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San Mateo is among local cities to have implemented new online systems for property owners seeking building or planning permits.

The systems allow property owners to apply for a variety of permits from the safety of their own home, helping to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials say.

San Mateo’s new Online Permit Center allows property owners to apply for a building or planning permits and receive virtual building plan reviews online. Property owners can schedule virtual appointments with plan checkers and can access written instructions and short “walk-through” videos on the web page.

This new system is much faster than the traditional in-person service at City Hall, officials said, and allows the city to complete a range of residential, commercial building and planning permits as well as accept, review, receive payments, and issue planning entitlements and building permits all online.

Belmont also recently implemented an online permit center, e-TRAKiT, which allows property owners to complete tasks online associated with their property, applications, permits and projects. Permits available online are express residential building permits, electrical service panel upgrade, furnace replacement, water heater replacement and tree removal.

To apply for a permit through the City of Belmont, visit their Permit Center e-TRAKiT website. To apply for a permit through the City of San Mateo, visit their Online Permit Center website.

A person was fatally struck by Caltrain Tuesday morning on tracks in Redwood City, the transit agency said.

The collision involved the northbound 215 train and occurred at 7:33 a.m. The intersection of Broadway and Arguello Street was closed due to the collision, Redwood City police stated in an advisory.

No injuries were reported on the train, which was carrying 25 passengers, according to Caltrain.

San Mateo County is considering fining individuals and businesses who don’t abide by public health orders.

At its meeting Tuesday, the county’s Board of Supervisors will consider passing an ordinance that would fine non-commercial entities and individuals — such as someone who fails to wear a mask when one is required — up to $100 for a first violation, up to $200 for a second violation that occurs within one year and up to $500 for each additional violation within that same year.

For commercial entities violating the health order, fines would range from $250 to $3,000 for each violation.

The administrative fines could be issued by members of the county sheriff’s office, local police departments, county health and parks officials and code enforcement officers, and others as approved by the board.

An enforcement officer must witness the infraction in order to cite an individual or non-commercial entity, the proposed ordinance states. However, an enforcement officer doesn’t have to catch a commercial entity in the act, but can determine a violation “through investigation and from credible sources,” it adds.

The ordinance provides all who are cited an ability to appeal the fine.

The fines aim to gain compliance with COVID-19 pandemic health orders amid a spike in cases. Last week, San Mateo County was placed on the state’s coronavirus watch list, which aims to monitor and address concerning COVID-19 trends, prompting the re-closure of certain indoor businesses, including gyms, barbershops and shopping malls.

While violations of COVID-19 health orders are already punishable as a misdemeanor offense, county officials say administrative citations work better in enforcement than criminal citations.

“Criminalizing violations may be overly punitive, consume a high amount of community resources, and take a long time to process,” officials said. “The infraction and administrative citation structures offer additional tools to give the County and cities and towns flexibility and supplement their efforts to encourage compliance and deter violations.”

San Mateo County wouldn’t be the first county to adopt fines. Contra Costa, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, and Yolo “have adopted similar infraction or administrative citation structures to allow them to issue fines to enforce face mask mandates and other public health orders,’ according to the County.

After being on the state’s coronavirus watch list for more than three days, San Mateo County is now being required to order the closure of specific indoor businesses unless they can operate outside or via curbside pickup, effective Sunday, Aug. 2. That includes gyms and fitness centers, offices, barbershops, hair and nail salons and shopping malls, the county said.

“Shops that offer tattoos, piercings, and electrolysis may not be operated outdoors and must close,” the county added.

County officials had expressed hope early Saturday that no additional closures would be needed, adding they were in discussions with the state. However, the state informed the county mid-day Saturday that businesses would need to close or shift operations outdoors, officials said.

A county is placed on the watch list if it has over 100 cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. San Mateo County is at 114.8 per 100,000, according to state data, and was first placed on the watch list on Wednesday. All Bay Area counties are currently on the state’s watch list, which aims to monitor and address concerning trends in COVID-19 cases.

For more information, visit the state website here and the county website here.

Starting Saturday, SamTrans will begin accepting applications for a pilot program offering subsidized taxi service for seniors and people with disabilities within San Carlos, Redwood City and North Fair Oaks.

The Ride Now program has eligible community members, including existing Redi-Wheels customers, paying a $5 co-pay per one-way trip, as well as any meter fare amount exceeding $25. Program participants can take up to eight qualifying one-way trips per month. Taxi trips in this program must start and end within San Carlos, Redwood City, and North Fair Oaks, according to SamTrans.

Once enrolled, customers can book trips directly through Serra Yellow Cab.

Four taxi subsidy programs are part of the pilot program in San Mateo County, the others of which operate in Pacifica, San Mateo and Daly City. Funded by a Federal Transit Administration through April 2021, the program aims to meet a need for affordable, same-day transportation for seniors and people with disabilities in South County.

“The pilot aims to meet that demand and potentially offset some of the high operating cost of Redi-Wheels paratransit service, which provides over 1,000 trips per month within the Ride Now coverage area,” according to SamTrans.

Riders can access applications through SamTrans’ website or by calling 1.800.660.4287 (TTY 650.508.6448).

San Mateo County is warning residents who receive unsolicited envelopes of assorted plant seed in the mail from China not to plant them or even open the packets, saying they could have a detrimental impact to the environment, according to the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner’s office.

“Many detrimental pathogens and invasive species can be transmitted into the environment and local agriculture by contaminated seed shipments, and it is unclear at this time why these packages are being sent,” county officials said.

The Agricultural Commissioner’s office has received reports from numerous residents in the county who have received seeds in the mail from China. CBS News reports that residents in all 50 states have reported receiving the mysterious seeds.

The commissioner’s office is working with the state Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA to investigate the shipments.

Residents are instructed not to open any unsolicited seed packets they receive and to contact the San Mateo County Department of Agriculture/Weights and Measures at (650) 363-4700 or at smateoag@smcgov.org.

“In order to prevent potential dispersal of invasive species and/or quarantine pests, seed packets should not be opened, shipped, planted or disposed of by residents,” County officials said. “Please retain any envelopes or labels that came with the seed packets, as they may prove useful in the investigation.”

Photo courtesy of San Mateo County

Stanford Hospital is ranked as one of the top 20 hospitals nationwide by U.S. News & World Report.

Ranked 13^th nationally, this is Stanford Health Care’s sixth year on the honor roll. The Honor Roll highlights 20 hospitals based on performance in 16 specialties and 10 procedures and conditions. It factors in patient outcomes, reputation among peers, patient volume and several other considerations.

Stanford is ranked first in the San Jose area and fourth in California. Another Bay Area hospital that made the list this year is UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, which was ranked 8^th nationally.

This recognition follows a number of other awards that Stanford Health Care and Stanford Hospital have received including being named a top 15 major teaching hospital by Fortune and IBM Watson Health, earning an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group for hospital safety and receiving five stars on Hospital Compare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ health care quality site.

“The rankings are a source of pride,” said Joseph Woo, MD, professor and chair of cardiothoracic surgery. “We don’t work toward the rankings; we work toward making a difference in society, but it’s nice to see the progress we’re making.”

This latest honor arrives as the COVID-19 pandemic has seen an increase in demand and hospitalization of patients across the Bay Area and California. In November, Stanford Hospital opened a new 824,000-square-foot hospital.

“The long list of accolades we’ve earned this past year speaks volumes about our people, who continue to rise to new challenges to ensure that our patients receive exceptional care,” Entwistle said. “As our nation’s health care system continues to confront extraordinary challenges wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not hope for a better team to navigate these difficult times.”

Photo credit: Stanford Hospital

Caltrain’s lifeline tax measure “is now dead,” according to San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, “which puts the railroad in great peril.”

The grim comments Tuesday followed the latest development in an ongoing impasse between San Mateo County and neighboring San Francisco and Santa Clara counties over the future governance of Caltrain.

Transit advocates hope to place a long-planned 1/8-cent sales tax measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would raise about $108 million annually for Caltrain, which relies heavily on ticket sales and has no dedicated source of funding. Officials say the transit agency could be forced to shut down following a 95 percent drop in ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30-year tax proposal cannot make it to the ballot without the support of all three counties where Caltrain operates. While San Mateo County has pledged support for the measure as initially proposed, leaders in Santa Clara and San Francisco have declined to do the same without changes to Caltrain’s current governance.

While all three counties have representation on the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which governs Caltrain, leaders in Santa Clara and San Francisco want more say over the operations of Caltrain, which is managed by the San Mateo County Transit District, or SamTrans.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in favor of an alternative November tax measure that would tie up most of the revenue generated from the 1/8 cent sales tax until an agreement is reached on Caltrain’s governance. As part of the plan, up to $40 million in revenue collected in the first year would go to Caltrain to cover COVID-related fare losses, as well as to offset annual contributions by the member counties. The rest would be held in a special escrow account that can be disbursed by the Joint Powers Board, although spending measures would be contingent upon supermajority approval.

Santa Clara County is reportedly expected to vote on a similar measure on Aug. 6, which is the deadline date for qualifying a ballot measure.

However, San Mateo County leaders are vehemently opposed to the proposal by neighboring counties, saying it violates state legislation that made the sales tax measure possible.

In 2017, Senate Bill 797, authored by Sen. Jerry Hill, paved the way for Caltrain to put an 1/8 cent sales tax measure before voters. The tax proposal was initially viewed as a measure to enhance Caltrain service, but is now also viewed as a pandemic rescue package.

“The statute requires that, if the ballot measure passes, the tax money go to Caltrain,” according to a joint statement by the lawmakers including Pine, Congressmembers Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo, Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin and Marc Berman and Belmont Vice Mayor Charles Stone.

SamTrans’ attorneys also say conditions approved by San Francisco supervisors would not comply with Bill 797.

San Francisco officials haven’t heeded that warning. San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin called the impasse an 18-month fight for regional governance, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

“The best time to have this conversation is when money is on the table. I know it’s been an unpleasant conversation,” Peskin said, the Examiner reported.

Redwood City Councilmember Giselle Hale is requesting that the city erect a monument or mural to the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Tuesday, Hale announced on social media that she has “submitted a referral asking Council to adopt a resolution in support of Black Lives Matters and to commission a mural or monument that visually affirms our support.”

“Over the past week it’s been clear our community is craving a transparent and open discussion of this matter,” Hale said. “A referral affords us just that.”

Hale’s request follows the city’s recent controversial decision to remove the Black Lives Matter street mural on Broadway. After a large peaceful BLM protest in Redwood City on June 2 calling for justice for George Floyd, local resident Daniel Pease received city approval to paint Black Lives Matter in large yellow letters on Broadway. The city said the mural was supposed to be a temporary installation and posed a traffic concern. But many in the community believe the mural’s removal was a response to pressure from a local real estate attorney, who recently requested the right to paint MAGA 2020 on the same street.

The attorney, Maria Rutenberg, says the city should have engaged in a public process before agreeing to make a statement in the public square.

Hale said she wants to do just that.

“I hope that the recent debate around the Black Lives Matters street installation in our City was a challenge of process, not sentiment,” Hale said. “This conversation can marry those two things and create a more permanent expression of our values.”

The next step in the process is that the City Council will determine if it should authorize staff time towards this effort. Council did not approve the installation of the previous BLM street mural. Climate has requested city documents to better understand the process by which Pease’s request was approved, and also why there was a sudden move to remove it.

“There’s been a lot of back and forth commenting on what should have, could have, and even what should not have happened to the BLM mural on Broadway,” Pease stated on Facebook while sharing Hale’s statement on the issue.

Previously, Pease said the controversy surrounding the mural revealed that “the amount of hate filled hearts and minds that still exist in this city is real.”

“I trust that in time people will come together and the voices that stand for BLM will be heard,” he said.

Hale credited the recently-deceased congressman and Civil Rights icon John Lewis as part of her motivation to request a public process to erect a BLM mural or monument. City Council ended its Monday meeting by honoring Lewis.

“His seminal quote ‘Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble’ is one he lived to the end, choosing to spend his final days visiting the Black Lives Matters mural in Washington D.C.,” Hale said.

Hale said she wants to honor that legacy “by getting into some good, necessary trouble and extending an invitation to my colleagues and the community to join me.”

“We are inspired by the death of George Floyd and the life of John Lewis to make ourselves vulnerable,” she said. “We have to listen to our neighbors and respect one another. The opposition to the simple statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ is proof that the work of John Lewis is not done.”

Hale added that a mural is not enough, but “it’s how we begin a conversation that leads to a cultural shift.”

“From Selma to Minneapolis to Redwood City, change comes only when we make it happen,” Hale said. “Let’s make it happen here.”

Photo credit: Jim Kirkland

San Mateo County was added to the state’s coronavirus watch list Wednesday.

If the county remains on the list for three consecutive days, it must require the closure of gyms and fitness centers, offices, shopping malls, barbershops, hair and nail salons and other similar services.

San Mateo County became the last Bay Area county to join the watch list, which aims to monitor and address concerning trends in COVID-19 cases. Currently, 38 counties are on the list.

A county is placed on the watch list if it has over 100 cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. San Mateo County is currently at 128.3 per 100,000, according to the state’s figures.

With a population of about 778,000, San Mateo County had 998 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths over the last 14 days, county data show. A total of 5,171 positive cases and 118 deaths have been recorded since the start of COVID testing during the pandemic.

Of 27,971 COVID-19 tests reported in the county over the last 14 days, the test positivity rate is 3.6 percent, below the statewide rate of 7.4 percent. At last count, 16 intensive care unit beds are occupied by patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. ICU bed availability is at 27 percent, and ventilator availability is at 86 percent, the data showed.

The county’s addition to the state’s watch list was not unexpected. San Mateo County health officials warned it was imminent. County leaders are concerned over the impact to the economy.

“Whether we are on the list or not, what is most important is that we all act as we can proactively to prevent the spread of the virus and growth in the number of cases,” Health Chief Louise Rogers said.

The following are recent numbers posted by the California Dept. of Public Health: