The Peninsula hamlet of Broadmoor is pushing for state legislation to allow it to regulate taxi cabs and towing companies, but San Mateo County officials are pushing back against efforts to expand local police powers.
Residents have long complained about lax rules for taxis in the unincorporated community of 4,000, which is home to the Colma BART station.
The area is patrolled by the 63-year-old Broadmoor Police Protection District, which, as California’s only active police protection district, has no power to pass its own ordinances.
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The planned closure of a San Mateo County-run clinic for opiate addicts is in limbo while a San Francisco nonprofit goes through the tricky process of finding a new location for the center.
The county is enlisting Bay Area Addiction Research and Treatment to take over the methadone provider. The clinic, currently located in Menlo Park, is losing $200,000 to $300,000 per year at a time when the health system is considering $15 million in budget cuts, officials said.
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Some 200 patients will be moved into the new $618 million Mills-Peninsula Medical Center later this month, one hospital bed at a time.
The hospital is finalizing plans for a tightly choreographed opening-day move of all of its patients and staff from the original 1954 Peninsula Medical Center, which will be torn down, to the new hospital down the hill.
Every three minutes, a patient will be wheeled in his or her bed across a covered pathway to the new building, with doctors and nurses alongside, said nurse Cathy Rosaia, the leader of the group planning the move.
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Dave Pine beat out five other candidates to win the District 1 seat in San Mateo County’s first all-mail election for supervisor. Pine bested community college district president Richard Holober to win the position outright in a race with no run-off. In third place was Millbrae Council member Gina Papan, followed by Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel, victim’s advocate Michael Stogner, and retired San Mateo Highlands resident Demetrios Nikas.
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A growing number of San Mateo County residents are turning to their cellphones when they need to call 911, a trend that can cause potentially dangerous delays for public safety dispatchers, according to officials.
San Mateo County Public Safety Communications, the county’s main dispatch center for all emergency fire and medical calls, took 37,644 cellphone calls to 911 last year, making up 46.7 percent of all 911 calls, according to recently released statistics.
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As a six-way race for an open San Mateo County supervisor seat comes down to the wire, election officials say the Peninsula’s first all-mail supervisor contest is producing encouraging results.
With Election Day on Tuesday, officials have begun processing thousands of ballots for the exceptionally competitive race for the open District 1 supervisor seat.
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As cities such as Half Moon Bay and San Carlos outsource police services to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the change could give some officers an overnight income boost.
The day before San Carlos handed its law enforcement to the sheriff to save $2 million per year, Chief Greg Rothaus retired and started drawing a $131,976 a year pension, according to CalPERS, the state retirement system that serves 1.6 million public employees.
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A long-term plan for San Mateo County government buildings lists an eye-popping $485 million worth of potential facilities projects over the next decade, but officials admit the county’s budget problems will probably keep some from breaking ground.
The facility master plan shows supervisors “what it might look like if we had unlimited resources,” Public Works Director Jim Porter said.
In reality, the county is facing an $82 million budget deficit this year and will have to pick and choose its projects during the next several years, according to officials.
“I think it
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Peninsula cities are considering changes to their affordable-housing laws following a court’s ruling that cities cannot set initial rents on new rental projects. The behind-the-scenes talks about local housing ordinances, potentially impacting at least a dozen cities in San Mateo County, comes almost two years after the decision in the 2009 case City of Los Angeles vs. Palmer.
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Changing populations in some of San Mateo County’s largest cities could shift the boundaries of supervisor districts south as the first redistricting effort in a decade kicks off. While county supervisors will ultimately decide the new districts, officials are working to schedule community forums in May and June that will allow residents to weigh in on the configuration of the five districts, taking into account recently released 2010 census data.
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Prosecutions for adult marijuana possession in San Mateo County dropped by two-thirds in the first three months of 2011 as the head of the countywide police chiefs association says the crime has become less of a priority for law enforcement. The decline in minor pot possession cases comes in the wake of Senate Bill 1449, which went into effect Jan. 1 and downgraded the crime from a misdemeanor to an infraction, similar to a traffic ticket.
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Merchants are criticizing a plan that earmarks city redevelopment money for a series of public projects rather than on key private properties downtown, including the recently-sold Benjamin Franklin Hotel.
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The already-striking disparities in student spending between Peninsula school districts could grow even larger with deep state budget cuts looming, local educators warn.
The differences can be stark, even among neighboring districts. While the Redwood City School District spent $5,251 on each of its roughly 9,000 students in the 2009-10 school year, the one-school Woodside Elementary School District spent $17,320 on each of its 450 kids, according to data compiled by Redwood City officials.
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The historic Benjamin Franklin Hotel was sold this week, sparking hope among local merchants that new ownership of the prominent downtown property will help spark a revitalization of the area.
The vacant hotel at 44 E. Third Ave., built in 1926, was sold by UBS on Wednesday, spokeswoman Kelly Smith told The San Francisco Examiner. Smith could not confirm the buyer or the sale price.
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School districts in San Carlos and Daly City are hoping voters will soften the blow from state funding cuts by approving parcel taxes during a special all-mail election this month. The marquee contest for the May 3 special election is the race for an open San Mateo County supervisor seat, but the San Carlos School District and Jefferson Union High School District also have parcel taxes on the ballot.
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