

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Class of 2014 must meet college-prep bar

San Francisco’s Class of 2014 will earn their diplomas by taking the same courses required for admission to California’s public four-year colleges and universities. Those college-preparatory courses will become mandatory for students starting ninth-grade in 2010, following a unanimous vote Tuesday night by the Board of Education. Although the new requirements are similar to current ones, district leaders said they will leave students better prepared. “It’s going to be an expectation that the kids are absolutely capable of,” board member Hydra Mendoza said. “They’ll know what they need to accomplish, and will prevent them getting to a point in...

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Golf tour putting Park and Rec in the hole

The City will soon start rolling out the green carpet for the 2009 Presidents Cup at Harding Park Golf Course, but some park watchdogs say preliminary fiscal plans could leave San Francisco in the hole a second time. The Professional Golf Association, which hosts the Presidents Cup, pays the city $1 million each year to hold the tournament at the public course. Half of that money goes to the Recreation and Park Department to cover costs associated with the tour, and the remainder goes to First Tee, a PGA-sponsored organization that introduces inner-city youth to golf. But Rec and Park says $500,000 isn’t enough to cover its costs. The PGA Tour’s last Harding event, the 2005...

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Raising the bar for high-school seniors

While The City’s public-school leaders say proposed tougher graduation requirements will challenge high schoolers to succeed, students and counselors say they could lead to an increase in bad grades and dropouts. The new standards, which will be voted on Tuesday by the Board of Education, would require all high school students to pass a series of college-preparation courses in order to receive diplomas. Currently, those courses are optional. They are, however, required for students enrolling in University of California and California State University colleges. “That’d be hard,” said Angelo Chavez, a sophomore at Mission High School. “A lot of students are...

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Plans to move arts school revived

Moving the School of the Arts from the wilds of Miraloma Park to the Civic Center, ground zero for high-end performing arts, is back at center stage — if the school district can raise $60 million to make it happen. Founded in 1982 and backed by renowned artist Ruth Asawa, the public performing-arts school, which admits students who successfully audition, has long been located within the McAteer High School campus at the top of Glen Canyon Park. Arts supporters have for years wanted to move the school closer to The City’s arts center, saying it would allow budding performers to mingle with and learn from San Francisco’s opera, ballet and symphony stars. The San...

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Park swap forges ahead

A controversial park-swap deal in Potrero Hill that would take away land neighbors say they’ve eyed for a decade for future green space is being pushed through by one city supervisor. Under the deal, Norcal Waste Systems Inc. would give 35,250 square feet of property it owns within a park in the Bayview to The City’s Recreation and Park Department in exchange for a 50-by-628 parcel, owned by the Department of Public Works, next to the trash company’s Golden Gate Disposal site in Potrero Hill. The City would also gain $400,000 from the exchange. The Recreation and Park Commission, however, is not convinced of the merits of the deal, initially voting the plan down and...

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McLaren tree lighting kicks off City's true holiday season

The holidays won’t truly come home to San Francisco till the stately Monterey cypress in front of McLaren Lodge is lit today. Sharp-eyed guests may also spot a few cultural references on the model train parked on the Recreation and Park Department’s front lawn, including Japanese character Pikachu and multiple allusions to President-elect Barack Obama. The decorations were added by park volunteers, according to Rec and Park Interim Director Jared Blumenfeld. “It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek,” he said. “I thought people would complain, but nobody has. We already have a Christmas tree on public land, which probably has all sorts of constitutional issues, as...

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San Mateo County's new manager takes the reins

The San Mateo County manager seat isn’t relinquished lightly: It has only changed occupants four times in the last 50 years. Meet No. 5: David Boesch, 51, who has served nearly two years at the side of retiring County Manager John Maltbie. On Jan. 1, Boesch will officially step into the top job, and by all accounts he has big shoes to fill. Like Maltbie, who took the post in 1989, Boesch comes on just as the county is at the brink of recession. San Mateo County faces a $28.6 million deficit this year, which could balloon to $92 million by 2013, according to the county budget manager, if leaders don’t take quick action. Meanwhile, plans to build a new jail facility to...

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Black Friday brings in the bucks in city

The final tallies aren’t in, but it appears Black Friday in San Francisco will live up to its reputation for helping retail stores’ profit margins — even in a tough economy. Shoppers thronged stores all weekend, particularly on the day after Thanksgiving. “We were very encouraged by the customer traffic,” said Heather Almond, senior asset manager for the Westfield San Francisco Centre. Meanwhile, shoppers turned to public transit in droves in order to shuttle from home to shopping centers — well into the night — according to BART spokeswoman Luna Salaver, who rode from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday just to see how traffic was moving. “I...

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Booze tax may be boosted

The cost of alcohol across the state will increase if San Mateo County officials have their way. A 12-pack of beer would cost $3.60 more under a proposal for a statewide alcohol-tax hike officials say could raise $3 billion for drug- and alcohol-addiction prevention programs. California’s alcohol tax, which is charged on retail and wholesale transactions, has not been changed since 1992, according to Deputy County Manager Mary McMillan. “It is a good budget response ... but it actually is a really good public health response,” said Maureen Sedonaen, CEO of San Francisco-based Youth Leadership Institute. County officials recently agreed to push for a 25-cent...

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Two-thirds of city students not physically fit

Two-thirds of San Francisco public-school students failed to meet all six fitness criteria mandated by the state, according to new scores released by the California Department of Education. Students are tested in grades 5, 7 and 9 on six measures, including aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper-body strength and flexibility. Just 23.6 percent of San Francisco fifth-graders were able to measure up in all six categories during the 2007-08 tests — down from 25.7 in 2006-07 and lower than the state average of 28.5 percent, according to the CDE. Among seventh-graders, 33.7 percent met all six benchmarks, down from 34.3 the prior year but...

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Botanical Gardens seeing new kind of green

A collection of dilapidated, 45-year-old greenhouses supporting the San Francisco Botanical Garden could soon become a new kind of green. Fundraisers for the historic 55-acre garden are gathering $12.8 million to build a state-of-the-art gardening center that will support the Botanical Garden’s collection of native and exotic plants — while teaching the public the latest in eco-friendly gardening techniques. For starters, the center will be moved from its current spot — one of the lowest-elevated points in Golden Gate Park, and therefore one of the coldest — to a nearby hilltop that gets more sun, according to Botanical Garden Director Brent Dennis. Designers...

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Slight rise seen in The City’s youth population

San Francisco’s youth population held steady last year for the first time in nearly 50 years, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2007, there were 109,718 children 17 and under in San Francisco — up slightly from 109,636 in 2006, according to census data. While youth experts have held forth on the notorious youth decline for decades, they don’t agree on what the new numbers mean for the local child population. In 1960, San Francisco was home to 181,532 kids 17 and under — a number that has declined every year since, according to September Jarrett, director of policy and planning for the Department of Children, Youth and Families. “The...

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Curtain may be drawn on Palace of Fine Arts Theater

The Palace of Fine Arts Theatre’s dancing days may be numbered. The Recreation and Park Department is kicking off the hunt for a new renter to take over the 120,000-square-foot building when the theater’s current co-tenant, the Exploratorium, moves to Port of San Francisco property in 2012, according to Margot Shaub, Rec and Park’s director of property management. The theater could be ousted unless the new tenant opts to keep it. Rising rents also threaten the nonprofit theater. It has operated on a month-to-month basis since April, when the theater’s lease with The City expired. A department appraisal valued its 37,000-square-foot venue at 50 cents per square...

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Holiday vittles grow scarce as donations drop

As holidays draw near, local food banks and meal programs are being hit by a double whammy: decreased donations and more mouths to feed. Food-program leaders remain optimistic that the holiday spirit will prompt San Franciscans to give food and financial support, but early donations have been slow. Meanwhile, lines at local soup kitchens are getting longer every day. “We’re especially seeing more women, young people and seniors,” the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church said. “We’ve never seen an increase like this.” The recent economic downturn has hurt not only homeless clients, but also working-class residents, families and seniors whose...

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S.F. schools exhaust areas to cut back

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $2.5 billion in cutbacks to education would translate to a $20 million loss for San Francisco public schools — and could send district officials looking to The City for a financial handout. State cutbacks last spring already meant a $40 million shortfall for the San Francisco Unified School District’s 2008-09 budget. New proposals in Sacramento could mean another hit. A more conservative budget picture from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office could mean $10 million in takeaways from local schools, or as much as $20 million if the Legislature supports Schwarzenegger’s plan, according to San Francisco Board of...

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Burlingame police arrest Petaluma teacher in minor's solicitation

A Petaluma high school teacher is expected to be arraigned Monday in San Mateo County Court on charges that he sent electronic messages to a minor, hoping to seduce the youngster. Police arrested Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, at an undisclosed location in San Mateo on Saturday morning, where he allegedly had made arrangements to meet with the minor, according to a report from the Burlingame Police Department. Dietlin has taught history and economics at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma for the past 10 years, according to Burlingame police Sgt. Edward Nakiso. Local police caught wind of Dietlin's alleged activities after two local teens established a profile on MySpace and posted a...

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Park department to lay off employees

Eight to 15 Recreation and Park employees will be laid off to help the department cut $2.5 million from its budget, interim General Manager Jared Blumenfeld said Thursday. Mayor Gavin Newsom asked departments across The City this month to make mid-year cuts in order to close a projected general-fund deficit of as much as $120 million. Leaders are expected to deliver their proposals to the Mayor’s office by the end of the day Friday. The park layoffs will save roughly $300,000. Blumenfeld said he could not identify which positions would lose jobs until Newsom approves the cuts. Pink slips would be sent Dec. 2, and the employees’ last day would be Feb. 2. The department...

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Potrero Hill park plan booted for parking

What Potrero Hill residents had hoped would become a park will actually be a parking lot instead. A chunk of Bayview’s Little Hollywood Park — currently held by privately owned Norcal Waste — would be given to the Recreation and Park Department in exchange for an undeveloped city-owned strip of land in Potrero Hill. The swap, which heads to the Recreation and Park Commission for approval today, has neighbors feeling left in the cold. “It’s a stinker of a deal,” said Potrero Hill resident Tony Kelly. “The neighborhood has been calling it potential park space for a decade.” The Department of Public Works owns the land next to the Golden...

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Party in the park will cost $1 million

A three-day concert in Golden Gate Park will cost a promoter at least $1 million — and attendees will have to pony up, too. After garnering an $815,000 fee from August’s Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Recreation and Park Department officials hope to increase how much of a guaranteed fee they would receive from another three-day event. They are also looking to tack a $3 park-improvement fee onto each ticket, which this year cost concertgoers $85 for a one-day pass and $225 for all three days. The festival, which was the first nighttime concert in Golden Gate Park history, drew more than 130,000 concertgoers. Another Planet Entertainment — the agency that...

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CCSF’s former chancellor in top 10

Former City College of San Francisco Chancellor Philip Day was pulling down one of the top 10 community college salaries in the country ($382,208 a year) before he resigned in April, according to a new study from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Day resigned in April to move to the East Coast, said CCSF board member Milton Marks. Although Day received glowing performance reviews from the district, he was investigated for diverting public funds into political campaigns. CCSF may announce Day’s replacement this week. Candidate finalists include Interim Chancellor Don Griffin, Coastline Community College President Ding-Jo Currie and Stark State College of Technology President John...

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Historic home sitting empty, future uncertain

A 96-year-old historic house in the Marina district has been sitting idle since it was donated to The City a decade ago, but leaders could soon breathe new life into its old bones. Fay House, built in 1912 on Leavenworth and Chestnut streets, was bequeathed to the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department in 1998. The department has since painted the house, replaced its roof, renovated the surrounding gardens and opened them to the public. But the house is riddled with dry rot, and caretakers have failed to agree on what should be done with the home or how to raise the estimated $1 million needed for repairs. Interim Rec and Park chief Jared Blumenfeld is now brainstorming ways to...

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Veteran board member heads for re-election

As ballot counting comes to an end, veteran Board of Education member Jill Wynns has turned into the Comeback Kid. Late on election night, Wynns was languishing in fifth place among 15 candidates vying for four seats on the board governing the San Francisco Unified School District. The most recent tally from the Department of Elections, which still has about 5,000 ballots to count, shows her securely in third place behind top vote-getters Sandra Fewer and fellow incumbent Norman Yee. If re-elected, Wynns would soon begin serving her fifth term — the first time any Board of Education member has done so. “It’s a relief for me,” she said. “My emotional...

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Will new playground last?

After years of struggling to build a new playground at Peabody Elementary School, volunteers swooped in and built a new one in just one day. The project is the latest from playground-construction nonprofit KaBOOM!, which has already installed play sites at Crocker Amazon and Balboa parks. Peabody’s Parent-Teacher Association worked for 10 years and raised $25,000 to rebuild the school’s aging play structures, but it was never enough, according to Principal Willem Vroegh. They struck pay dirt when their proposal to KaBOOM! — which covered the costs from top to bottom — was granted. “The kids are thrilled,” Vroegh said. Students pitched in to pick...

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Pilot program may open more schoolyard playgrounds on weekends

One year after 11 public schools began opening on weekends to provide neighbors access to their playgrounds and basketball hoops, leaders are exploring where — and whether — to expand the number of open schoolyards. The pilot project, launched in December with much fanfare by San Francisco Unified School District leaders, Supervisor Carmen Chu and Mayor Gavin Newsom, quietly provided bonus play space through June and relaunched when school started in September. Although some initially feared the move would expose schoolyards to the vandalism seen in San Francisco’s public playgrounds, participating schools so far say the extra traffic actually keeps campuses safer,...

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Schools could ask voters for $531 million

Voters may still be reeling from last week’s election, but public school leaders are already eyeing new measures to boost funding — including up to $531 million in bonds — next November and beyond. The first measure is slated for the November 2009 ballot, when the San Francisco Unified School District hopes to renew a parcel tax that pays for safety upgrades in classrooms. The second includes two bond measures expected to go before voters between 2010 and 2013, according to district officials. San Francisco property owners have been paying the $32.20-per-parcel Mello-Roos tax since it was adopted in 1990, according to David Goldin, school district facilities director....

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School funding takes a back seat

Schools in The City could take a serious hit if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger makes good on his proposal, announced Wednesday, to slash $2.5 billion from K-12 and community college districts statewide. The San Francisco Unified School District and City College of San Francisco are still reeling from $3 billion in statewide education cuts last summer, which required the school district to take nearly $20 million of The City’s rainy-day fund for public schools. “Any further cuts would be catastrophic,” said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. “Midyear cuts are particularly challenging because we are in contractual agreements with the majority of our work...

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School district poised to revamp lottery system

As parents in The City prepare to run this year’s school-assignment gauntlet, public school leaders have unveiled plans for a revamp of the controversial lottery. The San Francisco Unified School District officially kicks off school assignments for fall 2009 on Saturday, when it hosts the districtwide enrollment fair for parents to get the inside scoop on local schools. The fair, along with tours, is the first step in choosing seven preferred schools — and waiting to find out if their child is assigned to one of those picks when enrollments are announced in March. The labyrinthine process took heat last summer from the civil grand jury and Supervisor Carmen Chu, and led 23...

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Two secure seats in San Francisco school board race, but election is close

Voters favored new perspectives over veteran experience on the San Francisco Board of Education, giving only one of two incumbents a clear win in the race for public schools’ governing body. Norman Yee, first elected four years ago, took a handy lead in Tuesday’s election, while Sandra Fewer, a parent organizer for school-watchdog agency Coleman Advocates, ran a close second, according to early results. The race for the last two seats remained tight between immigrant-rights advocate Barbara Lopez, special-education advisory board member Rachel Norton and veteran board member Jill Wynns, who was first elected in 1992. Wynns was trailing in fifth place at press time,...

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Voters want JROTC allowed in schools

San Francisco voters said they would like to see a popular military-based high school program march back into public high schools. In a controversial 2006 vote, the San Francisco Board of Education ousted the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, which is now slated to be shut down at the end of the school year. Although Tuesday's vote does not require the school district to reverse that decision, many candidates for the Board of Education said they would consider bringing JROTC back if Proposition V...

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Voters decline to decriminalize prostitution

Voters rejected a measure that would have decriminalized prostitution. Proposition K would have prohibited police from using resources to investigate and prosecute sex workers. Opponents said prostitutes are often exploited women and children, and ignoring prostitution laws would have made enforcing rape, extortion and battery laws more difficult. Additionally, funding for The City's rehabilitation program for prostitutes — partially funded by fees from clients who have been arrested — would have dried...

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Millions may go to S.F. schools

San Francisco school district officials hope to turn state sanctions into a silver lining and bankroll their own planned overhaul of schools. The California Board of Education will vote Wednesday and Thursday on penalties against the San Francisco Unified School District, including a new state- mandated curriculum and hiring outside consultants to train teachers in the new curriculum. With those penalties would come $2.7 million in grants to get the job done. SFUSD leaders are hoping to take advantage of the potential changes — and the funding that comes with them — to implement their own “strategic plan” aimed at boosting test scores and academic achievement...

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Fate of city's public golf courses still hangs

The fight over the future of San Francisco's golf courses will continue for several more months, as members of a task force charged with making a decision on how - or whether - to fund the facilities in the future said Wednesday that they needed more information. Golf advocates and those who wish the park land could be used for other purposes packed the last scheduled meeting of The City's ad-hoc Golf Course Task Force. Golfing has declined 50 percent at city courses in the past decade, leading The City's golf revenues to decline, according to a report created for the Recreation and Parks Department by an outside consultant, Leon Younger. Although the report said leasing the six...

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Who's afraid of the big bad cat?

Nancy Mangini still vividly remembers the first time she saw a mountain lion in Woodside, while delivering a prescription from her husband’s pharmacy. “I parked in the driveway, and it just came loping down next to the car,” Mangini said. The second time — about four years ago — she was walking at dusk in Edgewood Park and looked out across the valleys, only to find she wasn’t alone. “I could see a very large feline walking along the ridge, and I thought, ‘This is probably not a good place for me to be,’” Mangini said. In both instances, the sight was “rather thrilling — it reminds you that you are indeed in the...

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Soccer players want golf courses converted to playing fields

The City is starved for sports fields, say local athletes who plan to tell city officials tonight that the solution is to chop up some city-owned golf courses. For years The City has struggled to pay for the upkeep and management of its public golf courses, and in the last year a study was conducted and a task force convened to decide the future of the grassy facilities. While the 2008 study from consultant Leon Younger recommended privatizing the majority of San Francisco’s golf courses as a way of helping them boost revenues, a separate 2004 study by Younger for The City — not related to golf courses — said San Francisco needed to nearly double its playing-field...

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District adopts disaster-prep course for teens

Public school teens will be able to earn credit starting in the fall for learning to save lives, a course that was approved Tuesday night by the school board amidst accusations that the new course was unveiled to derail voter support for a popular military-based program for high school students. The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program is slated to end in June of 2009 as a result of a controversial vote by the school board in 2006. Last week, board members Jane Kim and Norman Yee introduced the 9-week disaster-preparation course last week as a JROTC alternative - just weeks before Proposition V -- which urges the board to bring back JROTC -- goes before San Francisco...

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Police focusing efforts on Mission

With a new report showing an increase of homicides this year in the Mission district, public-safety leaders are introducing new ways to quell the violence. Among the five “zones” the Police Department targeted in March for concentrated resources — the Tenderloin, Mission, Western Addition, Bayview and Visitacion Valley — only the Mission saw a jump in homicide rates, police Capt. John Goldberg told the Public Safety Commission on Monday. Homicides in the Mission increased from nine between Jan. 1 and Oct. 18, 2007, to 12 during the same period this year, Goldberg said. The new statistics come as Supervisor Tom Ammiano, whose district includes the Mission, is...

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Nonprofit's new director ready to help S.F. schools

Ellie Rossiter, the new executive director of the San Francisco chapter of Parents for Public Schools, a nonprofit that aims to get parents involved in strengthening schools, has jumped into the role as the school district moves forward with a new strategic plan and a possible change to the controversial student-assignment system. What are the barriers to getting parents more involved in their children’s school? I think parents are really stretched right now. These days, with budget cuts, parents are called upon to do a lot in the schools, and that means investing a lot of their time. But economically, parents are required to work and that makes it very difficult for them to continue...

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Contamination found in children's sandbox

Noe Valley parents and tykes waited more than two years for their local recreation center and playground to reopen, and are now waiting even longer to use the sandbox after it was found to be contaminated with paint thinner. The new facilities reopened Sept. 6 after a two-year, $11.2 million renovation. A week later, the sandbox was fenced off after parents and Recreation and Park Department staff discovered an odor emanating from the sand, officials said. Inspectors soon confirmed the substance in the sand was paint thinner, according to Alexandra Torre of Friends of Upper Noe Valley Recreation Center. “Department of Public Works tested the sand, and it was found not to be...

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Science academy helps nearby attractions

Overflowing crowds from the newest museum in The City are increasing foot traffic at some city-run attractions but detracting from others. Since opening less than a month ago, the museum has welcomed 142,000 visitors, exceeding the 90,000 predicted between opening day Sept. 27 and Oct. 19, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Stone. Many visitors have also explored nearby attractions, from the de Young Museum to the Japanese Tea Garden, giving officials at those sites a chance to rethink what they offer. Meanwhile, officials at the San Francisco Zoo said the academy’s opening was a major attendance drain in September. “Our attendance has seen a decline since...

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Proximity pondered in school assignment

As school district leaders prepare to overhaul the controversial student-assignment system, the majority of candidates for Board of Education seats say the distance between home and school needs to be a bigger piece of the puzzle. The complex process used to assign students to San Francisco public schools has long vexed parents — and has gone through a number of changes, though none were made in the 2007-08 school year. Both the civil grand jury and Supervisor Carmen Chu have recently called for the district to put more emphasis on placing students in schools close to where they live. Although some parents, especially in Chu’s Sunset district, would like a better shot at...

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Board finds JROTC sub

The latest alternative proposed for The City’s public schools to replace an ousted high school military program could begin training students in emergency preparedness, CPR and disaster response as early as next fall. The new 2.5-credit class would run students through disaster drills and first aid, and call upon students to train their peers, families and others, instilling leadership skills in the process, according to its sponsors, Board of Education members Norman Yee and Jane Kim. The class — called Student Emergency Response Volunteers, or SERV — was approved Tuesday at the board’s curriculum-committee meeting. If approved by the full Board of Education next...

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Teen survives suspected gang-related stabbing

An East Palo Alto teen was in stable condition Sunday after being stabbed repeatedly in the torso Saturday night. The 16-year-old Hispanic boy was walking with friends on Whipple Avenue near Arguello Street — possibly on their way to or from a party — when a group approached the teen from behind and stabbed him several times, according to police reports. When officers arrived, they found him laying in the street. “At first, his wounds appeared quite serious,” said Redwood City police Sgt. Ashley Osborne. “But once we got him to the hospital, we found that his injuries are not life threatening.” After the attack, the suspects fled on foot, according...

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Storied Coit Tower turns 75

Since the day it was built, Coit Tower has stood as a lightning rod of inspiration and controversy due to its size, murals, maintenance and even the trinkets for sale inside. The City’s white tower was raised on Telegraph Hill in 1933, funded by an $118,000 gift from resident Lillie Hitchcock Coit — amounting to one-third of her estate — according to descendant Michael Coit. The tower officially turns 75 on Saturday. A formal celebration by The City is scheduled for Oct. 25. Although visitors from around the world flock to the monument to enjoy the views, it’s often what’s inside Coit Tower — a series of 26 murals created in the 1930s — that...

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Welcome to the Peninsula's next boom

First, it was computer chips. Then, it was DNA sequencing. Now, San Mateo County’s brightest minds are turning to alternative energy — and many are banking on the possibility that the end of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels will be born in the Peninsula’s backyard. From electric-car maker Tesla Motors to LS9, the firm hatching biodiesel from bacterial waste, millions of dollars in investment money has flowed in the direction of the county’s latest booming industry: clean tech. Clean tech is less about a specific field and more about revamping the way energy is created and used, and industry experts say it can be tough to nail down exactly what...

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Bludgeoned man’s widow goes on trial

For the family of Victor Bach, bludgeoned to death on Halloween in 2003, the trial of his widow on fraud and embezzlement charges is long overdue. Jury questioning begins today in the trial of Kathleen Bach, who was indicted by a San Francisco grand jury on 25 counts of fraud and embezzlement in August 2006, according to the District Attorney’s Office. If convicted, she could face 12 years or more in jail. Although a San Francisco police investigation into Victor Bach’s homicide led authorities to discover that someone had pilfered $1.9 million from an estate he had managed — and eventually led to his widow’s arrest — his killer remains at large, despite a...

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Guns showing up on campus

A 14-year-old International Studies Academy student was arrested and faces expulsion after he brought a gun to school last week — the second firearm found on one of The City’s public school sites this month. Administrators found a gun in the student’s backpack the morning of Oct. 7 and called the academy’s on-duty police officer for backup. School officials confiscated the weapon; the student ran away but later returned to the school and was arrested and taken to Juvenile Hall, according to a report from San Francisco police Capt. John Loftus. Principal Bill Sanderson was not available for comment. District spokeswoman Gentle Blythe said Sanderson told her,...

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BART employee dies after being struck by train

A BART track inspector who had worked for the railway for seven years was struck and killed by a train Tuesday morning while on the job. Concord resident James Strickland, 44, was inspecting a length of track at Chateau Court in Walnut Creek at 9:30 a.m. when a train traveling 70 mph struck him from behind. Medical examiners pronounced him dead at the scene, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson. Strickland and another inspector were performing routine checks on the San Francisco-bound trackway when the accident took place. He was facing the way trains on the line would normally approach, but trains were running in both directions because another work crew was performing...

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Board of Education to question member’s junket

Board of Education member Jane Kim is asking for a $642 reimbursement from the school district for a trip to Las Vegas for a hip-hop convention — a reimbursement which may violate board policy barring payback for trips to political events. Kim said the August trip — to the National Hip-Hop Political Convention — had little to do with partisan politics and more to do with sharing information on programs that engage youth at risk of violence, as well as finding ways to get youth involved in voting. “Many of our board members attend other conferences. It’s important for us to do a diversity of conferences,” Kim said. While the convention paid for her...

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Rink may add holiday cheer to Union Square

Union Square, one of The City's most popular shopping destinations, could be transformed into Rockefeller Center West this year if plans to install an ice-skating rink during the holidays are approved this week. Willy Bietak Productions, a former operator of the long-running holiday ice rink at Embarcadero Center, hopes to bring a temporary skating rink to the square this year. Although Union Square has hosted skating in the past, this would be the first time in years, said Gina Eggleston, spokeswoman for the Westin St. Francis Hotel. "We're very excited about having it. It will change the whole atmosphere of the holiday season, and the way the economic times are going now, it...

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Rec and Park director out, Environment director in

If the parks look a little greener this fall, it may be because the director of The City's environmental programs has been asked to keep an eye on San Francisco's recreation spaces and programs - following the departure of an unpopular department head who previously held the job. Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a temporary shuffle within City Hall to fill the position of Recreation and Park General Manager after Yomi Agunbiade announced Sept. 10 that he was stepping down from the job. Agunbiade was named temporary director in 2004 and appointed to the permanent position in July 2005. On Wednesday, Newsom tapped Department of the Environment Director Jared Blumenfeld to temporarily oversee...

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‘Green’ schools drawing outside funding

The City’s public schools are pushing harder than ever to go green — but the greenbacks to pay for it are mostly coming from outside the district. The San Francisco Unified School District recently unveiled its new director of sustainability, Nik Kaestner, whose task will be expanding gardens, rainwater catchments and other eco-friendly ideas to more schools, and locating grants, rebates and other dollars to fund them, since district funds are scarce. Also, Kaestner’s $90,480 salary is being paid for by outsiders. Half is from the Public Utilities Commission and half is from in-kind contributions from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office, Kaestner told The Examiner on...

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Hungry mountain lions roam

More than a half-dozen mountain lions recently spotted in local parks and semi-wild areas are most likely looking for their next meal, wildlife officials say. Residents have reported eight sightings of the big cats since late August, including two that were spied entering Edgewood Park on Aug. 21 and two more that were reportedly walking along a trail Sept. 30 on San Bruno Mountain, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. Another was reported at Wunderlich Park on Friday, but none were reported during the weekend, said Sgt. Art Martinez of the Sheriff's Office. Although there has been a rash of mountain lion sightings this fall, the felines are active year-round,...

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Man injured in possible gang-related shooting

Police are looking for two suspects who allegedly shot a man several times early Sunday morning near a busy stretch of SoMa nightclubs before fleeing. Two Hispanic men bumped into each other while walking along the 200 block of 11th Street shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said. One lifted his shirt to reveal a gun in his waistband, then raised the gun and fired several times, hitting the victim in the stomach, arm, buttocks and other areas, Williams said. The victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition late Sunday, according to police. The shooting took place in front of a club, though Williams...

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JROTC may hinge on election

San Francisco’s embattled high school military program could still have a fighting chance, depending on who is elected to the Board of Education this November. Two years ago, the school board voted to phase out the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and it is now scheduled to end its run in The City’s public high schools in June 2009. However, the November ballot includes a nonbinding measure asking residents to support JROTC. Voters will also be asked to choose between 15 candidates vying for four open seats on the school board. Several of the candidates told The Examiner that if Measure V passes, they would move to keep JROTC, including challengers...

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Next Rec and Park chief faces uphill climb

No matter who winds up being the next leader of The City’s Recreation and Park Department, operating the agency and its 200-plus facilities won’t be a walk in the park. Embattled General Manager Yomi Agunbiade has endured a lot of criticism during his four-year tenure on the job. As he prepares to step down and a committee begins its search to find his replacement, a number of major and ongoing projects loom. The Recreation and Park Department is in the midst of rolling out a $185 million park-improvement bond greenlighted by voters in February. It also is determining the future of its public golf courses — and Candlestick Park, should the 49ers move the team to...

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Park smoking may be doused

Smokers in parks may soon waft away as the city looks to become the latest on the Peninsula to snuff out smoking in green spaces. So far, more than 30 cities statewide have told smokers to butt out of their parks or outdoor spaces, including San Francisco, Belmont, Burlingame and Pacifica. The Redwood City Parks and Recreation Commission is cooking up a similar ban that could be forwarded to the City Council later this fall, according to parks Superintendent Chris Beth. As with many city-based bans, it started with a conflict between residents, according to Beth. “I was working at a Music in the Park event and someone came up to me because another person refused to stop...

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Lowell student elected to SFUSD board

Maxwell Wallace, a 17-year-old Lowell High School senior, was elected by his peers to represent students on the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education this year. Were you surprised your peers picked you? Obviously it’s a great honor, but I think they made the right decision, because I have qualifications. I was an intern with [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s office for a summer and I worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign. What have students said they would like the board to do this year? They want improved quality in the school lunches. Also, the recent [San Francisco Unified School District] satisfaction survey came out and it showed students don’t...

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City sued over Stern Grove tree death

The family of a woman killed by a falling redwood branch in Stern Grove last April is suing The City on the grounds that the tree was a known hazard, attorneys for the family said Tuesday. Resident Kathleen Bolton was loading her car in the grove’s concert meadow parking lot April 14 when the branch fell onto the car, crushing it and killing her. Pleasanton-based HortScience described the tree as, “in decline, with extensive dieback of large branches and significant structural defects which cannot be abated” in a January 2004 report commissioned by the Recreation and Park Department. “This tree had been in this condition for a very long time,” said Doris...

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Public golfing greens may be privatized

The City’s public golf courses could earn significantly more money if they were turned over to private management, according to a long-awaited study that critics say is based on faulty fiscal and demographic information. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department operates six golf courses, ranging from the carefully manicured Harding Park — which hosts the PGA Tour — to the scruffy Lincoln Park, which boasts views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Golfing has declined 50 percent at these courses in the past decade, leading The City’s golf fund — used for golf-related revenues and expenses and managed by the Recreation and Park Department — to lose...

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Budget weighs on lead removal

The Recreation and Park Department knows that nearly 140 of its facilities are contaminated by lead, but it says a tight budget means it will be years before cleanup is completed. City agencies are required by the Department of Public Health to remove lead from buildings constructed before 1978. Recreation and Park fell behind, and in 2003, the department was required to step up its efforts and report quarterly to the Board of Supervisors on its progress, said Karen Cohn, a children’s health manager at DPH. At the same time, DPH lobbied for an annual allowance of $200,000 to help Recreation and Park continue cleanup. However, “$200,000 doesn’t really do...

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City, Walgreens throw first punches in legal fight

Walgreens’ legal fight to continue selling cigarettes at stores in San Francisco places the drugstore chain’s financial interests ahead of the health of The City’s residents, the City Attorney’s Office argued in a brief filed Thursday. San Francisco became the first city in the nation to ban cigarette sales at pharmacies when the Board of Supervisors approved the legislation sponsored by Mayor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 5. Walgreens filed a lawsuit against The City on Sept. 9, which will be heard Sept. 30 in California Superior Court, the day before the law is scheduled to take effect. “There is no legal basis for granting such a request,” City Attorney...

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LitQuake director helps festival write new chapter

Literary agent Elise Proulx is also the executive director of San Francisco's LitQuake, which runs this year Oct. 3-11. How has LitQuake evolved since its beginning? In 2002, it was a two-day festival and we only had a few events at the library and nearby venues, and to us it seemed like frantic activity. Now it’s around 20 times bigger. What’s the best thing about the festival? Everyone’s always complaining about the publishing industry, about how few people read books and tolling the bell of disaster. It’s great to do something where I’m encouraging people to read, meeting writers and thinking about literature. What makes our writers — and literary...

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Voting concerns loom with election nearing

Elections director John Arntz is always nervous when election season looms, but in November he’s anticipating the largest voter turnout in San Francisco history — and those voters may be using new voting machines that still have not been certified by the state. Sequoia Voting Systems, the maker of the machines San Francisco intends to use this November, submitted its ranked-choice systems to Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office late this summer and testing of those systems is complete, according to Bowen spokeswoman Kate Folmar. Following a public hearing on the test results Sept. 26, the earliest Bowen could certify the machines for use is Oct. 6 — the same...

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Crane crash rattles Pac Heights

When a crane fell in Pacific Heights, it was definitely heard. A telehandler, which is part crane and part forklift, toppled Tuesday morning when its one-man crew was unloading six olive trees. The accident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on a hilly portion of Lyon Street near the corner of Broadway, just outside the gates of the Presidio. Crews on scene reported that the machine toppled down Lyon when the operator tried to lift the first tree off the delivery truck. “I just heard the boom when it fell, and then heard the man shouting to call 911,” said Rosalnd Hill, who works as a housekeeper in a house on the corner of Lyon and Broadway. She called for help, then went...

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Recreation and Park shakeup may have been final straw

A decision by the head of The City’s Recreation and Park Department to fire a popular manager may have been the reason he was pushed out of a job, officials said Thursday. Following months of rumors that his job was in jeopardy and closed-door talks with Mayor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night, General Manager Yomi Agunbiade announced Wednesday that he was stepping down from his post. Just days earlier, Rhoda Parhams, director of the department’s capital division, told staff she would be leaving, according to spokesman Elton Pon. Agunbiade had taken steps to remove her, a department staffer confirmed. Jim Lazarus, vice chair of the Recreation and Park Commission, believes...

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San Mateo County fights to protect its elders

On Oct. 6, 2007, a 57-year-old Foster City man took the sharp end of a claw hammer, hit his 81-year-old father on the head and left him to bleed on the floor for an hour before calling paramedics. The father survived. On Aug. 25, Jayantibhai “Johnny” Patel pleaded no contest to a charge of elder abuse with great bodily harm. He faces up to five years in prison. Prosecutors said the son launched the attack because he believed his father would not qualify for admission into a rest home unless he had been hospitalized first. Patel will be sentenced Nov. 7. “[Patel] wanted to render him unconscious in the hope that he could go from the hospital to a care facility...

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Recreation and Park director steps down

After months of criticism and rumors that his job was in jeopardy, the embattled head of The City's Recreation and Park Department, Yomi Agunbiade, is leaving the troubled department. Mayor Gavin Newsom's office met privately with Agunbiade Tuesday night, according to Jim Lazarus, vice chair of the Recreation and Park Commission. Agunbiade then reportedly told Recreation and Park staff Wednesday morning that he was stepping down from the job, according to Isabel Wade, executive director of the Neighborhood Parks Council, a city parks-advocacy group. Commissioners were not informed of the decision or the reason behind it, Lazarus said. Newsom has asked Agunbiade to remain in his...

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Percentage of S.F. seniors passing exit exam falls

When The City’s public high school students received diplomas a few months ago, hundreds did not graduate because they had not passed the state’s exit exam — a larger percentage than the previous year. Education officials noted that for the first time special education students were required to pass the California High School Exit Exam, or CAHSEE, in order to graduate — a mandate that sunk local and state graduation rates. Among San Francisco 12th graders scheduled to graduate in May 2008, 90.6 percent passed the exit exam, compared with 93.8 percent in the Class of 2007. However, 48.7 percent of seniors in special education passed; without them, the overall...

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Fewer California 12th graders pass exit exam

Fewer California high school students in the class of 2008 passed the exit exam than seniors who graduated in 2007 or 2006, according to new data from the California Department of Education. Since 2006, high school students have been required to pass the California High School Exit Exam to graduate. Among seniors in the class of 2008, 90.2 percent had passed the exam – which is first administered when students are in 10th grade – before graduation ceremonies last spring, according to the CDE. That’s down from 93.3 percent of seniors in the class of 2007 who had passed the exit exam by May 2007, and 91.2 percent of seniors in the class of 2006 who had aced the test by...

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San Francisco’s preschool program ahead of schedule

San Francisco’s free preschool program is expanding so 4-year-olds in every ZIP code can get a leg up on kindergarten, Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce today. The program, called Preschool for All, was launched after voters passed Proposition H in November 2004, an annual set-aside that provides city funds for public schools along with a universal preschool program. San Francisco’s Preschool for All program started in 2005 with 1,000 4-year-olds and will now accommodate 4,800 of The City’s 6,000 4-year-olds, according to Nathan Ballard, spokesman for Newsom’s office. The program rollout — providing a free half-day preschool for all 4-year-olds,...

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Diversity may be hurting S.F. students

San Francisco may have a diverse student population, but instructors struggle to understand and teach based on cultural differences, according to a new survey released this week. Last spring, the San Francisco Unified School District polled parents, teachers, administrators and faculty at every school for a survey dubbed the “Satisfaction Survey 2008,” whose results will be revealed to the Board of Education tonight. The results are used to shape the district’s plan to improve students’ performance and educational experience at every school. About 36 percent of principals and vice principals said their teachers lacked the cultural knowledge they needed in order...

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Tree plan shaping street scene

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s promise to plant more than 5,000 trees this year has taken root, according to a new report, but questions remain about how The City will maintain its existing forest. Newsom pledged two years ago to plant new trees throughout The City and this year 5,167 were added, 4,280 on public streets, according to a new report from The City’s Urban Forestry Council. San Francisco has roughly 700,000 trees — including 106,000 on public streets with room for 120,000 more, particularly in low-income neighborhoods — according to the report. But 51 percent of San Francisco’s trees are young — with trunks less than 6 inches in diameter —...

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Supes take aim at zoo overhaul

As a proposal to turn the San Francisco Zoo into a rescue center heads to a vote Tuesday, Supervisor Bevan Dufty is looking for other ways to bolster the future of the facility and its animals and Mayor Gavin Newsom has come out against the rescue plan. Supervisor Chris Daly introduced a plan to convert the zoo into an operation that would focus on rescuing exotic animals from dangerous wild or private situations. On Aug. 7, a Board of Supervisors committee voted 2-1 in support of the proposal, with Daly and Supervisor Tom Ammiano backing the concept. Dufty voted against it. The full Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday. Conditions at the zoo have remained...

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City schools fall shy of federal benchmarks

A seven-year growth streak on state test scores wasn’t enough to save San Francisco’s public school district from a potential complete overhaul or takeover by the state. Although local test scores keep climbing, they’re not climbing fast enough by federal measures that require every school and every group of students — from Hispanics to special-education children — to reach proficiency in math and English by 2014. This year, 50 percent of The City’s public schools met the federal Adequate Yearly Progress targets, or AYP, required under the No Child Left Behind Act — less than the state average of 52 percent, according to the California...

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California students show gains on standardized tests

More California students taking state standardized tests met state and federal assessment benchmarks in 2008 than in 2007 — despite the fact that the federal bar is higher than ever. This year, 53 percent of all schools in the state met the state’s Annual Performance Index, or API, growth targets on a vast array of tests, including the California Standards Test and the California High School Exit Exam. That’s up from 45 percent in the 2006-07 school year, according to data released by the California Department of Education today. The state’s API ranking — a number between a low of 200 and a high of 1,000, with a target goal of 800 — rewards schools...

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Old parks could get new perks

Sweeping plans for some of the Bay Area’s most famous coastal areas could bring historic streetcars to Fort Mason, hotel facilities to Alcatraz and signs so hikers will no longer get lost at Land’s End. Caretakers for the region’s national coastal parks — including 16 sites in San Francisco and seven in San Mateo County — are weighing whether to spend the next 20 years boosting visitor perks at those parks, focusing on conservation or playing up park goers’ experience of history, including what it was like to be a prisoner on The Rock. Leaders with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are close to picking one of those options after sifting...

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North Beach rethinks its streets

A faction of North Beach neighbors may oppose plans to close a section of Mason Street to build a new library and park, but it is not the only potential street closure locals have up their sleeves. Plans are afoot to close a block of Vallejo Street between Columbus and Grant avenues. There, neighbors hope to install a piazza where visitors can stroll, enjoy a cup of coffee at Caffe Trieste and visit the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. Residents delivered piazza designs to City Hall in late August after many years in the dream stage, said resident Arthur Chang. “Twelve to 15 years ago, everyone said, ‘You won’t get support to close streets,’ but now we have a...

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Merchants mobilize after violent stabbing, robbery

The head of a merchant association in the normally quiet neighborhood of Glen Park is renewing his demand for a police surveillance camera at Diamond and Chenery streets after the owner of a corner market was nearly stabbed to death during a robbery Friday night. Glen Park Merchant’s Association President Ric Lopez, owner of ModernPast furniture store on Chenery Street, said he has been asking San Francisco police to install a camera at the busy corner for three years. Paul Park, the 53-year-old owner of Buddy’s Super Market on Chenery Street at Diamond Street, was beaten and stabbed, and a fellow employee was kidnapped by unknown suspects late Friday, according to police....

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Facelift slated for Bayview community hub

Quintin Johnson has been a patron at the Bayview Library since she was 5. Now, as an adult, she comes by regularly to pick out books for her children, 2 and 8. For residents such as Johnson, the library is something of a second home — and that second home is about to be rebuilt from the ground up. The Bayview branch was built in the late 1960s, a 6,000-square-foot bunker-style building on the corner of Third Street and Revere Avenue, and hasn’t changed much since, branch manager Linda Brooks Burton said. The Library Commission last week approved the $1.3 million purchase of a building next door, paving the way for a complete tear-down and rebuild in 2010, Deputy City...

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Burning Man feeling heat from economy

For 22 years, San Franciscans have been participating in the Burning Man festival, now held in the Nevada desert. But this year, the burn has competition from other corners, including many regulars’ pocketbooks. Ticket prices rose, from $280 in 2007 to $295 in 2008, while paychecks likely have not. “The cheaper tickets sold out quickly, and with food, supplies and expensive gas to get there, the costs add up quickly,” San Franciscan Christina Aburto-Vite said. Palo Alto resident Don McCasland, who has attended the annual art event since 1997, has a family wedding this year that will keep him away. He said he and fellow Burning Man friends plan to gather this weekend for...

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Park department seeking money for recreation centers

Three recreation center projects funded by voter-approved bonds have suffered significant delays and, in some cases, costly design errors, according to Recreation and Park Department officials. The department is seeking more than $2 million in damages from West Bay Builders, the company that performed major renovations at the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center in Oceanview. Although the center opened this summer, its heating system still does not work and there are ongoing problems with the new landscaping, said Rhoda Parhams, planning director for the department. Rec and Park is working with the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office to require West Bay to repair the...

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Superintendent making the grade

Touring a number of schools on the first day of classes Monday, Carlos Garcia was greeted heartily by parents, teachers and principals, some shaking his hands, some actually hugging him. As the superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, Garcia had some massive hurdles to overcome when he was hired to lead the district last summer. Former superintendent Arlene Ackerman departed with the reputation of having polarized the district. Schools’ leaders said black and Hispanic students were falling further behind. “We needed someone who was a unifying force, someone who could speak to the positives about public education and yet have a clear understanding of the...

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San Francisco pays up for failed rescue

The family of a 26-year-old man who died two years ago after an off-duty firefighter tried to rescue him from the edge of a roof will receive a financial settlement from The City, after claiming the firefighter was at fault. On Oct. 12, 2006, Nick Torrico, of Seattle, climbed the fire escape to the roof’s edge of an apartment building on Powell Street and appeared poised to jump. As police negotiators at street level tried to talk to him away from the edge, San Francisco fire Lt. Victor Wyrsch surprisingly went onto the roof to intervene, authorities said. Wyrsch attempted to grab Torrico in a bear hug, but Torrico wrestled himself from the fireman’s arms and fell, the...

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Three-day music festival ends on good note

Golden Gate Park’s first foray into nighttime concerts hit almost zero sour notes. Tens of thousands of music fans swarmed the park’s polo fields throughout the weekend to take in the sounds of Radiohead, Beck, Steel Pulse, Ben Harper, Primus, Broken Social Scene and dozens more. And by Sunday afternoon, fans had reveled without any arrests or major episodes of drunken misconduct, according to police and event organizers. “We had some minor things, such as some fences broken down and people jumping the fence, but there were no huge problems,” said Sgt. Wilfred Williams, spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department. The massive crowds caused few headaches...

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High school assistant principal appears in court

A Galileo High School assistant principal accused of helping operate two brothels in San Jose appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Thursday, but did not enter a plea. Gerald Courtney, 57, was arrested for allegedly setting up leases for two apartments in San Jose where prostitution took place, San Jose police Sgt. Mike Sullivan said. Police also believe Courtney posted online advertisements for the prostitution business, while his accomplice, Hsiu Hwa Chou, served as the operation’s madam, Sullivan said. Chou, along with two women accused of prostitution, was also arrested Aug. 7. No students from the San Francisco Unified School District were involved in the...

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Overtime battle not quite over

City agencies notorious for paying employees time-and-a-half say a new law aimed at curbing overtime spending will not reduce the need to have some workers clock more than 40 hours per week. A city employee cannot earn more than 30 percent of his or her salary in overtime per year under the new law, unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 5. However, the rule does not cap overtime spending per department — and exceptions can be made in emergencies or situations where an employee’s specific skills are needed, Deputy Controller Monique Zmuda said. “If, in the Coroner’s Office, all the physicians have already put in their overtime and there are...

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Assistant principal charged in prostitution ring delays plea

A Galileo High School assistant principal accused of helping operate two brothels in San Jose appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court today for the first time since his Aug. 7 arrest, but did not enter a plea. Gerald Courtney, 57, was arrested by San Jose police for allegedly setting up leases for two apartments, one at 1550 Technology Drive and one at 80 Descanso Drive, in mixed-use neighborhoods not far from the San Jose Airport, police Sgt. Mike Sullivan said. No minors, school officials or students from the San Francisco Unified School District were involved in the operation, police said. “Mr. Courtney has denied any wrongdoing in the matter,” according to a...

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3-Minute Interview: Raj Patel

The author of “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle of the World Food System,” will speak Wednesday at the Commonwealth Club. What inspired “Stuffed and Starved”? I wanted people to … get incensed about the fact that the forces that impoverish farmers are the same forces feeding us such bad food, especially in America. Life expectancy is shortening because of the diets we’re being fed here. What has changed in the political and food landscape since the book came out? I finished the book in 2006, when the food crisis was just beginning to blossom. Since then, it’s really hit with a vengeance. In 2006, there were 845 million people going...

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Back to school in The City: Funds stretched thin

While cash-strapped school districts around the country struggle to find or maintain funding for arts education, the San Francisco Unified School District will have money this coming school year for 14 new elementary art teachers. Public schools receive most of their funding from the state, but this money comes courtesy of San Francisco voters, who in March 2004 passed Proposition H. The measure sets aside city money for sports, arts, libraries, music and other needs for the San Francisco Unified School District. Schools have seen significant benefits from the influx of revenue. “We received a part-time librarian, which made us able to not only open our library, but teach kids...

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Back to school: The struggle to find preschool openings

While some kids are going back to school, others are taking their first toddler steps into a classroom. In recent years, the pressure on parents to find quality preschool programs for their young children has risen — there are parents who enroll their children in preschool practically before they’re out of the womb. Parents who were not proactive in getting their child into a preschool still have hope to get accepted into a good school, according to some experts in the pre-kindergarten business. In fact, just before the beginning of fall isn’t such a bad time to sign up, said Stacey Boyd of San Francisco-based Savvy Source, a free online service that connects parents...

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Back to school: Getting into college takes time, money

Although the school year is just getting started, many high school students with their eyes on college must run a dizzying gauntlet of courses, college research, entrance exams and applications to get into their choice of universities. There are “a lot of pieces that go into the process” of gaining entrance to college, said Sarah Zeigler, the associate director of Palo Alto-based Admissions Academy, a college-preparatory company that typically charges $1,000 per semester for its services. College hopefuls need to research options; participate in extracurricular activities that will impress admissions counselors; take on challenging academics that usually comes with demanding...

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Zoo may dump youth ticket price

The cost to get into the San Francisco Zoo could increase by $4 for most patrons starting in September — and could nearly triple for teens who live in The City. The zoo faces a $1.5 million revenue shortfall in the coming budget year, and is banking on a hike in ticket prices, along with more donations, to help cover ongoing operating costs. If Recreation and Park commissioners approve the proposed fees Thursday, residents would pay up to $13 to get in the door, while nonresident tickets would cost up to $15. In addition, Tanya Peterson, interim director of the San Francisco Zoo, has proposed doing away with a “youth” category for patrons ages 12 to 17 and charging...

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State schools chief: ‘A long way to go’

Although California students continue to show steady gains on statewide assessments, fewer than half of students statewide are at grade level in math and English, according to newly released results of state standardized tests. In the previous six years, California has seen its pass rates on the English portion of the California Standards Test rise from 35 percent in 2003 to 46 percent in 2008, while passing rates in mathematics rose from 35 percent to 43 percent in the same time span, according to data released by the California Department of Education. While state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said he was encouraged by the gains, he also said California...

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City students show uneven progress on state test

Approximately half of San Francisco’s public-school students are not testing at grade level in math and English — and according to newly released state test data, the gap between white and Asian students and their black and Hispanic peers in The City widened in 2008. San Francisco Unified School District officials saw the glass as half full, touting at a news conference Thursday the SFUSD’s seventh straight increase in scores on the annual test. Superintendent Carlos Garcia did express concern about what’s known as the “achievement gap” between black and Latino students and their peers. The California Standards Test is administered to students...

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Bucks from bond to boost bayfront

From India Basin to Heron’s Head Park, San Francisco’s waterfront is dotted with islands of open space. Now, a new infusion of cash will help pave the way for more than 13 miles of new trails, which could open the door for a renaissance along the bayfront. Funds from a voter-approved bond measure that become available in September will go toward a bevy of projects that supporters say could leverage private funding to boost a renaissance on Port of San Francisco land from Pier 43 to Candlestick Point. Creating public spaces along Port property should hasten San Francisco’s waterfront renewal, said Gabriel Metcalf, executive director at the San Francisco Planning and...

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Chu pushes for overhaul of assignment system

District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu will urge the San Francisco Unified School District to completely revamp its school-assignment process — especially with an eye toward sending children to their neighborhood schools — at a hearing today. Chu’s district includes the Sunset district, where some of the highest-demand schools, including Lowell High School, are located. The district ran an “instant lottery” Wednesday night for the parents of 23 incoming kindergartners who learned two weeks ago that they’d been bumped from Spanish-immersion classes at Flynn and Alvarado schools. A competing group of kindergarten parents, still waiting for one of their...

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The Peninsula fights a big battle against a little moth

For farmers throughout San Mateo County, the much-ballyhooed light brown apple moth is living up to its reputation as a pest — though not in the usual way. Much has been made of the pint-size insect, primarily because major citizen protests erupted after hundreds of residents in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties reported health problems after state and federal agriculture officials conducted an aerial spraying program last fall to keep the moths from mating. In June, officials announced that they would shelve a plan for additional spraying in California. Instead, state officials will try to control the invasive pest with a program that releases sterile moths in an attempt to...

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Advocates on hunt for recycling center home

Controversial plans to build a recycling center in a city-owned park could be tabled in favor of building on another site within the Sunnydale public-housing project, Housing Authority officials confirmed Tuesday. “We have identified viable locations within the property, and we will definitely find a location soon,” Housing Authority spokeswoman Gloria Chan said. She said her group is working with residents to pick out a spot. However, the Housing Authority has not yet completely tabled the John McLaren Park notion, she said. Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval introduced a resolution Tuesday that would force the Housing Authority and the Recreation and Park Department to show...

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San Francisco school board battle is on

The race for San Francisco school board may just be getting underway, but several candidates are eyeing the possibility of closing schools or charging for bus service to save the district money if the state’s economy worsens.Four of seven seats on the board are up forgrabs this November. Incumbents Eric Mar and Mark Sanchez intend to run for the Board of Supervisors, leaving room for at least two new faces, while Jill Wynns and Norman Yee aim to hang on to their seats.San Francisco Unified School District leaders patched a......

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3-Minute Interview: Anya Fernald

The executive director of Slow Food Nation was on hand for the planting of the vegetable garden — named for the wartime Victory Gardens — at City Hall. Food grown in the 10,000-square-foot plot will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank until the garden shuts down at the end of September. What makes Slow Food right for the Bay Area? We live close to some of the most productive agriculture in the world. At the same time, we have urban food deserts a few miles away from those......

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3-Minute Interview: Jon Weiss

Weiss, 46, worked for the Ringling Brothers circus for 26 years before joining Circus Vargas this year as its host. Circus Vargas will raise the big top at AT&T Park Aug. 13. Did you always want to be a circus performer? I went to Ringling Brothers clown college in 1981. I thought I’d do it for a year, but I fell in love with it. And then I started doing human cannonball in 1987. Isn’t the cannonball the thing nobody wants to do? Yeah, because it’s one of the most......

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Business-tax proposal could raise $1.1 billion

State legislators may suspend a business-tax deduction to pump an additional $1.1 billion into California’s coffers — a proposal that small businesses fear could hurt their bottom line.Currently, businesses that lose money one year can take a tax deduction in the next year they turn a profit. Under the proposal from the Assembly Budget Committee, that deduction would be tabled for three years — but could be claimed in year four.Although the proposal would affect all businesses in California, smaller firms say it will hit them the hardest.Ninety-nine percent of......

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Doors open for those who served

When Kendra Stewardson returned to San Francisco from her post as a helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam, she — like many veterans — hoped for a hero’s welcome.Instead, she was refused a disability pension, and taking care of her terminally ill mother left her penniless — and eventually homeless."I looked in my checking account and said, ‘Girl, you’d better buy a sleeping bag,’" she said.After 18 months sleeping on city sidewalks, Stewardson walked through the doors of Project Homeless Connect, founded by Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration in 2004, and within hours......

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Sunday is libraries’ new fun day

The prayers of San Francisco’s library advocates have finally been answered.Seven San Francisco library branches will be open an extra day starting this year, restoring Sunday service in several neighborhoods and offering seven-day access in three of The City’s most remote communities. Along with San Francisco’s main downtown library, only seven of The City’s branch libraries previously had permanent Sunday hours.Although all libraries are open Saturdays, library advocates have clamored for years to have more branches open on both weekend days.......

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School's out, but drill is still audible

While students are away for the summer, construction crews are digging, hammering and drilling away at campuses across San Francisco, launching $29 million in bond-funded improvements.The work represents the last of a $295 million bond approved by voters in 2003, as well as the start of a $450 million bond approved in 2006, said David Goldin, facilities director for the San Francisco Unified School District. Many projects that kick off this summer will continue into the fall and winter — and some well into next year.The construction this summer will......

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3-Minute Interview: Anya Fernald

The executive director of Slow Food Nation was on hand for the planting of the vegetable garden — named for the wartime Victory Gardens — at City Hall. Food grown in the 10,000-square-foot plot will be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank until the garden shuts down at the end of September.What makes Slow Food right for the Bay Area? We live close to some of the most productive agriculture in the world. At the same time, we have urban food deserts a few miles away from those farms,......

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High school dropouts up

High school students in San Francisco and San Mateo counties are dropping out at much higher rates than educators previously thought, according to new data released by the California Department of Education on Wednesday.San Francisco’s historic dropout rate, which has fluctuated between 1 percent and 2 percent per year in the previous decade,is closer to 5.2 percent per year — 21.2 percent for a four-year period, compared with 24.2 percent statewide, according to the CDE.On the Peninsula, where one-year dropout rates ranged from 1.3 percent to 2.2 percent this decade,......

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Keeping track of dropouts streamlined

An exhaustive tracking system unveiled today will provide the first accurate dropout rates for San Francisco and statewide schools. Until now, students who left a school were often counted as dropouts even if they transferred to another district or passed the California High School Proficiency Exam, according to Keric Ashley, director of data management for the California Department of Education. Starting......

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Macy’s roof fire cues evacuation

Noontime Macy’s shoppers and diners at the Cheesecake Factory in Union Square found their lunch plans interrupted Monday when a rooftop electrical explosion forced an evacuation of the building. Shortly after 12:30 p.m., a power surge caused rooftop electrical equipment to flash and spark, said Mike Morris, battalion chief with the Continued...

 

San Mateo is hit by rash of nighttime home burglaries

A rash of rare nighttime burglaries has San Mateo police asking residents to keep their houses secure — even when they’re home. Houses on the 500 block of Fairfax Avenue were targeted during the early-morning hours of Friday. In all three cases, residents discovered that motion-sensing lights and security alarms were tripped. In two cases, residents heard rustling noises in their back yards and found gates open or window screens damaged, according to police. Nothing was stolen, police said. Although police......

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Heat wave won’t bring blackouts

Despite high temperatures, San Francisco is expected to avoid the type of blackouts it had in the summer of 2006.In San Francisco, heat-related electrical use hasn't been enough to cause outages, according to Suzanne Gautier, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.While much of the Bay Area has scorched, San Francisco’s temperatures have remained in the 70s and......

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Special-ed students drop scores

A requirement for special-education students to take the California High School Exit Exam this year caused overall pass rates on the exam to drop both locally and statewide, according to an analysis from school district experts Wednesday.The exam was created by state lawmakers to create a benchmark of achievement for California’s high school graduates. California began requiring high school students to pass the exit exam in order to graduate in 2006, and special-education students were given the same requirement this year. A......

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Paying up for not hanging up

More than 100 Bay Area drivers, unable to resist chatting on cell phones while driving, were cited during the first week of July after the hands-free cell phone law went into effect. Drivers in California are not allowed to talk on cell phones without using a hands-free device. Drivers under 18 are not allowed to drive and talk on a phone at all. Across the Bay Area, California Highway Patrol officers handed......

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The City’s hospital bill: $887.4 million

An $887.4 million bond measure to pay for retrofitting and new construction at 93-year-old San Francisco General Hospital would cost homeowners an additional $289 in property taxes on a home priced at $500,000, according to a report by the Budget Analyst’s Office.For years, city leaders have discussed putting a funding measure before voters to raise the needed funds for the hospital rebuild. During his re-election victory speech in......

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Diplomas behind bars offer students second chance

A pioneering charter high school for adults housed within San Francisco County jails won approval this week to triple its size, a move that could bolster its ability to graduate inmates and reduce rates of recidivism.Five Keys Charter High School, founded in 2003, was the first charter high school in the United States to open its doors within a......

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Vote tallying could present another fiasco

With the November election four months away, San Francisco’s new voting machines have not yet received state approval — a problem that left The City hand-counting ballots last year.San Francisco signed a $12.6 million contract in December to purchase the new electronic-voting machines from Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems in December.Secretary of State Debra Bowen gave San Francisco conditional approval to use its previous machines from Election Systems & Software to tabulate ballots last fall, necessitating a hand-count that resulted in a final tally not being available until December.The situation led......

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Fewer classrooms, fewer grade levels mean fewer pupils

Fewer than half of elementary and middle school students who need summer school to keep up are actually attending classes this summer — a result some officials say may be due to cutbacks that make the program less accessible. After the San Francisco Unified School District’s summer-school reimbursement from the state was slashed 16 percent, the district ended summer classes at six schools — reducing the total locations to 16 out of The City’s 111 public schools. Additionally,......

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Fireworks for Fourth may fall under fog

Sunny, warmer days should prevail in San Francisco and on the Peninsula through the Fourth of July weekend, but evening fog could threaten fireworks displays in some coastal areas. Barbecuers and game-goers can rest easy: Daytime highs are expected to range from the mid-60s to lower 70s in San Francisco, while in San Mateo County temperatures will rise into the 70s and even the lower 80s in some of the warmest......

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Supervisors eye options for funds

San Francisco youth programs could see an additional $3.25 million due to a healthy bump in property tax revenues, but somesupervisors would like to see those voter-allocated dollars go to other needy programs in future years. Initially, the new funds — which come from the voter-approvedChildren’s Fund, a mix of property taxes and general-fund dollars for youth programs — includedrevenues for Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to spend $1.5 million on bank accounts......

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Supervisors eye options for funds

San Francisco youth programs could see an additional $3.25 million due to a healthy bump in property tax revenues, but somesupervisors would like to see those voter-allocated dollars go to other needy programs in future years. Initially, the new funds — which come from the voter-approvedChildren’s Fund, a mix of property taxes and general-fund dollars for youth programs — includedrevenues for Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan to spend $1.5 million on bank accounts for babies born in San Francisco and $375,000 on vouchers for sixth-graders to visit museums. Supervisors overturned those......

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Same-sex marriage measure defended

A Florida-based legal firm filed a motion in San Francisco court Monday defending a November ballot initiative opposing same-sex marriage — apparently without collaborating with the initiative’s supporters.Liberty Counsel’s motion, filed in California Supreme Court, aims to block a motion filed June 20 by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, the ACLU and Equality California.While the earlier motion sought to remove an upcoming ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage from the November ballot, Liberty Counsel’s motion seeks to keep it there, according to founder Mathew Staver.If the initial measure......

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Funds sinking alongside enrollment

Declining enrollment at San Francisco’s public high schools will leave the secondary school campuses with about $2.4 million less in per-pupil funding next year.Districtwide, enrollment is projected to drop by 348 students in the 2008-09 school year, according to budget documents adopted by the San Francisco Board of Education this week. While most elementary schools are expected to swell with students, middle schools — and especially high schools — are expected to see fewer faces come August.While new parents may stick close to San Francisco while their children are young,......

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City to cut school funds in exchange for services

An annual allocation of city funds approved by voters for San Francisco’s public schools was reduced by $1.75 million and replaced with an in-kind amount of city services, it was announced Thursday at a Board of Supervisors meeting.Passed in 2004, Proposition H provides city funding for sports, libraries, art, music and other needs for the San Francisco Unified School District. The district is scheduled to receive $30 million in......

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School credit taken from JROTC

San Francisco public schools will no longer give students physical education credit for participating in a high school military program following a heated 4-3 vote Thursday. The decision trumps a 3-3 vote last week on the same resolution to end giving gym credit to students who participate in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Nearly 20 percent of students in the program, polled last December, said they enroll because they don’t......

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Lottery for school assignment comes under fire

San Francisco’s public school system should abandon the complicated school assignment lottery system that attempts to diversify student populations and return to giving families preference at neighborhoods schools, according to a report scheduled for release today.The civil grand jury report revives a long-standing debate about how to best assign students to schools. It suggests an overhaul that would redraw boundaries, resulting in neighborhood schools that pool from a larger area with students of different ethnicities, according to Continued...

 

Agencies reach pact to help foster youths

Schools have been slow to implement sweeping legislation passed four years ago to protect foster youths’ educational rights, but a new agreement between 27 San Francisco offices and schools is aimed at making schooling smoother for kids in foster care.Assembly Bill 490, which took effect in January 2004, requires schools to do everything they can to make sure foster youths stay in the same school even when they change families, and to transfer students’ records within two days when they must......

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Group unveils playground mosaic

On Saturday, the Friends and Advocates of Crocker Amazon and Excelsior will unveil an installation at Crocker Amazon Playground. More than 500 volunteers contributed to the works, which span 600 square feet of space. "We wanted to bring people together to do something to beautify the park," said Linda Harte, president of the advocates’ steering committee. The event takes place at Geneva Avenue and Moscow Street from 2 to 5 p.m.......

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Academy-cuts plan met with force

As San Francisco struggles to reduce its high homicide rate, some city officials want to take potential officers off the streets in an effort to save millions of dollars.The City is facing a projected $338 million budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1 — and Supervisor Jake McGoldrick urged the San Francisco Police Department’s top brass to cancel two......

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Cost-saving effort trims police force

Nearly 90 officers filing papers and answering phones in The City’s police stations could be replaced by civilians in a cost-saving measure originally approved by voters in 2004.Under The City’s charter, the San Francisco Police Department must be staffed with at least 1,971 sworn officers, but Proposition C allows the department to identify jobs that can be performed by civilians, such as clerical or information-technology tasks, according to Deputy Controller......

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Changing world gets dads more involved

As traditional family roles change, fathers are participating more and more in their children’s schools — and as they do, bake sales are giving way to barbecues and camping trips.Stan Goldberg, 65, has parented two generations of children. He has two adult children, ages 40 and 41, and a 6-year-old daughter who attends public school in San Francisco. That’s given him time to see how things have changed."Forty years ago, men were glued to the television on Sundays," Goldberg said.These days, thanks in equal parts to video-recording devices and to......

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Public places receive revitalized faces

New slides, swings and climbing equipment stand in the sun at Rolph Playground in the Potrero neighborhood, waiting for the first children to come out and play. The park’s new tennis courts also remain locked up until Rolph opens June 28. The Potrero Del Sol Park across the street, which will offer The City’s first skate park, also is close to opening. "I used to come and lay on the grass [at Potrero Del Sol]," said Continued...

 

Businesses not sold on new help center

Although The City has recently expanded its small-business center with voter-approved funding, some entrepreneurs say they remain frustrated with how difficult it is to open up shop and make ends meet. When Pet Camp owner Mike Klaiman volunteered to upgrade his pet-care businesses with additional fire-safety measures, it took several trips to City Hall — and plenty of money from his own wallet — to make it happen, he said. In November, voters approved spending $750,000 to expand Continued...

 

Slain teen had ties to area where he was gunned down

The 15-year-old shot and killed in front of Phillip and Sala Burton Academic High School on Tuesday was a former Visitacion Valley resident and "good kid" who was in the process of turning his life around, his uncle told The Examiner on Wednesday."He wasn’t in no gang — he was just a 15-year-old kid trying to find his way," said St. Andrew Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Ishmael Burch, the......

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Teenager killed in shooting near Bayview school

A 15-year-old was fatally shot midday Tuesday across from a high school campus in Bayview while students were inside taking their final exams.A single black suspect, age 17 or 18, shot the younger boy on Somerset Street, directly across from Philip and Sala Burton High School on Mansell Street about 12:30 p.m., San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said. The campus......

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Cherished music fest in danger of having to seek out new digs

Organizers of a long-running music festival held each year on San Francisco-owned land near Yosemite say they may have to pull up stakes and move next year if they can’t soon finalize a lease with The City.The Strawberry Music Festival, with concerts featuring acoustic music acts each Memorial and Labor Day weekend, has called Camp Mather its home for 26 years, according to general manager Theresa Gluzinski.Although a renewed lease was due last November, festival organizers say they’ve been told by Recreation and Park Department officials that an agreement might......

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Fashion becomes funds for felines

Thousands of hurt and sick animals come through the San Francisco SPCA’s doors each year needing extra medical care. The City’s branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sees roughly 3,700 animals each year, and caring for them takes $500,000 annually, according to President Jan McHugh-Smith. Much of that money pays to neuter, feed and shelter animals. However, about 20 percent of the animals come in with serious ailments or......

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Ethnic studies enlists as JROTC reserve

A new ethnic-studies program that will be tried in two high schools this fall should replace San Francisco’s controversial Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program, a school board committee heard Monday.The board of education voted to end JROTC in November 2006, wanting to sever the district’s ties with the military, which subsidized about half of the program’s $1.6 million cost that year. The board also created a task force to identify......

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School may have to say ‘No thanks’ to $9M

A San Francisco charter high school may have to reject $9.1 million in state facility funds — provided for campus renovations for an Excelsior district site the school hoped to occupy — because the school district says it doesn’t have enough money to cover the remaining renovation costs. Leadership High School, founded in 1997, vacated its home at 300 Seneca St. in 2006 and is sharing space with Continued...

 

Music festival could sing loud for city coffers

A three-day music festival in Golden Gate Park in August, which is expected to draw 110,000 people, could be a financial boon for The City, organizers said Thursday.Forty percent of the tickets for the event, which are $85 for one day and $225 for three days, have sold to out-of-town buyers, according to Gregg Perloff of event-organizer Another Planet Entertainment."I live in Continued...

 

Prosecuting parents of truant kids could begin this month

As San Francisco’s public schools celebrated some success with bringing truant students back to school, District Attorney Kamala Harris said she’s ready to start prosecuting the parents of chronically absent children.Harris pledged last October to punish those whose kids repeatedly skip school. No cases have yet come to trial, but Keith Choy, director of the district’s "Stay in School" program, said he’s been......

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Upgrades on table for Bierman Park

Sue Bierman Park, named for the former supervisor killed in an August 2006 car accident, could soon see $1.8 million in upgrades following a vote today.The 5.3-acre park was founded as Ferry Park but renamed in 2007 after Bierman, who was a member of the Planning Commission in the 1950s and 1960s before her election to the Board of Supervisors in 1992, where she served until 2000.The first phase of improvements to the park, which Rec and Park and planning commissioners will consider today, would include further demolition of old......

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Proposition D: Diversity tracking passes

San Francisco will be tracking the ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability of every board and commission member following the passage of Proposition D on Tuesday.Until now, The City required the makeup of all advisory boards to be as broadly diverse and representative of The City’s population as possible, but The City didn’t keep track of how diverse they were.Now, the task of keeping tabs will fall to the Commission on the Status of Women, which will provide a report on......

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Proposition H: Contractor cash denied

Contractors bidding on development deals in The City are forbidden from contributing money to local political campaigns, and now city politicians are forbidden to accept money from them, following the passage of Proposition H. The proposition would extend penalties to the officials and candidates who accept contributions, in addition to the contractors. Political contributions to local officials running for office are not forbidden if a number of requirements are met, such as not bidding on a project more than $50,000.......

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Proposition B: Benefits delay approved

City employees hired after Jan. 10, 2009, must work 20 years before they can cash in on full retiree health benefits following approval of Proposition B, which was introduced by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd. Until now, city workers needed to clock five years before gaining access to employer-funded retiree medical insurance. Additionally, new hires will contribute 2 percent of their gross salaries to help pay for those benefits — a move aimed at offsetting The City’s looming $4 billion debt on medical insurance for retirees.......

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Proposition C: ‘Moral’ loophole closed

City workers who are enrolled in San Francisco’s Employees’ Retirement System, and who are convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude while on the job, will forfeit their ability to receive employer contributions to their retirement benefits following a majority voter approval of Proposition C Tuesday. Although this rule has been included in the San Francisco charter since 1966, it didn’t apply to all city-offered retirement plans — just some of them. Prop. C was written in order to fix those discrepancies, and cuts off the city’s matching contributions to......

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Assailants are free despite a reward

Witnesses to the Jan. 12 slaying of Terrell Rogers have not come forward, despite a $250,000 reward offered by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice nearly one month ago. Rogers was gunned down in a parking lot across the street from Sacred Heart Preparatory High School during halftime of his daughter’s basketball game, according to police. Rewards......

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JROTC still marching strong

The group tasked with finding a replacement for San Francisco's controversial Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program is close to naming an alternative — more thana year and a half after school board members voted to end the military training curriculum. After passing up on leadership programs offered by police and fire organizations, the JROTC task force will offer new options before the San Francisco Unified School District’s curriculum......

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Should schools be too cool for pools?

San Francisco public school students, weighted down with the requirement of learning to swim before they can graduate high school, could see that mandate and others lifted from their load.The City’s school board recently agreed unanimously to eliminate drivers education as a requirement for a diploma. Now, student trustees Nestor Reyes and Jason Siu say they’re combing through the class schedule to find......

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Grass-roots neighborhood fixes grow out of city grant program

A half-million dollars in grant money will be up for grabs this summer for residents hoping to spruce up their corner of The City.Ever since voters approved the Community Challenge Grant Program in 1990, businesses have paid 1 percent of their payroll taxes toward the grants, which have provided roughly $6.8 million in the last eight years, according to program leader Lanita Henriquez.Those funds have gone toward new trees on 24th Street, hanging flower baskets on Mission Street, gardens in the......

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Competition for summer jobs heating up

For some teens, summer may be freedom from schoolwork and responsibilities — but for others, it’s all about working.Students lined up Wednesday at CareerLaunch, cosponsored by the San Francisco Unified School District and Gap Inc., to start their searches for summer jobs.The chance to hone their résumés, try their hand at interviews and fill out applications gives first-time workers the confidence they need to secure a job, according to......

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Race disparity at juvenile hall prompts search for solutions

When Shawn Richard was sent to The City’s juvenile hall decades ago, he found it stifling. But these days, many kids in Bayview-Hunters Point say it’s better than the streets."[The streets] have gotten to the point where kids are fearing for their lives every day," said Richard, director of Brothers Against Guns, a youth-diversion program in Bayview. "They say they go back to juvenile hall because they feel safer."With data and anecdotal evidence showing a disproportionate number of black and Hispanic youths in The City’s detention halls, the Juvenile Probation......

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New school may migrate to The City

A small high school for new immigrant students, bankrolled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, could open its doors in August 2009 if it wins board approval tonight. Internationals Network for Public Schools, which runs nine college-track schools for English learners in New York and launched a 10th in Oakland last year, applied in January to open a sister school......

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School district defends safety measures

Four San Francisco students have been caught bringing firearms to class this year, and 65 carried other weapons — incidents the Public Defender’s Office says are becoming increasingly common.A 6-year-old brought a handgun to Cleveland Elementary School on May 9, the day after a 17-year-old was discovered with a loaded semi-automatic weapon during an evening class at Lowell High School. Two......

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Yellow-bus rides could cost green

Thousands of San Francisco students rely on traditional yellow buses to get to and from school every day, but the district may reduce buses or begin charging a fee in order to save money.Each day, 4,600 students — many of whom do not live in the neighborhood where they attend school — ride district-supplied buses, according to SFUSD spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. That’s not including the 1,600 disabled students for whom bus service is mandatory.It costs $20.5 million each year to provide buses, $8.2 million of which is reimbursed by state......

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Improved exam scores beat peers, trail ’burbs

San Francisco public school students continue to outperform students in other urban areas statewide on standardized tests, but they still struggle to keep up with the high scores of the neighboring districts in the Bay Area, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.The San Francisco Unified School District’s overall score — based on students’ collective performance on the tests — improved this year, bringing the district to a 764, just a few points shy of the state’s target score of 800 for all schools and districts.......

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Harbor faces stormy future

It could soon cost more to berth a boat at the ailing Marina Yacht Harbor — but a new audit of the harbor’s finances shows signs of fiscal mismanagement. Granted to San Francisco in 1935, the Marina Yacht Harbor’s east and west harbors contain room for nearly 700 boats, but sand, silt and deteriorated docks have made at least 50 berths unusable, according to harbor users. "The harbor is in terrible repair," said Continued...

 

Law designed to get bodies moving dances on to board

If the show’s over, you should get moving.Loiterers who spend more than three minutes within 10 feet of a nightclub door or line could be fined between $50 and $500 — and charged with a misdemeanor — if supervisors approve the bill passed by the Entertainment Commission on Tuesday night.The proposed law, sponsored by Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, was written in response to a rash of violence outside nightclubs that killed at least six people in 2007 and 2008 and left several others wounded.Robin Kent, 44, was......

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Lowell High named among nation’s best

Nine high schools in San Francisco and San Mateo County made the grade for Newsweek magazine’s 2008 list of top public high schools in America.Schools ranked high if they had a high percentage of students who take advanced placement, international baccalaureate and Cambridge tests, according......

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Tax could beef up teacher salaries, tech

A parcel tax aimed at enticing new teachers to stay in San Francisco’s public schools also includes a bevy of funds for school technology, charter schools, "think tanks" and grants that would encourage schools to explore new ways to help students succeed.Voters will have their say June 3 on Proposition A, a $198 tax on commercial and residential parcels that would raise an estimated $28.8 million annually for the San Francisco Unified School District. It requires two-thirds approval.Roughly 71 percent of the tax revenues would boost teacher salaries, bonuses and......

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Improvement funds not being put into play

Unfulfilled promises from the 2000 Neighborhood Park Bond has left many parks advocates frustrated and questioning The City’s ability to manage money for park improvements.Those questions come as San Francisco gets ready to spend $185 million in new voter-approved park bonds. Of that, $80.1 million is destined for projects promised nearly one decade ago, including renovations to the aging Chinese and Palega recreation centers and to playgrounds and recreation centers in the Mission and Glen Park.Voters approved $110 million in park bonds in 2000, intended to help fund 69 projects......

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State’s oldest school reflects

When W. Carroll Tornroth entered kindergarten at Spring Valley Elementary School in 1918, Jackson Street was paved with cobblestones — and the school had already been in business for 65 years. "We just had the one building on Jackson, and then around the side were little bungalows with portable desks and wood-burning stoves," said Tornroth, who turned 96 in April. "We studied history, geography, reading — I learned a......

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Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park

The fresh sod on Miraloma Park’s baseball field is sparking a grass-is-greener debate between dog lovers and parents — one that may seem familiar to San Francisco residents who have been on either side of that fence. The City spent $250,000 to renovate the field, which reopened this spring, said Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, whose district covers the neighborhood that sits on the eastern side of Mount Davidson. Since then, Elsbernd has received......

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Man takes fatal plunge near Union Square

A man slit his wrists before stepping out onto the ledge of a swanky condominium near the Union Square shopping district, drawing a crowd of more than 100 witnesses before plunging four stories to his death Thursday afternoon.The jumper, a tall, medium-built white man in his late 30s or early 40s, stood on a top-floor ledge above the H&M clothing store near the corner of Powell and O’Farrell streets for nearly 45 minutes before jumping, witnesses said.Police were called to 181 O’Farrell St. at 2:25 p.m. and immediately closed off......

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Rainy-day fund offers silver lining

The jobs of 535 San Francisco public school teachers and administrators have been spared as a result of a city promise to give the cash-strapped district $18 million to $20 million.However, school officials say they’ll still have to make $13 million or more in cuts in other areas of the budget.State law requires schools to notify teachers by March 15 if they face possible layoffs; final notices are due by May 15.The allocation of the one-time funding, from San Francisco’s rainy-day reserves, was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors......

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Task force tackles asthma ills

Proposed city laws aimed at providing a breath of fresh air for asthma sufferers would result in stiffer maintenance requirements for property owners when selling or remodeling homes.The legislation, put forth by a task force charged to develop a plan to manage and prevent asthma citywide, would make upgrades to air-filtering and ventilation systems when a property in San Francisco is sold, transferred or remodeled, according to San......

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Group wants to put night life in the spotlight

San Francisco may have a reputation for rolling out the night life, but the industry is struggling, according to the sponsors of a November ballot initiative aimed at keeping events and clubs from becoming extinct.The proposed charter amendment by the newly formed SaveSFCulture Coalition goes before San Francisco’s Entertainment Commission today. It is aimed at preserving The City’s music venues, night......

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Interns’ ability to count as teachers questioned in court

A San Francisco-based civil-rights group has filed a federal challenge against the U.S. Department of Education, seeking a little truth in advertising when it comes to putting qualified teachers in classrooms.Public Advocates — the group that sponsored the 2004 Williams Settlement, which secures $800 million to ensure students equal access to instructional materials — argued recently that the U.S. Department of Education was wrong to allow school districts to classify interns as "highly qualified" teachers, spokesman John Affeldt said.Since the decision on intern classification was enacted in 2002, the number......

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3-Minute Interview: Mary Pipher

The author of eight books, including 1994’s "Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls," speaks at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco today. Pipher will focus on recent events — from Columbine to Sept. 11 — and their effects on families. Her next book, "Seeking Peace: Reflections of the Worst Buddhist in the World," is due next spring. How has our culture affected families? We’re living in a culture......

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Students plod along on slow Web

San Francisco may be known as a hotbed of high-tech innovation, but more than one-third of its public schools connect to the Internet with something that more closely resembles a rutted back road than a superhighway.While 68 schools in the San Francisco Unified School District access the Internet via a relatively fast 10-megabit-per-second connection, 41 elementaries and high schools plod along on 1.5-Mbps T1 connections — barely enough for......

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Rec and Park evens the score by approving facility fee hikes

Renting a tennis court, taking a capoeira class or learning to sing in San Francisco will cost more money — part of an increased effort, city officials say, to make sure teams and programs using public facilities pay their fair share.A number of formerly free classes — including piano, voice, Pilates, "ethnijazz" dance and capoeira — will cost $1.75 to $8 per hour if the smorgasbord of new fees approved unanimously by the Recreation and Park Commission on Thursday is ultimately......

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Google asks for permission to hold party in park

Richmond district residents may be treated to the sonic stylings of U2 and Journey cover bands if Google wins approval today for a private nighttime concert in Golden Gate Park next month. Google leaders are requesting a city exemption in order to boogie downJune 11 with 1,400 members of the Internet giant’s national sales team.......

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Killer tree was flagged as danger

The Stern Grove redwood whose crashing branch killed a 50-year-old San Francisco woman earlier this month had significant structural defects and was at risk of falling, according to an arborist’s report. Pleasanton-based HortScience identified 603 of Stern Grove’s 2,600 trees — including 95 redwoods — as potential hazards, according to a report crafted for San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department in January 2004. The tree whose branch fell and killed Continued...

 

Police prepare for worst-case scenario

Gunmen will open fire inside a San Francisco Catholic high school this morning in a mock shooting designed to teach police, students and faculty how to respond to a genuine school attack.San Francisco Police will portray the gunmen at St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School, walking into classrooms in the Sunset District high school. Students will act......

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Asketh The City: ‘Where art thou, Shakespeare plaques?'

William Shakespeare may have called the moon an "errant thief," but it was likely a more earthly thief who stole two bronze plaques from The City’s Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park. Two of the garden’s six bronze plaques were stolen by an unknown suspect or suspects April 17 or 18, according to officers in the San Francisco Police Department’s Richmond......

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School asthma gains fall short of breathtaking

For the roughly one in five youths in San Francisco with asthma, getting through the school day can be like navigating a minefield of mold, dust and pollen that can trigger an asthma attack.In 2002, three children died during asthma attacks in facilities owned by the San Francisco Unified School District, said Anjali Nath, advocacy coordinator with the San Francisco Asthma Task Force. One of the children was Armani Johnson, 4, who died in a restroom in Burnett Children’s Center after complaining of breathing problems."The teachers weren’t trained in pediatric......

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Reserve to shine bright on school district

San Francisco’s public schools are in line to receive $17.9 million to $19.7 million in city funds from a "rainy day" reserve, Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce today.The San Francisco Unified School District is expecting a $40 million cut in state funding next year in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s current......

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Language-test numbers fail to keep pace with state

San Francisco students learning English are holding steady when it comes to achieving fluency — while peers statewide are showing gains, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.Students who understand little or no English, called English learners, take the California English Language Development Test yearly to keep tabs on how close to fluency they are.CELDT is a crucial part of making sure students are placed in......

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Students are ‘Beating the Odds’

San Francisco’s public school students continue to advance in reading and math on state standardized tests — part of a national trend for urban school districts, which are scoring at their highest levels, according to a study released Tuesday. The San Francisco Unified School District was among 66 urban school districts studied in "Beating the Odds," the eighth annual report on urban-school progress from Continued...

 

City urges students to bicycle to school

While San Francisco is often seen as a bikeable, walkable city, very few students ride bicycles or walk to school, according to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The City’s Department of Public Health is hoping a $500,000 grant will change that. The grant, from the federal Safe Routes to School programs, would provide funding for infrastructure and education......

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Historic lodge likely to miss out on seismic funding

Historic McLaren Lodge, both a city landmark and the headquarters of the Recreation and Park Department, will lose $7 million in California bond funding for seismic renovations. Rec and Park Project Manager Rick Thall recommended The City pull $11.9 million in funding from McLaren Lodge and a handful of other GoldenGate Park projects, including restoration of South and Middle lakes and the Children’s Playground, primarily because the projects couldn’t be finished before......

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Special-education students aim to excel on state exams

When autistic 9-year-old Audrey Norton took her first California Standards Test last year, she needed to take it throughout several days, with a blank sheet of paper covering half of the booklet so she wouldn’t get confused."It took a long time, and she gets really tired — I thought maybe we don’t want to put her through this again," said Audrey’s mother, Rachel Norton, a member of the district’s Continued...

 

School subtractions adding up

As many as 90 San Francisco teacher’s aides, who do everything from read aloud to students to score tests, will soon learn whether they will have jobs this fall.San Francisco Unified School District officials will work between now and April 29 to determine just how many aides could lose their jobs, according to district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe. By law, aides must be notified 45 days before the end of......

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Sunset parents shine light on school assignment issue

Parent Roxy Xiao lives on San Francisco’s west side, a stone’s throw from some of the most popular schools in The City — but her kids were recently assigned to schools across town.Xiao’s son, Jimmy, was matched with Burton High School in the Excelsior, while her daughter, Erica, was assigned Oneida Middle School, near Continued...

 

Rookies may dominate school board in new term

San Francisco’s school board will soon be dominated by new blood, as two experienced trustees set their sights on the Board of Supervisors this November.Of the seven-member San Francisco Board of Education, three trustees — Jane Kim, Hydra Mendoza and Kim-Shree Maufas, who each won election to......

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School district searching for ways to help minority students thrive

Every time teacher Jang Wen asks his Sheridan Elementary School fifth-graders a grammar question, he adds, "discuss it with your partner."The students whisper for a few seconds before their hands shoot up. Partnered learning is one of a broad palette of strategies used at the Ocean View neighborhood school that is helping many of its students — 96 percent of whom are nonwhite — succeed when their peers throughout The City are falling behind, according to Principal Nur Jehan......

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Students concerned with safety on Muni

Harassment and violence on Muni is a serious problem, according to a majority of San Francisco public high school students surveyed.Safety on Muni was deemed a "very serious problem" by 28 percent of students and "somewhat serious" by another 30 percent, according to the survey, conducted by San Francisco-based David Binder Research.The survey of 8,144 students was conducted in February and students were polled on a variety of factors, from school food to security guards. The district’s Safe School Task......

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Vote could end drivers ed requirement for graduation

Overworked teens are asking the San Francisco Board of Education to stop making drivers education a graduation requirement, but public-safety officials say schools should require more education, not less. Jason Siu and Nestor Reyes, the two student members on the district’s school board, sponsored the proposal, which will be introduced at tonight’s school board meeting.When Reyes polled......

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Youth eco-center to sprout on Earth Day

A long-embattled, $1.5 million environmental education center will break ground in Hunters Point on Earth Day — seven years after it was proposed as the first off-the-grid building in The City. Bayview-Hunters Point residents split over the project when leaders with nonprofit Literacy for Environmental Justice proposed building it in McLaren Park. Now it’s destined for Heron’s Head Park, a wetlands area the nonprofit has restored on former brown fields in the shadow of the Pacific Gas & Electric power plant, project manager Laurie Schoeman said."Since then, the project has......

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Beer yes, vending no in Washington Park during festival

North Beach Festival revelers will be able to drink in Washington Square this summer, but vendors will be ousted from the park in order to keep their booths from killing the grass. Park neighbors have rallied against letting the festival — expected to draw 100,000 patrons this year — use the park, claiming patrons and booths trample Washington Square’s greenery. San Francisco Recreation and Park commissioners voted 7-2 Thursday in favor of the plan to move booths onto North Beach streets and make the park a "beer garden." But neighbors......

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California Academy of Sciences will be twice the price

Families looking forward to the reopening of the California Academy of Sciences this fall could be in for sticker shock when they learn that admission prices have more than doubled, and it could cost a family of four close to $100 just to park and get in the door. Adults, who paid $10 for admission to the museum and aquarium in the past, will now pay nearly $25; tickets for children older than 6 will cost $14.95, with......

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Students needing summer classes hurt most by cuts

Summer school programs and summer classes for third- and fourth-graders struggling in school are being slashed because of state cuts.Summer-school reimbursement for the San Francisco Unified School District will be slashed 16 percent this year, leaving educators with $650,000 less to teach the 8,000 to 9,000 students who attend, according to Amy Talisman of the district’s summer-school division. Classes will be offered at fewer schools, and only......

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Campus plans arise amid lawsuit talks

Updated designs for City College of San Francisco’s controversial new $122 million Chinatown-North Beach campus will be unveiled today, as attorneys continue to look for ways to settle a lawsuit filed against the community college by neighbors of the proposed site. Spending for the campus’ design team with EHDD/Barcelon and Jang has more than doubled, jumping to $13.5 million from $5.9 million, following a CCSF board vote March 18. The group will unveil updated designs for the......

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New rules brewing for festival drinking

A new plan aimed at keeping a lid on alcohol consumption at the North Beach Festival will come before The City’s park commissioners Thursday, but some neighbors still find the idea of drinking in Washington Square tough to swallow. The festival was originally held on city streets, but migrated to the park in the late 1990s, drawing the ire of neighbors — calling themselves the Friends of Washington Square — who see the park as the neighborhood’s backyard.Two years ago, complaints from the neighborhood residents nearly resulted in a ban......

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Helping homeless one home at a time

Thom McClusky stayed in a San Francisco homeless shelter for two nights before giving up and sleeping at the base of Coit Tower for more than two years. "The shelter was like jail but without the cops," he recalled. "You had to sleep with one eye open. At Coit, the only thing that bothers you is the raccoons."McClusky is one......

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Nonprofit steps in to mend park decay

Nancy Madynski has found everything from used condoms to knives while sifting through playground sand at Mission Dolores Park. Members of Friends of Dolores Park Playground sift the sand monthly — a volunteer activity aimed at keeping the playground safer and cleaner for children. But the playground’s aging wooden structures and outdated access have earned it a $1.5 million private donation that will allow neighbors, the Neighborhood Parks Council and The City to completely renovate the playground next year. "One of our girls just pinched her hand in the metal......

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Drug sales targeted near Lincoln

Police at Taraval Station have been cracking down on drug peddling near Abraham Lincoln High School, a recurring issues that has spiked again in recent months. Officers have arrested or cited four suspects who were carrying marijuana, most of them attempting to sell the drug on the streets surrounding the high school, according to police reports. Two adults were arrested on Quintara Street in late January and mid-February, and a 15-year-old was arrested March 5 at the corner......

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3-Minute Interview: David Mindell

The professor and curator at the University of Michigan and its museum of zoology was hand-picked to become the California Academy of Sciences’ dean of sciences and research collections. Mindell, who received his Ph.D. from Brigham Young University in 1986, starts his new job July 1.What personal experiences put you on the path to your current......

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City offers opt-out for gang members

A list of alleged gang members may soon be smaller, if the people on it can prove they are not involved in gang activities.Citywide, 97 people alleged to be in five gangs, including the Oakdale Mob, Eddy Rock, Chopper City, Knock Out Posse and Norteño gangs, were named in injunctions filed by City Attorney Dennis Herrera in 2006 and 2007. The injunctions prohibit those named from congregating in certain areas, from wearing gang colors and, in some neighborhoods, from being out after 10 p.m.The alleged gang members named in three......

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School turns into oasis for homeless students

Five-year-old Nikole Rogers gets ready for kindergarten every weekday morning, just like any other student. But, unlike most of her peers, she gets ready for school at one of San Francisco's homeless shelters. Nikole and her mom, Cynthia Elliott, left Modesto eight months ago after a series of home invasions in which the girl witnessed assaults on both her parents, Elliott......

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City colleges bracing for state budget cuts

San Francisco students returning to college this fall could be met with fewer course options, fewer teachers and higher tuitions, all aimed at offsetting state budget cuts. The California State University trustees in May will weigh whether to raise systemwide student fees by up to 10 percent, which would put fees at $3,039 this fall, said Paul Browning,......

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3-Minute Interview: Michael Thompkins

The psychologist, who co-founded the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy in 1994, regularly works with patients who compulsively hoard possessions, and with family and friends who want to help a loved one deal with this behavior. Last year, at least six San Francisco residents were evicted from their homes because of excessive hoarding, which can become a safety hazard.What causes people to start hoarding stuff? We don't really have good answers to that. It's definitely a mental health issue. It seems to have the most in common......

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Superintendent threatens to sue state for school cuts

The superintendent of San Francisco’s public schools is threatening to sue the state in order to force long-term funding improvements.At $7,000 per student, California ranks 46th in per pupil spending, and would slip to 50th if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposed in January is adopted by the Legislature, according to officials with the Continued...

 

JFK Drive striping stalled by court ruling

Faded striping and wide-open lanes are making for a confusing — and occasionally hair-raising — trek on John F. Kennedy Drive for motorists and cyclists alike. What exists now between Stanyan Street and 25th Avenue is a yellow center line and a white line showing the edge of the traffic lane, but both are so faded that drivers can get confused, cyclist T.J. Mitchell said. "A lot of cars......

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Youth center to move in near pot club

A youth center founded to deter Chinatown kids from gang activity, offering everything from drug-abuse counseling to computer lessons, will soon begin moving into new Post Street digs across the street from a medical marijuana dispensary.The nonprofit Community Youth Center, launched in 1971, recently won approval to renovate the building at 1042 Post St. it purchased for $4 million in December 2006, which would make room for youth programs from its scattered offices to move in, according to Continued...

 

Car-free Saturdays near

Published: Mar 20, 2008

Golden Gate Park kicks off its second summer of car-free Saturdays on April 5, and organizers are hoping for a quieter season compared with the controversy that surrounded the plan’s inception in 2007. Through Sept. 27, John F. Kennedy Drive will be closed to cars between 10th Avenue and Transverse Drive, as will Middle Drive West from Transverse to Metson Road and Stow Lake Drive between Stow Lake......

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Commission urges supervisors to evaluate zoo overhaul

Published: Mar 19, 2008

San Francisco Zoo leaders are being urged by The City’s animal welfare commission to make swift changes in focus and leadership to protect the park’s main attraction — its animals. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors immediately study zoo animals’ quality of life and urged zoo officials to overhaul zoo management......

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Commission: Zoo should switch focus

Published: Mar 13, 2008

The San Francisco Zoo should consider becoming an animal-rescue center, or adding a wildlife-rehabilitation clinic, according to a draft plan the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare will study today.The zoo’s 2007 master-plan update calls for the addition of a botanical garden and seaside nature trail, but animal-welfarecommissioners worry that such projects could detract from the zoo’s ability to keep animals healthy and happy, according......

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Alleged embezzlement may cost ex-CFO house

Published: Mar 12, 2008

A financial consultant who allegedly embezzled $3.5 million from the nonprofit operating a parking garage beneath Golden Gate Park will likely lose his house to pay back the money. The Music Concourse Community Partnership, which runs the garage, has secured a court judgment against former CFO Greg Colley, including the deed to his Continued...

 

Wheels are spinning in attempt to install bike racks on campuses

Published: Mar 12, 2008

Maria Morgan’s children, Maggie and Ben, ride bicycles to Alamo Elementary School every morning. But when they get there, they chain their bikes to a fence, because the school doesn’t have bike racks.Morgan approached the school about adding them, but couldn’t find a way to get a bike rack approved, an experience bike advocates say has been typical with the Continued...

 

Report: Public transit ridership up in U.S., but not for Muni

Published: Mar 11, 2008

As gas prices skyrocket, many Bay Area public-transit systems are mostly seeing more riders. Nationwide, public-transit use is up 32 percent since 1995, according to an American Public Transportation Association report released Monday. Light-rail systems saw the biggest jump — up 6.1 percent in 2007, compared with 2006, while commuter rail rose 5.5 percent. The report, however, reflects Muni’s third ridership decrease in three years, according to data from the association. Muni leaders announced this month new plans......

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Parents, students upset about public high school assignments

Published: Mar 10, 2008

The post office delivered more than letters and bills last weekend: It delivered hope and relief for some local parents, and frustration for many others whose children did not gain admittance into the public schools they wanted. Amy Graff, who launched the SF K Files blog (http://thesfkfiles.blogspot.com/) to chronicle her process of choosing a kindergarten, learned that her daughter didn’t get into any of the seven schools she picked — instead, she is assigned to Junipero Serra, a school Graff hadn’t heard of before Saturday. When she posted about her......

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City icons to dim for energy’s sake

Published: Mar 07, 2008

The lights will go down in The City this month as San Francisco participates in a global "Earth hour" to raise awareness about energy waste. The World Wildlife Fund will launch a rolling event that kicks off at 8 p.m. March 29 in Christchurch, New Zealand, working its way around the globe to 25 cities in 20 time zones, ending in San Francisco. Last year, San Francisco, along with Sydney, conducted a one-hour blackout, also to draw attention to climate change. At this year’s event, the Golden Gate Bridge, the......

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Lunch-line ID cards sweeping The City

Published: Mar 07, 2008

A system that allows students to pay for meals with a swipe of their ID card, currently being tested at four San Francisco public schools, could soon speed lunch lines and save millions of dollars districtwide. The point-of-sale system is already installed at Balboa High School, Marina Middle School and Bessie Carmichael and Tenderloin Community elementary schools. In addition......

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Parents, students cross their fingers, hoping to get into school of choice

Published: Mar 06, 2008

Parents will find out this weekend whether their children got into the public school they most wanted. The San Francisco Unified School District will send out 13,250 letters Friday to parents who were told they could apply for up to seven ranked school choices. Though many kids will likely wind up placed in one of their parents’ top picks, according to school assignment data from recent years, hundreds of parents will not receive one of their preferred......

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Nonprofit: Consultant admits to embezzling

Published: Mar 05, 2008

A nonprofit organization operating an underground parking garage in Golden Gate Park has fired a key financial consultant who confessedto embezzling $3.5 million in private donations, according to a spokesman for the nonprofit. Greg Colley, chief financial officer for the Music Concourse Community Partnership, or MCCP, reportedly confessed to taking the funds and using them to make......

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Beer-bandit arrest reveals broader operations

Published: Mar 04, 2008

A trio of DalyCity men suspected of masterminding a series of thefts of 18 tractor-trailers, loaded with such merchandise as refrigerators, instant noodles and furniture, were arrested recently but authorities said a handful of fellow bandits remain on the loose in the Bay Area.California Highway Patrol officers charged Carlos "Peru" Demartini, Etuimo "Cubano" Rodriguez and Carlos "El Guardia" Iraheta with......

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Council still searching for city manager with ‘it’ quality

Published: Mar 03, 2008

Picking the right person to lead City Hall is no small task.After more than 40 candidates and six finalists, Redwood City couldn’t find the right person to replace City Manager Ed Everett, who retired last November after 15 years at the helm. The City Council will meet tonight in closed session to weigh whether to cast its nets again and hope to find a good match this time. In Redwood......

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‘Leapers’ finally receive their opportunity for a celebration

Published: Feb 29, 2008

For most, being born on a particular day isn’t anything special, but those born Feb. 29 are often treated as curiosities or minor celebrities — or even the subjects of a seemingly lifelong practical joke. In fact, being a leap day baby is a little like being born into a secret club. That’s one reason San Francisco resident Peter Brouwer launched Continued...

 

Unlicensed driver cause of tanker spill

Published: Feb 29, 2008

A Bay Area woman without a driver’s license was responsible for the big-rig tanker crash that spilled more than 2,500 gallons of fuel on U.S. Highway 101 last month that caused part of the highway to be closed for two days, according to the California Highway Patrol.The CHP recently wrapped up its investigation into the Jan. 29 crash that transformed the traffic artery into a parking lot and forced a multitude of local, state and federal agencies to help......

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Jury finds man guilty in 2002 fatal shooting

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Kenneth Watson, a former standout football player at Hillsdale High, was unanimously found guilty by a 12-person jury of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2002 shooting death of Damon Whitney. The decision comes almost six years after Watson shot Whitney in Millbrae in retaliation for an earlier drug-money rip-off. Watson now faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. After the court clerk read verdict, Whitney’s family cried out and sobbed, while Watson and his family were stoic. "I think the......

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Pink slips approved for school district employees

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Nearly 400 teachers and 140 administrators in the San Francisco Unified School District will receive pink slips March 15 — warnings that their jobs could be eliminated this summer due to budget cuts.Late Tuesday, the Board of Education approved a staff recommendation to send out the provisionary notices, in response to declining enrollment and decreases in state funding.The district faces an immediate $1 million shortfall and roughly $40 million in losses in 2008-09, predominantlyfrom state budget cuts......

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Costco expansion suit goes to court

Published: Feb 28, 2008

Residents suing Redwood City and Costco over the wholesaler’s expansion plans had their day in court Wednesday, but could wait up to three months for a decision.Attorneys representing Surlene and George Grant as well as James Rockwood, neighbors of Costco’s Middlefield Road store, argued that traffic engineers used faulty......

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Wheels are turning for toll-hike plan

Published: Feb 27, 2008

Opinions about a toll increase on the Golden Gate Bridge span great divides, but all sides will have a chance to voice concerns during a forum Thursday. Drivers who use the Golden Gate Bridge could face a $1 toll increase late this year and potentially another $1 increase during peak hours. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District raised bridge tolls in 2002 from $4 to $5 to help close a $454 million deficit. Since then, cuts to......

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San Carlos considering utility tax to halt growing deficit

Published: Feb 27, 2008

Voters could soon be asked to weigh in on a utility tax aimed at closing the city’s structural deficit, estimated at $3 million and growing. City Manager Mark Weiss has suggested a broad range of taxes and fees, but at the top of his list is a utility tax that could go before voters as soon as November. Unlike its neighbors in Redwood City, San Carlos doesn’t charge a utility tax, but council members wrestled with that concept Tuesday night. The taxes are charged on utility bills for residences and......

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Firm looks to reconnect Wi-Fi deal

Published: Feb 26, 2008

A competitive broadband provider is breathing new life into plans to launch a service providing public wireless Internet access across Silicon Valley and the Peninsula. Covad Communications tapped San Carlos as well as Palo Alto recently for Wi-Fi test networks with the hopes of expanding the plan and creating a 1,500-square-mile "canopy" of wireless access for residents and businesses from Daly City to Gilroy.The plan for widespread Wi-Fi access was initially hatched by a consortium of Azulstar Networks, Cisco Systems, IBM and Seakay, which announced in 2006 that they would......

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Homeless finding shelter in voucher system

Published: Feb 25, 2008

When Hurricane Katrina survivor Jimmie Cosey came to the Bay Area from Louisiana last December, he said he wasn’t sure what to do when he found a number of homeless shelters packed and without available beds. Fortunately, Cosey, like many other homeless in San Mateo County, received a voucher from county officials for a night’s stay in a motel, just as long as he promised to turn up the next morning to sign into a shelter. At the motel, he was able to get regular showers and meals and store......

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Budget cuts force school sacrifices

Published: Feb 25, 2008

Peninsula school districts are preparing for nasty cuts in state funding by weighing a number of equally nasty fixes, from cutting teachers to raising taxes. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed 2008-09 budget, schools would lose roughly $800 per student in the 2008-09 school year — more than $4 billion statewide, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said. California’sprojected deficit rose last week from $14.5 billion to $16 billion, leaving education leaders wary that schools could lose even more by the time school officials have to draw up budgets in......

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Concrete wharves may aid cement firm

Published: Feb 25, 2008

The Port of Redwood City is preparing for a massive $11 million reconstruction project of its two oldest wharves, potentially doubling the shipping capacity of a local cement supplier whose material feeds construction projects across the Bay Area.The port, which opened on the Redwood City Bayfront in 1937, is the only deep-water port in the South Bay, making it the only port in the Bay capable of handling......

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Wet, windy storm on its way

Published: Feb 22, 2008

Bay Area residents face an onslaught of wet, windy weather this weekend, but the late-February storm should top off regional water supplies, officials said Thursday. Rains are expected to continue through today and Saturday morning. By lunchtime Saturday, winds are expected to kick up heavy rains and gusts of up to 60 miles per hour that could continue into Sunday afternoon, said Brian Tentinger, meteorologist with the National Weather......

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Man accused of killing police officer to stand trial in fall

Published: Feb 21, 2008

The man accused of killing East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May will stand trial Sept. 2, more than 2½ years after the deadly shooting took place near an East Palo Alto taqueria. "It’s a big relief," said Diana May, the slain officer’s widow. "I’m ready to get this trial going and get it behind us. Obviously it’s not going to bring my husband back, but I feel like I’m......

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Alleged accomplices in teen's jail break plead not guilty

Published: Feb 20, 2008

Two teens accused of helping murder suspect Josue Raul Orozco break out from a juvenile detention center pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of aiding the escape. Martin Villa Patino and Vanher Cho, both 18, are each being held at San Mateo county jail on $200,000 bail following their arraignment Tuesday. Patino and Cho were arrested Friday night on charges that they boosted Orozco up a wall after playing basketball together at the county Youth Services Center, San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mark Alcantara said. They were transferred to......

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Officials: Design flaw enabled inmate escape

Published: Feb 20, 2008

A design oversight at the county Youth Services Center, from which 17-year-old murder suspect Josue Orozco escaped last week, allowed the young fugitive to flee the San Mateo facility, authorities revealed Tuesday. Orozco scaled a 15-foot wall near a basketball court at the facility after two inmates boosted him high enough to reach halogen lights installed only 12 feet......

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More students mean more facilities

Published: Feb 19, 2008

Sequoia High School is getting ready to roll out a $19 million revamp of its athletic facilities, including a brand-new gym and the return of its tennis courts as a student population boom is expected. Those courts were covered two years ago when the high school leased portable classrooms to Summit Prep Charter High School, which has since moved. In the first $4 million phase of the gymnasium plan, the courts will be restored this summer while crews reconfigure the gym parking lot and shift the softball field, according to......

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Devices doing little to slow drivers, may endanger cyclists

Published: Feb 18, 2008

Rubber devices meant to slow down reckless drivers on a steep residential street not only aren’t slowing down cars, but may pose a hazard to bicyclists, locals say. McGarvey Avenue residents have had their share of trouble, including totaled cars and dead pets, caused by speeding drivers. For two years, they asked Redwood City leaders to install something more effective than warning signs, and this winter they thought they’d finally gotten their wish. The rubber traffic chokers were installed along the sides of McGarvey Avenue near Chesterton Avenue and Fernside......

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Solving crime with a skeleton police force

Published: Feb 16, 2008

When it comes to solving crimes, this sleepy Peninsula city knows a thing or two about getting more done with less.San Carlos spends less on police services per capita than similar cities in San Mateo County and has fewer officers to go around, but its ability to find and arrest suspects hasn’t suffered. In 2005, local police cleared 55 percent of its 31 violent crimes, 21 percent of its......

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Driver in Halberstam death sentenced to five days in jail

Published: Feb 15, 2008

The UC Berkeley graduate student who caused the crash that killed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam was sentenced to five days in jail, probation and community service Thursday. Judge Mark Forcum sentenced Kevin Jones, 27, to five days in jail, to be served in a work program, as well as one year of formal probation, one year of court probation, $24,600 in restitution fees to Lewis Morris and undetermined restitution fees to Christina Pinonlara, both of whom were injured in the three-vehicle crash in Menlo Park on April 23. A......

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Police arrest four on suspicion of prostitution in sting

Published: Feb 14, 2008

Police have arrested four women at local hotels on prostitution charges and are planning future stings to root out women who are offering sexual services for money.San Carlos saw a rise in prostitution about six months ago when local police cracked down on sex workers in neighboring cities such as Redwood City, said police Chief Greg Rothaus. The suspects are......

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United worker postpones plea on gun-possession charge

Published: Feb 14, 2008

A transgender Pacifica resident, arrested last week on suspicion of bringing a revolver to her job at a United Airlines maintenance yard at San Francisco International Airport, postponed entering a plea in court Wednesday.Traci Timothy Bracken, 55, is expected to enter her plea Tuesday on charges that she was in possession of a loaded gun when she was arrested at United on Feb. 7, said Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy in the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. Bracken remains in custody in the women’s sector of the San Mateo county......

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Beef could soon return to lunch menu

Published: Feb 11, 2008

Schools could find out as soon as today whether beef is allowed back on student lunch menus following a national scare in which beef from cows linked to mad-cow disease could have entered the food supply. The California Department of Education recommended Jan. 30 that schools avoid using all beef products from the Westland Meat Company after investigators from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture found that employees in a Westland slaughterhouse mistreated so-called "downer" cows, which are too sick to walk. Although the USDA had no evidence that the cows —......

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War on apple moths moves to S.F., San Mateo counties

Published: Feb 09, 2008

State officials will battle the invasive light-brown apple moth in San Francisco and San Mateo counties this year, but for now aren’t planning the intensive aerial treatments linked to health problems. Higher concentrations of the moth — the larvae of which infest and damage the leaves of grapes, apples and other food crops — were treated with aerial pheromone sprays in Continued...

 

Clinic rescued by new site, monies

Published: Feb 08, 2008

The county-run Teen Wellness Center, a free clinic which treats roughly 2,200 students each year, has been rescued by the school district’s board of trustees and will receive a new home later this year. The Sequoia High School District’s board of trustees on Wednesday pledged up to $1.3 million to build a new, permanent site for the center, which has been housed in a large portable building on the Sequoia High School campus. The center faced closure following a state order to move the facilitiesfrom its temporary location. For the......

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OSHA fines company where 18-year-old employee fell into sulfuric acid

Published: Feb 07, 2008

The circuit-board company where an 18-year-old employee drowned in a vat of sulfuric acid in September did not have adequate protection around its chemical vats, one of 17 health and safety violations, according to a report released Wednesday. Fernando Gonzalez, 18, died at after slumping head-first into a vat containing sulfuric acid. His death kicked off a California Department of Occupational Safety and Health investigation, which found that the company did not install covers or guardrails on several chemical vats used in circuit-board production, according to a report from OSHA......

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Sequoia High School District secures funds

Published: Feb 06, 2008

Sequoia High School District leaders are celebrating the passage of a $165 million bond that will help the district bring new technology and more career-skills programs to Carlmont, Sequoia, Menlo-Atherton and Woodside high schools.Measure J received more than the 55 percent it needed to pass, becoming the fifth bond in a row approved by voters in the past 12 years, according to Superintendent Pat Gemma."This is the capstone bond that will allow the district to implement and realize its vision" to create vocational classes for its students, Gemma said. Continued...

 

Ravenswood tax up in the air

Published: Feb 06, 2008

With two of 19 precincts accounted for, Ravenswood City School District leaders were on the edge of their seats Tuesday night, with a 70.92 percentage of voters in favor of the $98 parcel tax and 29.08 percent opposing the tax. Measure M, if it wins a two-thirds approval, would continue the parcel tax first enacted by voters in 2004. The assessment helps Ravenswood pay teachers’ salaries, which were the lowest in San Mateo County before the tax, Assistant Superintendent Adam Escoto said Tuesday night. With the parcel tax, teachers new......

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Ravenswood tax up in the air

Published: Feb 06, 2008

Eichler Highlands and its neighbors said yes again to a tax for extra fire and police services.The neighborhoods are on county land and don’t receive city services. Since 1982, residents have voted to pay about $65 a year for more sheriff patrols and an extra fire truck."I’m pleased," said Cary Weist, president of the neighborhood association. "It will give this community assurances that all public safety measures are being taken."......

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Police hub proposed for Belle Haven area

Published: Feb 05, 2008

City leaders are poised to spend $2.2 million to triple the size of a police substation in the Belle Haven neighborhood, the area with the highest crime rate in the city.The Menlo Park City Council could opt Tuesday to spend $2.2 million in bond money to purchase the 3,800-square-foot space aimed at expanding police services. The site would double as a resource center, allowing residents the option of paying water bills and obtaining police reports without going to City Hall. If approved, construction would begin immediately and finish in the......

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Cameras raise students’ eyebrows, ire

Published: Feb 05, 2008

Students weren’t smiling when theyfound out they were on camera.Woodside High School was the school district’s first foray into campuswide surveillance cameras, but it received failing remarks by students, who claimed they were not informed of the installations and feared they were being policed. The school installed 15 cameras last summer, said Ed LaVigne, the Woodside High School District’s chief business official. The cameras monitor student and staff parking lots, sports fields and other areas of campus. Superintendent Pat Gemma said they are meant to keep students in line as......

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Measure M would keep parcel tax alive

Published: Feb 02, 2008

The cash-strapped Ravenswood City School District has a tough time retaining teachers, which is one reason district leaders are hoping voters will extend a $98 parcel tax that helps pay salaries for the educators. Measure M, on Tuesday’s ballot, would continue a tax voters approved in 2004 to boost pay for teachers in the district’s elementary schools. It requires two-thirds approval to pass. If it passes, homeowners would continue to pay $98 per parcel per year until June......

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Measure J’s goal: More job training in schools

Published: Feb 01, 2008

Students who are able to learn job skills in high school are less likely to drop out and more likely to pass the exit exam, studies say, which is one reason the Sequoia High School District is seeking a bond issue that would help to expand vocational programs. Measure J, on Tuesday’s ballot, would raise $165 million in bond funds to expand what’s called "career technical education," which helps high school students prepare for careers in everything from working on cars to performing tests in biotechnology laboratories. It requires 55......

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Truck company faces paying for gas spill cleanup

Published: Jan 31, 2008

The company whose tanker spilled 2,500 gallons of gasoline onto U.S. Highway 101 on Tuesday and created a commuting nightmare could be billed for the cleanup — even if the driver wasn’t responsible for the crash. Numerous local, state and federal agencies rushed to the scene after a minivan crashed into a big rig owned by KAG West of West Sacramento, causing the rear of the tanker to flip and spill gasoline onto a 200-foot section of the highway. County......

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Tanker crash caused traffic mayhem, headaches

Published: Jan 31, 2008

The region’s commuters fought tooth and nail to get home Tuesday following the tanker crash that closed U.S. Highway 101 in both directions during rush hour. For most, the commute home from Sunnyvale or Mountain View that normally takes an hour stretched to nearly three hours as they inched along the highway, dodged around the crash site and hunted for alternative ways home. Continued...

 

Gasoline spill on Highway 101 ignites traffic chaos

Published: Jan 30, 2008

A gas spill and fears of a massive explosion Tuesday shut down U.S. Highway 101 in Redwood City through early this morning, creating a commuter nightmare for drivers after a big-rig truck flipped and spilled more than 1,000 gallons of fuel. Southbound traffic on the freeway was allowed to flow again at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, but northbound lanes need to be repaved, the California Highway Patrol said. The......

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Oil, tar balls wash onto beaches

Published: Jan 29, 2008

A three-mile-long ribbon of oil washed up on Moss Beach on Monday, along with gallons of oil and sticky tar balls on beaches from San Francisco to Pacifica. Crews with the U.S. Coast Guard and the California Oil Spill Investigation Response team collected 30 gallons of fouled soil from Pacifica Beach and another 12 gallons from Rockaway Beach on Monday afternoon. Smaller amounts of oil and tar balls were found on Ocean, Montara and Carmel beaches, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Anderson. The black, sticky oil was first......

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Deadly crosswalk could be safer by year’s end

Published: Jan 28, 2008

Thanks to the efforts of one local woman, a deadly intersection where elderly locals cross the street daily could have a new four-way traffic signal by the end of the year. Locals who use the San Carlos Adult Community Center have been telling leaders about the dangerous crosswalk, where Chestnut Street crosses San Carlos Avenue, ever since patrons Margaret McEnnerny, 78, and Mariana Parise, 74, were struck by an SUV on Dec. 5, 2003. McEnnerny died of her injuries. "Cars just don’t stop. Or one lane of traffic will stop,......

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Menlo Park, Atherton look to split trains, cars

Published: Jan 26, 2008

Four downtown intersections could be overhauled in the coming years to make way for the potential influx of trains passing through the Caltrain corridor, costing Menlo Park hundreds of millions of dollars.City leaders from both Menlo Park and Atherton will begin discussion on how the cities can afford to install grade separations, routing cars either over or under the Caltrain corridor, at several crossings such as Watkins, Greenwood, Oak Grove and Ravenswood avenues. The grade separations are considered necessary, according to city leaders, to ease auto traffic if the Dumbarton......

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Foundations make up for state deficit

Published: Jan 25, 2008

Parent-run fundraising groups are mobilizing to raise big bucks forlocal school districts following the news that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to slash state spending on education. Although the governor’s budget is months away from adoption, education analysts have already pegged K-12 cutbacks at anywhere from $443 to $800 per student. California already spends $1,892 less per student than the national average of $8,973, earning it a D+, according to a recent......

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Grant will help study Woodside Road fixes

Published: Jan 25, 2008

Walking downtown from the Redwood Village neighborhood — a distance of less than a mile — can feel a little like running the gantlet. To get there, pedestrians must cross Woodside Road, where at least four pedestrians have been killed in the last four years. The closest place to cross Woodside, which doubles as a state highway, is a footbridge many say is unsafe, according to Hoover School Principal Greg Land. To remedy the dangers of traversing Woodside Road, Continued...

 

Development plans for Cargill site are unveiled

Published: Jan 24, 2008

The future developer of one of the largest undeveloped plots of bayfront property is offering the clearest picture yet of what could be built on the former site of a commercial salt factory. Cargill Inc. announced plans in 2006 to redevelop its salt ponds on the 1,433-acre site at the Bay’s edge in Redwood City. The property is zoned as tidal plain and development is forbidden. Last year, Cargill announced......

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Health plans will dent Menlo Park’s general fund

Published: Jan 23, 2008

Nearly one-third of the city’s general fund will be set aside to pay off a looming debt for retiree medical benefits. Medical expenses in Menlo Park, like many California cities, have skyrocketed as the city struggles to offer benefits that keep its employees from leaving City Hall. Under state law, the city must figure out this year how to pay for $13.2 million in medical benefits for retired employees. To do......

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Mayor’s ‘Ratatouille’ rakes in Oscar nods

Published: Jan 23, 2008

Mayor Brad Lewis was awake at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to learn that "Ratatouille" — the much-lauded animated film he produced for Pixar — is up for five Academy Awards. Pixar’s tale of a rat who wants to become a chef garnered more Oscar nominations than any other film from the Emeryville-based company, Lewis said. It’s in the running for best......

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San Carlos shuttle service to be revived

Published: Jan 21, 2008

It’s beginning to look like local shuttle service could come back from the dead. Two and a half years after SCOOT, San Carlos’ popular shuttle, rode off into the sunset, residents are clamoring for some kind of replacement. "When we asked the public what they wanted to see in the future, one of the first things out of their mouths was ‘SCOOT,’" Assistant City Manager Brian Moura said. Regional sales-tax......

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Prospective police: The choice is yours

Published: Jan 21, 2008

Every police department in San Mateo County is hiring — and while that may be good news for job-seekers, it’s not such good news for police agencies trying to keep their cities safe.Police departments across the county have been hit by a triple-whammy: The oldest officers are retiring, mid-career officers are moving to jobs closer to home and newrecruits are hard to come by, in part because it’s tough to find young people with no criminal background or drug......

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Redwood City fire inspections fall behind

Published: Jan 19, 2008

The blaze that destroyed a 99 Cent and Over store on El Camino Real last February did more than gut a business — it was the second time, owner Amadeo Penas said, he lost everything he’d invested in order to open a store. For many mom-and-pop stores, the business represents a family’s life savings. The loss of the business "would be devastating," said Susan Nejman, owner of Cook’s Upholstery, a......

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Barbecue burns Millbrae home

Published: Jan 17, 2008

An evening of barbecuing went awry Wednesday, engulfing a house in flames and sending up a plume of black smoke that could be seen for miles. A resident at the house located at 13 Corte Nueva, a quiet cul-de-sac in the Millbrae Hills, told firefighters that he was attempting to light his barbecue grill outside the house shortly after 4 p.m.,according to Millbrae Fire Chief Dennis Haag. Flames flared up,......

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Creek waters creep into residents’ yards

Published: Jan 16, 2008

Residents along a dry creek bed got a surprise during the Jan. 4 storms when the creek filled up with water, overran its banks and flooded yards and garages. Brittan Creek used to flow between Howard and Greenwood avenues, from the San Carlos hills to the Bay. In the mid-’90s, the city diverted the creek underground to keep it from flooding, according to Public Works Director Parviz Mokhtari. Now, what remains between Elm Street and El Camino Real is a dry gully behind people’s homes — one that residents too......

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Residents request price for Cargill site

Published: Jan 14, 2008

More than a hundred locals who met Sunday to discuss the future of one of the largest undeveloped parcels of bayshore land only wanted to know one thing: How much will it cost to take the land back?Cargill owns 1,433 acres of Bayfront property that was used for commercial salt mining. The company announced in 2006 that it would shut down the industrial salt plant in Redwood City but then hired DMB Associates — developers known for creating large-scale communities......

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Less activity, revenue at Port of Redwood City

Published: Jan 10, 2008

The amount of construction material moving through the Port of Redwood City has dropped 15 percent, due to declines in new building across California.Roughly 660,000 metric tons of material — primarily aggregates used to make concrete — were shipped through the port between July and December 2007, according to port director Mike Giari. It is a drop from the......

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Redwood City teen found dead on tracks

Published: Jan 09, 2008

A local teenager with a history of running away from home was found dead on the Caltrain tracks just north of Whipple Avenue on Monday night. The victim was identified as 17-year-old Jose Luis Flores by San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. Flores is the first to die on the rail corridor in 2008. There were eight......

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San Carlos mixed-use plan is charging full steam ahead

Published: Jan 09, 2008

A first-of-its-kind housing and retail proposal by the San Mateo County Transit District could serve as a model for mixed-use projects in Millbrae, Colma and other cities. SamTrans and its developer, Legacy Partners, aim to build 280 units of rental housing and 34,600 square feet of commercial space on seven acres of SamTrans-owned land just south of the train station......

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Inspectors bewildered by series of homemade bombs

Published: Jan 08, 2008

A string of makeshift bombs crafted from household items have investigators throughout the county scratching their heads and hunting for suspects — possibly young ones. The chain of events became apparent Sunday after a youth kicked a two-liter soda bottle wrapped in duct tape that was left outside the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Redwood City. Hydrochloric acid splashed from the bottle and onto a nearby girl’s legs, eating away at her pantyhose before her parents washed her with water and......

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Acid 'bomb' planted on Redwood City street

Published: Jan 07, 2008

Cold weather and duct tape may have kept a makeshift bomb from rupturing suddenly Sunday morning and splashing passers-by with hydrochloric acid, fire officials said.The San Mateo County Hazardous Materials team and bomb squads responded Sunday after a youth kicked a two-liter plastic bottle filled with fluid and wrapped in duct tape, splashing its contents onto the legs of a nearby girl, according to Steve Cavallero, battalion chief with......

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Residents say bridge brings crime to neighborhood

Published: Jan 04, 2008

Residents on Ringwood Avenue west of U.S. Highway 101 say that a pedestrian bridge linking their neighborhood to the community across the highway on the east side has become a conduit for crime — one they want destroyed. The California Department of Transportation is weighing whether to spend $5.7 million to demolish and replace the aging bike and pedestrian bridge in 2011 when it begins adding auxiliary lanes on the highway, spokeswoman Continued...

 

Lawmakers mull downtown housing rules

Published: Jan 02, 2008

As housing advocates celebrate the opening of downtown’s newest all-affordable apartment complex, leaders are grappling with ways to make sure that low-income residents will have a place in downtown’s redevelopment. Villa Montgomery, the 58-unit apartment building at 1540 El Camino Real that is hosting a grand opening this month, is one affordable-housing project at the center of a debate between Redwood City lawmakers about how to include affordable units in plans that will add up to 2,500 units of housing.......

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New marina fulfills local boater’s dream

Published: Dec 29, 2007

A new marina will open its gates in January, becoming the first recreational-boating center to open in the city in decades. West Point Marina, behind the Pacific Shores Center at the end of Seaport Boulevard, looks across West Point Slough to the federally protected shores of Greco Island. By transforming the 26-acre plot — which once housed bittern ponds left over from salt harvesting — into a marina, owner......

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‘Stable’ financial picture likely to end

Published: Dec 28, 2007

Booming airport traffic, fewer office vacancies and low unemployment rates helped boost a strong county economy in 2006-07, but leaders said Thursday that a new report from the San Mateo County Controller’s Office points to the end of what has been a stable period for the Peninsula. According to Controller Tom Huening’s report, the county faces a $25 million structural deficit, caused in large part by skyrocketing......

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Grand jury critiques district

Published: Dec 20, 2007

The high school district serving students between Belmont and Woodside violated its open-enrollment policies when it allowed nearly 2,300 students to matriculate at Carlmont High School last fall — in excessof the school’s 2,100-student capacity — according to the San Mateo County civil grand jury. Rather than redistribute the additional......

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Marina housing project OK’d

Published: Dec 19, 2007

A scaled-down version of one of the most controversial projects in city history won unanimous support from city leaders, but groundbreaking could be a year or more away. Peninsula Park, the project formerly known as Marina Shores Village — the high-rise residential project overturned by voters in 2004 — includes a plan to build 796 townhouses, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-room hotel on Peninsula Marina, near Pete’s Harbor. The Redwood City Council on Monday......

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Officials eye Carlmont High buses’ tardiness

Published: Dec 19, 2007

High-school district leaders are pursuing long-term solutions to the transportation problems that caused Carlmont High School students to miss their morning classes earlier this year. Consultants for the Sequoia High School District will begin to lay out some of their ideas tonight, including using computer software to streamline the district’s bus routes, parking buses in cheaper facilities and making sure the district has enough trained bus drivers to shuttle kids to and from school. The district may also consider......

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Menlo Park could be new hub for East Bay commuters

Published: Dec 18, 2007

An unused stretch of train tracks on the Caltrain corridor could someday be home to a train station, new housing and amenities within walking distance of local office parks and the Sun Microsystems campus. As part of the Dumbarton Rail plan, which would shuttle commuters from the East Bay to Redwood City and beyond, Continued...

 

Redwood City fire chars care home

Published: Dec 17, 2007

Smoke detectors and a well-practiced evacuation plan were likely what saved the lives of seven developmentally disabled adults after their care facility caught fire Sunday. Neighbor Gloria Maldonado first noticed smoke coming from the house at 124 Alameda de las Pulgas when she stepped outside her door shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday to pick up her newspaper. Staff at the Alameda House had begun evacuating the center’s seven residents, and a......

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Grads help short-staffed fire departments

Published: Dec 17, 2007

Fire departments across San Mateo County will see some fresh faces for the holidays as 20 new graduates from the Firefighters’ Academy join their ranks. New graduates are trained in basic firefighting and paramedic work, but will continue to train on the job for a two-year probationary period, said Armando Muela, chiefof the Woodside Fire Protection District. Woodside is hiring five of new graduates. "These guys will bring us up to our minimum staffing level, which is 13," Muela said. "We’ve been using overtime to backfill the positions, but that......

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Fatigued gym to get in shape

Published: Dec 13, 2007

After more than 30 years, the Burgess gymnasium is showing signs of its age — tiny practice rooms, a failing ventilation system and not enough room for the 8,000 athletes who use it regularly. Due to its age, the gymnasium at 501 Laurel St. is slated for a major overhaul. During the next six months, city leaders will talk with gym users and residents to find out what the facility needs — and how big it needs to be. All options are on the table, including renovation and expansion or......

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Traffic-bound sea lion could be ill

Published: Dec 12, 2007

A wayward juvenile sea lion who likely clambered out of a slough near San Carlos Airport and wandered into one of the city’s busiest intersections Tuesday may have been suffering from toxic-algae poisoning, an increasingly common problem among Bay Area marine life. The pup made its way to Old County Road near Brittan Avenue before a keen-eyed local called the San Carlos Police Department at approximately 8:15 a.m. Police closed the intersection for 15 minutes while officers corralled......

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Sprinklers could be mandatory for new Menlo Park homes

Published: Dec 11, 2007

Four years after refusing to require new and remodeled homes toinclude fire-dampening sprinkler systems, city leaders are giving the idea a second look. The Menlo Park Fire Protection District is urging the city to require automatic sprinkler systems in all new houses, and in remodels of more than 50 percent of an existing house, particularly in homes with basements. All other areas in the district’s jurisdiction, including Atherton, Continued...

 

Redwood City’s history lesson

Published: Dec 11, 2007

This may be one of the oldest and biggest cities in San Mateo County, but it’s one of the last to have its very own history book. Published this month, "Redwood City: A Hometown History" is a massive, 520-page tome chronicling the history of the town, from its roots as a farming community to its 19th-century industrial foundations. The book was compiled by local volunteers, many of whom......

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Waterfront-housing boom lands in Redwood City

Published: Dec 11, 2007

Two major projects that would bring upwards of 900 new town houses to the city’s waterfront could win approval this month, though some in the city maintain that housing does not belong near the Bay. Peninsula Park, a scaled-down rendition of the high-rise Marina Shores Village project overturned by voters in 2004, includes a plan to build 796 town houses, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 200-room hotel near Pete’s Harbor, located a mile east from the Whipple Avenue exit.Its developers have agreed to provide 40 affordable units,......

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Battery of waste-disposal options in county

Published: Dec 10, 2007

Leaders are hatching new ways to make it easier for residents to recycle toxic trash than to throw it in local landfills.It’s been illegal since 2002 for anyone to throw away what’s called "universal waste" — trash and electronics containing heavy metals, pesticides and other poisonous material. Trash collectors in San Mateo County made it easier for residents to recycle u-waste this fall by launching curbside bins for electronic trash and now are pushing retailers to offer their own......

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County kids besting state at fitness

Published: Dec 07, 2007

San Mateo County students were fitter this year than last year and outstripped students across California when it came to a battery of physical-fitness tests administered by the state each year. California fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders are tested each year in six areas: aerobic capacity, percentage of body fat, abdominal strength, trunk strength and endurance, upper-body strength and endurance as well as overall flexibility. Kids are categorized as "needs improvement"......

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Spring launch eyed for Redwood City shuttle

Published: Dec 06, 2007

A shuttle that would help low-income residents, seniors, kids and the disabledget around town could start service next spring, after two years spent ironing out kinks that have caused other cities’ shuttle services to fail.For now, there is no regular route; riders living in Fair Oaks would be able to request a specific trip in advance, said Christine Maley-Grubl, director of Peninsula Congestion Relief Alliance, which is helping Redwood City plan the service. Planners have held off submitting a formal shuttle proposal to the city, citing an interest in developing......

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Redwood City School District aims for financial recovery

Published: Dec 05, 2007

Redwood City School District leaders faced with an unexpected $2.6 million financial shortfall are developing strategies for patching the hole in the elementary-school district’s 2007-08 budget. Although $1.8 million was cut from the district’s budget before the school year began, a decline in enrollment cost the district vital funds from the state, district Finance Director Raul Parungao said. Parungao will present a savings plan on Dec. 12 to the school board, which will likely recommend covering the shortfall with money from district reserve funds, Superintendent Jan Christensen said. Doing so......

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East Palo Alto charter school proposed

Published: Dec 04, 2007

Architects of an ambitious plan to establish a new college-prep charter high school in East Palo Alto will learn the fate of their proposal this week.Aspire, an Oakland-based charter-school group that operates eight schools in the Bay Area and more throughout California, is asking the Sequoia High School District to......

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CHW set to become sole owner of Sequoia Hospital

Published: Nov 30, 2007

A decision today could allow Catholic Healthcare West to assume ownership of Sequoia Hospital and would provide a funding plan for the $240 million retrofit and remodel of the hospital.CHW took over management of Sequoia Hospital in 1996 to help bail the 57-year-old facility out of near-bankruptcy, said Michael Papalian, president of the physician staff at the hospital. Nonprofit Sequoia Health Services maintained ownership of the hospital; operations were overseen by the Sequoia Healthcare District. The district’s board will vote today whether to invest $75 million of its own money......

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Rogue removed from Redwood City Port

Published: Nov 29, 2007

A shipping facility at the Port of Redwood City once operated by a scofflaw hazardous-waste handler is being taken over by another firm with a clean track record in Northern California. Clean Harbors, a Massachusetts-based waste handler, is taking charge at the port and at an East Palo Alto facility, both of which were operated by Romic Environmental Solutions. Romic shut down last summer after the California Department of Toxic Substances Control found it had violated numerous waste-storage laws and caused serious injury to an employee at its East Palo......

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Notification system installed at schools

Published: Nov 28, 2007

When a bathroom at Adelante School caught fire last month, students throughout the school were evacuated while an automated system called their parents to tell them what to do. It was one of the first tests of the Redwood City School District’s new parental-notification system, Connect-ED, which officially launched Tuesday. The system is used in other local schools, including ones in Hillsborough and Burlingame, to send parents word about everything from student absences to disasters, district spokeswoman Naomi Hunter said. Connect-ED, created by the NTI Group Inc., was used during......

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Menlo Park, San Carlos look to enhance their parklands

Published: Nov 27, 2007

Peninsula cities are going green the old-fashioned way — by focusing on their parks. Menlo Park leaders are poised today to greenlight a new study determining where the city’s sports and playing fields can be expanded, returfed and lighted for more hours of play. After plans to build a golf course and athletic fields at Bayfront Park fell through in 2006, the city has a shortage of playing space, particularly for youth teams, Mayor Kelly Fergusson said. While the city negotiated with golf-course developers, members of the Parks and Recreation......

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Ship comes in for ferry terminal funding

Published: Nov 27, 2007

South San Francisco and Redwood City have secured $15 million apiece to build ferry terminals, but both will need to find more money before commuter-ferry service can set sail. The funds come from Measure A, the one-eighth-cent sales tax renewed by voters in 2006 to pay for transportation improvements in San Mateo County. Theoriginal Measure A was scheduled to expire in 2008; the new one is designed to raise roughly $16 million per year for 25 years. For South San Francisco, slated to begin building its terminal this year, $15......

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Water underneath the Bay may save the day

Published: Nov 26, 2007

A pocket of groundwater underneath San Francisco Bay could provide water to irrigate local parks and landscapes — a possibility crews are exploring by digging test wells. In recent years, Redwood City has exceeded its water allotment from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, prompting city leaders to explore ways to conserve water and maximize the use of potable water. The city had been using approximately 326 million more gallons per year that it is allotted. A city task force then recommended a recycled-water pipeline, which is currently pumping water to Redwood......

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Downtown merchants hopeful despite vacancies

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Despite a number of vacant storefronts and the possibility that holiday hit movies won’t open downtown, merchants in the city’s retail core are optimistic about the holiday shopping season. This will be the second Christmas since On Broadway, the retail-cinema destination hailed as the catalyst for downtown’s revival, opened in July 2006 between Middlefield Road and Jefferson Street. While business is picking up, empty spaces remain — and very few winter events are planned to draw locals downtown, said Alpio Barbara, president of the Downtown Business Group. Cathy Oyster, owner......

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Shopping centers healthy despite battered economy

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Shopping-center owners are bracing for massive crowds Friday, even though gas prices are soaring to near record highs and online retailers are drawing more customers than ever. The Bay Area’s retail centers will open early Friday for what has come to be known as Black Friday — the day many merchants begin to turn a profit for the year. In addition, many will offer "doorbuster" deals to make sure shoppers don’t stay home and sleep off their turkey hangovers. The crowds and chaos are "half the fun" of shopping on......

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Shopping centers healthy despite battered economy

Published: Nov 22, 2007

Shopping-center owners are bracing for massive crowds Friday, even though gas prices are soaring to near record highs and online retailers are drawing more customers than ever. The Bay Area’s retail centers will open early Friday for what has come to be known as Black Friday — the day many merchants begin to turn a profit for the year. In addition, many will offer "doorbuster" deals to make sure shoppers don’t stay home and sleep off their turkey hangovers. The crowds and chaos are "half the fun" of shopping on......

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Roosevelt’s grades remain low, parents want change

Published: Nov 12, 2007

The majority of parents who live near Roosevelt Elementary School believe a major change in structure would be the best way to reverse low test scores and declining enrollment at the school. More than 1,000 parents throughout Redwood City were recently polled to test the waters regarding a potential change of direction for the school, which is on its second year of sanctions after failing to meet federal assessment benchmarks. While test scores are on the rise — especially among students learning English — 80 percent of parents within school......

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Redwood City incumbents sweep

Published: Nov 07, 2007

City Council incumbents made a clean sweep at the polls Tuesday, all four winning re-election to their seats on the seven-member council. Among the contenders were incumbent winners Barbara Pierce, Rosanne Foust, Ian Bain and Alicia Aguirre, as well as challengers Kevin Bondonno and Joneen Nielsen. Bondonno served as chairman of the city’s Housing and Human Services Committee, while Nielsen, a high school teacher, campaigned little and entered the race primarily to oppose artificial turf in Redwood Shores. "So far, so good," Bain said at fellow Councilmember Jim Hartnett’s office,......

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San Carlos casts net for new businesses

Published: Nov 07, 2007

The first step in increasing the city’s sales-tax revenues will be to pick which businesses — from Abercrombie & Fitch to Zumiez — to lure into town, and which ones residents want most. Locals are clamoring for a new grocery store, more bookstores and a little nightlife, including a brewpub or similar eatery at the San Carlos train station. With a number of commercial sites potentially available, from Wheeler Plaza to the corner of Holly Street and Industrial Road, the city’s economic leaders are putting on their thinking caps to......

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Theater revamp a hot ticket in Menlo Park

Published: Nov 06, 2007

Controversial plans to restore and reopen the Park Theater have become one of the most divisive topics in town, earning the City Council plenty of public criticism — and even a Web site calling for the recall of three council members who backed the plan.City Hall’s inboxes have been flooded with e-mails for the last three months, most of them opposing thecouncil’s 3-2 vote Oct. 2 in favor of spending $2.4 million in city funds to purchase the shuttered movie theater. If the deal goes forward, Menlo Park would then......

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Cargill development may see rough waters

Published: Nov 05, 2007

As developers of a massive piece of waterfront property kick off efforts to design the future use of the site, development opponents are coming out of the woodwork to block the potential for construction. Cargill Salt hired DMB Associates, known for large-scale developments, to plot the redevelopment of Cargill’s 1,433 acres of salt ponds near Seaport Boulevard. DMB recently hired three planners — Peter Calthorpe, who helped design San Mateo’s Bay Meadows; Keith Bowers, a restoration expert familiar with salt-marsh restoration; and Boris Dramov, who helped craft waterfront development near......

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3-minute interview with Henry Rollins

Published: Nov 05, 2007

The intense and prolific 46-year-old former lead singer for Black Flag lands at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre on Tuesday for a stop on his spoken-word tour, "Provoked." The performance includes stories drawn from his 25-year career as a musician, actor and writer, his recent USO trips to Iran and Djibouti, and his incessant frustration with the American government.You’ll be in San Francisco on election night. Will you be talking about voting? Voting is completely important. People in America think democracy is a given. I think of it as an ecosystem,......

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City drives for Middlefield Road repairs

Published: Nov 02, 2007

Nascent plans to restripe Middlefield Road and make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians could balloon into a full-scale effort to improve sidewalks and put all utilities underground. The $180,000 restriping plans would add a central turn lane and potentially add a bicycle lane from Fifth Avenue to City Hall. However, the city also has some utility credits from Pacific Gas & Electric to run electrical and telephone lines underground, providing the chance to improve the look of a major entry into the city, Councilmember Ian Bain said."A lot of......

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Study aims to bridge isolated Fair Oaks

Published: Nov 01, 2007

The Fair Oaks area is less than a mile from downtown, but gridlock, big streets and few good options for pedestrians and cyclists make it difficult to get from one to the other without a car. At the same time, residents who live east of Woodside Road have less money and rely more heavily on public transportation. That fact helped Redwood City attract a $153,000 grant from the California Department of Transportation to dream up better transit options for the area bounded by Spring, Chew and Chestnut streets and Douglas......

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Redwood City voters face lack of variety

Published: Nov 01, 2007

Voters face the tough task of choosing among four incumbents and two challengers for four seats on the City Council when, most of the time, they see eye to eye on some of the city’s biggest issues. Incumbents Barbara Pierce, Rosanne Foust, Ian Bain and Alicia Aguirre face competition from Kevin Bondonno, chair of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, and Joneen Nielsen, a relative newcomer who works as a high-school teacher in local districts. All six have their eyes on downtown’s progress, now that the retail-cinema site is finished......

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The 3-minute interview with Therese Martin

Published: Oct 31, 2007

The 33-year-old is the executive director for the massive, five-weekend San Francisco Open Studios art event, which overtakes The City each year. The event wraps up this weekend by offering behind-the-scenes looks at artists’ studios at the Hunter’s Point Shipyard. Are art lovers in San Francisco different from art lovers anywhere else? If so, how? They’re definitely less timid than the art lovers I’ve seen in the Midwest. They are a lot more interested in individual artists’ stories — they like that interaction. San Francisco just attracts people who are......

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Sequoia bond will likely go to ballot

Published: Oct 31, 2007

As locals line up to vote in the February 2008 presidential primary, they’ll also likely be asked to approve a new $165 million bond to support high-tech and career-training programs in the Sequoia High School District. As proposed, the new bond would pay for a vast array of construction and program equipment — everything from new computers at all the schools to interactive "smart boards" to replace outdated chalkboards and whiteboards — aimed at giving students a cutting-edge education, said Chief Business Official Ed LaVigne. Sequoia’s boardof trustees is set......

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Proposal for housing on hillside draws ire

Published: Oct 30, 2007

A developer has come forward with bold plans to build 18 houses in a steep, densely wooded part of the city, prompting questions about whether it can be done — and done safely. John Ward, representing a cadre of landowners of undeveloped parcels along Laurel Way, hopes to build the houses on land originally subdivided in 1929 and annexed from the county to Redwood City in 1969. His proposal, submitted Sept. 6, will get a first look from the Planning Commission tonight, and commissioners are hoping to hear feedback from......

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More buses, drivers to target tardiness

Published: Oct 30, 2007

The Sequoia High School District is hoping that two new buses, four new bus drivers and an earlier schedule will help ensure that East Palo Alto students get to Carlmont High School on time. Angry parents and Carlmont officials told the district board this fall that the bus from East Palo Alto was late 14 out of the first 19 days of school. While some of that was chalked up to bad traffic on U.S. Highway 101, bus-driver shortages and other conflicts were also partly to blame, trustee Gordon Lewin......

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Meeting to put ‘Bay Area on the Move’

Published: Oct 26, 2007

It’s no secret that it costs a lot to live in the Bay Area; that traffic is bad and getting worse; that long commutes maycontribute to global warming — or that the three are connected — and leaders say it’s time the region did something about it.The Association of Bay Area Governments, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and regional leaders will gather today in Oakland to hammer out the latest facts, ask tough questions — and begin to craft policies aimed at resolving the Bay Area’s biggest problems, said MTC spokesman......

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Council approves first red-light camera

Published: Oct 25, 2007

Local red-light runners will face tougher enforcement once police determine the best spot to install the city’s first camera to fight the violation. The red-light camera, unanimously approved by the City Council this week, is expected to reduce traffic violations in the same way it has in other cities where the cameras have been installed. But debate about where to put it lingers, given that multiple intersections in San Carlos, including several on El Camino Real and the one at San Carlos Avenue and Walnut Street, have seen several......

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Resident pumps up Costco gas lawsuit

Published: Oct 24, 2007

The city will head to court this winter after a resident sued regarding the approval of 12 new gas pumps at the Costco store on Middlefield Road. Costco’s expansion plan — which includes building a new 160,000-square-foot warehouse on the property, demolishing the existing 24-year-old Costco store and adding 12 gas pumps — won approval from the Planning Commission this summer. The City Council denied an appeal filed by neighbors in August, who opposed the introduction of a fuel station to the busy shopping center.Resident James Rockwell filed his lawsuit......

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‘Twilight’ asks: Can’t we all just get along?

Published: Oct 23, 2007

Do you remember the Los Angeles riots of 1992? Many college-age students don’t, director Anna Budd says — and that’s one reason she is bringing "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992" to Cañada College’s stage this month. Playwright Anna Deveare Smith interviewed more than 300 people in Los Angeles in the months following the riots and wrote "Twilight" — named for an L.A. gang member — from those interviews. Fifteen years after racial tensions exploded in Southern California, the play is staged regularly, especially at college campuses, said Smith, a professor at......

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Precise plan may be bearing fruit

Published: Oct 22, 2007

A new eight-story condominium project could replace the offices that once housed Summit Preparatory Charter High School at201 Marshall St. — the first new residential plan since new downtown guidelines were adopted this year. Developer John Baer, of Matteson Realty, is close to submitting plans for the site, which would include 100 to 105 condominiums, two floors of underground parking, and penthouses on the seventh and eighth floors, offering stunning views of the city. Baer will also approve a 1-acre site at 1000-1100 Marshall St., if the city approves his......

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Disney raises antenna on Peninsula

Published: Oct 22, 2007

Throngs of preteen girls erupted in squeals when Radio Disney landed in town Sunday to announce its new local headquarters — and give away two tickets to see teen superstar Hannah Montana. After a decade headquartered in San Francisco, KMKY 1310 AM relocated to new digs at 963 Industrial Road this month. Six employees who run the local Radio Disney affiliate were moved, said station manager Martin Spisak, who lives in San Carlos. "This is a terrific area for families," Spisak said during Sunday’s celebration. "We’re the only station for......

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Hopefuls aim to bring ‘guts’ to San Carlos

Published: Oct 22, 2007

The candidates in this fall’s race for two seats on the City Council are brimming with ideas for how to keep the city thriving and bring new enthusiasm and leadership to the dais. With Tom Davids and Inge Tiegel Doherty stepping down, voters must choose between four challengers: Planning Commissioners Alex Phillips and Randy Royce, former Councilmember John Hoffmann and businessman Omar Ahmad, who served on the Economic Development Advisory Commission. Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s plan to build a new hospital was approved this month, leaving the city’s new leaders......

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No evidence of intoxication in sulfuric acid death

Published: Oct 19, 2007

Toxicology reports show that 18-year-old Fernando Gonzalez had no intoxicating substances in his bloodstream when he fell headfirst into a vat of sulfuric acid and drowned the morning of Sept. 23, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said Thursday. Gonzalez, an employee at the facility, was dipping circuit boards into a container of acid at Coastal Circuits, a factory at 1602 Tacoma Way, when he became overwhelmed by fumes and fell into unconsciousness, Redwood City police Sgt. Steve Dowden said. Gonzalez was discovered at approximately 1:45 a.m. by his father,......

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Cost of living continues upward trend

Published: Oct 18, 2007

Double-income families hoping to make ends meet in the Bay Area will need to earn more than $72,000 — nearly four times the federal poverty level, according to a new study from the California Budget Project. That sum, for two working parents raising two children, is also higher than the statewide break-even income of $59,732, or $29 per hour. What’s worse, those estimates assume that the family isn’t spending any money on vacations, cable or Internet bills, or socking away money for retirement or college, said Dave Carroll, research director......

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San Carlos hopefuls have a lot in common

Published: Oct 18, 2007

Locals are guaranteed one new trustee on the San Carlos School District board this fall, with Eric Von der Porten stepping down and incumbent Tom Quiggle running against two challengers. Those challengers are Seth Rosenblatt, who serves on the San Carlos Education Foundation board and has two sons at Arundel School; and Sonya Sigler, who serves on the San Carlos Charter Learning Center board, where her three sons attend school. The San Carlos School District recently changed leaders when Superintendent Patricia Wool left for a post in the Walnut Creek......

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Rules clamping businesses may be permanent

Published: Oct 17, 2007

Temporary rules that control what kinds of businesses can move into downtown’s larger retail spaces could soon become permanent, but commerce leaders are cautioning the city not to make the process take too long or cost too much. City leaders took quick action last winter to block a dollar-type store from moving into the vacant Bell Market site on the 800 block of Laurel Street, then enacted a temporary rule requiring a use permit for any business hoping to occupy a space 2,500 square feet or larger. They expanded the......

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Moniker-selling venture a hit for parks

Published: Oct 16, 2007

The city’s first foray into selling naming rights for local parks is already paying off, netting $190,000 for renovations at Burton Park and setting the stage for a potential bevy of fundraising opportunities. San Carlos created an independent nonprofit foundation in 2006 to raise money for local parks, and this year ironed out the rules for selling naming rights to benches, buildings, playground equipment and other features in local parks. The first naming rights opened up this summer, helping the city raise some of the $800,000 it will need to......

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Pacific Shores deal has possible windfall

Published: Oct 15, 2007

City and county leaders are struggling to recoup nearly $1 million resulting from the sale of the massive Pacific Shores Center in a scenario that’s become more common as commercial real-estate deals grow increasingly complex. The sale of the 10-tower Pacific Shores Center to Starwood Capital Group Global last spring was heralded as one of the biggest Silicon Valley deals in years. The new owners, operating as Pacific Shores Investors LLC, continue to maintain they do not owe $968,000 in taxes typically paid when property changes hands, said Theresa Rabe,......

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Local company rolls out new electric wheels

Published: Oct 12, 2007

Tucked away in a warehouse on Industrial Road is the Peninsula’s newest electric-car showroom, where customers can test-drive and buy scooters, sedans and trucks made by Zap. Local and regional leaders turned out Thursday to check out the pint-size, electric-powered vehicles, which retail for $10,000 to $12,000 and reach speeds of 45 miles per hour. In the next two to three years, Zap hopes to roll out faster, freeway-legal cars, including a family car, an SUV and a sports car co-designed by Lotus, called the Alias.Zap isn’t the first electric-car......

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Fire District race heats up in Menlo Park

Published: Oct 12, 2007

Three candidates competing for two seats on the Menlo Park Fire District board are hoping to show voters how they will be able to keep the district in the black and response times down. Incumbents Bart Spencer and John Osmer face competition from newcomer Peter Ohtaki, a local director for the national nonprofit Business Executives for National Security. Spencer worked as a firefighter, paramedic and EMT before joining Roam Secure, which contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, while Osmer resigned after 10 years at electronics company Celectron to......

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Migrant students facing English hurdle

Published: Oct 11, 2007

Migrant-worker families who come from Mexico seeking farming jobs and better lives often struggle to settle down in California — and their children struggle to get an education while constantly moving from place to place. Of the Sequoia High School District’s population of 8,190 students, roughly 410 qualify as migrant students, meaning their parents have been employed as farmworkers in the United States or Mexico in the past three years, said Suana Gilman-Ponce, director of English Learner instruction for the district. While many English Learner students struggle to gain fluency,......

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Hospital nets unanimous approval

Published: Oct 10, 2007

Palo Alto Medical Foundation leaders are riding high after winning approval to build a much-contested new medical center and hospital. Plans for the center, four years in the making, earned unanimous approval from the San Carlos City Council on Monday despite concerns from some residents about the hospital’s potential to increase gridlock, and over the city’s entry into the mercurial health care world. However, opponents are weighing whether to gather the 1,800 signatures required to put the decision on the ballot, said April Vargas, a representative of the San Carlos......

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Hospital could face voter referendum

Published: Oct 09, 2007

Controversial plans to bring a large-scale hospital and medical clinic to town may have reached a major hurdle Monday, but the project could face a bigger showdown in the future.The San Carlos City Council was set to vote on whether to approve the Palo Alto Medical Foundation proposal Monday, but deliberations went well into the night. Early council discussion Monday focused on the development agreement, which would pay the city $91 million over 50 years.PAMF proposes building a 97-bed hospital, medical center and parking lot in 478,500 square feet......

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Public uproar, private offer for Park Theatre

Published: Oct 09, 2007

A resident’s brand-new plan to restore Park Theatre could rescue city leaders from controversial plans to buy the building and lease it to another resident to house a long-running dance studio.The Menlo Park City Council voted 3-2 on Oct. 2 to spend $2.2 million to purchase the 50-year-old movie theater from owner Howard Crittenden, and then to lease it to Andy Duncan. Duncan hopes to restore the Art Moderne-style theater and house the Menlo Park Academy of Dance, which has operated in town for nearly five decades. That decision earned......

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Residents do their own crime-fighting

Published: Oct 08, 2007

San Francisco resident Heather World was taking a noontime walk in Glen Park when she heard the screams. Then a man came running toward her, carrying a purse — and being chased by another woman. When World crouched to knock him over, she noticed his car, standing with the engine running and the door open. She took the keys and threw them to the woman pursuing the mugger, while World’s husband, Dan, chased and wrestled him until police came."It was almost like a playground fight," World said. In one moment,......

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Faultline samples could hold clues

Published: Oct 05, 2007

Core samples from inside the San Andreas fault may provide scientists with their first clues regarding how earthquakes begin, why they happen when they do and why some are so much stronger than others. Those samples, drilled just weeks ago from a test site near Paso Robles, were unveiled by Stanford University and U.S. Geological Survey scientists Thursday. The group also announced plans to establish an observatory two miles underground, deep within California’s biggest fault, to measure and study earthquakes as they happen. "For the first time, scientists can hold......

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Sequoia funding won’t be enough for charter school

Published: Oct 03, 2007

The Sequoia High School District is poised to spend $1.65 million on property for a local charter high school, but building a campus on the site will require new bond money.The district’s board will be asked tonight to approve the purchase of the land on Myrtle Street in East Palo Alto, across the street from East Side Prep. If approved, the move would cap nearly five years of searching for a home for East Palo Alto Charter High School, district Finance Director Ed LaVigne said. East Palo Alto Charter High......

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Columbine victim’s ‘kind’ wish lives on in San Carlos

Published: Oct 01, 2007

A record-setting number of Carlmont High School students have pledged to be kinder to one another in honor of a student killed in the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo. Rachel Joy Scott was one of 13 Columbine students shot by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on April 20, 1999. Shortly after her death, her father found an essay under her mattress urging people to experiment with small, kind acts; soon after, Rachel’s Challenge, now the most popular assembly in American public high schools, was born. "She wanted people......

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Balance sought in easing county traffic congestion

Published: Oct 01, 2007

As California regions begin to compete for billions of dollars in infrastructure bonds approved in November, state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, is hoping San Mateo County can create a winning package of solutions to local gridlock, growth and housing woes that will bring home the bacon. Major players from the region’s transit, housing and municipal arenas gave Yee and Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, an earful during a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Bay Area Sustainable Development and Economic Progress on Thursday. The Bay Area employment market......

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County may reduce on-campus officers

Published: Sep 27, 2007

San Mateo County may reduce the number of parole officers staffing local schools after some cities and school districts failed to pay their share of those officers’ salaries. The county’s risk-prevention program provides 14 officers to high schools and middle schools throughout the county to prevent truancy and provide diversion programs for students flirting with criminal activity, according to Michael Stouffer, deputy chief probation officer for juvenile services. San Mateo County secures grants and state monies that provide more than half the funding for the program, and local police departments......

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San Mateo County jails push budget boundaries

Published: Sep 26, 2007

Inmates from San Mateo County’s overcrowded men’s and women’s jails could soon be housed temporarily in San Bruno, Alameda or La Honda while leaders plan a long-term solution to the crisis. Both jails have suffered overcrowding for years, earning jeers from the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury in 2006. Under the county’s $1.3 billion 2007-08 budget, adopted Tuesday, $354,214 will be set aside to plan a replacement for the women’s jail, as well as other options to relieve ongoing overcrowding at Maguire Correctional Facility, said Sheriff Greg Munks. However,......

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Co-workers grieve after death in acid accident

Published: Sep 25, 2007

Employees were given a day to spend time with their families and grief counselors were on duty at the circuit-board factory where an 18-year-old man died after falling into a vat of sulfuric acid.The tone was somber outside the Coastal Circuits building, at 1602 Tacoma Way, on Monday following the death of employee Fernando Gonzalez early Sunday. Gonzalez died of asphyxiation after slumping headfirst into a vat containing sulfuric acid diluted to a 10 percent concentration, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.Gonzalez was not wearing any protective gear over......

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Teen falls into vat of toxic chemical, dies

Published: Sep 24, 2007

Investigators are looking for answers after a local man fell into a vat of sulfuric acid and died at a circuit-board manufacturing warehouse. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office identified the man as 18-year-old Fernando Jiminez Gonzalez, Deputy Coroner Richard Vetterli. Although an autopsy was performed on Gonzalez on Sunday, the Coroner’s Office did not expect to release the cause of his death until today. Gonzalez’s father reported the death after finding his son inside the Coastal Circuits warehouse, located at 1602 Tacoma Way, early Sunday morning, according to Redwood......

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Peninsula garbage fleet goes green on grease

Published: Sep 21, 2007

Local garbage trucks are now doing more than hauling trash — they’re fueled by it.Allied Waste has become one of the biggest users of biodiesel in Northern California by converting its Peninsula fleet of 225 vehicles to run on fuel made from restaurant grease. The reduction in carbon emissions is the equivalent of taking 315 cars off of local roads each year, said Evan Boyd, general manager for the waste company. The move, announced Thursday, earned the region a commendation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Because of you, 3.3 million pounds......

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City offers $165K settlement in discrimination case

Published: Sep 19, 2007

The city has reached a $165,000 settlement with three former police officers who accused their manager, a newly promoted sergeant, of discriminatory behavior.Former officers Keith Butler, Joe Hinkston and Kenneth Clayton filed the lawsuit against Menlo Park and Sgt. Ron Prickett in late 2006. In their complaint, the trio accused police department leaders of singling them out — they were the only black officers on the force — and of assigning them to Prickett, who had recently been promoted and was allegedly known to be prejudiced against minorities, said the......

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Peninsula medical center to blend with local architecture

Published: Sep 19, 2007

A new hospital and medical center, to be built by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, will take its visual cues from nearby landmarks, such as the Caltrain station, and will make use of natural sunlight — both to heat and to heal. The San Carlos Planning Commission got its first formal look at the designs Tuesday for the 97-bed hospital and medical center in 415,000 square feet of building space at 301 Industrial Road. Development plans, which had been mired in controversy this summer, have been in the works for......

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Mario jumping to the Peninsula

Published: Sep 18, 2007

Nintendo will move more than 50 employees from its Redmond, Wash., headquarters to town this October to be closer to Silicon Valley’s action. Roughly 55 members of the video-game company’s sales and marketing team will relocate to Redwood City, while another 25 will station themselves in New York, according to Julia Roether, a spokeswoman for the firm. With Sony in nearby Foster City, San Mateo County will soon host makers oftwo of the three major game consoles.The Peninsula — along with San Francisco — is home to major gamemakers from......

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Reworked project still causes outcry in Redwood City

Published: Sep 17, 2007

Some neighbors continue to oppose a plan to build condominiums at 885 Woodside Road, saying the proposed complex remains too tall and too dense even after the developer scaled it back.The 43-unit proposal from Ryan Lamb, which heads to the Planning Commission tonight, was reduced from an original height of 61 feet and a uniform five stories. Now, its top height would be 58 feet, while some sections would be four stories and39 feet tall, according to city planner Maureen Riordon. In addition, the entrance and exit to the complex......

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Governor says ‘Hasta la vista’ to chatty teen drivers

Published: Sep 14, 2007

Starting next summer, motormouth teens who use cell phones while driving will face fines for gabbing on the road. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Sequoia High School on Thursday to sign the new law, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who also authored a 2006 bill prohibiting drivers from using electronic devices unless they are hands-free. Both laws take effect July 1, 2008. "This will eliminate a major distraction for our young and inexperienced drivers and make the roads safer for everyone," said Schwarzenegger, who has two teenage daughters.......

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Traces of lead persist in Redwood City water

Published: Sep 13, 2007

Local drinking water still contains trace levels of toxic lead, primarily from older pipes and fixtures in residential homes, according to a report released this week.Although the level of lead in Redwood City drinking water does not exceed standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, the level does not meet the California Public Health Department’s established goal of nearly eliminating the element entirely from the water supply, Redwood City Public Works Superintendent Justin Ezell said. Lead, which is known to cause nervous-system damage in humans, was the only contaminant found......

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Redwood City residents aim to curb speeders

Published: Sep 12, 2007

The residents of McGarvey Avenue have had their cars totaled, their pets killed and their trees damaged by speeding drivers, and they have had enough.Motorists often use McGarvey — which connects Farm Hill Boulevard at the top of a hill to Fairview Avenue at the bottom — as a shortcut or a thrill ride, residents said. Soon, traffic chokers, approved by the City Council on Monday, will be installed where McGarvey intersects with Chesterton Avenue and Fernside Street, near the top half of the stretch between Farm Hill and Fairview.......

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Redwood City residents aim to preserve local wetlands

Published: Sep 12, 2007

Locals hoping to protect several pieces of waterfront property have requested a conservation designation for those properties, including 1,400 acres owned by Cargill Salt and a Redwood Shores site slated to host a new school. The Friends of Redwood City and the Committee for Green Foothills nominated 1,625 acres of city bay-front land for a "conservation area designation" from the Association of Bay Area Governments on Aug. 17. Earning the designation would allow the group to leverage public and private money to protect the bayfront land, ABAG spokeswoman Kathleen Cha......

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Menlo Park taxpayer money at center of dispute

Published: Sep 11, 2007

Controversy is brewing over a plan to restore downtown’s Park Theatre — and whether the city should contribute $500,000 to the cause. Resident Andy Duncan hopes to restore the building, which has been vacant since the El Camino Real movie house closed in 2002. However, he lacks the full capital to accomplish his dream of reopening the venue to house the Menlo Park Academy of Dance. He may unveil some new ways of tackling the finances during a community workshop Wednesday. The City Council in August considered whether to spend......

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Trash talk about downtown leads to cleanup effort

Published: Sep 10, 2007

Starting this week, merchants and officials downtown will embark on a social experiment: asking people to clean up after themselves. While city and business leaders hope to boost downtown San Carlos’ reputation as a quaint, family-oriented place to shop, complaints about dirty sidewalks dotted with cigarette butts have piled up almost as high as the litter itself. Now, signs and fliers will be posted, asking downtown merchants to clean their sidewalks regularly and urging residents and visitors to throw their garbage into trash cans rather than onto the street, according......

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Bond could fund Sequoia arts, technology

Published: Sep 07, 2007

A $140 million facilities bond that could fund high-tech and vocational classrooms in the Sequoia Union High School District’s four high schools may go to local voters in 2008.The district’s last bond, approved by voters in November 2004, raised $70 million. The money was used to build performing-arts centers at Carlmont and Menlo-Atherton high schools as well as purchase property for Summit Preparatory Charter High School and the district’s adult school, finance director Ed LaVigne said. Those funds, however, will run out within two years. One aim of the new......

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Cruise ships to return to Redwood City

Published: Sep 06, 2007

Locals will soon be able to board a 250-foot cruise ship from the Port of Redwood City, sip wine on-deck while watching the wetlands go by and disembark in wine country for days of shopping and exploring. Cruise West, which offered three- and four-day treks from the port until 2005, is returning with eight tours between Sept. 17 and Oct. 19, Port of Redwood City Director Michael Giari said. Although the service doesn’t bring major revenues to the Port, it does enhance its visibility as a spot for tourism and......

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Associations incite homeowners’ ire

Published: Sep 06, 2007

Homeowners Associations have earned plenty of scorn for ruling over people’s paint jobs and lawn gnomes, so it may come as no surprise that a new poll shows that 69 percent of respondents found the groups "a minor annoyance" or "a major headache."The poll, conducted by national agency ServiceMagic, which connects property owners with contractors to perform home renovations, was born out of regular comments and complaints the firm hears from its clients, said spokesman David Lupberger. When it comes to remodeling, residents and homeowners associations often find themselves on......

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Can Fido do a flip? This fall, we’ll see

Published: Sep 05, 2007

Singing snakes and tap-dancing terriers take note: There could be a trophy in your future.Redwood City is hosting its first-ever pet talent show this month, part of the city’s annual daylong "Our Town Downtown" festival at Courthouse Square. The event gives pets — and their owners — a rare opportunity to show off David Letterman-style "Stupid Pet Tricks," according to organizer Gerry Labadie. "When I produced ‘Our Town Downtown’ last year, I noticed there are an awful lot of pet lovers in Redwood City. I thought this would be the......

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Delays make for slow inception of Peninsula Wi-Fi

Published: Sep 05, 2007

Local residents hoping to get first crack at a state-of-the-art wireless Internet network destined to blanket the Peninsula will need to cool their heels a little longer. San Carlos and Palo Alto announced in February that they had signed on to become test cities for Wireless Silicon Valley, a planned network of Wi-Fi access that would extend from Daly City to Gilroy. At that time, officials believed the testing equipment would be up and running within 90 days, but it’s been nearly 120 days, with no installation in sight. "I......

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Summer solar campaign nets San Carlos residents

Published: Sep 04, 2007

Locals will soon be putting the sun to work after signing up this summer to install solar panels on their homes. The two-month campaign, led by Solar City and San Carlos Green, netted 18 participating homeowners who applied for solar-power systems. The installations will provide local residents with a 15 to 20 percent discount and reduce the city’s electricity usage by 63 kilowatts. One resident, Ray Brand, is spending $16,000 on a system for his 1,550-square-foot Porto Marino Drive home. At full price, solar panels can cost $25,000 to $30,000,......

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Disputed plans for Redwood City site rise again

Published: Sep 04, 2007

City coffers could net $1.6 million per year if a proposed housing, retail and hotel development is built at Peninsula Marina, just south of Pete’s Harbor. Peninsula Park, the latest concept from owner-developer Glenborough-Pauls for the former site of the controversial Marina Shores Village project, calls for 796 residential units, a 200-room hotel, 10,000 square feet of retail space, public parks and access to surrounding waterfronts. Residents will get a look at recent changes to the plan today, along with studies on the project’s potential effect on Redwood City’s finances......

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Violence unabated as two are slain Sundayin S.F.

Published: Sep 03, 2007

Two minors on bicycles gunned down a 32-year-old San Francisco resident in Visitacion Valley just hours after another man was found shot and killed in a low-rent hotel in the Bayview district Sunday.Medical examiners identified one of the victims as 32-year-old San Francisco resident Byron Smith and the other as 35-year-old Dejohn Maybon, though they were unable to determine where Maybon lived. Both are being treated as homicide victims, according to a spokesman in the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.Smith was shot multiple times at 9:40 a.m. by two juveniles between......

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Westlake Village apartments hit with another blaze

Published: Sep 03, 2007

Residents were evacuated for two hours early Sunday morning while firefighters battled a blaze beneath their apartments, located in a complex that has been struck with a series of fires during the last year. The fire was first reported at 5:38 a.m. Sunday in a parking garage at 70 Poncetta Drive, part of the 3,000-unit Westlake Village Apartments complex. Fire crews immediately called a second alarm because the blaze was burning beneath people’s apartments, according to Angelina Ciucci, spokeswoman for the North County Fire Department. "When they arrived, there was......

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Kaiser center’s aim: convenient cancer care

Published: Aug 30, 2007

Kaiser Permanente will break ground Friday on a new medical center aimed at treating cancer patients and will offer cutting-edge technology for those with brain tumors. The South San Francisco facility is the latest in a series of specialized cancer-treatment centers Kaiser has built in the state, including in Rancho Cordova in 2004, Roseville in 2005 and Santa Clara in 2006, spokeswoman Meg Walker said. The South City facility, located at 220 Oyster Point Blvd., will be 20,000 square feet and is expected to treat 1,000 patients per year, including......

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Redwood Creek poised for revitalization

Published: Aug 29, 2007

The banks of Redwood Creek are now earmarked for mixed-use development that could draw more than 400 residential units, a pedestrian and bike path and better connections between downtown and the Bay. A cluster of nine parcels between North Main Street and the creek, just north of Veterans Boulevard, could be the future home of mixed-use development after the City Council approved a precise plan for the 9.5-acre area Monday. Under the plan, when existing properties — including the Straw Hat Pizza site and assorted medical and office buildings —......

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Kid-themed Radio Disney to rock, roll into San Carlos

Published: Aug 29, 2007

Denizens in the City of Good Living will have reason to don their Mickey Mouse ears next month as Radio Disney moves its Bay Area station to town. The Disney Corporation’s radio arm, founded in November 1996, launched a local affiliate on KMKY 1310 AM in December 1997. The station is now moving to San Carlos after 10 years in San Francisco, spokeswoman Salwa Scarpone said. The ABC-owned station will set up shop in the San Carlos Business Park, a cluster of buildings located at 963 Industrial Road, in late......

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Recycled water to flow into Seaport area

Published: Aug 27, 2007

An underground network of recycled-water pipes in the coming year will spread through the Seaport area, where nearly 30 businesses have signed up to use the water for landscaping and industrial work. Redwood City rolled out its first pipeline this summer to deliver recycled water to more than a dozen business parks and communities in Redwood Shores. In September, construction crews will begin laying pipes that will bring more recycled water from the South Bayside System Authority water treatment plant to customers along Seaport Boulevard, according to Community Development Director......

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Failure is not final for struggling seniors

Published: Aug 24, 2007

Almost 400 county seniors were denied the privilege of turning the tassel this year after failing to pass the state-mandated high school exit exam.In San Mateo County, 5,106 seniors — or 93 percent of the class of 2007 — passed the exit exam before their graduation ceremonies. However, 390 failed, according to data compiled from local school districts. Of those, 67 passed classes and earned enough credits to receive a diploma but couldn’t graduate because they failed the exit exam.As the California High School Exit Exam emerges as a long-standing......

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Biggest districts post declining results

Published: Aug 24, 2007

The two largest high school districts in San Mateo County had fewer sophomores passing a state-mandated test needed to graduate this year compared with last year.Students are required to take the California High School Exit Exam for the first time when they are sophomores. Those who fail have six more chances — three as juniors and three as seniors — to pass. The test, which is part of the state and federal accountability models, has two sections: a math section, which tests up to an eighth-grade level; and an English-language......

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Road work presents drivers with obstacles

Published: Aug 23, 2007

Drivers making their way through San Mateo County — especially at night — may feel like they are driving through an obstacle course of highway construction, lane closures and detours. The California Department of Transportation has three major projects under way on the Peninsula this summer and is planning a full closure of the Bay Bridge over Labor Day weekend to replace a football-field-sized section of the eastern span."We’ll be knocking out all the concrete and rolling in a brand new 6,500-ton section," said Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney. "We’re very......

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Los Altos outpost languishes in toxic limbo

Published: Aug 22, 2007

Local environmental officials are due to decide today whether to increase pressure on the federal government to conduct long-awaited site cleanup at the Almaden Air Force Station, which open-space leaders hope to restore and connect with the 17,000-square-foot preserve surrounding it. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District purchased the 35-acre station in 1986 for $260,000 but is still waiting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clean up toxic materials on the site before turning it into parkland, according to district spokesman Rudy Jurgensen. The AirForce used the station......

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Six to vie for seats in Redwood City

Published: Aug 21, 2007

A housing advocate and a high school teacher are hoping to give four incumbents a run for their money when residents vote for their new City Council members in November. The crowded election for four seats on the seven-member council initially featured four newcomers, including Kevin Bondonno, chair of the city’s Housing and Human Concerns Committee; local businessman Nick James; resident Christina Lucien; and teacher Joneen Nelson. But only Bondonno and Nelson filed paperwork and qualified for the ballot, City Clerk Patricia Howe said. Incumbents Ian Bain, Alicia Aguirre, Rosanne......

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Portola shines with improved test scores

Published: Aug 16, 2007

Although San Mateo County students scored well on California’s standardized tests, few can boast the high scores of Portola Elementary School in the San Bruno Park School District.Nearly all of the Portola fourth-graders scored at proficient or advanced levels on California’s 2007 Standardized Testing and Reporting test.Portola is not only the school with the most improved scores, but it tied with North Hillsborough School as the school with the most fourth-graders passing the English and math portions of the exam — 95 percent and 94 percent, respectively. In 2006, 60......

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Peninsula scores reveal a mix of challenges

Published: Aug 16, 2007

San Mateo County students’ test scores are giving education leaders plenty of reason for optimism — but also indicate that some students need more help meeting assessment benchmarks, according to 2007 statewide test results released Wednesday. Each year, California students in grades two through 11 must take a battery of tests. Students who score in the top two tiers — "proficient" and "advanced" — receive a passing mark. But when a significant percentage of students fails to reach that level, schools can face a variety of educational sanctions including the......

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Electric-car firm picks Menlo Park

Published: Aug 15, 2007

The nation’s first electric sports car company, Tesla Motors, is zooming to town, opening its first showroom this November at a former dealership site on El Camino Real.The site, at 300 El Camino Real, has been vacant since Anderson Chevrolet closed its doors in February 2006. It sits next door to the Stanford Park Hotel and a stone’s throw from Silicon Valley, making it an ideal spot for Tesla to peddle its high-end cars, said David Vaspremi, spokesman for Tesla Motors. "We’re excited to have a showroom in the Bay......

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Peninsula man fights seizure of antique one-armed bandits

Published: Aug 14, 2007

The owner of a company that rents antique slot machines for parties and fundraisers will seek an injunction to retrieve more than 60 machines that were confiscated by the Department of Justice this month.Stephen Squires has until Sept. 1 to file his appeal before the machines are destroyed, according to Marty Horan, special agent in charge of the Department of Justice’s division of gambling control. The devices were seized from locations in San Carlos, San Mateo and South San Francisco on Aug. 2. The California penal code forbids any use......

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Task force says gangs held in check

Published: Aug 14, 2007

Gang graffiti was once considered a harbinger of turf wars and violence, but law enforcement officers say two years of enforcement have kept those marks from being anything more than a nuisance. In 2007, the countywide Gang Task Force — including officers from each city’s police department and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office — has arrested 307 adults and 33 juveniles mostly for felony violations, including weapons and drug possession, not for misdemeanors, Sgt. Tom Gallagher said. Enforcement from the task force, which launched in fall 2005, is paying......

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The 3-minute interview with Bill Berkson

Published: Aug 14, 2007

The San Francisco poet, diagnosed with end-stage emphysema in 2003, will be a guest at UCSF Medical Center’s "Celebration of Life" event for heart- and lung-transplant survivors on Saturday. In 2004, Berkson received a new set of lungs at age 65. Doctors typically do not advise transplants in patients over the age of 55. His newest book, "Our Friends Will Pass Among You Silently," was released in March.How has your writing changed since your transplant surgery? It’s almost like asking, "How has your personality changed?" A few days after surgery,......

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Bay Area-born pop culture icon dies at 82

Published: Aug 13, 2007

Merv Griffin, the San Mateo native who went from big-band-era crooner to successful television host and game-show creator, died Sunday of prostate cancer. He was 82. Griffin was born and raised in the city of San Mateo, where he launched a neighborhood newspaper, The Whispering Winds, when he was 7. He graduated from San Mateo High School, and returned in 2006 for the opening of the high school’s new theater, which was named in his honor. Although Griffin became one of the most popular and successful entertainers of the 20th......

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Residents plan to air Costco beef tonight

Published: Aug 13, 2007

Residents who live near a Costco with controversial plans to expand and add a new 12-pump gas station will ask city leaders to veto that expansion tonight. City planning leaders approved plans June 19 for the existing 120,000-square-foot Costco warehouse, located at 2300 Middlefield Road, to be demolished and replaced with a 160,000-square-foot store. They also gave the green light to a 12-pump fueling station, although Costco representatives originally proposed 16. However, residents in the surrounding Redwood Village neighborhood argue that Redwood City didn’t adequately consider how a bigger store......

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Belmont, San Carlos team up to cut costs

Published: Aug 10, 2007

After joining forces with the Belmont Fire Department and Menlo Park police dispatchers, the city’s top cops are hoping to save money by sharing evidence space, sergeants and police dogs with Belmont. San Carlos has a long-standing structural deficit of roughly $2 million per year and has been looking at ways to cut expenses. At the same time, the Police Department is running out of room in its evidence and property storage areas and has some staffing shortages that could make cooperating with Belmont make sense, according to Cmdr. Rich......

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Redwood City rehab facility proposes day school

Published: Aug 08, 2007

A drug-treatment center for teens, whose bid for a charter high school was vetoed last spring, is now hoping the Sequoia High School District will sponsor its plan for a no-frills community day school instead. Redwood City’s Daytop Village offers drug and alcohol rehabilitation services to teens from across the state at a facility on Woodside Road. The center has also run a high school education program since 1988, which has intermittently been operated by the county. Daytop’s proposal — for a community day school that teaches traditional high school......

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Redwood City sowing plans for green spaces

Published: Aug 06, 2007

As the city braces for more residents and an aging population, it’s polling locals to find out what public spaces for play and exercise they’d like to see. Redwood City leaders adopted plans this year to build up to 2,500 new housing units downtown, and faces proposals to build hundreds more near the Bay. At the same time, they have established firm plans to provide 3 acres of developed park space per 1,000 residents — no small feat in a growing city of 75,000 with dwindling amounts of undeveloped land.......

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Upkeep costs could hinder school’s move

Published: Aug 06, 2007

A scuffle over maintenance fees could prevent Summit Preparatory Charter School from making its home in the campus once designed for High Tech High Bayshore — a move slated to happen this month. The Sequoia High School District adopted Summit’s charter in 2006 and is required under state law to find the school a permanent campus. Summit has operated out of leased portables on the Sequoia High School campus since the fall of 2006 but was scheduled to move to Bayshore’s former home at 890 Broadway this fall. District board......

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Ambulances may be placed on life-support

Published: Aug 06, 2007

The county’s fire board could spend $500,000 — more than half its reserves — to keep an ambulance operating in Woodside and bail Pacifica out of its obligation to staff a coastside ambulance it has operated for a decade. San Mateo County’s ambulance service is overseen by the county Fire Services Joint Powers Authority, which secured a 10-year contract in 1998 under which American Medical Response pays the JPA $4 million per year for the exclusive right to shuttle patients to local hospitals, according to Barbara Pletz, director of the......

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Don’t fear the meter — pay by cell phone

Published: Aug 03, 2007

Gadget-friendly downtown visitors no longer have to leave their movie seats or restaurant tables to put money in the parking meter.High-end meters installed on most downtown streets and garages this year already allow visitors to pay by coin, bill or credit card. Now, the city is working on a system that allows visitors to pay by mobile phone rather than trekking back to the sidewalk every few hours. To sign up, customers call or send a text message to the phone number listed on meters and supply credit-card information. After......

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San Carlos Police nab alleged bike thieves

Published: Aug 02, 2007

Police have arrested three teenagers who allegedly stole two custom bicycles from a resident’s garage and then attempted to sell them on Craigslist.Matthew Storm, 18, of San Jose, and two 15-year-old boys were arrested Tuesday night after San Carlos Police Sgt. Rich Dickerson posed as a buyer hoping to acquire the custom cycles, worth a total of roughly $15,000.The bikes were stolen from a house on the 1900 block of Cedar Street last Friday after the residence’s garage door was inadvertently left open. The suspects, who were in the neighborhood,......

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San Carlos to talk medical center’s bottom line

Published: Aug 01, 2007

Number-crunchers on both sides of the debate over the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s controversial hospital plan will go head-to-head tonight as leaders determine whether the plan makes financial sense for the city.San Carlos’ Economic Development Advisory Commission gets its first crack tonight at the foundation’s proposal to build a new hospital and medical offices at 301 Industrial Road. PAMF, a nonprofit organization, would be exempt from paying the approximately $30,000 per year in property taxes that a commercial business would pay for ownership of the site.At the center of tonight’s......

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Lawsuit: UCSF mistreated test animals

Published: Jul 31, 2007

UC San Francisco is performing medical experiments on dogs and monkeys that violate the federal Animal Welfare Act, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.The complaint, filed by a group called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, alleges that UCSF’s cardiology tests on a group of 100 dogs and ongoing studies of eye movement and brain function in rhesus monkeys violate animal-testing laws, according to Lawrence Hansen, a member of the committee and a professor of neurosciences and pathology at UC San Diego. "It’s far too much pain and suffering without......

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Initial work almost finished on Stanford remote facility

Published: Jul 31, 2007

Where firewall and network storage devices were oncethe name of the game, Stanford is now making way for the second phase of construction on its new outpatient medical center, bringing the hospital’s first satellite facility closer to its opening day. The hospital is wrapping up its first phase of construction, which involves retrofitting the interiors of four buildings that previously housed the headquarters for Excite@Home. The retrofitting will be tailored to suit the needs of several specialty clinics that will treat patients for sleep disorders, spinal problems and orthopedic issues,......

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Leniency urged on immigration in the Bay

Published: Jul 30, 2007

While the San Mateo County sheriff says his officers will not check the citizenship status of noncriminals, immigrant advocates say more needs to be done before local immigrants feel safe. Sheriff Greg Munks announced this month that his office would check documentation only if someone is suspected of criminal activity, but activists are pressing his office not to check citizenship status when someone is pulled over for a traffic violation either, according to Sheryl Bergman with the International Institute of San Francisco. Police in cities such as San Francisco and......

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Wherefore art thou, permanent theater?

Published: Jul 30, 2007

The oldest and only theater company in San Carlos has been homeless for its entire 17-year history, but a new batch of volunteers is hoping to change that. The San Carlos Children’s Theater, founded in 1990, puts on four shows a year — this summer’s offerings include "A Stone in the Road" and "The True Tales of Robin Hood." However, it runs classes out of volunteers’ living rooms, puts away props in the city corporation yard and stages productions in available auditoriums at local schools. "We’re like traveling gypsies," said......

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‘On Broadway’ marks birthday in Redwood City

Published: Jul 27, 2007

This weekend might not bring party hats and cake for the downtown retail-cinema site’s first birthday, but nearby shop owners say business has improved since Century 20 opened one year ago. The downtown site — officially known as "On Broadway," launched July 28, 2006, when the new 20-screen Century Theatres branch opened at the corner of Broadway and Middlefield Road. Since then, a trickle of restaurants and retail stores has continued to open, including Citrine New World Bistro, which openedJune 15 in one of the coveted corner spots. Cinemark, the......

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Looming competition for county’s trash contract

Published: Jul 26, 2007

As trash companies compete for the contract to collect much of San Mateo County’s waste, locals may end up receiving state-of-the-art recycling services. The South Bayside Waste Management Authority handles trash and recycling services for 10 Peninsula cities, from Burlingame to East Palo Alto, along with parts of unincorporated San Mateo County. Currently, SBWMA contracts with Allied Waste to collect garbage in those areas, but the contract expires in 2010. SBWMA is getting ready to seek new bidders who would offer a range of new services, from weekly one-bin recycling......

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San Carlos field may go faux

Published: Jul 25, 2007

Artificial turf may be the name of the game for a deteriorating sports field at Heather School, but players may have to wait more than a year to dig their cleats into it. The San Carlos City Council voted 3-2 Monday in favor of studying the environmental effects of installing synthetic turf on the field, which is shared between the school and city sports teams. While city leaders say state laws may only require a limited environmental study, neighbors who live near the school are pushing hard for a more......

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Book collection gets boost from ebay

Published: Jul 24, 2007

Redwood Shores is brimming with excitement over its long-awaited library, which is currently under construction and just received a $50,000 donation to help pay for its new book collection.The recent donation comes from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pamela, by way of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which helps determine recipients for the Omidyars’ money. The gift brings the Redwood Shores Library campaign to within $250,000 of its goal to raise $850,000 for 40,000 new books, CDs and DVDs, according to Celia LaRiviere, resource development supervisor for the......

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San Carlos City Council to take on turf tiff

Published: Jul 23, 2007

The often-explosive local debate over natural versus synthetic turf returns tonight, when city leaders will decide which should be installed on the athletic field at Heather School. San Carlos opened a can of worms on the turf issue several years ago when it began work on a game plan for resolving the city’s dearth of playing fields. After nearly a year of deliberations, a citizens committee, formed in 2005, recommended the city renovate Highlands Park’s fields with synthetic turf, followed by fields at Heather School and Tierra Linda Middle School.......

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Deadly oak virus creeping down mountains

Published: Jul 23, 2007

Sudden OakDeath — the disease that has killed thousands of oaks in California in the last 12 years — is descending from San Mateo County’s highlands and into residents’ yards. The disease, caused by a fungus called Phytophthora ramorum, was first discovered in 1995, and has killed thousands of oaks and infected dozens of other species since then. Some of those species, particularly the pervasive Bay Laurel trees, seem to be a major vector for the disease’s spread, according to Ronald Pummer, deputy agricultural commissioner for San Mateo County. The......

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District OKs school land deal

Published: Jul 20, 2007

The Belmont-Redwood Shores school district has agreed to purchase a seven-acre site to build a new school, but construction will have to wait until city and federal agencies decide whether to allow the building of 110 townhomes and wetlands restoration on adjacent land. The district agreed to pay developer Max Keech, who owns the 114-acre Redwood Shores parcel, $8.5 million for the site. In exchange, Keech will lay the groundwork for the school and shore up nearby levees — but only if the City Council and U.S. Army Corps of......

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District OKs school land deal

Published: Jul 20, 2007

The Belmont-Redwood Shores school district has agreed to purchase a seven-acre site to build a new school, but construction will have to wait until city and federal agencies decide whether to allow the building of 110 townhomes and wetlands restoration on adjacent land. The district agreed to pay developer Max Keech, who owns the 114-acre Redwood Shores parcel, $8.5 million for the site. In exchange, Keech will lay the groundwork for the school and shore up nearby levees — but only if the City Council and U.S. Army Corps of......

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Three to run for San Carlos City Council

Published: Jul 19, 2007

Two open seats on the City Council have yielded an early crop of three likely newcomers to the race.The candidate filing period officially opened 8 a.m. Monday. By 9 a.m., local businessman Omar Ahmad and Planning Commission Chair Randy Royce had taken out candidacy papers, according to Assistant City Manager Brian Moura. Incumbent Inge Tiegel Doherty took out papers before the end of the day. Former councilman and continuing council-watcher John Hoffmann, reached by phone in Virginia, said Monday that he will also seek another term. Doherty is up for......

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North Fair Oaks airs complaints

Published: Jul 19, 2007

In a neighborhood as diverse as North Fair Oaks, it’s a challenge getting residents to agree on the community’s most pervasive challenges — let alone how they and county officials should resolve them. Residents held court during three meetings last February, providing leaders with a laundry list of complaints and concerns in the unincorporated Redwood City neighborhood. Those leaders will return to the neighborhood tonight to report on what they heard — and what can be done to remedy problems ranging from gang activity to pockmarked pavement. "We’ve begun coordinating......

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Aging Sequoia Hospital unveils plan to renovate facilities

Published: Jul 19, 2007

At 57, Sequoia Hospital nearly qualifies as one of the increasing number of seniors it hopes to serve with expanded and renovated facilities. The facility plans to shore up its existing 343,000-square-foot hospital and add a new 148,000-square-foot pavilion and four-story parking garage, according to planner Maureen Riordan. In a later step, the campus’ skilled-nursing facility would be demolished to make room for a new medical office building. The hospital retrofit was initiated to meet state law requiring all hospitals to undergo seismic retrofits by 2013.Planning Commissioner John Seybert on......

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Federal audit dings San Mateo county

Published: Jul 17, 2007

A federal audit of the San Mateo County Housing Authority has turned up two significant potential violations, one of which could cost the county $2 million in repayments. While the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audits the authority routinely, most discrepancies and violations are resolved quickly, according to authority Director Duane Bay. This time, HUD is investigating two issues — one related to fund transfers, and one related to 71 families who were bumped to the top of the waiting list for Section 8 housing — that could......

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Training program refueling biotech sector

Published: Jul 16, 2007

A labor shortage in San Mateo County’s biotechnology sector is slowly being addressed, thanks to a Bay Area program training out-of-work manufacturing employees to perform medical manufacturing tasks.The three-year, $2 million pilot program concluded in June and trained 240 workers for biotech jobs. It has been so successful that a new $1 million grant from the California Employment Development Department will expand the program in the East Bay, according to Patty Castro, assistant director for the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board. But the training concept was born on the Peninsula,......

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Project aims for ‘greener’ lights

Published: Jul 13, 2007

A co-operative of cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties has already come up with one bright idea in their effort to join forces and reduce their contributions to global warming. Years ago, cities began replacing incandescent bulbs in traffic signals with low-powered light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, which use 80 to 90 percent less electricity and require significantly less maintenance, according to Larry Owens, customer-services manager for Silicon Valley Power. Now, the Joint Venture Climate Protection Project — with almost 40 member cities on the Peninsula — hopes to......

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Bair Island restoration work under way

Published: Jul 12, 2007

Restoration work is finally beginning at Bair Island, the 3,000-acre Bayfront site of the city’s first referendum to protect open space from corporate developers. Residents successfully fought to protect Bair Island from a 1982 Mobil Oil plan to build a new waterfront city there. Now the site has received its first shipments of dirt to shore up surrounding levees, according to John Bradley, deputy project leader for the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge. Silt is next slated to be dredged from the Port of Redwood City to fill......

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Cash-only drivers running out of room

Published: Jul 10, 2007

Commuters heading west across the San Mateo Bridge on Monday were greeted with a breezier trip through the tolls if they paid with FasTrak or rode in a carpool — and longer lines if they paid cash.The span between Hayward and San Mateo, used by 92,000 vehicles each day, is the first of the Bay Area Toll Authority’s seven bridges to receive expanded lanes for those using electronic transponders or sharing rides. During morning and evening commutes, the bridge’s one carpool lane and two FasTrak-only lanes have been expanded to......

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Cañada campus housing — for workers

Published: Jul 02, 2007

While employees in California’s schools, hospitals and public-safety agencies still struggle to afford housing close to their jobs, the San Mateo County Community College District is finding ways to build housing for its employees. After the success of its 44-unit CollegeVista project at College of San Mateo, the district plans to add 60 additional apartments on the Cañada College campus in Redwood City. Those apartments could be available by mid-2009 — good news for the 83 families on the waiting list for CollegeVista, according to Barbara Christensen, director of government......

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San Carlos mayor to step down

Published: Jun 29, 2007

Two familiar faces are emerging as possible City Council contenders after Mayor Tom Davids announced he will retire after three terms. Both Davids and Councilwoman Inge Tiegel Doherty are up for re-election this November. Tiegel Doherty told The Examiner in March that she will seek another term. The 2005 race was crowded with newcomers when both Mike King and Don Eaton retired from the dais, a situation that earned Vice Mayor Brad Lewis and Councilman Bob Grassili spots on the council. "I’ve done this for 12 years, and that’s probably......

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Foster City scientists test DNA of Queen Mummy

Published: Jun 28, 2007

When Marty Johnson started his bioscience career, he never dreamed he would travel to Cairo and train Egyptian scientists to perform DNA tests on mummies of the country’s most powerful and mysterious pharaohs. Johnson, a senior application scientist who has worked with Applied Biosystems in Foster City for 21 years, found himself holding a vial of powdered bone from the body of pharaoh Hatshepsut, arguably Egypt’s most powerful female leader of all time. "I looked at the microscopic amount of fluid and thought, ‘This is the most important piece of......

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BART to halt Millbrae-SFO direct service

Published: Jun 27, 2007

Bay Area Rapid Transit is discontinuing direct service between its Millbrae and San Francisco International Airport stations even as it launches more trains on the Peninsula. Under the new service schedule, which launches Jan. 1, 2008, the Pittsburg/Bay Point line will run directly to the airport, while the Richmond line will run directly to Millbrae. No trains will shuttle passengers between Millbrae and SFO; passengers who want to get to the airport from Millbrae will have to transfer at the San Bruno station, according to BART spokesman Linton Johnson. "That’s......

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Students crowding into Carlmont High

Published: Jun 27, 2007

So many students currently attend Carlmont High School that there is a waiting list to get into the public school — and leaders could weigh policy changes that would prevent some students living outside the school’s boundaries from getting in. Carlmont’s capacity is 2,100 students, but in 2006-07, its enrollment ballooned to 2,161 students, according to the California Department of Education. Of those, 109 attended the school through the Sequoia High School District’s open enrollment policy, according to a report from district Business Manager Don Gielow. Meanwhile, Sequoia High School’s......

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Neighbors plan Costco appeal

Published: Jun 26, 2007

Residents who live near a 24-year-old Costco store slated for expansion are appealing the approval of those expansion plans.The Redwood City Costco, at 2300 Middlefield Road, could be replaced with a new 160,000-square-foot retail warehouse and a new gas station with 12 fuel pumps, after plans were approved by the Planning Commission and Zoning administrator on June 19. Redwood Village residents, who support the new warehouse but oppose the fuel pumps, announced Monday that they will file an appeal by the Wednesday deadline.Neighbors opposed Costco’s original plan to bring 16......

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Pride parade shows 'remarkable diversity'

Published: Jun 25, 2007

Tens of thousands of people of all stripes took to the streets Sunday for the 37th annual LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade, billed as the biggest gay-pride event in the nation. Gay couples, straight couples and families with kids — and, in many cases, parents and grandparents— lined Market Street in San Francisco to catch glimpses of floats and presentations from 200 different groups. The weekend-long event draws people from all across the Bay Area, the country and even the world, who spend roughly $150 million in San Francisco while......

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New test shows English fluency gap in S.F. schools

Published: Jun 22, 2007

A newly refined statewide exam designed to test how well immigrant students are learning English reveals that fewer students are gaining fluency than thought, education leaders announced Thursday. Students new to English take the California English Language Development Test each year to determine how well they read, write, speak and understand the language — especially in the classroom. In 2006-07, the California Department of Education toughened the standards in the hope of making the test "a more accurate portrayal of students’ abilities," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said......

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Costco wins approval to rebuild in Redwood City

Published: Jun 21, 2007

Costco got the green light to expand its warehouse and add 12 gas pumps at its Middlefield Road site, but residents who oppose the fuel station say it’s too soon to say whether they will continue the battle. Costco’s expansion plan won environmental approval from the Redwood City Planning Commission on Tuesday night, while Zoning Administrator Blake Lyon approved the plan to build a new 160,000-square-foot warehouse on the property, demolish the 24-year-old Costco store and add 12 gas pumps — fewer than the 16 Costco originally proposed. Redwood Village......

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Redwood City may be owed $1M in taxes

Published: Jun 20, 2007

The sale of the 10-tower Pacific Shores Center to Starwood Capital Group Global was heralded as one of the biggest Silicon Valley deals in years, but county and city leaders say they may be owed up to nearly $1 million in taxes on the sale. Pacific Shores Center, on Seaport Boulevard, was built by developer Jay Paul and finished in 2002. Starwood’s purchase of the campus, home to high-tech heavyweights such as PDI/Dreamworks and Open Wave, was completed in the fall of 2006 for an undisclosed sum. By that time,......

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Redwood City parking revenue falls $1.25M short

Published: Jun 18, 2007

The slow start to the new downtown cinema is taking a financial toll, costing the city $1.25 million in anticipated parking revenues, according to a report from City Manager Ed Everett. The city had counted on earning $2.4 million in parking revenues in 12 months after the new Century Theatres retail-cinema complex opened in July and the City Council increased downtown parking rates in an effort to boost turnover, according to Finance Director Brian Ponty. Instead, it earned $850,000."The reasons for this [shortfall] are several, but the primary belief is......

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Boy, 15, shot and killed in S.F's Mission district

Published: Jun 18, 2007

Friends, family and neighbors paused in front of the Taqueria Vallarta on 24th Street on Sunday, where a makeshift memorial paid tribute to a 15-year-old boy who died there after being shot one block away Saturday night. The boy, identified Sunday afternoon by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office as Eddie Valdo, was remembered by friends as a friendly, gentle teenager. A sign, posted on a tree outside the taqueria, read "Edivaldo Sanchez, 1992-2007. RIP — Descansa en Paz.""He never got into fights with anybody — he was friends with everybody.......

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Teachers want pay increase for curriculum work

Published: Jun 15, 2007

Teachers in the Redwood City School District are negotiating for pay increases to cover the additional work hours they claim they’ll face when new districtwide curriculum changes take effect in September. Those negotiations have been under way since the school board approved funding for the new curriculum in February, but leaders with the teachers union say they may reach a deal Tuesday. The district has already agreed to pay per diem stipends for teachers training this summer so they can teach the new Houghton-Mifflin and Prentice Hall curriculum this fall......

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Highway 280 lane closures snarl southbound traffic

Published: Jun 15, 2007

Southbound commuters were ensnared in hours of trafficThursday morning after a section of Interstate Highway 280 became unstable and three lanes were closed right in the middle of rush hour. A portion of southbound I-280 north of Trousdale Drive became unstable during overnight pavement-rehabilitation work, said Lauren Wonder, spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. As crews cut into the No. 2 lane, a void opened beneath the pavement slab, and the slab began to rock back and forth, Wonder said. The California Highway Patrol issued a traffic alert at......

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Safety improvements to beef up crosswalk

Published: Jun 13, 2007

A bevy of attention-grabbing devices will likely be added to the crosswalk of San Carlos Avenue at Chestnut Street, the site of a fatal pedestrian accident three and a half years ago. Among the devices the City Council approved Monday for study are multicolored asphalt strips that highlight the crosswalk, yield-to-pedestrian signs that light up, and radar-based signs that tell drivers how fast they’re going. Council members asked Public Works Director Parviz Mokhtari to report back by July 9 regarding the cost of the measures."The whole stretch of San Carlos......

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Peninsula builders face fee increases

Published: Jun 13, 2007

Developers hoping to build in Peninsula cities can face a vast array of fees for everything from parks to public art and libraries — and the overall financial impact on builders could be rising.Redwood City adopted a water-capacity charge June 4 and is exploring a parking in-lieu fee for developers who don’t create parking spaces to accompany large-scale residential projects. The Sequoia High School District today will consider increasing its school-facilities fee, which residential developers pay to provide classroom space for new students who move into the projects they build.......

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Re-election campaign starts early

Published: Jun 12, 2007

The official election season hasn’t even opened yet, but the City Council’s three incumbents already face one challenger on the November ballot. Mayor Barbara Pierce, Vice Mayor Rosanne Foust and Councilmember Ian Bain are all up for re-election this year. So far, all three have given some indication that they will seek another term. Kevin Bondonno, chair of the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, has also tossed his hat into the ring."One topic of concern [to voters] is how we’ll grow and where we will grow. The last time, it......

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Council to address crosswalk

Published: Jun 11, 2007

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for locals who fear crossing the street at a crosswalk where two elderly women were struck and seriously injured three and a half years ago. Although many regulars at the San Carlos Adult Community Center, at the corner of Chestnut Street and San Carlos Avenue, say they feel unsafe crossing at the non signalized crosswalk at that intersection, the San Carlos Transportation and Circulation Commission voted May 15 to leave the crosswalk as it is. The City Council will......

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Redwood City sewer facility repairs could raise rates

Published: Jun 08, 2007

Hefty sewer-rate increases could be in the pipeline for residents and businesses in cities whose wastewater flows to the South Bayside System Authority. SBSA, which runs a plant shared by Redwood City, San Carlos, Menlo Park and Belmont, is planning an extensive retrofit of its 25-year-old facilities in Redwood City, according to Director Dan Child. Those plans — and cost — will not be finalized until late 2007.In the meantime, SBSA is already performing $12 million in short-term repairs. Cities are paying off the cost over four years — Redwood......

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Key spots cited for San Carlos’ growth

Published: Jun 08, 2007

Plans are brewing for three spots downtown that have been identified by city officials as key to a thriving future for the shopping district.Developers have long been sniffing around Wheeler Plaza, bounded by Laurel Street, San Carlos Avenue and Walnut Street, but interest has recently cranked up for the property, which includes some apartments, retail and a city-owned parking lot, according to Economic Development Director Brian Moura. Likewise, the city is fielding calls from developers and grocery store chains hoping to move in on the vacant Bell Market store location,......

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City-run energy plan faces key vote

Published: Jun 06, 2007

San Francisco could be moving toward supplying and selling electricity to its residents and businesses, despite warnings from some economists and business representatives that the job may be better left to Pacific Gas and Electric. A Board of Supervisors committee is expected to vote today on whether to become what’s called a community choice aggregator — a city or county that provides electric utilities and offers customers a choice between the city-run system or the private supplier, which is PG&E in the Bay Area. The concept, sponsored by supervisors Ross......

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Redwood City's manager to retire

Published: Jun 06, 2007

Whoever replaces retiring City Manager Ed Everett this fall will have big shoes to fill — and not just because Everett is roughly six and a half feet tall. Everett is retiring after more than 15 years in City Hall’s top post. Tonight, the City Council will formally begin sketching out the characteristics of the candidate they hope will lead the city after Everett steps down Sept. 21. Someone with experience in community-building, who can work well with the City Council, city staff and the public, who can motivate workers......

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Group plans cleanup, prep at medical center site

Published: Jun 05, 2007

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation is moving ahead with plans to demolish buildings and perform site cleanup at 301 Industrial Road, months before the City Council is slated to vote on the firm’s proposed medical center on the property. San Carlos issued a demolition permit June 1, giving the Ferma Corp. permission to begin work Monday on behalf of owners of 301 Industrial LLC, which PAMF officials have confirmed is the holdings company for the property. A number of buildings, formerly owned by CPI and Eimac, have been vacant since......

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Lawsuit won't halt Redwood City revitalization

Published: Jun 04, 2007

The city has no plans to halt downtown development, despite a lawsuit accusing the city’s revitalization plans of violating California environmental laws. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Joe Carcione Jr., claims that Redwood City’s newly adopted plans for downtown won’t protect existing buildings from shadows cast by new, taller buildings, and will also not protect historic properties from demolition and redevelopment. Those plans, adopted by the City Council in March, are aimed at revitalizing downtown with new businesses, up to 3,600 new residences and better access for those who walk......

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Talk of firm’s arrival rocks Redwood City port

Published: Jun 01, 2007

A company that supplies the ingredients for concrete could move into the Port of Redwood City next year to capitalize on projected shortages of the construction material, but neighboring businesses are already pulling up anchor, fearing the firm will bring noise and dust to the area. Eagle Rock Aggregates, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has earned the environmental approval it needs to move into nine acres of an abandoned 18-acre site at the Port of Redwood City. The site was formerly used by Gibson Environmental; Texaco has also used the......

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Lawmakers eyeing update of utility tax

Published: May 31, 2007

City leaders are gauging residents’ support for a 24-year-old utility tax, in part because updating the tax to avoid legal trouble could require voter approval. Redwood City’s utility users tax, created in 1983 by the City Council, assesses a 5 percent levy on gas, electricity, cable television and telephone use, both landlines and cellular. While it was enacted with no specific purpose, city leaders agreed to use the funds — which total $8.8 million this year — for capital projects. Since then, the tax has helped fund projects including new......

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Cyclists push for safety in wake of fatal collision

Published: May 29, 2007

Cyclists say that as the city moves forward with the construction of a new luxury hotel on Sand Hill Road, it must find ways to make the road safer following several cycling accidents, including one that killed Rodney Smith last week. Smith, a 67-year-old Portola Valley resident and retired chairman of the Altera Corporation, died Friday morning after being hit on his bicycle by a Volvo driven by 87-year-old Woodside resident Anthony Rose. Smith was struck on eastbound Sand Hill Road just west of Interstate 280, a dangerous area where......

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Windmill honored at new home

Published: May 29, 2007

From its new home at Union Cemetery, the newly restored Solari Windmill overlooks Woodside Road, not far from the farm where it first stored water more than 100 years ago.The 40-foot water tower and windmill was feted Monday during Union Cemetery’s annual Memorial Day Celebration. It became the historic cemetery’s newest tenant this year, capping a nine-year effort to rescue the windmill from being demolished or relegated to a city corporation yard. "It gives me goosebumps," said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Jeri Joseph-Hover, looking up at the windmill after spearheading......

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Study pinpoints Bay Area cancer risk hot spots

Published: May 26, 2007

Bay Area residents will soon be able to see where diesel-related air pollution is the worst — and understand the health risks associated with living in those areas. In the Bay Area, 80 percent of air-pollution cancer risk comes from diesel fumes; freight trucks, ships and trains are significant sources of diesel emissions, according to the BayArea Air Quality Management District. The district is currently studying where those emissions are worst, and plans to study the health risks — from cancer to asthma — of constant......

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Fire dept deal may be costly for San Carlos

Published: May 24, 2007

San Carlos and Belmont may have saved their joint fire department from dissolution, but the choice to stay together could bring increasing financial pain to San Carlos, which already faces a budget shortfall of nearly $900,000.Both cities agreed this year that, because San Carlos has more homes, businesses and calls to the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department, the city would pay a little more than its former 50/50 share — 52.3 percent to Belmont’s 47.7 percent, according to Fire Chief Doug Fry. In 2007-08, that means San Carlos is paying an......

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Alleged ‘Gilligan Robber’ to face homicide charges

Published: May 23, 2007

The man who allegedly stabbed his wife to death and confessed to robbing more than a dozen banks since 2002 will appear in court today to face homicide charges. Robert Lomas, 51, was arrested Monday night and held without bail status. He is accused of stabbing his wife, 50-year-old Linda Lomas, to death Monday morning at her 2830 Huntington Avenue home. He allegedly killed her nearly two months after being arrested for domestic violence charges against her. After the arrest Monday night, Lomas told Redwood City police that he robbed......

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Trip teaches kids about city history

Published: May 22, 2007

It may be a challenge to get seventh-graders interested in anything academic — let alone history — but local educators have found a way. In the coming week, hundreds of preteens will trek to downtown Redwood City to learn how older generations lived, worked and played by visiting the Lathrop House, the newly restored 1910 County Courthouse and the Fox Theatre. The field trip has become an annual tradition over the last 10 years, getting kids out of the classroom and into buildings they probably see all the time and......

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Neighbors to fight gas pumps at Costco

Published: May 17, 2007

Neighbors who live near a Costco store slated for expansion are gearing up once more to protest a proposed 16-pump fuel station they say will bring unwanted traffic, long lines and air pollution to the neighborhood. City planners are putting the finishing touches on a final environmental review of the expansion, which would replace the existing 121,400-square-foot Costco warehouse at 2400 Middlefield Road with a larger 160,000-square-foot building. Those plans also call for the addition of 16 gas pumps, a sticking point with neighbors and nearby gas station owners who......

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Area braces for housing quotas

Published: May 17, 2007

Every seven years, the Bay Area braces itself for a milestone that cities dread about as much as the average person dreads taxes. New housing quotas, handed down from state officials to the Association of Bay Area Governments, will be debated and potentially adopted by ABAG’s board of directors tonight. Under the proposal, San Francisco will be asked to build more than 33,000 new units, while San Mateo County has a quota of nearly 16,000. However, such quotas are not enforced, leaving many regions free to build as much —......

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Plans downsized for San Carlos medical site

Published: May 16, 2007

Denying they were bowing to the pressures of angry neighbors, officials of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation announced a scaled-back version of a new medical facility and building Tuesday.While the original proposal on the 18.1-acre site at 301 Industrial Road called for a 339,500-square-foot campus with 110 hospital beds, the new proposal would be 272,200 square feet with 91 beds. It reduces the number of doctors and nurses on staff by 30 percent and lowers the height of the buildings from five stories to four. Despite considerable protest from neighbors......

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Seniors: Intersection needs safety boost

Published: May 15, 2007

Guy Ackley recently stood in front of the Adult Community Center, grabbed a bright flag for visibility and gingerly made his way across San Carlos Avenue. "I stepped off the curb and nobody stopped. One person honked at me," Ackley said. "After that, I’m not very comfortable crossing there." A bucket of portable safety flags were added at the crosswalk where Chestnut Street meets San Carlos Avenue in 2004, shortly after community center patrons Margaret McEnnerny, 78, and Mariana Parise, 74, were struck by an SUV in the non-signalized crosswalk......

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Open spaces to pop up soon

Published: May 14, 2007

One downtown site was nearly doomed to be fenced off with barbed wire while another sits secluded and almost forgotten, but both are on the road to becoming attractive public spaces for locals. Construction is under way on a strip of land between the post office and Tarboosh restaurant on Jefferson Avenue, which will be transformed into a public walkway for pedestrians who want to get from the parking area behind City Hall to the shops, restaurants and theater on Broadway.When it’s finished, the area — called a paseo —......

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Rosier future for Redwood City's downtown area

Published: May 11, 2007

Fewer people than expected are flocking to downtown on weeknights and Sundays, but there are signs that the city’s retail core is finally on the upswing. Before Redwood City launched the retail-cinema site last summer, with a 20-screen movie theater, stores and new restaurants, local officials were bracing for an additional 1 million visitors each year. Now they’re scaling back paid parking — which will from now on be free after 8 p.m. on weeknights and all day Sunday — attimes when business is slowest, Downtown Development Manager Dan Zack......

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Belmont youth soccer league loses lawsuit

Published: May 11, 2007

Belmont’s San Andreas Youth Soccer Organization has no right to use San Carlos’ soccer fields or advertise its own teams with signs in San Carlos, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Wednesday. SAYSO sued San Carlos in 2006, alleging that the city discriminated against the Belmont league by refusing it access to San Carlos athletic fields, even though the league serves players from both cities. San Carlos filed a motion for summary judgment Tuesday, asking Judge Saundra Armstrong to dismiss the case. "She agreed there was no case," said San......

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Death at Sharp Park caused by medical problem

Published: May 10, 2007

A Colorado man who died after swimming at Sharp Park Beach did not drown, San Mateo Coroner officials said Wednesday. Michael Manak, 48, of Greeley, Colo., was at the Pacifica beach Tuesday afternoon and went swimming in the ocean, according to Pacifica Police Department Capt. Jim Tasa. Manak fell unconscious and his adult son pulled him from the water while family members called 911 just before 1:30 p.m. When paramedics arrived, Manak was on the beach, unconscious. "We can’t confirm that he was still alive," said Angelina Cuicci, spokeswoman for......

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Summit Prep plans move to Broadway campus

Published: May 10, 2007

The industrial-style campus at 890 Broadway will house a charter school this fall, but it won’t be High Tech High Bayshore.Summit Preparatory High School is currently in contract talks with the Sequoia High School District to move into the 30,000-square-foot building, built for High Tech High Bayshore two years ago, in August. Sequoia bought the building for $8.6 million last February after San Diego-based High Tech High announced it was closing the underenrolled charter school in June. Summit Director Diane Tavenner says she’s happy the school will have a permanent......

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Peninsula fireman helps Kansas town

Published: May 10, 2007

Frank Fraone is no stranger to disasters. In the 17 years since he joined the Menlo Park Fire Department disaster-response team, the division chief has pitched in at the scenes of the Oklahoma City bombing, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Hurricane Katrina. Now, Fraone is in Greensburg, Kan., along with hundreds of other fire department personnel from across the country, helping the town get back on its feet after it was torn apart by a tornado May 4. Roughly 90 percent of the town was destroyed......

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Redwood City adopts plan to improve El Camino Real

Published: May 09, 2007

Pedestrians and residents near two housing sites on El Camino Real will soon have a safer, easier time walking to nearby transit after plans and funding for updated crosswalks were adopted.The first of a regional effort to turn El Camino Real into a "grand boulevard" with enhanced transit access and mixed-use development, the project, adopted Monday, includes updating crosswalks where Madison Avenue and Maple Street cross El Camino Real. Places for pedestrians to wait for green lights will be added and U-turns will be eliminated to improve pedestrian safety.Redwood City......

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Spark ignited fire at metal facility

Published: May 08, 2007

An electrical discharge is being cited as the cause of an April 7 scrap-metal fire that sent a black plume of smoke into the sky for nearly 24 hours, according to investigators. Air-quality officials say the plume from the fire at Sims Metal’s Seaport Boulevard site contained high levels of several toxic chemicals. The blaze began the morning of April 7 in a five-story-high pile of shredded automobiles. Firefighters brought it under control at 2:30 a.m. the next day and fully extinguished the fire by 6:40 a.m.The fire at the......

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Peninsula cities disagree on housing-quota issue

Published: May 08, 2007

Despite joining hands to share the burden of building up to 18,000 new housing units countywide, some San Mateo County cities are showing signs of discord about the new cooperative experiment. Local cities becamethe first in California to take advantage of new housing laws that allow jurisdictions to work together to share housing quotas. Now, as they determine the exact formula by which the region’s housing needs will be determined, some cities are opposing that formula. Roughly every seven years, the Association of Bay Area Governments creates recommendations for the......

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Accident taxed area hospitals

Published: May 04, 2007

It took three separate trauma-care centers in three different counties to handle nine of the 13 students injured in Wednesday’s SUV accident at Ralston Middle School in Belmont, raising questions about the ability of regional hospital to handle a larger disaster. While most hospitals in San Mateo County have emergency rooms, none have acute trauma-care centers — facilities prepared to deal with serious head, chest or abdominal wounds. When county residents sustain serious injuries, the closesttrauma center north of Millbrae Avenue is San Francisco General Hospital. Those to the south......

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Woodside student hospitalized after scary confession

Published: May 02, 2007

A 15-year-old Woodside High School student has been hospitalized after telling a counselor he had considered harming fellow students, one in a series of recent school-based threats that have officials on high alert following the April 14 shootings at Virginia Tech. The student, whose name is not being released because of his age, was taken into custody by San Mateo County Sheriff’s officers late last week after telling his Woodside counselor that he considered harming "bad" or "disruptive" students, Capt. Don O’Keefe said. The North Fair Oaks teen was placed......

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San Carlos vice mayor’s Tinseltown ride

Published: May 02, 2007

Vice Mayor Brad Lewis had almost as many adventures producing Pixar’s new movie, "Ratatouille," as the film’s four-legged star does in his journey from sewer-dwelling rat to French chef.Now, after more than five years perfecting the ingredients for Pixar’s next film, Lewis is offering a sneak preview of "Ratatouille" at Pixar Studios in Emeryville on June 9. Proceeds will benefit the San Carlos Education Foundation, the San Carlos Parks and Recreation Foundation and the Riekes Center for Human Advancement. The event offers locals — who know Lewis through his work......

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Tanker driver has criminal past

Published: May 01, 2007

The tanker driver whose accident is expected to wreak havoc on the East Bay-San Francisco commute for months to come — and who has a criminal history including a nearly three-year stint in prison — is likely to face a simple citation or a misdemeanor for his involvement in the collapse and closure of sections of the MacArthur Maze.Early California Highway Patrol reports suggest James Mosqueda, 51, may have been speeding, but there is no evidence that he was driving under the influence. The speed limit on the portion of......

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‘Jaw-dropper’ may cause months of grief

Published: Apr 30, 2007

Transbay commuters could be looking at months of ugly gridlock — the likes of which have not been seen since a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, officials said Sunday. Commuters arebeing urged to avoid the Bay Bridge and seek alternate modes of transportation. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Office announced Sunday afternoon that funding would be available for free transit Monday on BART, AC Transit and ferries, although details were still being worked out last night. A section of the MacArthur Maze collapsed early Sunday......

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Even Start gives toddlers, parents a leg up

Published: Apr 27, 2007

When Gina Castaneda came to the United States from Mexico a few years ago, she was so ashamed of her language skills that she wouldn’t leave her house, afraid that someone would talk to her and find out she couldn’t understand them. All that changed after she signed herself and her children up with Even Start, a preschool and literacy program at John Gill School for low-income residents."In our country, it’s very different — children go to school, and that’s it; parents are not part of it," Castaneda said during......

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Konami gears up to make Hollywood its new home

Published: Apr 26, 2007

While longtime gamemaker Konami, producer of the popular Dance Dance Revolution franchise, is leaving the city for a location closer to Hollywood, local experts say big business — and the tech sector — is healthier than it’s been in years. Konami has operated a small facility in Redwood Shores since 1997, but is now consolidating with its El Segundo operation, about 25 miles from Hollywood, officials announced last week. The decisions affects 74 employees, all of whom have been offered relocation packages if they want to move, said Suzanne Kantey,......

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PAMF hospital’s impact report cleared

Published: Apr 25, 2007

Despite the number of groups opposed to Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s plan to build a medical center in town, any pending legal battles are waiting on the sidelines — for now. The project cleared a major hurdle when the City Council unanimously approved the new hospital’s environmental studies Monday night. But that approval came over the objections of the United Healthcare Workers of the West union, the city of Belmont and two separate neighborhood groups, all of whom claimed the environmental studies were inadequate. "The environmental impact report has so......

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Red-light cameras appealing to San Carlos, Redwood City

Published: Apr 24, 2007

After seeing red-light cameras pay off in other Peninsula cities, Redwood City and San Carlos are making plans to install similar enforcement systems at several hot-button intersections.Redwood City could add cameras in the coming months, according to a report from police Captain Ed Hernandez, at four intersections: eastbound Veterans Boulevard at Whipple Avenue and at Woodside Road; southbound Woodside Road at Veterans Boulevard; and on the Woodside/Broadway/U.S. Highway 101 interchange. Reflex Traffic Systems would install the cameras at $6,200 each, following a City Council vote Monday night.The report cites an......

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Schools ask teachers to watch for devices

Published: Apr 23, 2007

As cell phones become ubiquitous among students and teachers bring more technology into the classroom, schools are struggling to keep those tools from becoming cyber-distractions. As many as 87 percent of American teens use the Internet, and 78 percent of those use it during school hours, according to a fall 2005 report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Add to that the fact that teens frequently use cell phones to send brief text messages to one another, and you’ve got the modern-day equivalent of passing notes in class......

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Bay Area cities find ways to fill green niche

Published: Apr 20, 2007

In the wake of Al Gore’s documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," many Bay Area cities are examining what they can do to reduce any harm they do to the environment, particularly when it comes to carbon emissions. Many are weighing how they can implement recent recommendations, such as the one from Sierra Club that calls upon everyone to reduce their carbon emissions by 2 percent per year for the next 40 years. However, many cities have each found a niche when it comes to sustainability, from stricter green-building laws to the......

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Expanded 'green' awareness buoys Earth Day

Published: Apr 20, 2007

At the age of 37, Earth Day has reached a certain level of maturity within the environmental movement — a movement now picking up major steam as citizens are beginning to take global warming seriously. Earth Day was first celebrated April 22, 1970, and founded by Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Republican Congressman Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr., now a resident of Woodside. The event was established in a turbulent era, swirling with anger over the Vietnam War and galvanized by Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring," revealing the effects......

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Redwood City plan could revive forgotten creek

Published: Apr 20, 2007

There aren’t many places left where people can glimpse Redwood Creek, but plans are rolling ahead for a new mini-neighborhood that would create public access to the creek along Main Street east of Veterans Boulevard. The creek once flowed aboveground from the San Francisco Bay all the way into downtown, bringing boats and port traffic into the heart of Redwood City. Over the years, most of the creek has been buried underground — and portions that remain aboveground have been surrounded by office buildings and fast-food restaurants whose backs face......

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San Carlos soccer leagues turn over roster info

Published: Apr 17, 2007

A San Carlos soccer group has agreed to hand over its rosters dating back to 2000 to prove the residency of its players after a Belmont soccer league, denied access to local athletic fields, subpoenaed all of San Carlos’ soccer leagues. San Andreas Youth Soccer Organization, based in Belmont, filed suit in federal court last May after San Carlos refused to allow the league to play on its fields because they are already deteriorating from overuse. To protect fields, San Carlos denies access to any nonlocal team whose players are......

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San Carlos stores wait to relocate

Published: Apr 13, 2007

Businesses hoping to move into larger spots downtown will have to pay hefty fees and wait at least 55 days for approval, causing some business owners to gripe that the new rules are hostile.The new policy, adopted Monday by the City Council, requires the Planning Commission’s nod for businesses hoping to move into spaces 2,500 square feet or bigger within the city’s retail core, unless it’s the same type of business that was in the space before. It builds upon an emergency requirement adopted in February that applied only to......

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Redwood City fire may have violated clean-air rules

Published: Apr 12, 2007

A two-alarm fire at the Sims Metal scrapyard sent toxic compounds into the sky over the weekend, but officials said Wednesday it’s too soon to tell whether the blaze violated air-quality standards. The blaze at 699 Seaport Blvd., just east of Highway 101, started in a 50-foot-tall pile of shredded vehicles Saturday morning and burned for nearly 24 hours. The fire released carcinogenic compounds, common to fires, in a plume that traveled as far as San Jose, said Karen Schkolnick, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. It......

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Redwood City welcomes increased urban growth

Published: Apr 11, 2007

After several dry years, developers are coming out of the woodwork to create new housing downtown and across the city. Redwood City issued permits for just 458 new housing units between 1999 and 2006 — a period in which the city was urged by the Association of Bay Area Governments to build 2,544 new units. Now, it has a potential for 1,220 new units in proposed projects by the Bay and throughout downtown. With a brand-new downtown plan aimed at boosting urban-style housing under way and a housing market on......

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‘Charming’ Redwood City to be touted on TV

Published: Apr 11, 2007

Downtown’s revitalization is still in its infancy, but key development plans will be touted in a five-minute news feature on CNN and the Travel Channel this summer. The program, called "Focus on America," has been around for years, studying everything from trends to economics. Producers, however, recently decided to branch out and feature up-and-coming cities, said Lisa Vrancken, production manager for Platinum Productions. Redwood City is among the first to be featured. "The rich history of Redwood City, and all that great San Francisco Bay shoreline and the work going......

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Officials hope parents, citizens can mend budget woes

Published: Apr 10, 2007

Faced with slashing between $1.7 million and $2.1 million from the 2007-08 district budget, Redwood City School District officials are hoping parents and residents will help point the way. This month, Redwood City School District officials are holding two workshops with residents to discuss budget options and take input on where cuts should be made, trustee Shelly Masur said. The district has struggled with a structural deficit since May 2005, when Redwood City voters rejected Measure V, an $85 parcel tax designed to raise $3 million for the elementary-school system,......

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Cody’s to close Stockton Street bookstore

Published: Apr 06, 2007

Cody’s Books will close its Stockton Street store April 20, just 18 months after opening, officials of the local bookstore chain announced Thursday. The large bookstore outlet, located at 2 Stockton St., was never able to attract enough customers to break even, according to Melissa Mytinger, marketing director for Cody’s. The news comes less than a year after Cody’s closed its flagship store on Telegraph Avenuein Berkeley in July 2006. "We believed in our San Francisco store, we loved its space and stock and its employees and customers, but it......

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Beauty schooler nabbed taking photos in bathroom

Published: Apr 06, 2007

A Palo Alto man arrested on charges of illegally photographing a student in a Sequoia High School men’s room will return to San Mateo County Court on May 2 to face misdemeanor charges.David Hill, 33, was arrested March 29 at the high school, where he was offering haircuts during a job fair, according to Redwood City Police Department Capt. Chris Cesena. Hill allegedly entered a men’s restroom and began photographing a male student, who reported the incident to school officials. They, in turn, called police. Hill was arrested just after......

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Port of Redwood City to pick ferry site soon

Published: Apr 05, 2007

Port officials are charting a course to choose a site for a new mid-Peninsula ferry terminal by mid-July. The Port of Redwood City has hired experts at the CHS Group to analyze possible sites and determine which location would be least likely to disrupt nearby wildlife habitats as well as adjacent businesses and live-in boat communities. CHS Group will also deliver a preliminary design and cost estimate for establishing and operating the ferry terminal and service, Port Director Michael Giari said. "We’re just looking at what we’d call show-stoppers —......

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Schools use Microsoft money to buy Macs

Published: Apr 05, 2007

The funds may come from Microsoft, but the Sequoia High School District plans to use the money to purchase Apple laptops for portable computer labs in its high schools. The district is beginning to plan what to do with more than $400,000 received this spring following the federal antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in 1998 and the subsequent settlement in 2001. Under that settlement, schools could request a portion of the district’s Microsoft money. Half of those funds can be used to purchase hardware while the other half can be used......

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Deportation forces kids to make tough choices

Published: Apr 04, 2007

Four local children, all U.S. citizens, are leaving the country Friday to remain with their parents, who have been ordered deported by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Their father, Pedro Ramirez, was deported to Mexico Feb. 28 within hours of his arrest. Their mother, Isabel Aguirre, was immediately placed under house arrest and ordered to leave the country by Friday, leaving the future of their four children in question. Ramirez and Aguirre have lived in the United State since 1985 and 1989, respectively. All four children — 6-year-old......

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Greenspace backers eye builder bucks

Published: Apr 03, 2007

As new residents flock to the city, they will need places to play — and officials may soon ask developers to pony up the money to pay for new parks.Redwood City is preparing to adopt new rules that would require three acres of developed park — playgrounds, athletic fields and landscaping — for every 1,000 residents. That ratio is among the lowest in San Mateo County, and because Redwood City has so little available land, officials hope to collect funding from developers so they can fund new parks as space......

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Residents push for wetlands restoration

Published: Apr 02, 2007

Residents who defeated Marina Shores Village, the proposal to build high-rise homes on the Bay, are now asking city officials to oppose any development on 1,433 acres of land owned by Cargill. Public perception could help decide the fate of the property. Friends of Redwood City are asking city officials to restore the salt ponds on the property, which they are calling "Seaport Wetlands," to tidal marshes. Meanwhile, Cargill’s development consultants with DMB Associates have dubbed the project Redwood City Industrial Saltworks, a name that doesn’t sit well with open-space......

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Shuttle service back in Redwood City

Published: Mar 31, 2007

Commuters will be able to catch a shuttle to and from work for the first time in more than 20 years, and city officials say a service for residents is on the way this summer. Redwood City’s commuter shuttle kicks off Monday, with morning and evening routes designed to take employees from the downtown Caltrain station to businesses and destinations along Broadway, Chestnut Street and Bay Road. The service will be funded through a combination of donors — including the city and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission — and may receive......

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Bay Area grad schools among nation's top 10

Published: Mar 30, 2007

UC San Francisco and Stanford University both ranked among U.S. News and World Report’s top 10 graduate schools in the United States, according to a report for 2008 released today. UCSF’s medical school is considered fifth best in the nation, behind programs at Washington University in St. Louis, Ill., the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. Stanford was the only school in the nation to place in all five graduate-school categories. It was ranked second among business, education, engineering and law schools, and seventh among medical schools.......

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Laguna Honda appeals $100K fine in patient’s death

Published: Mar 29, 2007

Laguna Honda Hospital is appealing a citation and$100,000 fine levied by the California Department of Health Services after a patient fell from a window and died in October. The citation, handed down by the state March 13, claims that hospital staff failed to provide adequate care for Hui Su, who was found wandering unsupervised through the facility and grounds on more than one occasion, according to the state. However, officials with the San Francisco Department of Public Health said Su’s Oct. 30, 2006, death was an accident."You can’t always plan......

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Former employee sues High Tech High Bayshore

Published: Mar 29, 2007

A former administrative assistant for High Tech High Bayshore is suing the charter school and its San Diego-based parent company, claiming that she was fired illegally while on maternity leave. The lawsuit, filed by Tia Amador in California Superior Court this month, claims that during a two-month maternity leave last spring, High Tech High Bayshore terminated her employment, despite having approved her absence. Her lawsuit also claims that school officials told her that her position had been eliminated due to budget cuts, that they did not offer her another position......

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Burger joint to open Menlo Park location

Published: Mar 29, 2007

Jeffrey’s Hamburgers, the popular burger joint that has held steady while San Mateo’s downtown came to life, is now opening a second diner in Menlo Park on El Camino Real at a time when city leaders hope to boost downtown activity.After 10 years of feeding San Mateo locals, owner Serge Karanov plans to open the new Jeffrey’s at 888 El Camino, just south of Santa Cruz Avenue, in three months. That came as good news to fans who crowded into the red-and-chrome diner Sunday afternoon for heaping platters of fries,......

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San Mateo schools gain in state tests

Published: Mar 29, 2007

San Mateo County schools boosted scores on the California Academic Performance Index in 2006, with 114 schools gaining over 2005 scores and nearly half earning a score of 800 or more, the benchmark set by state leaders. California schools have been required since 1999 to annually increase students’ scores on a number of standardized tests, including the California Standards Test and the California High School Exit Exam. That progress is measured through the API, and each school must show annual gains to avoid penalties and sanctions such as curriculum and......

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Some San Mateo schools move up, others lag

Published: Mar 28, 2007

While San Mateo County’s Academic Performance Index scores are heading in the right direction, many districts whose schools showed major progress in 2006 also had schools that fell significantly behind. In the San Mateo-Foster City School District, Turnbull Learning Academy (now College Park), Sunnybrae and Beresford schools all boosted API scores by 50 or more points between 2005 and 2006. At the same time, Laurel, Parkside and Meadow Heights schools slid by more than 25 points — 83, in Meadow Heights’ case. The Redwood City School District had three schools......

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Victim’s sister wants accountability

Published: Mar 26, 2007

Friends and family gathered Sunday for a vigil outside the building where Sharen Sulpizio-May was brutally stabbed to death by her husband, Lawrence May, three years ago. Although Lawrence May was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison without parole, Sulpizio-May’s family holds an annual vigil to keep her memory alive — and in the hope of preventing other women from being harmed by their loved ones. "We don’t want this to happen to anyone else," said Sulpizio-May’s 11-year-old daughter, Gina. For the family, Sulpizio-May’s murder remains a constant presence."She......

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Neighborhood speeding gets under residents’ skin

Published: Mar 26, 2007

Drivers zip past houses on Eighth Avenue at nearly double the 25 mph speed limit, careening through potholes and making residents more than a little nervous. North Fair Oaks residents are no strangers to residential speeding on Eighth Avenue and nearby residential streets just off of Middlefield Road. County public works crews have already installed traffic circles at a number of intersections, as well as chicanes — a series of S-curves meant to slow down drivers with lead feet — but locals say they aren’t working. "The chicanes don’t deter......

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Playground planned for city park

Published: Mar 24, 2007

Jamie Rodriguez, 8, loves going to parks but often sits on the sidelines and watches the other children as they play on jungle gyms and slides. Because Jamie has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair, she can’t join them. Usually, she doesn’t enjoy playgrounds unless they have a sandbox where she can play, said her mom, Melissa Vaughan."She loves to go out, but she can’t walk and use her body like we can," Vaughan said. "It’d mean a lot to her to be able to play. I......

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District working to fix sports-bus crisis

Published: Mar 22, 2007

District officials are scrambling to provide service to Sequoia High School athletes after their program overspent its transportation allowance using charter buses to shuttle teams to and from games. Sequoia’s athletic director, Adrian Dilley, notified students and parents this week that the program was over budget and buses would be canceled for the rest of the school year, according to Pat Gemma, superintendent of the Sequoia High School District. Officials hope to reassure students that the district has a longstanding policy of providing in-house bus service for themwhen they attend......

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GM to open dealership just off Highway 101

Published: Mar 21, 2007

General Motors has purchased 22 acres of property to open a new dealership near Willow Road and U.S. Highway 101.The sale closed last week for an undisclosed sum of money, according to John Kovaleski, vice president of Colliers International, which brokered the deal. In an agreement with Menlo Park officials, GM will split sales-tax revenues with the city until vehicle sales top $10 million.General Motors plans to occupy 8.5 acres of the site and lease or sell the remainder to other car manufacturers or for retail use, according to a......

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Shop owners hope to avoid squeeze

Published: Mar 21, 2007

Shopkeepers on Main Street are hoping they won’t be exiled from the revitalization planned for the rest of downtown.In an effort to install retail establishments and restaurants cheek-by-jowl along Broadway, city planners are recommending that ground-floor "shopfront" offices, such as travel agencies or dental clinics, be allowed alongside boutiques and auto-parts stores on Main Street. Those descriptions are part of the Downtown Precise Plan, a detailed guide to future development poised for City Council approval this spring. An early version of the precise plan suggested turning Main Street into an......

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District weighs charter application from rehab school

Published: Mar 20, 2007

An addiction-rehabilitationfacility for juveniles is asking the Sequoia High School District to charter its high school, less than a year after its charter was denied by the San Mateo County Office of Education. Daytop Village, a Redwood City inpatient and outpatient rehab program for teens and adults, offers a high school for grades nine through 12. Daytop’s high school, operated by the county Office of Education until 2003, was dropped after it lost many teachers who were trained to work with teens struggling with drugs and alcohol, according to Orville......

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Redwood City’s focus on trees starts to take root

Published: Mar 16, 2007

Keeping the city’s streets lined with trees is a tall order, and with the lack of resources for continuous planting, the city is branching out with new ideas. Redwood City, named for the redwoods that once thrived in the city, has roughly 5,000 sites — mostly along curbs — where trees could be planted. But time and resources may mean it will be 20 years before all those empty curbs are forested, Public Works Superintendent Gordon Mann said.In many cases, planting strips will need to be widened before trees can......

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Study: Tiny tremors may foretell big earthquakes

Published: Mar 16, 2007

Stanford researchers have discovered a new kind of tiny temblor that may foreshadow major seismic events, such as earthquakes. A new study by Stanford geophysicists Greg Beroza and David Shelly released Thursday examines minuscule tremors deep under the earth’s crust that appear to simultaneously relieve pressure on one part of a fault line while increasing the load on another part. Unlike typical earthquakes, which last a few seconds each, these tremors can shake the ground for hours or even days, according to study spokesman Mark Schwartz. "These tremors are happening......

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Recent immigration sweeps divide Redwood City

Published: Mar 15, 2007

While many residents back local police policy against checking immigrants’ paperwork, others are urging city officials to take a stand against people living illegally within city limits. Local immigrants, frightened by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in early February, kept children home from school and avoided work for fear that they would be arrested and deported. Redwood City Coalition for Immigrant Rights is working to assure those immigrants that local police officers were not involved in those sweeps and that they are not checking residents’ citizenship status unless they......

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Man attempts to sandbag ‘foreclosure tsunami’

Published: Mar 15, 2007

One local businessman is kicking off an effort to rescue locals from losing their homes to foreclosure.Walter Moeller, a San Carlos resident and businessman, took action after seeing the number of foreclosure warnings rise nearly 400 percent. Statewide, notices of default — those stern letters people receive from their mortgage lenders when they stop making their mortgage payments — rose 37 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2006, according to DataQuick, and continue to rise, Moeller said. In response, Moeller founded the Home Preservation Institute, whose mission is......

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Self-censorship exhibit invites public to look within

Published: Mar 15, 2007

An innovative art piece in the downtown library is challenging patrons to examine the ways in which they censor themselves — often out of fear that what they believe is not acceptable in society, business or government.The piece, created by National Coalition against Censorship’s Svetlana Mintcheva, is a three-walled booth that invites anonymous "confessions" of times when people chose to censor themselves. Phrases such as "I bite my tongue a dozen times a day" pepper the sides of the booth. Mintcheva’s "Exposing the Censor Within" booth was created in conjunction......

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‘Tagging’ arrests made in San Carlos

Published: Mar 13, 2007

Six alleged vandals have been arrested and charged with "tagging" buildings in the city’s industrial zone and causing an estimated $20,000 to $50,000 in damage. Police on Saturday arrested Christopher Palomarez, 19, of San Carlos; Jonathan Slocum, Tomothy McAdams, Ashley Jahns and Joseph Squillacioti, all 18 and from Redwood City; and a 16-year-old juvenile suspect. The suspects were spotted by San Carlos police Detective Tom Marinos at approximately 10:30 p.m. spray-painting graffiti on a building on the 1700 block of Industrial Road, according to San Carlos police Sgt. Mark Robbins.......

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Book-drop crusade gathers steam again

Published: Mar 12, 2007

A local man’s crusade to bring a drive-up book drop to the library — which nearly led city officials to sue him two years ago — is back. Resident and former City Councilman John Hoffmann has never given up onthe idea of adding the convenience, despite a deadlocked council vote on it in 2005 and the threat of a lawsuit against him. He is reviving the issue tonight with a plea to the council to perform a survey to determine whether the amenity is something residents would want.Hoffmann polled library......

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Peninsula beauties line up for pageant

Published: Mar 09, 2007

In recent months, Danna Ngo has changed her diet, hired a vocal trainer, started working out and tried on a plethora of gowns and swimsuits — all for the opportunity to represent the city as the next Miss Redwood City.Ngo, like dozens of other young women on the Peninsula, will compete Sunday for the title held by Bridget Chen. Over the course of the weekend, they will compete to impress judges from the Miss California and Miss America pageants with their interview skills, knowledge of current events, personal talents, physical......

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San Carlos seeks business expansion

Published: Mar 08, 2007

Industrial Road could one day become a lively, diverse district where industrial firms and big-box stores rub elbows with condo-dwelling hipsters and biotech researchers.As San Carlos moves forward with an aggressive plan to entice businesses to the city — aimed at increasing the roughly $5 million a year the city receives in property taxes — leaders are brainstorming the look and feel of four key commercial areas. The Economic Development Advisory Committee and a new Chamber of Commerce Group will study options for Industrial Road, El Camino Real, the Harbor......

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Upgrades recommended for San Carlos roads

Published: Mar 07, 2007

Public works officials are recommending changes on Holly Street and Brittan Avenue aimed at easing traffic before new development makes it worse — and are proposing that the developers pay for those changes. Rush-hour traffic on Holly Street between El Camino Real and U.S. Highway 101 is bad enough now, according to locals who use the thoroughfare daily. But with new eastside projects such as the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s new medical center and hospital and new retail plans at the former Breuner’s site, an additional 900 to 1,000 cars......

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Cemetery could be windmill’s new home

Published: Mar 06, 2007

A towering piece of the city’s history is on its way to being resurrected in an unlikely spot: at a cemetery where many city founders are buried.Through the efforts of several local history buffs, a landmark windmill now stashed in a Redwood City Public Works yard will be restored and installed at the Union Cemetery, if city officials approve the plan. The Solari Windmill once presided over a massive farm operated by the Solari family and located where Costco now stands on Middlefield Road near Woodside Road, according to Jeri......

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Wastewater plant disputes new toxin limits

Published: Mar 05, 2007

Officials with south county’s major wastewater treatment plant are protesting new limits on toxic chemicals released into the Bay, but California regulators say the plant’s release levels could pose health risks. The South Bayside System Authority, which treats wastewater from Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont and Menlo Park, has filed an appeal of new limits on dioxins, a class of toxins that are the byproducts of industries such as diesel combustion. Those limits, imposed on the authority in January with the renewal of a five-year permit by the California Regional......

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Hospital expansion irks some

Published: Mar 03, 2007

Residents worry thatconcerns about traffic and economics of a proposed new hospital could be steamrolled as the Planning Commission prepares to vote on the environmental ramifications of the project. Sol Kutner, founder of the Stop PAMF community group, said the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s proposal to build a medical center and 110-bed hospital on Industrial Road threatens to bring massive traffic to San Carlos, harm the city’s character and hurt its long-term economic health. Project neighbors in the Laureola neighborhood have lingering concerns about the traffic the facility would cause,......

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Redwood City denies appeal for tall buildings

Published: Feb 28, 2007

A lawyer’s effort to block a plan that would allow taller buildings next to his downtown property has been rejected by the City Council. The City Council on Monday rejected an appeal from Joe Carcione Jr., who claims that city officials have ignored the effect those buildings’ shadows would have on his two-story office building at 601 Brewster St. Redwood City is moving forward with the adoption of a downtown precise plan, which will guide future development in the city’s urban core and new buildings up to 12 stories tall,......

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Medicare clients sue state over computer flub

Published: Feb 27, 2007

A computer glitch caused the California Department of Health Services to stop reimbursing thousands of Californians for their Medicare premiums, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday.The lawsuit, which represents clients in San Francisco and San Mateo counties along with 16 other counties in California, alleges that after DHS began using the CalWIN computer system to manage its Medicare rolls, thousands of low-income clients were accidentally dropped. When that happened, clients stopped receiving medical-care reimbursements without any notice, according to Melissa......

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Parents of autistic children offered help in conference

Published: Feb 26, 2007

When Irma Velaquez’s son, Aaron, was a year old, he chattered and talked like most children his age. But by age 2, he became withdrawn and silent, and by 3 he was diagnosed with autism. Diagnoses like Aaron’s are becoming increasingly common: One in 150 children is born with some degree of autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While resources for families of autistic children were scarce 10 years ago, now there are so many — including Wings Learning Center, a school for autistic children that Velaquez founded......

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Local officials resist immigration sweeps

Published: Feb 26, 2007

In the wake of recent sweeps by immigration officers in San Francisco and on the Peninsula, officials are struggling to assure residents that local police are not cooperating with federal deportation efforts.The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will weigh a resolution, sponsored by Supervisors Chris Daly, Gerardo Sandoval and Tom Ammiano, that condemns the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Meanwhile, the newly formed Redwood City Coalition for Immigrant Rights plansto bring a similar resolution to the Redwood City Council and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors......

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Summit Prep charter extended

Published: Feb 23, 2007

While one local charter school is shutting its doors after low enrollment and revenues forced the sale of its campus, another is flourishing.Summit Preparatory Charter High School’s bid for a five-year charter earned unanimous approval from the Sequoia High School District Board Wednesday after a four-month struggle that nearly led to Summit suing the district. Summit, formerly chartered in Tuolomne County, received a two-year charter from the district last May and requested the extension in October to ensure long-term education for its 360 students. At the same time, High Tech......

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Bradbury’s classic heats up the city

Published: Feb 22, 2007

Tyranny, book-burning and censorship will be the topics on local lips this March when the city launches its second annual "Big Read," this time focusing on Ray Bradbury’s "Fahrenheit 451."The citywide book club kicked off in 2006, when residents picked Khaled Hosseini’s "The Kite Runner." This year, library officials received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to run the program; "Fahrenheit 451" was one of the recommended choices, along with classics by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Amy Tan and John Steinbeck. "I was really concerned......

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Parents may sue over High Tech High sale

Published: Feb 22, 2007

Parents of High Tech High Bayshore students may sue the school or its parent organization, High Tech High, after the Sequoia High School District board unanimously approved the purchase of the building from its owner Wednesday.Impassioned parents and students begged the board to table its decision so they could have more time to negotiate with the school’s San Diego-based operators. However, the owner, who has remained anonymous, told the district it has had several other offers on the building at 890 Broadway, according to district Superintendent Pat Gemma. Parents mobilized......

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San Mateo abandons offramp plan

Published: Feb 22, 2007

While residents are breathing a sigh of relief after learning this week that their homes will not be demolished to make way for a new offramp, city officials are still looking for other ways to make two dangerous intersections safer. High accident rates at the Poplar Avenue exit prompted officials in San Mateo and Burlingame in 2006 to explore the possibility of closing the southbound exit from U.S. Highway 101 and adding a southbound exit at Peninsula Avenue. However, doing so would have required taking anywhere from 15 to 40......

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Library ready for long-awaited groundbreaking

Published: Feb 21, 2007

City officials will break ground Saturday on the long-awaited Redwood Shores Library, nine months behind schedule and $500,000 over budget. Planning for the library began four years ago when city officials successfully applied for $10 million in funding from Prop. 14, the 2000 state library bond. Originally slated to open in the fall of 2007, the library now will open its doors to patrons in the summer of 2008, according to Redwood City Library Director Dave Genesy. The first round of construction bids came in much higher than expected, forcing......

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San Carlos moves to block discount store

Published: Feb 20, 2007

City officials are blocking a dollar-rate discount store from taking up residence in the vacant Bell Market building, sending a message that certain larger businesses won’t be welcome on Laurel Street. The City Council unanimously voted Monday to immediately change downtown zoning law — now, any business hoping to move into a space larger than 2,500 square feet on the 800 block of Laurel Street must obtain a use permit. The only exceptions are for new businesses of the same type already operating at the site — a restaurant replacing......

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Family’s second fire ravages Redwood City business

Published: Feb 20, 2007

When 99 Cent and Over owner Amadeo Penas’ wife called him Monday to tell him their business was on fire, he first thought it was a joke; four years after a fire gutted their Oakland home, it seemed unlikely to happen twice. Sadly, it was all too real. Penas’ family and several customers helped him clear charred merchandise and debris from the front of the store on Monday afternoon after a two-alarm blaze that started in the bathroom of his discount store at 1810 El Camino Real around 10:30 a.m."How......

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Menlo Park wary of water pipeline woes

Published: Feb 20, 2007

Despite assurances that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will restore streets and public plazas after it installs a new water pipeline, city officials now want to make sure they won’t be stuck paying for the repairs. Mayor Kelly Fergusson and Public Works Director Kent Steffens have raised alarm bells over the SFPUC’s plan to build a new a $4.3 billion emergency pipeline that would bring water from Hetch Hetchy to the Bay Area in the event that an earthquake disabled existing pipelines. In response, the SFPUC updated its right-of-way......

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High Tech High closing its doors

Published: Feb 16, 2007

High Tech High Bayshore students and parents learned this week that the charter school is shutting down at the end of the 2006-07 school year. Citing low enrollment and losses of $500,000 to $600,000 a year, school officials told students Wednesday that the school would close, High Tech High CEO Larry Rosenstock said Thursday. "It was a total shock," said Briane Feddock, a junior at the school. "I love it here. It’s going to be a blow for us to have to go to normal schools and find out what......

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Library looks to add niche just for teenagers

Published: Feb 15, 2007

Local teens will soon have a dedicated home away from home at the main library. Library Director Dave Genesy has been pushing for three years to create a space for the 100 or more teens who visit the library every day. The Redwood City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve renovations on the second floor of the library, which will include an area for teens, as well as a new space for the literacy-based Project READ anda new section where locals can learn how to become U.S. citizens. The plan......

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Birdwatchers ready to count

Published: Feb 15, 2007

Local birdwatchers are dusting off their binoculars and guidebooks and getting ready to count the birds in their neighborhoods, from the commonest of crows to the rarest of wrens. The 10th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, takes place Friday through Monday. Because the count is held in mid-February, it gives bird experts an opportunity to learn where migratory birds are congregating from year to year — which can help them track everything from West Nile virus patterns to......

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San Carlos council dismisses idea of new taxes

Published: Feb 14, 2007

City leaders on Monday rejected the option of using new taxes as a way to raise additional money for general fund coffers, saying they would prefer to raise revenue by boosting local business.Faced with looming costs, city officials are looking for ways to add to their coffers. The discussion comes at a time when cities like Menlo Park are adding utility taxes to their portfolio of ways to boost city revenues, but council members rejected that approach at a meeting on Monday."I think we should identify sites that are sitting......

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Man killed, girl injured in latest Western Addition shootings

Published: Feb 13, 2007

A 20-year-old man was killed and a 13-year-old girl wounded in separate, daylight shootings in the Western Addition on Sunday that police say may be related. At 10:15 a.m., the male victim was preparing to clean a minivan near his home at the 1200 block of Eddy Street when he was approached by two men who opened fire, according to San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina.The suspects, described only as two black men, fled on foot while the victim stumbled down the block and was taken to San Francisco General......

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County offers ear to North Fair Oaks residents

Published: Feb 13, 2007

Gang crime and public safety top the worry lists of many North Fair Oaks residents, despite efforts by law-enforcement agencies to keep criminal activity at bay. Now, county planners are stepping in to see what they can do, starting with a series of public meetings in February and March, according to county planner Matt Seubert.While dialogue with county officials has brought more attention from law enforcement, many in the community of the unincorporated neighborhood think more can be done. Improvements such as additional lighting or neighborhood beautification may help to......

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Search on for Peace Prize-winner's attacker

Published: Feb 12, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League is now involved with the investigation of the San Francisco attack on Elie Wiesel, a world-renowned author and Holocaust survivor. As The Examiner first reported Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning author was dragged out of an elevator at the Argent Hotel on Feb. 1 by an alleged Holocaust denier who had been trailing him for weeks. Wiesel, who was in town to speak at the RockRose Institute’s World Conference 2007, was not badly hurt, and was immediately escorted by police to the San Francisco International Airport.The league,......

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Search on for author’s attacker

Published: Feb 12, 2007

The Anti-Defamation League is now involved with the investigation of the San Francisco attack on Elie Wiesel, a world-renowned author and Holocaust survivor.As The Examiner first reported Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning author was dragged out of an elevator at the Argent Hotel on Feb. 1 by an alleged Holocaust denier who had been trailing him for weeks. Wiesel, who was in town to speak at the RockRose Institute’s World Conference 2007, was not badly hurt, and was immediately escorted by police to the San Francisco International Airport.The league, which......

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SamTrans moving ahead with development designs

Published: Feb 12, 2007

The San Mateo County Transit District is chugging ahead with plans to build housing, retail and office space near the downtown train station, despite east side residents’ fears that the design will wall them off from the rest of the city.SamTrans’ developers at Legacy Partners are proposing eight new buildings on the 7-acre site, a narrow strip of land between Holly Street and the Caltrain corridor. Conceptual designs submitted last November propose 208 residential units, 29,500 square feet of retail and offices and up to four stories in height,......

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Trial in death of Tongan royals is delayed 60 days

Published: Feb 10, 2007

A local high school student’s trial for involvement in a fatal car accident has been delayed for up to 60 days to give the district attorney a chance to sift through a list of more than 30 new witnesses brought forward by the defense team.The decision extends the long wait for Edith Delgado, 18, who is accused of three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter for her alleged involvement in a July 5 crash that killed Tongan Prince Tu’ipelehake, 56, Princess Kaimana, 46, and their driver, 35-year-old East Palo Alto resident......

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Forum tries to ease fear of immigration crackdown

Published: Feb 09, 2007

More than 100 people turned out to a community forum Thursday to hear local leaders’ assurances that they have little to fear in the wake of recent immigration sweeps. Rumors began circulating last week that several Redwood City residents had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. One rumor alleged that a woman was arrested while picking up her children at Hoover School. ICE officials are now working hard to dispel the rumor about the mother, which has prompted many parents to stop taking their kids to school, according......

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Summit High pushing hard for charter extension

Published: Feb 08, 2007

Summit Preparatory High School successfully forced the Sequoia High School District Board into hearing its case for afive-year charter extension Wednesday, but the fate of that petition remains in question. Summit Executive Director Diane Tavenner said at Wednesday’s public hearing that the school needed an extension of its current two-year extension in order to continue recruiting students."As a school of choice, we must actively recruit, and it’s difficult to do that when parents hear the school is only chartered for two years," Tavenner said. "Many people won’t take that risk."The......

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Leaders cautiously hopeful about downtown plan

Published: Feb 02, 2007

With Redwood City’s Planning Commission poised Tuesday to certify an environmental review of the new downtown precise plan, aimed at bringing vital retail and dense housing projects into the city’s urban core, officials are well aware that not all the best-laid plans come to fruition. Generations of planners and business owners have had big dreams for downtown over the years — and some of those dreams have panned out better than others. Broadway, downtown Redwood City’s once-straight thoroughfare, was rerouted in 1972 to connect with Marshall Street. Plans to close......

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Authors prepare to meet students

Published: Feb 02, 2007

Not many children get to hang out with the authors of their favorite books, but Orion School has made an annual tradition of it. Orion’s fifth annual authors and illustrators festival comes to the school Saturday, bringing a bevy of creative Californians with new books, including Gennifer Choldenko, Marsha Diane Arnold, Bob Barner, Jane Cutler, Elisa Kleven, Milly Lee, Jeff Savage and Teri Sloat. They’ll read, talk, answer questions and sell books and raffle prizes to raise money for the school. The event has become an opportunity to get students......

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Caltrain riders will pay more starting in April

Published: Feb 01, 2007

Caltrain riders will have to pony up an additional 25 cents to $1.50 on all rail trips starting in April. At a time when Caltrain ridership hit a record high of 35,000 passengers in December, the railway continues to struggle with an ongoing budget deficit and must find ways to boost revenues, according to Jerry Hill, chairman of the Caltrain board. The agency spent down its scant reserves last year to balance its budget, which included $77.7 million in expenditures. "The high ridership is making a huge difference in our......

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Burgeoning enrollment spurs need to add classrooms

Published: Jan 31, 2007

Redwood City School District officials are weighing whether to spend between $880,000 and $2.5 million to add permanent classrooms at a school with a history of overcrowding.Officials at Roy Cloud School, in Redwood City’s Emerald Hills neighborhood, added portable classrooms in 2006 after too many students were enrolled. District leaders mistakenly told more than a dozen parents last July that there was no room for their children, though that decision was reversed within days. The school board is studying tonight whether it makes financial sense to add permanent classrooms at......

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Menlo Park officials wary of new pipeline

Published: Jan 30, 2007

The city spent $1.3 million to make Ivy Plaza a gathering place for residents and their kids and now wants assurances that a new emergency water pipeline won’t permanently damage that investment.While city officials and residents agree that the pipeline is an essential part of the Peninsula’s disaster preparedness plan, they want the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to promise it will restore any sites damaged in the course of construction.The water agency, which provides water for most of the Peninsula and parts of the East Bay as well as......

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Resident dancing in to save theater

Published: Jan 29, 2007

The long-running Academy of Dance could move into the city’s historic Park Theatre, rescuing the Art Moderne-style building from being turned into offices. First built in 1947, Landmark Theatres operated the 688-seat Park Theatre between 1989 and 2002 as a home for independent and foreign films. Mayor Kelly Fergusson proposed restoring the theater, which has been shuttered for nearly five years, in March of 2006. However, owner Howard Crittendon submitted plans last summer to renovate the building for offices.Now, Menlo Park native Andy Duncan has reached a deal with Crittendon......

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Report touts Bay Area’s economic future

Published: Jan 26, 2007

The Bay Area’s economic outlook is getting brighter and brighter, according to an economic forecast released Thursday by the Association of Bay Area Governments. ABAG’s report projects steady increases in jobs, sales-tax revenue and commercial development, weighed down only by an unsteady housing market and concerns about oil prices. That’s good news for local governments, whose budgets depend upon steady gains in sales tax and other revenues. Across the Bay Area, 54,100 new jobs were created in 2006. In the San Francisco region, which includes San Mateo and Santa Clara......

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San Carlos field renovation raises residents’ concerns

Published: Jan 26, 2007

As city officials move forward with plans to renovate an athletic field at Heather School, district leaders and neighbors are looking for a way to prevent ballfield lights from being added to the site. San Carlos is seeking bids to renovate the field with either natural grass or synthetic turf — the first such project following a lengthy, divisive multi-year fight over the use of synthetic turf versus natural grass on the city’s playing fields.Existing grass fields, including those at Heather School and Highlands Park, are deteriorating rapidly with overuse.......

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Town still reeling from Katrina

Published: Jan 26, 2007

Residents, city officials and police in San Carlos’ adopted town of Pass Christian, Miss., are still living and working out of portable trailers 17 months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast city, according to members of a recent local delegation.To date, San Carlos officials, service organizations and schools have sent more than $125,000 in aid to the Gulf Coast city, as well as gifts and volunteers, but the need for help continues, officials said."What I saw was the need to rebuild — churches, civic buildings, schools, roadways and infrastructure.......

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New PTA boosts district’s special ed programs

Published: Jan 25, 2007

Judy McCary Koeppen is a speech therapist and the parent of a special-needs child, so she knows firsthand what it takes to help kids with disabilities succeed.Koeppen is one of the founders of a new parent-teacher association representing the 1,000 students in the Redwood City School District who require some form of special-education training. The Special Education Parent-Teacher Association of Redwood City, which holds its first meeting tonight, aims to address issues such as teacher shortages, fundraising and helping parents navigate the complicated process of getting help for their kids.......

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Brain implants may speed up stroke recovery

Published: Jan 22, 2007

Stroke survivors hoping to regain mobility more quickly are signing up to have electrodes implanted in their brains.Stanford University’s School of Medicine is one of 21 medical centers participating in a nationwide project to study how these electrical cranial implants could speed the recovery process for 174 stroke survivors. One group of subjects will receive traditional rehabilitative therapy, while the other group will have surgery installing electrodes temporarily on the surface of their brains. For them, a pacemaker-like device will deliver a low-volt charge during physical therapy, according to Jamie......

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Projected high costs may run ferry plan aground

Published: Jan 22, 2007

Though plans for a local ferry terminal and service have barely left the dock, some in the city already say it’s too expensive and inaccessible to be a success.Redwood City port officials are kicking off a study of a potential ferry-terminal site on Westpoint Slough, either on port property or land owned by the massive Pacific Shores Center, where companies such as Openwave, Dreamworks PDI and PDL BioPharm lease space, according to Port Director Michael Giari.Talk of adding ferries comes at a time when major projects are in the works......

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Open houses debate fate of Cargill Salt land

Published: Jan 19, 2007

Open-space advocates hoping to see 1,433 acres of Bayfront property currently owned by Cargill Salt converted to parkland may face an uphill battle against public opinion favoring various development options.Cargill officials announced last June their plans to end their Redwood City operation, which harvests salt from the Bay and refines it for industrial use. Since that announcement, Cargill has sent out three citywide mailers and received 4,500 replies detailing what residents would like to see on the site. Popular choices include housing, open space, active park space, mixed-use development......

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Hospital prepares for long-awaited renovation

Published: Jan 18, 2007

Sequoia Hospital's summer groundbreaking may not seem imminent to some, but to doctors and staff who have waited for the hospital’s renovations since 1989, it’s just around the corner. Redwood City planners are putting the finishing touches on a new environmental document studying the potential effects of Sequoia’s planned renovations, which include a brand-new medical office building and seismic retrofitting. The study, due out in mid-February, will kick off the final approvals needed to get the multi-year project underway, according to Maureen Riordan, a Redwood......

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City proceeds with caution on new trails

Published: Jan 18, 2007

A plan to add 15 new walking trail connections throughout the city has won some support, but officials may need to tread carefully with property owners.A conceptual trails plan proposing 15 new trails and connections was approved this month by the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission and will head to the City Council in February. Several of the trails would require gaining easements from some property owners living near Devonshire Canyon and Big Canyon parks. Similar efforts in other cities —most notably Los Altos Hills — have met with some......

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Redwood City reconsidering 'in-law units'

Published: Jan 17, 2007

Although residents often dread the addition of second units to a neighborhood and the traffic and parking woes they fear will come with them, Mayor Barbara Pierce thinks it’s time to talk about them. Again. Pierce and City Councilman Jim Hartnett were part of a city group formed in the late 1990s to look at ways to encourage the construction of second units, often called granny or in-law units. However, those discussions were abandoned when officials and community stakeholders couldn’t reach consensus, particularly regarding parking rules, according to Pierce. "We......

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Critics target Redwood City curriculum changes

Published: Jan 16, 2007

The Redwood City School District’s efforts to meet state-mandated curriculum requirements are earning criticism from parents and teachers who fear the requirements will quash schools’ ability to offer unique programs. The district is making mandatory changes to its curriculum to bring it into line with state guidelines after having failed to meet federal progress requirements for achievement test results two years in a row, putting it into what is known as "Program Improvement" status. The plan has sparked an outcry among parents, however, some of whom fear their schools’ unique......

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Fees, fines urged to guard trees

Published: Jan 10, 2007

A city task force is recommending increases in a number of tree-related fees, including some parking fines, in order to pay for an expanded maintenance program for local trees and sidewalks. The 25-member tree task force was formed last March in response to ongoing concerns about the city’s maintenance program, especially the severe pruning of tree roots to make room for new sidewalk panels that subsequently caused several trees to topple over. The group delivered its findings and recommendations to the City Council in December, earning plenty of kudos and......

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School, housing and wetlands plan gets public airing

Published: Jan 09, 2007

Now that the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District has approved a plan to build a school on an undeveloped parcel in Redwood Shores, Redwood City must weigh in on the project’s plans for new townhomes and wetlands restoration.Developer Max Keech will unveil his proposal for Area H — a 109-acre empty parcel on the northeast corner of Redwood Shores — at a Planning Commission workshop today. The plan includes a new elementary school, 110 townhomes, a 3.5-acre park and 70 to 80 acres of restored wetlands habitat. Redwood Shores voters approved......

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Nutritional guidelines icing out bakesales

Published: Jan 08, 2007

Bake sales were once the quintessential way to raise money for school activities. Now, thanks to new federal "wellness policies," they may be going the way of the dodo.Those policies require all schools in America to restrict students’ access to unhealthy foods during the school day. Those rules take effect this fall, along with two California laws effective July 1 that require schools to phase out sodas and fattening snacks over the next two years. One unanticipated side effect is that such policies could spell the death of that time-honored......

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Builders poised to enliven east San Carlos

Published: Jan 05, 2007

The city’s east side is seeing major action as developers bring new retail and residential projects to the table — and raise questions about the area’s economic future and traffic.Plans to demolish the empty 141,000-square-foot Breuner’s store at 1133 Industrial Road and build 95,000 square feet of new retail space head to the Planning Commission for a vote at the end of January, according to Planning Director Liz Cullinan. Meanwhile, developer John Baer is proposing a mixed-use project with 35,000 square feet of retail plus 150 residential units at 767......

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City halls deluged with digital correspondence

Published: Jan 04, 2007

E-mail and Internet access are making city officials ever more available to opinionated constituents, but the medium is not without its share of snags. San Mateo County residents are relying more heavily on e-mail as a way to connect with elected officials or offer their two cents on the latest development proposal or environmental review. "People don’t write handwritten letters anymore," said San Carlos City Clerk Christine Boland, who sees her fair share of e-mails. For example, San Carlos residents flooded City Hall with e-mails last spring and summer when......

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Redwood City to test commuter shuttle

Published: Jan 04, 2007

City officials are getting ready to launch a trial shuttle service that would take commuters from Sequoia Station to jobs and a school along Broadway.Several companies on Broadway, including Genentech, FP International, Claria and High Tech High Bayshore, threw their support behind a shuttle for employees and students, according to Christine Maley-Grubl, executive director of the Peninsula Traffic Congestion Relief Alliance. Although the pilot route is aimed at commuters, anyone who needs to travel along the route could use it for free. Although Redwood City officials initially discussed a shuttle......

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English-language programs face challenges

Published: Jan 03, 2007

Teaching English to young immigrants is a little like working with free agents in sports: You never know how long it’ll be before they move on. The combination of high immigration rates and housing costs on the Peninsula keeps many immigrant children mobile, according to Gary Johnson, deputy superintendent in the Jefferson High School District. Considering it can take five or more years for them to gain fluency — both conversationally and academically — that can be bad news for students and schools alike. "You gather them together, sprint for......

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Before master plan finalized, downtown attracting condos

Published: Dec 29, 2006

The developer who’s building 100 new condominiums on Redwood Creek near downtown now plans to bring roughly 100 more condos to the heart of the city. John Baer, whose condo proposal at 333 Main St. inspired the City Council to explore zoning several creekside properties near downtown for housing, is in the final stages of purchasing a 33,000-square-foot parcel at 201 Marshall St. The property, an office building formerly leased by Summit Preparatory High School, is just a block from a Caltrain station and three blocks from the newly built......

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County’s 20 cities hammer out rules

Published: Dec 28, 2006

Peninsula cities have drafted new rules that will allow them to swap housing requirements for water and other resources in an effort to boost the overall creation of new housing.San Mateo County’s 20 cities, along with the county government, are the first in California to join forces in order to meet local housing quotas collectively. Those quotas are handed down by the Association of Bay Area Government every five years and often pose major headaches for cities that say they’re already overdeveloped and lack the resources to add more homes.Redwood......

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Man accuses police of excessive force

Published: Dec 27, 2006

A federal judge this month denied the city’s motion to dismiss a case against two of its police officers, who are accused of using excessive force when they entered a hit-and-run suspect’s home and pointed their guns at him in 2003.Bruce Hopkins, 47, claims that former San Carlos police Officers Armand Bonvicino and David Buelow went too far when they aimed their weapons at him before arresting him at home on Aug. 22, 2003. They came to his house after he left the scene of a minor traffic accident and......

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City mulls ways to protect historic trees

Published: Dec 26, 2006

If you stand at the corner of Stambaugh and Cassia streets, you can see an old carriage house and a huge palm tree, both part of a Victorian-style landscape tucked away in a residential backyard. But if you wanted to find out how old the tree was or whether it had any historic significance, there would be no easy way to check. City officials don’t know just how many historic trees exist in Redwood City, because no residents have ever come forward to request such designations for unusual or long-lived......

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City to decide joint fire department’s fate

Published: Dec 20, 2006

The future of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department could be determined by a difference of as little as $80,000.After two hours of fiscal wrangling Tuesday at a meeting, the department’s board presented Belmont officials with three options for funding fire services that would see Belmont paying anywhere from $4.92 million to $4.99 million, while San Carlos would pay $5.25 millionto $5.33 million.The failure of a $2.3 million property assessment this fall that would have eased the $10.3 million budget of the joint fire department has left the two cities, which......

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District buys $4.7 million permanent headquarters

Published: Dec 20, 2006

After nine years in its "temporary" offices — a former sewing shop and some storefronts — the San Mateo-Foster City School District is moving its headquarters to new, permanent digs in Foster City.The district bought its new 33,000-square-foot home at 1170 Chess Drive with $4.7 million in renegotiated bond funds that were set aside while district officials conducted a multiyear search, according to chief business official Michela Ochoa. District offices will close at 51 West 41st Ave. on Thursday, and reopen at their new location Jan. 8, 2007. The move......

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Charter school has a home of its own

Published: Dec 19, 2006

The Sequoia High School District has found a permanent home for one of its charter schools on the site of a local Baptist church and school.The $5.8 million purchase caps a three-and-a-half-year hunt for a permanent campus for Summit Preparatory High School, a 400-student school chartered by the district, according to Ed LaVigne, business official for the district. Sequoia’s decision to purchase the Redwood Baptist Church site, at 414 Fourth Ave., goes to the district board for final approval Wednesday.The church, which operates a private school on the property, will......

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Pet store banned from selling animals

Published: Dec 19, 2006

A pet store owner accused of housing animals in filthy, unhealthy conditions has been ordered not to sell any pets through December 2008.A San Mateo County Superior Court decision Thursday forbids Mohammed Olfat, the owner of Laurelwood Pet Store in San Mateo, from selling any animals at his Hillsdale Road store until Dec. 13, 2008. In August, 289 animals were seized from the store after they werefound living in soiled cages, eating from food dishes containing feces and living in fish tanks without enough water, according to Peninsula Humane Society/SPCA......

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Judge’s ruling places some constraints on raucous household

Published: Dec 18, 2006

San Mateo won a partial victory in its fight to set limits on a local homeowner after a judge agreed that ongoing noise and alleged criminal activity coming from the house violated neighbors’ quality of life. San Mateo Superior Court Judge Beth Freeman ruled Friday to place a civil injunction on Ohaiha Fonua Sr. and his home at 107 N. Grant St., but stopped short of evicting Fonua and his extensive family from living in the home, as San Mateo city officials had requested. The injunction’s details will be......

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Schools to get $1M for English-learners

Published: Dec 15, 2006

San Francisco and Peninsula schools will receive more than $1 million this year to help students who are new to the English language gain fluency faster.The grants are part of a $55.5 millionstatewide annual grant program aimed at helping new immigrant students, specifically those in grades 4 through 8, learn English so they don’t fall behind in schools. Grant recipients were announced Thursday by Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction.While the San Francisco Unified School District received $530,700, the top grant-getters in San Mateo County were the Redwood City......

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Adult store near high school can stay

Published: Dec 13, 2006

An embattled adult bookstore located across the street from Sequoia High School will be allowed to remain in its location, according to a settlement between city officials and the bookstore chain.After years of trying to force Secrets Adult Bookstore to relocate, city officials have agreed the store can stay put under certain conditions. The store at 739 El Camino Real must reduce its hours of operation, agree not to expand its business, prohibit anyone under 21 from entering the store and remodel its front façade to remove sex-related advertisements,......

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Family painted as criminally disruptive as hearing begins

Published: Dec 12, 2006

Olaiha Fonua Sr.’s San Mateo home was not only ground zero for loud parties that bothered neighbors, but it also served as a "safe house" for criminal and gang activity, according to opening statements in San Mateo County Superior Court Monday. Attorney Lance Bayer is representing the City of San Mateo in its effort to evict Fonua and up to 50 others for one year from a house at 107 North Grant St. — a last-ditch effort by the city to curb what police say are ongoing problems at the......

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City kicks around housing ideas

Published: Dec 12, 2006

Officials may have discovered a way to bring housing to the city’s downtown without requiring developers to create any units for low-income tenants. The Redwood City Council is eager to entice developers to build housing in the city’s core, but fears that saddling them with affordable-housing requirements will scare them off. Meanwhile, they hope to build market-rate units — condominiums, particularly — downtown and entice young urban professionals to move in. "We need people living downtown who have disposable incomes," City Council member Jim Hartnett said during a housing-policy workshop......

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City opens talks on ‘mini auto mall’

Published: Dec 11, 2006

City officials are talking openly for the first time about leasing the Century 12 property east of U.S. Highway 101 — a thorn in downtown businesses’ side since the new Century 20 site opened in July.Redwood City entered closed-door talks in March with the Syufy family — which owns the Century 12 site and recently sold its Century Theatres chain to Cinemark — to purchase or lease the parcel at 557 E. Bayshore Road. The city hired auto dealership consultants with Vogel Strategies in May, as first reported in The......

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City’s case against Fonua family heads to trial

Published: Dec 08, 2006

A court trial begins Monday in the city’s bid to oust a Tongan patriarch and his family from their North Grant Street home after family members were accused of "terrorizing" their neighbors and local police.The City of San Mateo is seeking an injunction that would displace owner Olaiha Fonua Sr. and up to 50 people affiliated with his household for a year, and would require court approval before Fonua could lease or sell the single-family home at 107 N. Grant St., according to Lance Bayer, the attorney representing the city’s......

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Costco’s reputation fuels gas-pump frenzy

Published: Dec 06, 2006

When resident C.J. Redmond went to the Sunnyvale Costco’s gas station with her husband last winter, she found motorists willing to line up for 30 minutes just to save four cents on a gallon of regular gas. They counted 40 cars idling at the Costco fuel pumps to pay $2.85 a gallon, while at the Chevron across the street, four people pumped $2.89-a-gallon gas into their cars. Now that Costco plans to expand its Redwood City store and add 16 pumps, Redwood Village residents fear that the same long lines......

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Contest draws wide array of wordsmiths

Published: Dec 05, 2006

Each year, writers sharpen their pencils, warm up their computers and get ready to compete in the city’s writing contest, which draws skilled wordsmiths from across the Bay Area and around the world. Foster City’s International Writing Contest, founded 32 years ago by the late Mona Schreiber, offers awards each year for the best short story, essay, poem and children’s story. Each time an author wins the award, or others like it, the honor provides astepping-stone to future book deals and other writing opportunities, according to Geri Spieler, president of......

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Local trees part of federal Sudden Oak Death study

Published: Dec 04, 2006

Peninsula tanoak trees will serve as guinea pigs in a new federal experiment that will study their resistance to Sudden Oak Death syndrome — caused by a fungus thathas killed tens of thousands of trees since its discovery in 1995. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is backing the USDA Forest Service’s study with $60,000 in funding over the next three years, and has already contributed tanoak acorns from the district’s 17 preserves in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. Those acorns — along with ones from Marin, El Dorado......

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Neighbors don’t like park plan

Published: Nov 30, 2006

Laurelwood residents stridently oppose a city plan that would update playground equipment and add bathrooms and parking at Laurelwood Park and create 1.8 miles of new trails on Sugarloaf Mountain.Ironically, San Mateo’s Laurelwood Park and Sugarloaf Mountain management plan, more than two years in the making, was born out of the neighborhood’s desire to update 30-year-old playground equipment at the neighborhood park. Now, those neighbors fear that the plan — which heads to the Parks and Recreation Commission on Wednesday — will bring added crime and traffic to their traditionally......

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City seeks inspiration from eclectic mix of downtowns

Published: Nov 29, 2006

An increase in chain stores and sidewalk cafes could help bring shoppers and energy to quaint, small-town Laurel Street, according to city and business officials studying the secrets to other downtowns’ success.Officials are eager to attract customers and bring much-needed sales-tax revenue into the city. In a search for solutions, City Council members Brad Lewis and Bob Grassilli recently visited four Bay Area shopping districts and took careful notes on everything from storefronts to sidewalks. They delivered their findings to the City Council on Monday night, an early step inredefining......

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Business owners sank fire department assessment

Published: Nov 29, 2006

Officials with the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department are staring down the barrel of $18 million in future debt and a stack of ballots that show local property owners don’t want to pay for it.Homeowners in both cities — who would have paid $93 a year in Belmont and $99 in San Carlos —predominantly voted in favor of a tax assessment proposed this fall. But their votes weren’t enough to outweigh commercial property owners who hold more land and would have paid anywhere from $322 to $1,000 or more if the......

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Eco-watchdog ship will remain at the Redwood City Port

Published: Nov 28, 2006

As the U.S. Geological Survey prepares to raise anchor and move research equipment from its longtime home at the Port of Redwood City to a new facility in Santa Cruz, one historic vessel will remain.The Polaris, the USGS’s 92-foot-long wooden workhorse, has scouted Bay waters since 1971. Its primary duty is studying the Bay’s long-term ecosystems and contaminants, making it the hub of one of the longest running such research projects in the country, according to USGS Project Director Jim Cloern."The Polaris has ... affected how we look at the......

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District deems charter school’s extension request ‘premature’

Published: Nov 28, 2006

Summit Preparatory High School officials may appeal to the California Department of Education in response to Sequoia High SchoolDistrict’s refusal to consider a five-year extension of the school’s charter. Diane Tavenner, director of the charter school, requested the extension in late September, just four months after the school won a two-year charter from the district. However, district officials say they need to see a full year’s worth of data, particularly regarding student enrollment and demographics, before they can commit to a longer-term charter. "When I received the renewal petition I......

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City finalizing Bay Meadows design plan

Published: Nov 27, 2006

The Planning Commission has devoted several meetings this fall to hashing out the design guidelines for Bay Meadows Phase II, a redevelopment plan that would bring 1,250 new homes, plus retail and office space, to the 83-acre racetrack site. The agency is preparing to vote on those guidelines Nov. 28, paving the way for developers to come forward with applications for specific segments of the project. "We want to create something that looks like it fits in with the rest of the Peninsula," said Keith Orlesky, project manager for developers......

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New housing formulas draw protest from San Francisco

Published: Nov 27, 2006

San Francisco is protesting a new method by which Bay Area cities and towns will be asked to create new housing, in part because it would double the amount The City is recommended to build. The method, announced by the Association of Bay Area Governments Nov. 17, creates a new way of assigning "housing responsibility" — quotas for new housing — to different cities and counties, according to ABAG spokeswoman Kathleen Cha.To ensure that market-rate and low-income housing keeps up with population growth, California law has since 1984 required regional......

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New housing formula draws protest from S.F.

Published: Nov 27, 2006

San Francisco is protesting a new method by which Bay Area cities and towns will be asked to create new housing, in part because it would double the amount The City is recommended to build. The method, announced by the Association of Bay Area Governments Nov. 17, creates a new way of assigning "housing responsibility" — quotas for new housing — to different cities and counties, according to ABAG spokeswoman Kathleen Cha.To ensure that market-rate and low-income housing keeps up with population growth, California law has since 1984 required regional......

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New mercury source targeted

Published: Nov 24, 2006

Group reports 60 percent of neurotoxin in Bay Area wastewater is from dentistsBy Beth WinegarnerStaff WriterAs mercury levels rise in Bay Area water systems, officials are targeting one of the neurotoxin’s primary sources: dentists. As much as 60 percent of the mercury in the region’s wastewater comes from dental offices, according to studies from the Bay Area Pollution Prevention Group. However, wastewater treatment plants aren’t designed to remove heavy metals such as mercury from the water. By 2010, mercury discharges at the South Bayside System Authority treatment plant could exceed......

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Outgoing state Sen. Jackie Speier says farewell

Published: Nov 23, 2006

Outgoing state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, has authored some 300 successful bills in her 18 years as a state representative, but her major regret upon leaving office is that she couldn’t do more to reform California’s prison system. Speier, speaking at a press conference in San Mateo on Wednesday, said she once spent a day and night in Chowchilla’s Valley State Prison for Women. While there, she met a 21-year-old mother of two who had been convicted of three DUIs."I asked her whether she had received any programming, and she......

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Cleanup started at port’s toxic-waste site

Published: Nov 22, 2006

Nine large steel tanks, the remnants of a facility that once transported petroleum products and stored hazardous waste, are being removed this month as part of the cleanup of a nine-acre site at the Port of Redwood City. The site was initially developed by Texaco in 1963 to store 10.5 million gallons of gasoline and jet fuel. In 1990, it was converted to a hazardous waste treatment and storage facility. Cleanup is being performed after an extensive public-comment period held by the California Department of Toxic Substances."Everyone was pleased to......

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City’s $2M flood-protection project ready for winter

Published: Nov 22, 2006

Public works crews are putting the finishing touches on a structure at the south end of Marina Lagoon that will help protect nearby neighborhoods from storm-related flooding. The concrete structure, which supports the lagoon’s tidal gates, had deteriorated to the point where it was at risk of failing completely, according to Public Works Director Larry Patterson. After $2 million and nearly a year’s construction, the new structure is ready for the coming winter storms. Replacing the south structure was one of three projects in recent years to help regulate tidal......

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City to survey citizens in 2007

Published: Nov 20, 2006

Residents can probably expect to be surveyed in the new year regarding what city improvements they would most like to see — and whether they’re willing to help pay for them.San Mateo’s capital improvements program is partially responsible for plans to rebuild the police station, the renovation of library branches and the replacement of the main library, which was given a substantial boost from bond money. Now, officials are looking at the next slate of projects, including fire-station renovations, park upgrades and improvements aimed at reducing flood risks in some......

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Charter schools, district at odds

Published: Nov 17, 2006

The Sequoia Union High School District has run afoul of two charter schools within its boundaries in recent weeks, leading charter school officials to question the district’s stance toward such schools.Summit Preparatory High School, whose charter was adopted by the Sequoia District in May, requested a five-year extension of its charter at the end of October. Although districts are required to hold public hearings on such requests within 30 days, the board has not yet publicly considered the petition, according to Summit Prep Director Diane Tavenner. Meanwhile, the Sequoia board......

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Voters reject funds for Fire Department

Published: Nov 16, 2006

City officials and firefighters were reeling Wednesday at the news that voters rejected two assessments aimed at raising $2.5 million for the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department. In San Carlos, property owners gave that city’s assessment a 53 percent "no" vote, while those in Belmont gave it a 59 percent "no." In pure ballot numbers, more voters in each city favored the assessment, but the ballots were weighted by the voter’s assessed property value — meaning those with more land, or those living in multi-unit buildings rejected the tax and decided......

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19th Avenue Park neighbors petition to protect privacy

Published: Nov 16, 2006

Several large proposed projects are looming large over the 19th Avenue Park neighborhood, a cluster of smaller, one-story Eichler homes where many residents fiercely defend their homes’ unique character — and privacy.Residents on Eleanor Street, directly across Delaware Avenue from a proposed 600-unit project on the Kmart site, delivered a petition to the San Mateo Planning Commission this week protesting the possible impact of 35-foot-high town homes peering into their backyards. Eichler homes are designed, in most cases, with large glass walls in the back, so there is little differentiation......

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Cost for rail plan increases

Published: Nov 16, 2006

Contractors’ rates and neighborhood wish-lists have nearly doubled the estimated price of building a rail corridor between Union City and Redwood City, but officials say they will not abandon the project. The Dumbarton Rail, a proposal that would link rail service in the East Bay and on the Peninsula, was given an initial price tag of $300 million in 2004. Officials with the rail plan now say the cost could be as high as $590 million if grade separations and noise-abating amenities — requested by neighborhoods along the proposed route......

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Devil’s Slide tunnels to cost more but be finished sooner

Published: Nov 15, 2006

HALF MOON BAY — The lower of two bids on the Devil’s Slide tunnel project could bring the twin tunnels to completion one year sooner than expected — although for $32 million more than the California Department of Transportation’s $240 million estimate. Caltrans officials unsealed two bids on phase two of the project Tuesday afternoon, one from Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Pacific that offered to construct the tunnels for $272 million in 1,500 days, or roughly four years. Shea, Traylor, and Atkinson of Walnut bid $322 million and 1,900 days, the......

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Seniors to be newest urban dwellers

Published: Nov 15, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — Seniors will be among the first new residents to move into downtown, where city officials have given the green light to a new project that combines senior housing and childcare. The City Council approved the $1.2 million purchase of 777 Bradford St., one of three parcels that will compose the new project site, Monday night. The one-acre site also includes 707 Bradford St., which the city purchased in 2004 from the Family Service Agency of San Mateo County for $1.2 million, and two empty city-owned lots between......

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Chief: Department optimistic about assessment

Published: Nov 10, 2006

BELMONT — The mail-in ballots are piling up in Belmont and San Carlos, where both cities are preparing to count the votes that will spell the future of their joint fire department. Property owners in both cities are voting on an assessment designed to raise a total of $2.5 million in support of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department, the new name for the cities’ 25-year-old joint fire department, formerly the South County Fire Authority. Officials voted to spare the department from dissolution early this year, on the condition that they......

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Kaiser plans head for review

Published: Nov 09, 2006

SAN MATEO — Neighbors are tentatively throwing their support behind Kaiser Permanente’s plan to build a new medical center on an empty parcel near Bay Meadows Phase II where plans for a luxury hotel failed.Kaiser’s proposal to build a 70,000-square-foot, two-story medical office on 2.8 acres at the corner of Franklin Parkway and Saratoga Drive, heads to the Planning Commission for a study session Tuesday. San Mateo/Glendale Village residents got their first look at the project in late October and offered little criticism, much of which focused on a proposed......

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City to commemorate bridges

Published: Nov 08, 2006

San Mateo — Four 103-year-old train bridges that fostered some of the city’s busiest neighborhoods and withstood two major earthquakes will soon be replaced, prompting questions about how the hard-working structures should be commemorated.These bridges elevate the Caltrain corridor above East Poplar Avenue, Santa Inez Avenue, Monte Diablo Avenue and Tilton Avenue in San Mateo’s North Central neighborhood. All four have deteriorated with time and regular use — and many are too low to accommodate tall commercial trucks — prompting a $40 million Caltrain plan to replace them between July......

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Sheriff poised to unseat Oblak on healthcare board

Published: Nov 08, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — Retiring San Mateo County Sheriff Don Horsley appeared poised to unseat one incumbent on the Sequoia Healthcare District board Tuesday — but possibly not the one many hoped he would beat.Horsley’s entry into the contest for one of three seats on the board transformed a quiet race among incumbents into one in which many were rooting for Horsley to unseat Libertarian Jack Hickey, 72. Instead, incumbent John Oblak, president of Notre de Namur University, was trailing in fourth place Tuesday night. Hickey, president of the San Mateo......

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City must pare down housing plans

Published: Nov 07, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — The city must build fewer than the 3,700 new downtown residential units recommended by a consultant or risk severely snarling city traffic, according to an environmental study being released today. Consultants working with Redwood City to draft its downtown precise plan, a document that will guide the city’s push toward urbanization of its retail core, recommended the city build between 1,200 and 3,700 new units downtown to ensure round-the-clock activity in the district. City planners, however, found that building more than 3,000 units could bring serious gridlock......

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Cyclists veto $6M bike bridge

Published: Nov 06, 2006

Members of the Peninsula Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition say they will not endorse the city’s plan to build a $6 million bicycle and pedestrian bridge across U.S. Highway 101 at Hillsdale Boulevard.Travelers on foot or on two wheels currently share the road with cars on the six-lane vehicle overcrossing. City officials and bicycle advocates will meet Thursday in their second public workshop to nail down which of six bike/pedestrian bridge designs the city will build, according to city engineer Gary Heap. City engineers introduced six bridge options during a workshop......

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Residents: Housing will bring more traffic

Published: Nov 03, 2006

Proposed development to be built near the under-served Hayward Park Caltrain stationSAN MATEO — A proposal to build 600 homes near the Hayward Park Caltrain station is the latest in a train of transit-focused development ideas, but neighbors fear that the station’s infrequent service will force newcomers to keep using their cars. EBL&S Development LLC has proposed high-density housing, neighborhood retail, office space and a large public park on the 12-acre site housing the Kmart, Michael’s and Shell station at the corner of Concar Drive and Delaware Street. They’re hoping......

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Reading area design is kid-friendly

Published: Nov 03, 2006

Library spruces up its section for children to make books more enticingREDWOOD CITY — Caterpillar-striped benches with silvery legs are poised by computers for toddlers while whimsical animals teach letters, numbers and colors from their perches on brightly-painted columns in the new children’s center at the Redwood City Main Library.The kids’ area in the Main Library has been closed since August to reinvent the popular center, a $100,000 project aimed at making a more comfortable and welcoming library experience for children and their parents. Typically, on any given afternoon, 50......

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Downtown identity key to future

Published: Nov 02, 2006

San Mateo officials eyeing old Kinko’s site as potential new home for City HallSAN MATEO — Downtown has come a long way in the past 13 years, but what it lacks is an identity.Redwood City has nighttime entertainment and Burlingame has bars and high-end shops, but downtown San Mateo businesses offer such diversity that it’s tough to come up with a unifying theme, according to Kelly Mitter, head of the Downtown San Mateo Association. As San Mateo prepares to revise its downtown specific plan, last amended in 1993, creating an......

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District looking to hire exit exam counselors

Published: Nov 01, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — A $560,000 state grant could help the Sequoia High School District hire counselors to help students in danger of failing the California High School Exit Exam.AB 1802, approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this fall, sets aside billions of dollars for school programs, including a $200 million pot of money for counseling grants to California high schools. Sequoia officials are asking the school board tonight to approve new counselors at the district’s five high schools that would work specifically with students who repeatedly fail the exit exam, which......

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Wetlands’ future key issue for developer

Published: Nov 01, 2006

Parks officials seeking several mitigation efforts to protect Tideland ParkSAN MATEO — Parks officials want to make sure that a 76-unit condominium project on Mariner’s Island Boulevard won’t interfere with the city’s plans to protect and restore 10 acres of wetlands and open space on Marina Lagoon. Tidelands Park, which hugs Marina Lagoon near East Third Avenue, is currently an open piece of land with a path that connects Fathom Drive to Anchor Road, according to city landscape architect Dennis Frank. It is one of 10 parks identified in San......

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Some schools say no to ghouls and their friends

Published: Oct 31, 2006

FOSTER CITY — While students in many Peninsula schools will attend classes today dressed as pirates, movie stars and wizards, students at Bowditch Middle School are being asked to leave their costumes at home. Fall is a busy time for many schools, chock-full of parent-teacher conferences, field trips, half-days and preparations for the holidays. Bowditch’s staff and parent-teacher association felt that letting the middle-school kids dress up in school would be one distraction too many, according to PTA president Carol Lockerby. "As someone who watches how many days out of......

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Cemetery comes alive as Chinese honor their dead

Published: Oct 30, 2006

Yellow banners, inscribed with the names of hundreds of Chinese ancestors, waved in a breeze of smoke and incense Sunday at Cypress Lawn cemetery as part of the annual Chung Yeung festival.Chung Yeung, also known as the Double Ninth Festival, falls each year on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar — or roughly Oct. 30. Like Ching Ming in May, it is a time when Chinese families gather to sweep the graves of their dead loved ones, bring fresh flowers to the cemetery, burn paper......

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Cemetery comes alive as Chinese honor their dead

Published: Oct 30, 2006

Yellow banners, inscribed with the names of hundreds of Chinese ancestors, waved in a breeze of smoke and incense Sunday at Cypress Lawn cemetery as part of the annual Chung Yeung festival.Chung Yeung, also known as the Double Ninth Festival, falls each year on the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar — or roughly Oct. 30. Like Ching Ming in May, it is a time when Chinese families gather to sweep the graves of their dead loved ones, bring fresh flowers to the cemetery, burn paper......

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Hotel’s future looking brighter

Published: Oct 26, 2006

Sale of landmark building not confirmed, but officials see potential for renovationSAN MATEO — The historic Benjamin Franklin Hotel appears poised to be sold, and officials are hoping a new owner could bring a renovated, active boutique-hotel into the middle of downtown. City and downtown leaders are hearing that the vacant hotel, a city landmark at 44 East Third Ave. since 1926, that was once surrounded by acres of grounds, has changed hands, but brokers are keeping mum until they close the sale. "We’re hearing that it has been sold......

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Transit village plans praised

Published: Oct 26, 2006

Residents working with developers on project that would replace old Kmart SAN MATEO — Plans to tear down a Kmart and Shell station and build a mixed-use "village" with housing and a central park are already earning high marks from some residents, who will get another shot at discussing the proposal Wednesday.Neighbors got their first look at EBL&S Development LLC’s proposal to redevelop the 12-acre site earlier this month. Now, residents in the 19th Avenue Homeowners Association are working closely with developers to craft the plan, which goes to the......

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City narrowing bicycle corridor gaps

Published: Oct 25, 2006

Industrial Road will get lanes; other cities goingahead with variety of projectsREDWOOD CITY — Bicyclists looking for a continuous north-south route through the Peninsula will score a minor victory next month when a new segment of Industrial Road is striped with bike lanes for the first time. The new half-mile stretch between Whipple Avenue and the San Carlos border will begin to close a lengthy north-south gap between San Carlos and Artherton, according to Redwood City traffic engineer Richard Haygood. San Carlos re-striped Industrial Road with bike lanes in 2004,......

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Bovet Road condo project up for discussion

Published: Oct 24, 2006

Planning commission will hear changes made in plans to address residents’ concernsSAN MATEO — A property owner hoping to raze a Bovet Road office building and replace it with 66 condominiums returns to the Planning Commission tonight with plans aimed at alleviating neighborhood concerns about the proposal’s height and density.Bovet Road Development, the company that owns the 43,000-square-foot office building at 66 Bovet Road, hopes to demolish the aging building and replace it with a 154,000-square-foot condominium complex. Although the company’s executives considered renovating the office building, constructed in 1961,......

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City could declare smoking a nuisance

Published: Oct 23, 2006

Move would allow residents to sue over secondhand smoke from cigarettesBELMONT — City officials continue to hunt for a way to declare smoking a nuisance, a move that would allow residents to sue one another over the creation of secondhand smoke. Many locals have requested the move, particularly those living in apartment complexes with cigarette-smoking neighbors.George Hubbard, who lives with his mother in an Irene Court apartment, keeps his windows closed around the clock because his downstairs neighbors chain-smoke on their balcony, he said in a letter to the City......

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School health program receives $400K grant

Published: Oct 23, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — Three years ago, a second-grader causing trouble in his Fair Oaks School classroom was referred to the school’s family center; now, he is a conflict manager among other students.Turnaround stories are common at Fair Oaks, Taft, Hoover, Kennedy Middle and Sequoia High schools, according to Veronica Lobos, who coordinates the Fair Oaks Family Center. These campuses, operating as "community schools" under the Redwood City 2020 program, offer everything from therapy and tutoring to helping with enrollment in countywide health-insurance programs, and will benefit from a new $394,565......

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Housing group announces $2.5M in loan money

Published: Oct 20, 2006

Short-term funds directed toward affordable housing projects in countyREDWOOD CITY — The Housing Endowment and Regional Trust of San Mateo County is offering $2.5 million in new loan funding that will help affordable housing projects get off the ground.Trust officials will formally announce the fund at today’s annual Housing Leadership Day, an event where hundreds of officials gather to focus on affordable housing. The trust has already distributed $4 million in long-term, 55-year loans, but the new money will go toward three-year loans, according to Chris Mohr, director of the......

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Fewer potholes, but work needed

Published: Oct 19, 2006

Nearly 20,000 miles of Bay Area streets receive annual pavement-quality report cardBay Area motorists are seeing fewer rough roads overall, but pavement quality on the region’s 19,500 miles of streets still leaves a lot of room for improvement, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Commission report released Wednesday.The commission ranks pavement quality on a pavement condition index of 0 to 100. The Bay Area’s overall score rose from 64 in 2004 to 66 in 2005, but no individual city earned an "excellent" rating, which comes with a score of 89 or......

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Sign crackdown gets property owner sued

Published: Oct 18, 2006

Shopping center ordered to limit the amount of tenants’ advertisements SAN MATEO — The owner of a shopping center near downtown faces lawsuits from at least one retail tenant after a city decision he says will force him to remove key signs from the center. The San Mateo City Council voted 4-0 Monday to uphold a July 11 Planning Commission decision ordering Dion Heffran to reduce the number of signs at his Gateway Crossings shopping center. Heffran said he appealed the Planning Commission’s vote because it would mean removing a......

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Residency verification saves Sequoia nearly $500,000

Published: Oct 18, 2006

Checks have prevented 90 students from attending school in the districtREDWOOD CITY — The Sequoia Union High School District has saved an estimated $470,000 since it began checking whether students live within district boundaries, according to a report that will go to the school board tonight.The district began verifying student residency in 2005, starting with incoming ninth-graders. The program, now in its second year, has been extended to new 10th, 11th and 12th-graders, and has prevented 90 freshmen and an unknown number of others from enrolling in the district’s schools......

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Controversy expected in Redwood Shores school proposal

Published: Oct 17, 2006

Board will take input on wetlands plan this weekREDWOOD CITY — Supporters and opponents of a controversial plan to build a new Redwood Shores school in an area with wetlands are expected to sound off in a school-board meeting Thursday. School officials are exploring whether it makes sense to build a new school on seven acres of land in Area H, a parcel that is part of region of undeveloped land on the northeastern tip of Redwood Shores. While the school board accepted that recommendation in September, made by a......

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New earthquake maps up development standards

Published: Oct 17, 2006

MENLO PARK — The release of new quake-risk maps by the California Geological Survey this week means developers will need to perform additional assessment and mitigation when building on parts of the Peninsula.One new map describes the liquefaction risk — that is, the risk of land turning into liquid during shaking — for areas of Redwood City, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto in a significant earthquake, according to Anne Rosinski, engineering geologist with the CGS. Once those maps are delivered to each city developers are legally required to perform......

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Restored courthouse wows crowd

Published: Oct 16, 2006

Hundreds of residents braved cloudy skies Sunday to stroll across the new downtown plaza, ascend the steps in front of the city’s 1910 courthouse, look up at the building’s stained-glass dome and say, "Wow."City officials unveiled the $9 million restoration, which included reconstructing the facade and columns on the front of the courthouse and building an all-new plaza between the courthouse and Broadway. Work started last May, when crews demolished the Art Moderne-style fiscal building, which has concealed thefront of the older courthouse since it was constructed in 1939. For......

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Condo construction outpacing rentals

Published: Oct 13, 2006

Developers say high cost of land in county driving widespread developmentSAN CARLOS — When it came right down to it, housing developer John Baer found that his firm would rather build 90 condominiums than 104 rental apartments next to the Caltrain tracks.The San Carlos Planning Commission gave him the green light this month to do exactly that, allowing him to join the ranks of local builders who frequently favor constructing condominiums and townhomes for sale over rentals. Condominiums are in the works across the county, from 99 new units at......

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Redwood City man, 50, identified as latest Caltrain fatality

Published: Oct 13, 2006

REDWOOD CITY — Fredrick Opp, 50, died when he attempted to cross the tracks at the downtown Caltrain platform and was struck by a southbound train, officials said Thursday. Opp stepped off a northbound train at Sequoia Station at 6 p.m., walked to the south edge of the platform and ducked under a lowered crossing arm when he was struck, according to Jonah Weinberg, spokesman for the rail system. Opp’s last known address was at the 800 block ofMain Street, just blocks away from the station, according to voter records.......

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‘Calming’ delays frustrate area residents

Published: Oct 12, 2006

Plans for speed bumps and traffic circles, approved in 2002, may be streamlinedSAN MATEO — Neighborhood traffic-calming plans are getting stuck in the slow lane.San Mateo adopted citywide traffic-calming policies in 2002, but neighborhoods eligible for devices such as speed bumps, traffic circles, stop signs and warning signs have had a difficult time getting those items approved, according to Public Works Director Larry Patterson. Some neighborhoods have found that it has taken upwards of three years to get improvements installed.As a result, city officials are considering streamlining the process at......

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Community sounds off on freeway walls

Published: Oct 12, 2006

Caltrans will meet with residents Saturday to discuss roadway structuresSAN MATEO — Residents, California Department of Transportation officials and an aspiring state senator will pow-wow Saturday over the design of soundwalls, retaining walls and other structures that will be rebuilt as Caltrans adds auxiliary lanes along U.S. Highway 101 next year.Adding the auxiliary lane through San Mateo will involve rebuilding the Peninsula Avenue pedestrian overcrossing, and work is due to begin in the spring, according to San Mateo Public Works Director Larry Patterson. Neighbors in the North Central area have......

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Shuttles, turn lanes explored as traffic solutions

Published: Oct 11, 2006

City and school officials look at options, weigh costsSAN CARLOS — City and school officials are weighing options to relieve traffic around a trio of local schools, including a new for-pay shuttle or changes to a key intersection near those schools. Gridlock has intensified near Tierra Linda Middle School and the Charter Learning Center, which share a campus next door to Carlmont High School, since San Carlos shut down its citywide shuttle service, SCOOT, in June of 2005. Although local parents are cooperating to reduce traffic woes, city and school......

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Humane Society’s move catches firm in crossfire

Published: Oct 11, 2006

Origen’s presence barred by effort to block PHS relocationBURLINGAME — In an effort to block the Peninsula Humane Society from relocating to a facility on Rollins Road, a handful of businesses have inadvertently made it so an existing business on the site no longer complies with area guidelines.The Peninsula Humane Society is suing those property owners, including Aerobay Office Center, Rilco Edwards and Albert Guibara, for changing local conditions, covenants and restrictions for the office park at the corner of Rollins Road and Edwards Court, according to PHS/SPCA Director Ken......

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Leaders question eminent domain

Published: Oct 10, 2006

Redwood City mayor says mandate could be excessiveREDWOOD CITY — Downtown’s retail core is beginning taking shape, but city leaders continue to face fallout from the decision to acquire downtown land through eminent domain.City leaders continue to grapple with the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury’s assessment of those eminent domain proceedings, in which the jury questioned Redwood City’s treatment of property owners. In response to a 2005 grand jury report, Redwood City adopted new guidelines for that treatment, but now Mayor Barbara Pierce objects to the grand jury’s......

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Council trying ‘cooperative’ annexation concept

Published: Oct 10, 2006

HIA leaders say they won’t join city without a more stable government in placeBELMONT — Some city leaders are urging a kinder, gentler approach to annexing 67 acres of unincorporated land in the Harbor Industrial Area, but property owners there say that won’t make them warm up to the idea. A new resolution "supporting a cooperative annexation process" heads to the City Council tonight for a vote, following a tense study session in September at which representatives for property owners in the harbor area told the city they were not......

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Foster City leads the pack in wireless Internet race

Published: Oct 10, 2006

FOSTER CITY — Residents and visitors will soon be able to kick back by the waterfront while surfing the Internet.Foster City will become the first in the county to launch citywide wireless Internet access anywhere within city limits when it holds its formal "wire-cutting" ceremony Oct. 16, according to Mayor Linda Koelling. Mountain View-based MetroFi will provide the service, which it already operates in other Silicon Valley cities such as San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. MetroFi is leasing transceiver space on 100 of Foster City’s light poles at......

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Four killed, two hurt in late-night Peninsula crash

Published: Oct 09, 2006

The last time Natividad Guzman saw his brother, Hugo, and their friend Reynel Salgado alive was while commuting home Friday from a landscaping job in Tracy."I left them, and I don’t know what happened," Natividad said through tears Sunday. "After I told them to come home, I lost contact with them."Hugo Guzman, 19, is believed to be the driver in the crash that killed him, Salgado, 19, Esmerelda Lopez, 16, and Everado Carillo, 23, and left two others injured late Friday night on East Bayshore Road in Redwood City, according......

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Four killed, two hurt in late-night Peninsula crash

Published: Oct 09, 2006

The last time Natividad Guzman saw his brother, Hugo, and their friend Reynel Salgado alive was while commuting home Friday from a landscaping job in Tracy."I left them, and I don’t know what happened," Natividad said through tears Sunday. "After I told them to come home, I lost contact with them."Hugo Guzman, 19, is believed to be the driver in the crash that killed him, Salgado, 19, Esmerelda Lopez, 16, and Everado Carillo, 23, and left two others injured late Friday night on East Bayshore Road in Redwood City, according......

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Redwood City ready for ferries

Published: Oct 06, 2006

City officials want to add water transport to their commuter relief plansREDWOOD CITY — While local leaders try out a potential ferry route between the city and San Francisco this weekend, some officials are pushing to establish ferry service sooner than the proposed launch in 2011. Redwood City is one of two Peninsula port cities, along with South San Francisco, expected to get ferry service to San Francisco, the East Bay or both. Ferry service from South San Francisco is scheduled to begin in 2008, according to Water Transit Authority......

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Science building air investigated

Published: Oct 06, 2006

Faculty members at CSM complain of respiratory illness SAN MATEO — The College of San Mateo’s brand-new science building has had its ventilation system re-tuned, its interiors washed and its air filtered following a complaint filed by six faculty members who said they developed respiratory problems after moving into the building in July.Experts upgraded the software controlling the building’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system three weeks ago and crews completed an industrial cleaning of the building Thursday, according to facilities director Diane Martinez. Cleaners filtered the building of particulate matter......

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Police: Ordinance needs equipment to get going

Published: Oct 06, 2006

Belmont noise law hindered by lack of decibel metersBELMONT — City officials have begun enforcing a new, stricter noise ordinance that was quietly adopted this summer, but officers say they don’t yet have the equipment they need to determine when something is too loud. Until recently, Belmont’s noise rules applied mainly to construction noise and devices such as leaf blowers, but didn’t provide any protection from noisy residents, according to Councilwoman Coralin Feierbach. The new rules, which took effect Aug. 24, set a hard cap on noise: if you’re measuring......

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Group: PAMF shouldpay its fair share to city

Published: Oct 05, 2006

San Carlos residents say foundation’s new hospital will cause negative impactsSAN CARLOS — Residents have launched a new group to make sure that the Palo Alto Medical Foundation will contribute funding toward roads and infrastructure if it builds a new hospital and medical center in town. The group, called San Carlos Citizens for Responsible Planning, is chaired by 32-year resident Sol Kutner and includes a bevy of residents who live near the site of the proposed 110-bed hospital at Holly Street and Industrial Road. These residents have raised concerns over......

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Play shows fun side of depression

Published: Oct 04, 2006

Comedian brings ‘Side by Side’ to Cañada College REDWOOD CITY — Four years ago, Bay Area comedian Brian Wetzel found himself in a very unfunny situation: sitting face-to-face with a doctor in a Santa Rosa psychiatric crisis center in the middle of the night. His depression, which he has battled since he was a teenager, had combined with too much time on the road performing his comedy routines. Shortly after returning home, he quit his job and dropped out of school — and stumbled upon a new performance project that,......

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City to continue citing day laborers

Published: Oct 03, 2006

Worker successfully fights ticket, but cops say program is legal and is working wellSAN MATEO — City officials are reviewing an enforcement strategy that has seen some tickets against day laborers dismissed by juries, but police say the stings have been effective and will continue for now.Some laborers have successfully fought their tickets after an undercover police officer impersonated a potential employer, according to defense attorney Tanya O’Malley. In one such case, pursued by laborer Ramirez Lopez Sofonias, the ticket was dismissed Aug. 29 by a jury that found such......

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FEMA stalling on proposal for flood fixes

Published: Oct 03, 2006

San Mateo waits to learn whether repairs, storm model will meet federal approvalSAN MATEO — Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said they need more time to review local plans to beef up flood protections in vulnerable neighborhoods, leaving homeowners and city officials in limbo.San Mateo is proposing a number of fixes to levees and structures, and is waiting to hear whether FEMA agrees with those fixes, according to San Mateo Public Works Director Larry Patterson. City officials hope that by performing those fixes, large areas of the city can be......

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Movie theater on the vanguard of downtown revitalization

Published: Oct 02, 2006

Residents have chance to add to future designsREDWOOD CITY — The new 20-screen movie theater may be open, but the city’s motto may be "pardon our dust" for some years to come.Residents will get the chance to help design downtown’s future tomorrow night in the first of several meetings devoted to a draft of new design guidelines. Meanwhile, more than two months after the opening of Century Theatres’ movie complex, crews are working on finishing touches including replacing dying palm trees and working overtime to lay stones for the new......

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Fire-tax ballot measure arrives

Published: Sep 30, 2006

Outcome will decide future of two fire departmentsSAN CARLOS — The hour is drawing near for property owners to determine the fate of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department.Voters will find ballots in their mailboxes early next week asking them to approve a tax assessment aimed at raising $2.3 million for the 26-year joint Fire Department, which narrowly avoided dissolution at thehands of both cities early this year. Ballots, which will be mailed Friday, are due back Nov. 14.Officials in both cities have spent recent weeks pounding the pavement and explaining......

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Park set to see improvements

Published: Sep 29, 2006

Longer-term enhancements to Central Park, including roadwork, still being plannedSAN MATEO — Central Park will get some touch-ups both inside and out once city officials finish sifting through bids for work on the Fifth Avenue entryway and the Japanese Garden.San Mateo is collecting bids for the $365,000 Fifth Avenue project, which includes repaving the rutted road surface and making minor improvements to the landscaping and lighting, according to Parks and Recreation Director Sheila Canzian. Bidding just ended for the $395,000 Japanese Gardens project, which will see its irrigation and pathways......

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Site of triple homicide has liquor license suspended

Published: Sep 29, 2006

Headquarters bar allowed a minor inside; sale of booze banned 30 daysREDWOOD CITY — The bar where three men were shot and killed in April has had its license suspended after the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control found that employees allowed a minor inside.Headquarters Bar, located at 895 Second Ave., was ordered to cease serving alcohol for a 30-day period on Monday, according to John Carr, spokesman for the ABC. The ABC’s investigation, which began in April, found Headquarters in violation of Section 25665 of the California Business and......

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Long-overdue new library goes out to bid one more time

Published: Sep 29, 2006

Council rejects bids as too expensive; residents patient despite yearlong delaysREDWOOD CITY — Redwood Shores residents will have to wait even longer for their new library after the City Council rejected all the bids it received from companies vying to develop the $14 million waterfront project. Construction of the library, initially planned for spring of 2006, has been beset by delays. The City Council voted Monday to reject construction bids this week because they were all significantly higher than engineers’ estimates and many companies were the only bidders in their......

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Judge reduces bail in Tongan crash case

Published: Sep 14, 2006

An 18-year-old woman accused of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of two members of Tonga’s royal family broke down in tears Wednesday as a San Mateo County Superior Court judge lowered her bail from $3 million to $1 million — still toohigh for the teen to be released from jail.Judge Robert Foiles said he does not want to run the risk that Edith Delgado would get behind the wheel of another car, since she is charged with participating in a July 5 speed contest that allegedly led to the deaths......

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Caltrain delays could hinder Bay Meadows development

Published: Sep 14, 2006

Officials say new delays associated with the relocation of the Hillsdale Caltrain station and the creation of two rail overpasses for the Bay Meadows Phase II project won’t harm racetrack redevelopment plans — but any further train-related delays could cause significant problems. In a Planning Commission meeting devoted to Phase II design guidelines Tuesday, Public Works Director Larry Patterson said the San Mateo County Transit District is now predicting that relocation and rail overpass — or "grade separation" — work may not get under way until 2011 or 2012, four......

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Mullin, a cancer survivor, starts awareness campaign

Published: Sep 13, 2006

When Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-San Francisco, first had radioactive seeds implanted in his prostate gland to treat his early-stage cancer, he faced a side effect he didn’t anticipate: his grandkids couldn’t sit in his lap.Three years later, Mullin’s doctors have declared him free of prostate cancer, giving him many more years to spend with his grandchildren. Now, he’s using some of that time to put on his "regular guy" hat and urge other middle-aged men to have regular blood tests and prostate checkups to make sure any signs of the......

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City Council denies request for tree removal

Published: Sep 13, 2006

When Irene Beaumont was left with lasting pain after a car accident, she began daily exercise in a heated pool, which she installed in her Nevada Street home, to relieve that pain.In order to offset the more than $400 a month Pacific Gas and Electric Company bill to heat the pool, she wanted to install solar panels on the roof of her home, but a pair of city-owned trees have halted the project.Beaumont first attempted to install solar panels on her home in 2005 but installers told her the sycamores......

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Residents favor housing at controversial marina site

Published: Sep 12, 2006

Residents are showing support for a new plan to build 796 condominiums on Peninsula Marina, the site of a controversial 1,900-condo proposal rejected by voters in November 2004. Developer Paul Powers offered three development concepts at a workshop last Thursday, including one with a 300,000-square-foot "super retail" center; another with 200,000 square feet of retail and four new office buildings; and Peninsula Park, with nearly 800 condos, a 200-room hotel, 10,000 square feet of retail and a two-acre community park on the 33-acre site adjacent to Pete’s Harbor. More than......

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Matter of annexation returns to Belmont council

Published: Sep 12, 2006

The battle over whether Belmont should annex a 67-acre unincorporated region has flared up again, but outspoken leaders in the region’s business community have a message for city officials: Leave us alone.In a study session tonight, Belmont officials will consider the issue of taking control of that piece of the Harbor Industrial Area, which has roughly 60 industrial businesses in it. The annexation idea has been a recurring topic since San Carlos annexed the other 163 acres of the region in 1997. However, HIA leaders in the unincorporated zone say......

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Unique kid-oriented art studio to open

Published: Sep 11, 2006

Four years ago, Elyse Gerson’s 5-year-old daughter came home from summer camp with a supposed art project: a painted egg carton."There were no real learning skills," Gerson said of the project, adding that it is often the same in schools. "It winds up being a very canned art experience [where] kids come home with something that looks exactly the same."Since that day, Gerson has wanted to open a true art studio for children, and recently quit her job in a nonprofit organization to do just that. Art Safari opens Sept.......

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Mother of three killed in I-280 motorcycle crash

Published: Sep 11, 2006

Drunken driving is believed to have played a role in the fatal accident that claimed the life of a San Francisco mother of three and seriously injured a San Francisco man early Sunday, according to officials.Nektaria Rula Calderon, 39, died after being ejected from the back of a Big Dog motorcycle driven by David Barry, 43, on Interstate Highway 280 near the John Daly Boulevard exit, according to the California Highway Patrol. Barry suffered a major head injuries and a partially amputated left leg, and was in critical but stable......

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Gophers force city to consider closing sports field

Published: Sep 08, 2006

Soccer leagues are racing to repair Heather School’s athletic field after a gopher infestation threatened to close the field just days before the start of the soccer season.This afternoon, San Carlos United President Dan Robinson and members of the San Carlos chapter of the American Youth Soccer League will fill the field’s gopher holes with dirt and sand, hoping to prevent injuries to young players who could otherwise trip and fall on the pitted field. The news comes at a time when San Carlos is struggling to resolve an ongoing......

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San Mateo college opens high-tech science building

Published: Sep 08, 2006

The College of San Mateo will unveil its state-of-the-art new science building today, including an updated planetarium and observatory that will be open to aspiring astronomers throughout the community.The $28.3 million building, paid for by a portion of the $207 million Measure C construction bond, spans 58,000 square feet of space. Physical sciences dominate the first floor, while the second is devoted to biology and the third to chemistry, according to professor Mohsen Janatpour. However, the new centerpiece is a student center where scholars can relax, share ideas or perform......

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Sheriff takes on three incumbents in Sequoia race

Published: Sep 08, 2006

San Mateo County Sheriff Don Horsley is seeking to unseat one of three incumbents in the Sequoia Healthcare District race — with the support of some board members who hope to see one within their ranks voted out of office.Both Horsely and incumbent John Oblak, president of Notre Dame De Namur University, cited the district’s health programs and the pending retrofit and reconstruction of Sequoia Hospital as top priorities in the coming term. But Jack Hickey, an avowed libertarian, said his top priority is to disband all health care districts......

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New slope rules could apply to schools, churches

Published: Sep 07, 2006

An effort to place limits on the subdivision of hilly parcels could soon extend to the city’s school campuses and church grounds. Belmont officials are racing to approve new subdivision limits that would use a parcel’s slope to guide the number of homes that can be built on that parcel — limits now applied only in the San Juan Canyon and Western Hills areas. The Planning Commission on Tuesday asked for a more relaxed ratio that would allow for subdivision on smaller lots, particularly on slopes of less than 15......

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Plan for Bay Meadows Phase II racing ahead

Published: Sep 06, 2006

Planning for the future neighborhood on the Bay Meadows racetrack site kickS into high gear this fall as redevelopment opponents continue their crusade to take the proposal to the voters. The design of three new neighborhood parks will be the focus of tonight’s Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, where commissioners and the public will create more detailed guidelines for those public spaces. San Mateo’s Planning Commission will also discuss specific designs for the 83.5-acre site and its homes, commercial and retail spaces on Tuesday.When it comes to the park proposals,......

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San Carlos reverses direction on turf plan

Published: Sep 06, 2006

Plans to install a brand-new grass field at Highlands Park have been benched while city officials open talks with the San Carlos School District to pursue long-term leases and synthetic turf at one or more school athletic fields.New grass on fields at Highlands was identified as a top priority in May after a series of public meetings aimed at finding new practice space for youth in San Carlos and adult sports teams. But the City Council reversed its stance Aug. 28 after realizing the project — which involved replacing the......

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Police: Gang enforcement paying off

Published: Sep 05, 2006

With no gang-related homicides this summer — compared with 13 the summer of 2005 — the San Mateo County Gang Task Force is ready to proclaim its efforts success.The task force, which combines sheriff’s officers with police from agencies throughout the county, patrolled Peninsula streets every night and arrested more than 300 people between late May and late August. Officers believe this approach contributed to the reduction in violence they saw this summer. "There’s always going to be gang activity, but we’ve done a good job of keeping on top......

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District close to choosing site for new elementary school

Published: Sep 05, 2006

The Belmont-Redwood Shores School District appears close to choosing a site for a new elementary school in Redwood Shores, but at least one neighbor says the plan will harm local wildlife habitats. The school board’s site-selection committee will deliver a recommendation Wednesday that the district accept developer Max Keech’s offer of a seven-acre parcel on a more than 100-acre piece of land at the northwestern end of Redwood Shores known as Area H for $12 million. Keech also plans to build 110 townhomes and restore 95 acres of wetlands, pending......

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Early morning blaze in San Mateo kills woman

Published: Sep 04, 2006

One woman was killed early Sunday in a fire that started in the bedroom of an Eichler-style home on Wolfe Drive.San Mateo County Coroner’s office examiners had not yet released the name of the victim Sunday afternoon. However, a woman named Nancy Einhoff was living in the home at 1716 Wolfe Drive after her parents, Joseph and Lucille, moved into an assisted-living facility, according to a neighbor, George Chan. According to voter records, Einhoff is 54. A neighbor reported the fire to the San Mateo Police Department at 5:36 a.m.,......

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Early morning blaze in San Mateo kills woman

Published: Sep 04, 2006

One woman was killed early Sunday in a fire that started in the bedroom of an Eichler-style home on Wolfe Drive.San Mateo County Coroner’s office examiners had not yet released the name of the victim Sunday afternoon. However, a woman named Nancy Einhoff was living in the home at 1716 Wolfe Drive after her parents, Joseph and Lucille, moved into an assisted-living facility, according to a neighbor, George Chan. According to voter records, Einhoff is 54. A neighbor reported the fire to the San Mateo Police Department at 5:36 a.m.,......

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More area schools fall short of assessment benchmarks

Published: Sep 01, 2006

While more of San Mateo County’s schools met state and federal progress benchmarks in 2005-06, a growing number of schools have failed to meet those benchmarks for two or more consecutive years, earning them Program Improvement status.Least year, 26 schools countywide — 30 percent of all schools — qualified for PI status, up from 23 percent in 2004-05. Sequoia High School in the Sequoia High School District and Sunshine Gardens in the South San Francisco Unified School District shed their PI status while nine new schools, including five in Redwood......

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New book covers county’s history of laws and violence

Published: Sep 01, 2006

After 40 years as a deputy and bailiff in the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, historian John Edmonds is used to looking at the county’s criminal-justice system from the inside.In his new book, "Cops, Courts, Jails and Judges of San Mateo County" — due out this fall — Edmonds looks at the long history of local lawlessness andlaw enforcement, this time from the outside. What started as a chapter in the new book "Redwood City: A Community History" (slated for release next summer) has since grown into a full-scale study......

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Groups seize 200 animals from pet store

Published: Aug 30, 2006

The doors remained open at Laurelwood Pets on Tuesday, but there weren’t any pets, after the Peninsula Humane Society and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals seized 200 animals that were allegedly being kept in unclean and unhealthy conditions.The animals seized Friday, mostly fish, birds, rodents and rabbits, were allegedly found living in soiled cages, eating from food dishes containing feces and living in fish tanks without enough water, according to PHS/SPCA lead investigator Debi DeNardi. This isn’t the first charge for co-owner Mohammed Olfat, who served 14 days......

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Restoration of Bair Island’s wetlands set for final approval

Published: Aug 28, 2006

Starting next year, wildlife officials hope to transform Bair Island into an "island in an urban sea" where locals can escape city life and freeway noise and explore the 1,400-acre area’s restored wetlands habitats.A lengthy public review of the restoration’s environmental effects ends today as the California Department of Fish and Game closes the comment period on the plan’s final draft. While an initial public review in 2004 yielded many changes, such as shortening the public trail from 2.7 miles to 1.8 miles, increasing the parking lot to allow school......

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San Mateo may boost affordable-housing requirement

Published: Aug 25, 2006

City officials are once again considering ways to boost the supply of affordable housing, including requiring developers to include more low-cost units in future projects. San Mateo requires developers to include a minimum of 10 percent below-market-rate housing, according to Councilwoman Carole Groom.However, some residents don’t think that’s enough."I think they probably need to be a little bit tougher in their negotiations," said Stacy Weiss, secretary of the North Shoreview Neighborhood Association. "The city could be doing more."San Mateo has required developers to include some affordable units in larger projects......

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Coffee shop ban may not go forward

Published: Aug 25, 2006

City officials may choose to let the market decide just how many local and chain coffee shops downtown can handle.The San Carlos City Council will determine Monday whether to go forward with a local coffeehouse owner’s request for a moratorium on more coffee shops on Laurel Avenue, or heed recommendations from the city’s planning and economic advisory commissions to avoid setting limits on such businesses. Uptown Cafe owner Hans Siemers asked the city in May to consider the ban after he learned a second Starbucks was opening on Laurel, kicking......

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ABC continues to investigate site of April triple-homicide

Published: Aug 24, 2006

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control continues to investigate a bar where three men, including an 18-year-old, were shot on Easter weekend.The ABC’s investigation — launched April 16 — will continue into September, according to spokesman John Carr. "It’s a sensitive investigation because there’s a potential homicide involved, so we’re being really thorough and very careful," he said. He confirmed that the department is investigating any violations of ABC regulations, but would not say which ones.Some in the community have accused the bar of selling alcohol to minors. Redwood......

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Districts struggle to help students pass exit exam

Published: Aug 23, 2006

While most seniors in San Mateo County’s class of 2006 passed the California High School Exit Exam and earned their diplomas, school officials are developing strategies for students who don’t pass the first time — or by the end of their senior year. Countywide, more than 200 seniors did not pass the exit exam by the end of the 2005-06 school year, according to data collected from school districts. Of those, at least 104 completed all other coursework required to graduate. Most of those who did not pass the exit......

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Tenth-graders show slight gains on state exit exam

Published: Aug 23, 2006

SAN MATEO — The percentage of San Mateo County sophomores passing the California High School Exit Exam on their first try increased slightly in 2005-06, and Peninsula students continued to pass at higher rates than their statewide peers, according to information released by the California Department of Education on Tuesday.Countywide, 83 percent of those 10th-graders, who are now entering the 11th grade, passed the English and math portions of the exam. San Mateo Union High School District’s students scored highest — 90 percent passed the English portion, while 91 passed......

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Resident continues talks in lawsuit against San Mateo

Published: Aug 22, 2006

A resident is moving forward with her lawsuit against the city over an apartment project she says will severely restrict the amount of sunlight she and neighbors receive in their homes.Jennifer Diamond met with officials in the San Mateo City Attorney’s Office on Monday in a court-mandated settlement meeting, but no agreement was reached. Diamond filed suit against San Mateo in June after the City Council in May approved the Delaware Place project, a four-story, 111-unit apartment complex planned on Delaware Street near Saratoga Drive, adjacent to the Caltrain corridor.......

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Ride raises money for hurricane-leveled town

Published: Aug 21, 2006

Mayor Matt Grocott led dozens of residents on the first Family Fun Bike Ride on Sunday morning, a 5-mile trek that raised more than $2,000 for San Carlos’ adopted town of Pass Christian, Miss. Local officials adopted the southern city last September in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation and locals have since raised $37,000 and sent donations and volunteers to Pass Christian, according to Sheryl Pomerenk, president of the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce. Pass Christian was completely flattened, according to resident Christine Thom, who has traveled twice to......

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Charter school’s move is latest woe

Published: Aug 18, 2006

Summit Preparatory High School Director Diane Tavenner stood among towers of boxes Thursday, preparing for the school’s move from its three-year downtown home to 20 new portable buildings on the Sequoia High School Campus.The move, which begins today, marks the end of one chapter in a long struggle to find a home for Summit, but not the final one. The Sequoia Union High School District, which adopted the school’s charter in June, has opted to find the school a temporary home on the Sequoia campus but is still hunting for......

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Critics: New rules for hillside houses would be ineffective

Published: Aug 18, 2006

Some elected officials are rushing to create new rules that would restrict subdivisions on hillsides, but critics say those officials are upsetting an important public process in order to adopt laws that won’t effectively protect against erosion and landslides. Councilmember Coralin Feierbach is worried a clause in Proposition 90, the statewide eminent-domain measure on the Nov. 7 ballot, will take away cities’ power to control subdivision zoning. The City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday to fast-track a zoning amendment that would reduce developers’ ability to subdivide lots in hilly areas of......

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Memorial to mark anniversary of family’s grisly murder-suicide

Published: Aug 17, 2006

One year after his close friend Tessa Richards’ murder, one thing still confuses 13-year-old Matthew Girouard: why her father killed her.To this day, he longs to see her at school, misses her frequent jokes and wishes she were still rollerblading around the neighborhood. "She was a good person," Matthewsaid. Friday marks the anniversary of the day that Anthony James Richards, 53, telephoned the San Mateo Police Department to report the murders of his daughters, Tessa, 13, Alexa, 17, and his wife, Nicole Marie Richards, 54, before turning a gun on......

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New low-income apartments planned near Caltrain station

Published: Aug 17, 2006

A plan to build 60 affordable apartments next to the Hillsdale Caltrain station demonstrates just how difficult it can be to create living space for low-income workers on the Peninsula.San Mateo will loan $5.3 million to the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition to purchase land at 2901 and 2905 South El Camino Real, the current home of a Goodyear tire shop next to the rail corridor and across from the Hillsdale Shopping Center. The San Mateo City Council on Monday unanimously approved the loan, which Mid-Peninsula Housing will use to purchase the......

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Athletic fields, facility leases key to lively Menlo Park race

Published: Aug 17, 2006

The tensions over Bayfront Park and economic growth that polarized the City Council have drawn many newcomers to the upcoming City Council race, in which three four-year seats are up for grabs. Mayor Nicholas Jellins has announced he will not seek another term, but incumbents Miriam "Mickie" Winkler and Lee Duboc are making plans to return, while challengers John Boyle, Vincent Bressler, Richard Cline and Heyward Robinson have filed papers to join the race. Because Jellins isn’t running, the filing deadline was extended to Wednesday.The Menlo Park City Council often......

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County districts show gains on STAR tests

Published: Aug 16, 2006

San Mateo County students continued to surpass their statewide peers in the California Standardized Testing and Reporting program, according to results released by the California Department of Education on Tuesday.The number of county fourth-graders scoring at or above proficiency levels rose from 2005 to 2006 in both English and math, while more county seventh-graders scored proficient or better on the math portion of the test and 10th-graders held steady on the English portion."We’ve had positive growth over the last three years since 2003 in just about every grade level and......

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Scores highlight county’s continuing achievement gap

Published: Aug 16, 2006

San Mateo County’s diversity — reflected in its neighborhoods, faces and cultures — is also seen, for better or worse, in its test scores. The achievement gap between students of different ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, shown in the 2006 Standardized Testing and Reporting scores released Tuesday, continues to vex local, county and state school officials struggling to help all students meet state and federal standards. Districts in well-off parts of the county, such as Hillsborough and Burlingame, consistently show higher scores, with more than 75 percent of fourth-graders scoring proficiently......

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Up or down? Officials discuss the future of Caltrain corridor

Published: Aug 14, 2006

Big changes are barreling down the Caltrain corridor, and officials in some Peninsula cities are thinking ahead so those changes can be spun into downtown improvements — rather than slicing cities in half. Caltrain Director Robert Doty, heavily influenced by the train systems of Europe and Asia, is pushing for Caltrain to become more state-of-the-art, with high-speed rail and a plan to electrify the corridor by 2012, according to Caltrain spokesman Jonah Weinberg. Under a new master plan adopted this month, Caltrain is on track to become an electrified rapid-transit......

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Peninsula Ave. interchange work begins

Published: Aug 11, 2006

Preliminary work has begun on one major freeway project affecting the Peninsula Avenue interchange as city officials begin weighing options for another that could potentially cause some residents to lose their homes. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has begun raising electrical poles so that auxiliary lanes can be added on U.S. Highway 101 between Millbrae Avenue and Third Avenue early next year. Meanwhile, on Monday, the City Council will resume discussion of a controversial proposal to add southbound ramps to the Peninsula Avenue interchange and close the Poplar Avenue interchange......

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Cities team up to meet housing requirements

Published: Aug 10, 2006

San Mateo County’s cities are joining forces to meet state-mandated requirements for affordable housing in a move that may allow some cities to swap funding or other resources in exchange for building fewer units.A 2004 state law allows regional cities to team up to meet housing goals, but San Mateo County is the first in the Bay Area to try it, according to Ken Kirkey, principal planner with the Association of Bay Area Governments. So far, 17 of the county’s 20 cities have opted in. The remainder — Brisbane, Daly......

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Redwood City’s ‘big mess’ may be cleaned up soon

Published: Aug 09, 2006

Some have called the Woodside Road interchange on Highway 101 — one of the Peninsula’s busiest — "a big mess," but city officials and the California Department of Transportation are hoping to change that.The Woodside Road interchange, used by about 13,500 cars each day, is hampered by traffic snarls and unsafe conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians where Woodside crosses Broadway Street, according to Redwood City traffic engineer Richard Heygood. Plans to reconfigure that interchange at Highway 101 and Woodside Road are being developed through Caltrans and the San Mateo......

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Foster City to hire architect for $3.5 million teen center

Published: Aug 09, 2006

City youths are looking forward to a new, permanent teen center that will include a homework center, skate park and basketball court. Officials are getting ready to hire an architect to design the $3.5 million, 6,800-square-foot center, the last piece in a series of improvements at Leo J. Ryan Park, according to Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Miller. The City Council on Monday looked at preliminary plans for the teen center and told staff to seek bids from architects. Foster City’s teen center, called Vibe, has made its home in......

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Redwood City could see new creekside housing

Published: Aug 07, 2006

A brand-new neighborhood could sprout up north of downtown, providing new housing within walking distance of the train as well as public access to all-but-forgotten Redwood Creek.A proposal from developer John Baer to build 100 new condominiums on a former office property at 333 Main Street — an area where no housing currently exists — has inspired the City Council to think bigger. The council asked city planners in late July to study rezoning a handful of parcels between Veterans Boulevard and Redwood Creek, now home to a Carl’s Jr.,......

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Long wait for Bair restoration nearly over

Published: Aug 04, 2006

The long wait is nearly over for plans to restore tidal wetlands on Bair Island that could bring short-term flooding relief to Bayside residents and provide better public access on new trails on the inner part of the island. The Peninsula Open Space Trust purchased the 1,400-acre wetlands site in 1997 for $15 million to permanently preserve it as open space. Plans to restore and manage the site entered their final environmental review stage this week, allowing the public a final opportunity to comment on those plans before Aug. 28,......

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Foster City seeking emissions-friendly

Published: Aug 04, 2006

City leaders are looking for a new provider to keep a popular local shuttle service going after shuttle buses used by the current company were found not to meet new emissions requirements. Connections Shuttle, which has run Foster City’s routes since February 2003, is using older shuttles that don’t meet upcoming smog requirements, according to Planning Manager Linda Carmichael. If the city doesn’t upgrade those vehicles by January 1, 2007, it will face financial penalties.Finding a provider now is important so the service doesn’t lapse, according to Mayor Linda Koelling.......

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Lantos tours local biotech firm, hears concerns

Published: Aug 03, 2006

Officials with Monogram Biosciences say a number of legislative pressures are hindering their ability to recoup costs and attract the top talent they need to survive. Monogram has spent the past seven years providing individualized drug combinations to HIV-positive patients, and hopes to expand its technology into treating various types of cancer, according to CEO William Young. Congressman Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, visited the lab Wednesday and heard Young's concerns, which include low levels of reimbursement for diagnostic firms, legislators' increasing zeal to regulate the biotech market and the elimination......

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Wall collapses, killing woman

Published: Aug 01, 2006

A 48-year-old woman was crushed in her parked car when a wall from a nearby building under demolition collapsed into a quiet Daly City street near the Cow Palace on Monday afternoon.Workers dug with jackhammers and a track hoe to unearth the woman’s white compact car after coroner’s officials removed her body. "The car was crushed so much you can’t tell what it was," said T. Mark Lee, safety inspector with North County Fire Authority. Coroners were not releasing the deceased woman’s identity at press time. Police did not know......

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Mullin: It’s time to rethink policies on redevelopment

Published: Jul 31, 2006

Debate on eminent domain calls into question structure of 60-year-old agencyAs the debate over the use of eminent domain continues in court cases and on the upcoming ballot, Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, feels now is the time to see whether city redevelopment agencies are still functioning as designed. In 1945, California passed the Redevelopment Act, which allows cities to create such agencies to transform blighted areas into new sites that serve the public good, including schools, roads, housing and — more recently — commercial sites that provide substantial......

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Delgado kin offer sympathy, support

Published: Jul 28, 2006

The family of an 18-year-old woman accused of causing the crash that killed two Tongan royals apologized to the Tongan community Thursday and said they pray daily to help that community recover from its losses. "Our whole family is sorrowful … not a second goes by that we won’t think about what happened and how big of an effect it has had on all of us," Edith Delgado’s older sister, Marivel Delgado, 19, said at a news conference that was held in San Jose. Edith Delgado remains in prison on......

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Exhibits honor innovation, immigrants

Published: Jul 28, 2006

Bright ethnic costumes, a huge color-drenched mural, elegant carved furniture and a collection of silicon chunks and vacuum tubes are all part of the new offerings at the San Mateo County History Museum, debuting this weekend. Three key elements of Peninsula culture — immigration, innovation and interior design — are explored in new permanent exhibits opening at the museum Saturday as part of the San Mateo Historical Association’s celebration this year of the county’s 150th anniversary. "Living the California Dream" traces local estates and the progression of interior design trends;......

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Kin offer Delgado support, Tongans sympathy

Published: Jul 28, 2006

The family of an 18-year-old woman accused of causing the crash that killed two Tongan royals apologized to the Tongan community Thursday and said they pray daily to help that community recover from its losses. "Our whole family is sorrowful … not a second goes by that we won’t think about what happened and how big of an effect it has had on all of us," Edith Delgado’s older sister, Marivel Delgado, 19, saidat a press conference in San Jose. Edith Delgado remains in prison on three charges of vehicular......

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Downtown has evolved from port beginnings

Published: Jul 26, 2006

While locals are banking on the cinema-retail site to transform downtown, the city’s core has been through plenty of overhauls before. A teeming creek, 80 feet wide in some places, once flowed through downtown, where 100 years ago ships pulled into a port on Broadway and picked up lumber to carry to San Francisco. "It was visible from the courthouse," Redwood City historian John Edmonds said. "The lumber piles were huge." In the 1920s, a series of sloughs were built on the Bay side of Redwood City, protecting it from......

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San Mateo studying mixed-use condo plan

Published: Jul 25, 2006

Developers are moving ahead with plans to build 154 condominiums and ground-floor retail on the former Shen auto dealership site, where proposals in prior years have failed.Devin Hassett, who is guiding the Centex Homes project, thinks the proposed mix of residential and neighborhood-serving retail is better suited to the 3.11-acre site at 800-888 North San Mateo Drive than past proposals. An all-commercial concept from Salvatore Caruso failed in 2004 after residents raised concerns over parking, traffic and the influx of large delivery trucks that would have served the proposed grocery......

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Redwood City condo plan goes to council

Published: Jul 24, 2006

One hundred new condominiums could soon be approved on a Main Street site near Redwood Creek, although many in the city say new housing belongs closer to the core of downtown.The condominium proposal was approved 4-2 by the Redwood City Planning Commission in March and will go to the city council for a vote tonight. While those who approved the project say it will create much-needed housing close to downtown, those who voted against it say it doesn’t match with the city’s new downtown guidelines, which are due to be......

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Caltrain strikes man, who suffers broken arm

Published: Jul 21, 2006

An unidentified man suffered a broken arm when he was struck by a Caltrain on Thursday morning near Second Avenue, but he survived the impact.Just after 7:30 a.m., the man was walking southbound