Installation of two new pipes to help the flow of wastewater in San Mateo could begin this summer if environmental review and designs are approved by spring.
Larry Patterson, director of San Mateo’s Department of Public Works, said both pipes would be a second source of transporting water to the city’s treatment plant during heavy rainstorms.
The work is a result of the city receiving a cease-and-desist order last year to control the excess flows in the system during the winter, deputy director Darla Reams said.
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More than 22 acres of South San Francisco’s industrial space will be redeveloped over the next 10 years and made into office space to accommodate the ever-growing biotech industry.
Mike Lappen, South City’s economic development coordinator, said he is anticipating more biotech companies to relocate to the area, and redevelopment projects like this will accommodate the growth.
“They will knock down existing buildings and replace it with six-story structures,” he said. “We have room to grow here.”
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A new play structure, safe recreational enclosure and heating in classrooms are some of the upgrades planned for two San Mateo parks.
Gateway Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and Park in northern San Mateo will receive the improvements later this year if the request to move the $136,000 for the work is approved March 15. A public hearing was held Wednesday.
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Go to school for one month straight and receive a free iPod Touch.
That is the incentive the Redwood City Elementary School District is offering in return for better attendance. Children will get a chance to win an iPod if they attend school every day for the next month.
The campaign, known as “Go To School and Win,” is a way to increase student attendance and ensure the district receives additional state funding.
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San Mateo’s community television has been given a 30-day lifeline.
KCSM was given until Wednesday to come up with the $1.2 million given to the station by the San Mateo Community College District to continue operation.
On the day of the deadline, the TV station was only $30,000 short of the goal, said Michelle Brown, a broadcast and electronic media professor at College of San Mateo.
Because of the hard work and efforts to come up with the money, the district’s board of trustees extended the deadline another 30 days.
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Ten years ago, alternative education carried the stigma of at-risk youths in danger of dropping out of high school.But school districts around the Peninsula are trying to change that by offering more options for students to advance, make up credits and learn trade skills for a job after high school.Marshal Burgundy, director of alternative education with Sequoia Union High School District, said though alternative education is not new, it is moving in a direction that is more focused on students and their needs.
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A South San Francisco company that last week inadvertently distributed chicken noodle soup with glass shards in it to long-term care facilities immediately banned jar containers in order to prevent it from happening again.
Bob Dunn, president of FoodService Partners of California, called the incident “inexcusable” and said more strict standards have been implemented in the production room including increased safety tests before, during and after production.
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It seems Redwood City has all the luck of the lottery these days.
In one week, three stores sold winning lottery tickets for a combined cash prize of $674,000, the California Lottery said.
The first winning ticket was purchased Feb. 11. That ticket was a Daily Derby in which players need to correctly guess the horses and their times in a race.
Dave Gutierrez claimed the $217,258 prize Wednesday, lottery spokeswoman Kelly Kell said.
Kell said she could not give out information on Gutierrez and that he declined media interviews.
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Walgreens is facing an uphill battle in its effort to sell beer and wine in South San Francisco.
The city’s chief planner denied an application for Walgreens to sell alcohol at its Westborough Boulevard location at the request of the South City Police Department, which cited a high crime rate and the number of police calls to stores that sell alcohol.
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In hopes of cleaning landfills and city streets, the South San Francisco City Council agreed recently to pursue creating a voluntary program that would prohibit the use of plastic and paper bags in retail stores.
The idea, Councilwoman Karyl Matsumoto said, will give consumers a choice to use reusable bags or accept a fee.
“We’re not jamming it down people’s throats,” she said. “But customers have the option to say ‘OK, charge me 10 cents.’”
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Chris Feasel has been a victim of identity theft twice.
But that doesn’t stop the San Mateo deputy district attorney from going to the ATM or filling up at a gas station. Instead, he says he is more careful.
Also, he said will continue to prosecute any person suspected of stealing people’s identity through nefarious schemes as best he can.
“The more people we can prosecute, the less people there are on the streets doing this,” Feasel said.
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As school districts look to tighten their belts even more, they are being asked by a San Mateo County watchdog group to spend more on fire alarms to protect students.
School officials are understandably concerned about where the money will come from following a civil grand jury report in January requesting districts to upgrade their alarm systems and create a direct link to fire departments. The report said the types of alarms vary countywide.
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A Peninsula school district that is aiming at increased communication between parents and teachers on grades and assignments will have a new system in place this summer.
Sequoia Union High School District — which serves 8,700 students in the communities of Redwood City, Menlo Park and Woodside — awarded a two-year contract to Infinite Campus in October 2009 for use of its system. The two-year contract is estimated at $350,000.
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Use of the Fair Oaks Library jumped more than 40 percent in the past year, causing books to literally fly off shelves.
To help increase the number of materials such as books, movies and music, the Redwood City Library Foundation is working to raise $250,000 for the branch to be used toward supplies.
“The shelves really look empty because the materials are flying off so fast,” said Georgi LaBerge, executive director of the library foundation. “Many people want to work on their language skills. There is a wait list for the audio tapes.”
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Plans to develop the former site of the San Mateo Police Station are moving forward as the city’s planning commission will hold a public hearing Tuesday about the site.
San Mateo hopes to build up to 120 apartment units on the 2.1-acre site, located at 2000 S. Delaware St.
The city purchased the land for $6 million in 2007. Officials had decided to create affordable-housing units after the Police Department moved to its $58 million facility less than one mile away last year.
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