In an effort to reduce water usage and conserve energy, Daly City officials are considering an ordinance that would require homes to have efficient fixtures that use less water.
Patrick Sweetland, director of Daly City’s water and wastewater services, said the ordinance will address the local water supply limits set by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and new state standards.
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Before enrolling in San Mateo High School’s biotechnology classes, Shashank Sanjay did not know science would be a big part of his life.
Sanjay said he was interested in the hands-on lab work the classes offered — as opposed to traditional biology and chemistry — and decided to sign up for the course.
Two years later, the 17-year-old senior said he has focused on science as a career and even landed a 180-hour summer internship, during which he was able to successfully extract and multiply DNA.
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In the event of a commute-clogging accident on the Peninsula on U.S. Highway 101, drivers detouring on El Camino Real will be given real-time directions via digital screens under a planned $25 million project scheduled to be completed by early 2012.
Part of a Smart Corridors plan being coordinated by a regional planning group, the City/County Association of Governments, the project would eventually place the digital screens along the 14-mile portion of the thoroughfare, which crosses seven Peninsula cities.
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San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District officials may start looking at property in San Mateo to build another elementary school after a study shows the last available site in Foster City may not be feasible.District officials began searching for a site to build a new school after enrollment projections estimated the district would grow by 13 percent in the next five years. That growth would put the existing schools at or beyond capacity.
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Crimes against vulnerable senior citizens on the Peninsula are on the upswing.
Financial scams are often deceptively simple. A young person in need asks an elderly person for an amount of money to help with a charity. The elderly person feels sympathetic and offers the young person help, but it’s a scam.
San Mateo County Adult Protective Services Manager Chris Rodriguez said such financial abuse toward the elderly has grown in the past few years.
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The executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center helped organize an economic development program that helps support small businesses and entrepreneurs. On Tuesday the Center is offering a free workshop for entrepreneurs on social media. What is the program? It is the first program in the world to address economic concerns in the LGBT community.
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Planned improvements to Laurelwood Park could be postponed if city funds are not available.
San Mateo Parks and Recreation Director Sheila Canzian said plans are still being developed, but funding is also an issue.
“We’re still trying to see if we have the funding for it,” she said. “We’re still assessing what’s going on.”
Improvements to Laurelwood, a 225-acre park located off Glendora Drive on the city’s southwest border and at the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain, have been in discussions for more than a year.
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In an effort to get habitual truants back to class, the police officers working at San Mateo’s public high schools are pushing city officials to put some teeth into a city ordinance that would allow them to issue fines to students who skip school.
Officer Keala Keanaaina, a fulltime school resource officer at San Mateo High School, said fining students caught outside school without a legitimate reason may be the only way to reach them.
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A block south of Menlo-Atherton High School, Allen Moench can hear the echoes of Friday night crowds gathered for football games and the announcers on loudspeakers at weekend swim meets.
Moench, a 30-year resident of the neighborhood, said noise from the events and fans is loud, and a plan to add permanent lights to the football field so there could be evening games would make things worse.
“I understand some parents are excited, but for those of us who are not parents, we’re not that excited,” the 73-year-old said.
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Seeing the look of joy in young children’s eyes is all Rich Seguine needs.
Seguine and fellow members of the San Mateo Firefighters’ Association are embarking on another holiday season with the Toys for Tots program, collecting and distributing gifts for underprivileged youth.
But this year is especially tough, Seguine said, because of the increasing number of parents and families in need as a result of the slow economy.
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Luke Weigard sat at a table coloring a picture. Under the drawing were characters telling a tale in Mandarin.
The blond-haired 7-year-old practiced writing his name in the Chinese language, but he spoke to his classmates at San Mateo’s College Park Elementary School in English.
Weigard shared a table with Chinese, Taiwanese, Hispanic and black students. Only one was a native Mandarin speaker.
When his classmate, Thien Tam Nam Nguyen Do, scrawled three characters on plain white paper, Weigard said it meant “friends.”
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For the last four years, Gary Moore has commuted almost daily from his home in Redwood City to his workplace in San Mateo on his bicycle.
The approximately 9-mile ride is fun, he said, but it can also be a challenge. A system of bikeways — something San Mateo city officials are working to create — could encourage more people to take two wheels to work instead of four, while making it safe for everyone on the road, Moore said.
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In an effort to connect to more residents, an increasing number of city associations and government departments are embracing popular social networking tools.
“The newer generations are really using this stuff — Facebook and Twitter,” Redwood City Library Director Dave Genesy said. “We really need to get information on demand.”
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Heavy coats, cooler temperatures and early sunsets are all signs of winter, which means the holiday season is getting closer and Peninsula cities have a variety of celebrations to bring in the holidays.
In Redwood City, Santa Claus, a petting zoo and even snow will be highlights of the downtown area during its Hometown Holidays on Dec. 5.
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The installation of new digital “smart” meters for measuring gas and electricity has resulted in customer confusion and frustration across the state, prompting a class-action lawsuit and calls for a moratorium on the PG&E devices.
SmartMeters are currently being installed throughout the Bay Area. Large portions of Peninsula cities are scheduled to have their standard meters replaced by the end of 2010, according to PG&E’s deployment schedule. The rollout is slated to start in San Francisco in September.
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