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The Redwood City Fire Department was investigating a two-alarm fire Tuesday in a warehouse at 642 Quarry Road.

Reported at 6:01 a.m., the blaze was battled first by the building’s sprinkler system, then extinguished by firefighters, the Fire Department said.

No injuries were reported and the fire’s cause is under investigation.

Photo credit: Redwood City Fire Department

Organizers of the Miss Redwood City-San Mateo County Competition are ending their connection with the Miss America organization, and for the first time in 60-plus years there may be no handoff to the next local titleholder.

The committee’s decision to let their franchise with the Miss California organization expire Sept. 1 comes amid controversy at the national level over the new direction of the Miss America pageant. The decision also comes a little over three months from November, when the local pageant would have taken place. Unless a replacement committee gets the nod to continue, the 2018 titleholder, Brooke Muschott, could be the last Miss Redwood City/San Mateo County.

“It’s up for grabs,” said Allison Wood, executive director of the Redwood City committee, noting that if the Miss California organization wishes to sign another group, the show could still go on.

The local competition is a preliminary to Miss California and Miss America, which has been roiled by controversy since a new team led by chairwoman Gretchen Carlson, a former Miss America, and CEO Regina Hopper assumed command months ago.  In an abrupt departure, both the evening gown and swimsuit elements were jettisoned, the latter to be replaced with an interactive conversational session with the judges.

Two weeks ago, Cara Mund, the 2018 Miss America, wrote a letter to former titleholders complaining about being controlled, silenced, bullied and manipulated, charges the Miss America Organization has disputed.

Wood said decisions have been made without buy-in at the local level, and the ripple effect of the upheaval has been confusion and uncertainty. Information hasn’t been forthcoming about the replacement elements in the competition so the judges and contestants can understand the scoring requirements.

“I don’t know how we would have been able to put this together without knowing what these girls would be scored on,” Wood said. “There was a complete lack of information available.” Adding to the logistical difficulties, some contestants who will be going to Miss America will be competing under the old rules and some under the new rules.

Wood said she came to the conclusion that she couldn’t in good conscience recruit a girl – “someone’s daughter or sister” – and potentially subject her to the treatment that the current Miss America complained about.

Wood and Sparkle Willliams Capps, another member of the local committee, said it’s possible that a “Miss Redwood City” without the state or national affiliation could be redefined to function as a community ambassador. Some pageants focus on preparing a contestant to make it all the way from Miss California to Miss America; Redwood City’s is among those that focus more on helping the titleholder develop as a person, as well as be active in the community, Williams Capps said.

During her term, Muschott has volunteered her time at countless charitable and other public events, including the Picnic en Blanc fundraiser on Saturday night. “Miss Redwood City doesn’t have to stop,” Wood said. “It just wouldn’t be affiliated with Miss America.”

Likewise, the “Mr. Redwood City” parody pageant – a fundraiser for the Miss Redwood City event – could continue, as a way to raise funds for other programs, Wood said.

Photo: Jim Kirkland

Amid skyrocketing housing prices in Redwood City, startup company Bungalow is offering a solution: shared housing.

The online service is expanding rapidly across the nation — property owners lease their homes to Bungalow, which then rents out the property on a room-by-room basis. The arrangement adds affordable rentals into pleasant city neighborhoods, while aiming to be lucrative for property owners.

But when Bungalow began managing a property in Redwood City’s Mount Carmel neighborhood, some neighbors didn’t consider the arrangement a win-win.

After a single family home was converted to create additional rooms that are now rented individually and managed by Bungalow, the city received complaints over code violations and concerns about the potential impact of shared housing arrangements on noise, parking and safety. The city indeed discovered non-permitted construction at the home, which it says has since been corrected. But city staff also noted probable legal barriers to government’s ability to regulate shared housing arrangements. While the city can and does regulate short-term housing, long-term arrangements and leases are protected by anti-discrimination and privacy laws.

For that reason in large part, Redwood City council members on Monday declined to ask city staff to look into the possibility of such regulation.

“Typically, government in general cannot decide who is allowed to live in the home, and what we define a single family is,” Assistant City Manager Aaron Aknin said. “There’s also limits on privacy. The courts have ultimately found on a number of occasions that government shouldn’t be able to go in and ask about the relationship of people that are living in the homes, or what their leases are like in their homes.”

The city also can’t regulate who buys a home and the property owner’s decision whether to live in the home or rent it, Aknin added.

During public comment on the issue Monday, several renters spoke in favor of shared housing as a way to make Redwood City more affordable to lower-income professionals like teachers and service workers.

“We all face a deep and scary housing crisis…many renters already spend about 30 to 50 percent of their income on housing costs,” said Matt Larson, who rents in the Mount Carmel neighborhood. “Finding a bedroom in a co-living situation is actually a very logical option.”

Larson added, “I really would like Redwood City to be a city full of diversity, both in background and income levels.”

Rudy Turiello expressed concern over how Mount Carmel might change with investors converting homes to accommodate more residents.

“It really isn’t resistance to housing,” Turiello said, saying he supports affordable housing creation. “It has a lot to do with seeing a house that was a three bedroom converted to a six bedrooms illegally.”

Some neighbors fear real estate investors will swoop in to buy every home that goes for sale in Mount Carmel in order to expand them and maximize profit, Turiello said.

“We won’t have neighborhoods. We’ll have apartment-hoods,” he said.