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Families Belong Together rally planned for Courthouse Square on Saturday

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Courthouse Square to host Juneteenth celebration on Friday

New details have been released about the Families Belong Together rally set for Courthouse Square in Redwood City this Saturday, including that Charlotte Willner — who along with her husband, Dave, launched a viral fundraiser that has raised over $20 million to support separated migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border — will be speaking at the event.

Also, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo is set to attend the Redwood City rally to share her experience from touring detention facilities in Texas, along with actions being taken by Congress.

The rally, scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon at the square at 2200 Broadway St., is being held in solidarity with the national Families Belong Together Day of Action, where rallies and marches across the nation will call for an end to the separation and detention of immigrant families.

The local rally is a grassroots effort that began in an online messenger thread between Whitney Black and Giselle Hale, who both serve on the Redwood City Education Foundation board. They registered the event with the national movement organized by MoveOn and then quickly began building a team that represents a broad base of support for the immigrant community across San Mateo County. The local rally features a long list of “co-hosts” from city councils and other public agencies throughout the county.

Hale, an active member of numerous local organizations, a Redwood City planning commissioner and also a candidate for City Council, said the effort to oppose and change President Donald Trump’s immigration policies is fundamentally about “love of country and family.”

“At the core of who we are as Americans is our love of country and family,” Hale said. “From the border to our neighborhoods, we must not only ask ‘where are the children’ but how we as residents locally stand up against a federal government forcibly breaking up families.”

The national immigration debate heated up after the Trump administration imposed a “zero tolerance” initiative against illegal entry in the U.S., which led to passionate opposition across the nation against the separations of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Last week, a pressured President Trump signed an executive order to end the process of separating children from families, but the president said he would maintain a “zero tolerance” policy of criminally prosecuting all adults caught crossing the border illegally, in order to bolster national security.

This weekend’s Courthouse Square rally aims to proclaim that detaining families is “not a solution, it is a jail sentence,” adding those fleeing violence and poverty “must be protected and safe.”

“Our demand is clear and not negotiable: Trump’s policies of separating and detaining families must be stopped indefinitely and families must be reunified,” according to the Facebook e-vite.

Stanford’s new outpatient building in Redwood City celebrated with ribbon-cutting

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Stanford celebrates opening of state-of-the-art outpatient building in Redwood City

The newly built “high-tech, high-touch” medical building at the Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center in Redwood City is scheduled to open for patient care on July 9.

On Monday, Redwood City Mayor Ian Bain, Councilmember Janet Borgens and Amy Buckmaster, president and CEO of the Redwood City/San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce, joined community members and medical professionals at a ribbon-cutting for the new facility at 420 Broadway St., called Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center, Pavilion D.

The three-story, 90,000-square-foot clinic will complement services provided by Stanford’s first outpatient center at 450 Broadway that opened in 2009.

The building aims to achieve a new level of collaborative patient care — the design includes “clinic pods” that place specialists across different practices into the same workplace so they can more efficiently discuss a patient’s care, according to Stanford officials.

“Having a world-class facility like the Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center in Redwood City makes health care more convenient and accessible to our residents,” Mayor Bain said. “This new medical building broadens the range of expertise and services available here, and throughout San Mateo County.”

The medical building boasts a new Orthopaedic Clinic; Digestive Health Center; Pelvic Health Center; Endoscopy Procedure Suite; and Imaging. And it will complement services provided at 450 Broadway such as orthopedic surgery and sports medicine, dermatology, sleep medicine and pain management, according to Stanford.

The facility also includes extra-wide exam chairs in spacious rooms, consultation rooms for telemedicine visits, a health library, and private surgery prep rooms located just outside each of the procedure rooms.

“The Stanford Medicine Outpatient Center captures the essence of the high-tech, high-touch concept that is so important to our Precision Health vision,” said Lloyd B. Minor, M.D., dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine. “Stanford Medicine is excited to expand and improve upon our ability to deliver leading-edge health care throughout our community, making it more convenient for our patients to receive a broad range of health care services.”

Google, HandsOn Bay Area help make over SVDP Thrift Store

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SVDP Thrift Store gets makeover thanks to Google, HandsOn Bay Area

A volunteer effort involving Google employees and HandsOn Bay Area led to the makeover of a Redwood City thrift store.

In a Facebook post Monday, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of San Mateo County expressed gratitude to volunteers from Google and HandsOn Bay Area for helping beautify the thrift store at 2406 El Camino Real.

Google employees “categorized hundreds of pieces of delicate glass items, sorted/color coded/sized dozens of racks of clothing, built shelving and display units, and gave the dressing room area a little love with beautiful paint, all the while staying positive and eager to continue,” according to SVDP-San Mateo County.

HandsOn Bay Area, which helps coordinate volunteer projects, was credited with helping to organize the makeover.

SVDP-San Mateo County provides a variety of services to San Mateo County residents in need

Photo: Facebook via SVDP

Schedule, line-up for Redwood City’s Fourth of July celebration released

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Schedule, line-up for Redwood City's Fourth of July celebration released

Thousands of visitors and residents are expected to attend Fourth of July festivities in Redwood City this year, which include the annual parade downtown, a festival, a pancake breakfast, a 5k run, Chalk Full of Fun, concerts, and, of course, a fireworks show.

The fun begins early on July 4, with a pancake breakfast with the Redwood City Fire Department from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at 755 Marshall St.

At 8 a.m., the Parade Run 5K, with check-in from 6:30 a.m. to 7:59 a.m., will start at the corner of Arguello and Marshall streets.

Between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on both Tuesday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 4, chalk art will occur on Courthouse Square.

At 9 a.m., there will be a car show at Broadway and El Camino.

The 80th Annual July 4 Parade begins at 10 a.m. The parade route follows:

And the 32nd Annual Festival will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  on several city blocks (see map below). The festival will feature arts and crafts, food, beverages, a battle of the bands, and kids’ activities.

A concert at the Port of Redwood City, featuring Fog City Swampers, will occur from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

And finally at 9:30 p.m., the fireworks celebration will occur at the Port of Redwood City.  Food trucks will be available from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. The Port is providing a public viewing area along the waterfront off Seaport Court. Portable restrooms and sinks will be available. Attendees are not allowed to BBQ or bring alcohol to the show.

Meanwhile, the San Mateo County History Museum will present “An Old Fashioned Fourth of July” within the museum between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. where “children  can hand-crank homemade vanilla ice cream and then take a taste. They will also make traditional Independence Day crafts to take home with them.” Also starting at 1 p.m., adults can view vintage films of the San Francisco Peninsula from the Museum’s archives. Museum admission will be half-price that day: $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students and, as always, free for kids five and under.

No Fireworks in Redwood City

As we reported in April, the city of Redwood City is serious about prohibiting any fireworks within city limits aside from the Port of Redwood City’s show, with City Council approving fines of up to $1,000 for violators.

“The City is encouraging the community to educate neighbors about the risks of using fireworks, offering lawn signs to educate neighbors,” the city said. “Lawn signs are available for residents to pick up at Red Morton, the Community Activities Building, Redwood Shores Library, and the Fair Oaks Community Center. Keep our community safe and do not take the risk. Keep our community safe and do not take the risk. For more information about this initiative, go here.”

Fourth of July Parade Chair Policy

“Placement of any chairs, barricades, coolers, tape, or other options upon the sidewalk or street for the parade is prohibited prior to 12 a.m. on July 4, 2018. Any chairs, barricades, coolers, tape or other options placed upon the sidewalk or street prior to July 4, 2018 will be removed and stored at the Redwood City Corporation Yard at 1400 Broadway. Confiscated items may be picked up at the City Corporation Yard between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. during normal business hours. The Corporation Yard is closed on July 4.”

For more information on Redwood City’s Fourth of July celebration events, visit here.

‘School’s out’ with more than one common denominator

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Lori Longo and Teresa Anthony are two educators at Redwood City schools with more in common than long careers giving guidance to local children and their parents. Both live in the same neighborhood. Both create family albums and are mothers of twins. And both are retiring this month after 28-year careers.

Longo, who has taught parenting skills to hundreds of Peninsula moms and dads, will sing her final circle song June 7 at Open Gate Nursery School on Brewster Avenue, pack up her autoharp and start to enjoy the fruits of retirement. Her tenure at Open Gate and two other Peninsula co-op nursery schools brought her a lifetime achievement award this year from the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools.

Longo’s philosophy is that the more parents participate, the more their kids will be successful and she tries to give moms and dads the tools to do the job well. Trying to be perfect, she says, is one mistake. “There are no perfect parents and their children don’t expect them to be.  Make a mistake and learn from it and try a different approach the next time.” Don’t say “No!” all the time or insist on sharing, and be sure to read and talk to your children, she advises.

“There’s no such thing as ‘Terrible Twos,’” Longo adds. “They’re ‘Terrific Twos.’ They need to be outside. They need parents who talk to them so they learn language. They are exploring, which leads parents to say ‘no’ all the time, which leads the child to say ‘no’ all the time. They don’t need to share; they’re not developmentally ready for that. Taking turns, yes. Parents can use many of the same tactics when the children are teenagers – acting like 2-year-olds.”

Just a few blocks away from Open Gate, school principal Anthony will be turning over the reins at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School to her successor, Deborah Farrington, a longtime educator and most recently on the faculty of Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton.  After 12 years as teacher and administrator at St. Charles School in San Carlos, Anthony became the first lay principal at 133-year-old Mount Carmel, which at the time was struggling with declining enrollment, a large debt and program reductions. As she departs, the budget is balanced, the endowment exceeds $1 million, the curriculum is comprehensive and rigorous and there is a healthy enrollment of children ages 3-14.

“I would be remiss to imply there weren’t a few (very few) times I wanted to run from the school screaming,” she wrote in a farewell letter. “But there were hundreds more times when I thanked God he had chosen to put me on this path at this school.”

MicroClimate wishes both Longo and Anthony an uncommonly rewarding retirement.

Thanks to some generous community donors, about 40 Sequoia High School students who have been trained in emergency response procedures have been provisioned with “go bags” that can be the beginning of their families’ home emergency kits. The students have been taught skills like how to put out small fires, evaluate and treat injuries and safely perform search and recues, but they also know how to prepare their own households for potential disasters, according to teacher Greg Schmid.  Many of the students are from low-income households, and donors responded to a fundraising appeal to purchase the go bag essentials, which the kids assembled May 21.  Kudos to the Sequoia Health Care District, Redwood City CERT, Sims Metal Management, Redwood City 2020, Dignity Health, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Target and other donors for chipping in.

The Sequoia Veterans Memorial – a granite monument amid a grove of trees near the Brewster Avenue entrance to the campus – was dedicated in 2005, designed to honor alumni who had died while in military service. Dee Eva, who spearheaded the project, spent countless hours tracking down names and checking graduation lists programs and other school records to assemble the list of more than 100 veterans whose names were engraved on the monument. Since then, two more have emerged and been verified, World War II veterans Walter VanderKamp and Norman Vance. Eva notes that during that war, many students left Sequoia before graduation to enlist, so documenting them as alumni has been challenging.

Before contracting for the engraving of the names of those two veterans, the alumni association  wants to know if there are others that should be added at the same time. A 1944 newspaper story lists the following Sequoians killed or missing in action whose names are not on the memorial: Jimmy Austin, George Hildebrandt, Fred Thom, Peter Virseo and Howard Davis. Anyone who might have information about these veterans can contact Eva at 368-4800.  The alumni association also welcomes donations to defray the cost of the engraving.

This article first appeared in the June 2018 issue of Climate magazine.

Funds approved to study Redwood City public ferry service

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Funds approved to study Redwood City public ferry service

Public ferry service serving Redwood City is one step closer.

The San Mateo County Transportation Authority (SMCTA) recently approved funding to move forward with studies and analysis of a commuter ferry service at the Port of Redwood City, according to the Port of Redwood City’s latest newsletter.The city plans to release a Request for Proposal for the feasibility study and cost benefit analysis later this year, the newsletter states. The Port noted that funds for the ferry service feasibility studies will also be provided through Regional Measure 3, the toll bridge increase transportation measure voters approved June 5.

According to the Port’s site, ferry service would be provided by the SF Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) via two high-speed, 149 passenger catamaran vessels that would offer service to San Francisco and the East Bay during commute hours. A one-way trip to San Francisco is estimated to take 47 minutes, while the trip to the East Bay is estimated to take about 45 minutes.

Recently, WETA leaders and staff, along with representatives of the Port, City of Redwood City, SMCTA, Assemblymember Kevin Mullin’s office, and local business leaders, met to look at a possible ferry terminal site (see photo from the meeting below).

The WETA strategic plan envisions “a system that seamlessly connects cities in the greater Bay Area with San Francisco, using fast, environmentally responsible vessels,” and Redwood City is on that list of cities.  Stay tuned for news on next steps toward that day we first hear, “all aboard.”

 

Schedule for the Fair Oaks Branch Library grand reopening

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It’s back (and that’s good)!

The Fair Oaks branch library is reopening on Saturday – and in addition to the usual books, DVDs, newspapers and regular library fare inside – there will be some festivities as well, to celebrate the occasion.

If you’re up early, there are speeches to start the day at 9:30.  At 10 a.m., it’s ribbon-cutting time – followed by lion dancing and kung fu, and of course, authors.  (It is a library, after all.). There’s also raffle at noon – all sponsored by Friends of the Library Bookstore.

Light refreshments will be served up (although you might have to finish your drinks outside, before going into the library).

Inside the Fair Oaks branch, you can see how the remodeling and expansion turned out, and check out some books.   And if you can’t make the Grand Reopening, the branch will be back to its usual Monday through Saturday hours.

Questions about the library?  Redwood City Public Library has everything you need to know.

 

Political Climate with Mark Simon: Waddell concedes to Magee in tight schools race

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Political Climate with Mark Simon: Waddell concedes to Magee in tight schools race

San Mateo County elections officials finally finished counting almost all the June 5 primary ballots yesterday and there are a few interesting details to be gleaned before we move on to November’s monster-sized ballot.

There were two local cliffhangers awaiting the outcome of the vote count – a process prolonged by an uncommonly high voter turnout due to all-mail balloting.

The race between Nancy Magee and Gary Waddell for county Superintendent of Schools was finally decided. Yesterday’s report showed Magee ahead by 1,157 votes with so few uncounted ballots left that it was clear she was the winner.

Waddell issued a gracious concession statement via Facebook late yesterday that included this uplifting comment: “Nancy and I agree on much more than we disagree. We both believe in the importance of student voice, of innovative approaches to education, and of building a County Office of Education that is forward-thinking and makes an impact in the lives of children and families. I will do everything in my power to assist Nancy in accomplishing these goals.”

The race between Magee and Waddell was a model of civility in a political environment almost entirely devoid of such qualities – positive, issue-focused and without a whiff of one candidate attacking the other.

One element of Waddell’s platform I found particularly appealing was his promise to revive the teaching of civics in our schools. I fervently hope Magee will embrace that idea.

ALMOST A SWEEP: The other close one was the proposed parcel tax in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, which was agonizingly short of the required two-thirds approval – until yesterday, when the latest count showed it won 67.1 percent of the vote.

The news touched off expressions of relief and gratitude among the supporters. … Of the nine school measures on the ballot – either bonds or parcel taxes – eight of them passed, demonstrating, again, that San Mateo County voters support funding for schools.

The only one that didn’t pass is a bond measure in the Half Moon Bay-based Cabrillo Unified School District. The measure needed 55 percent to pass and as of yesterday, it was at 54.91 percent.

That’s an amazing seven votes shy of passage.

GOING POSTAL: Nearly 166,000 ballots were cast in San Mateo County – a turnout of 42.7 percent, higher than was projected by county elections chief Mark Church, although given the unique nature of this election, a missed projection is understandable.

Clearly, the all-mail balloting was a huge success. With no major controversy on the local ballot, or on the statewide ballot for that matter, San Mateo County turnout was 15 points higher than 2014’s primary turnout of 27.5 percent.

In fact, it was the county’s highest turnout in a gubernatorial primary in this still-young century. A quick review of records at the California Secretary of State’s website shows it’s the highest turnout in a similar election since before 1990.

The five counties that opted for the all-mail balloting all had turnout higher than the state’s 25.2 percent. … Sacramento County was 41.4 percent, Napa County was 47.3 percent, Madera County was 44.1 percent and Nevada County was 56.9 percent.

A DIVIDED CALIFORNIA: Reviewing the statewide voting showed a state significantly divided within itself.

In all the statewide partisan races, a Democrat was the top vote-getter. But look at the maps and you see Democrats winning almost exclusively within the western, coastal counties and Republicans winning almost every county east of the narrow coastal strip.

The only exception: U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who won every county in the state. A juggernaut.

The top-getter statewide? Incumbent Controller Betty Yee. Why? Why not?

For all the well-deserved disdain and criticism being heaped on Tim Draper’s proposal to split California into three, it is clear the state is as politically split as the country.

This should come as no surprise. Like the rest of the country, California is composed largely of urban and rural economies. Despite the increasingly common strains of popular culture, we still lead lives substantially different from one another.

The answer is not to further split us up, or even to touch off a statewide debate that emphasizes and hardens those differences. The answer is to seek out those things we have in common and work together from there.

That’s why Draper’s proposal is not goofy – it’s dangerous.

It seeks to move the public dialogue in exactly the wrong direction.

Contact Mark Simon at mark@climaterwc.com.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

Multi-vehicle crash on Highway 101 sends 5 to hospital with minor injuries

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CHP: Driver found asleep at wheel of Tesla going 70 mph on 101

Five people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries following a four-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 101 in Redwood City Wednesday night that blocked four southbound lanes for about two hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash, possibly caused by a DUI driver, was reported at 10:12 p.m. south of San Antonio Road. The collision caused at least one of the vehicles to overturn, and damaged a 65-foot section of guardrail, CHP said. Five people were taken to Stanford University Medical Center.

The lanes did not reopen until after midnight.

Bay City News contributed to this report

 

 

Delivering groceries – and delivering us from grocery aisle angst

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Emily Mangini

Every time I grocery shop, I have a mini-existential crisis. Take eggs for example. Choosing a carton is no longer about large versus jumbo, white versus brown. Now we have to choose among local, organic, cage-free, pasture-raised, fortified with omega-3 and every possible combination in between. That’s where the panic sets in. If I go with the organic and pasture-raised, I’m not necessarily choosing local. But then maybe the local option isn’t organic; maybe it’s cage-free. But isn’t pasture-raised supposed to better for those little chickies? The pressure to save the world, to “vote with my dollars” is real.

This is not unique to eggs; the stress is cast onto anything harvested, fished or raised. Which is why I was eager to try out – and spotlight — some services that offer an ethical dimension to the concept of door-to-door grocery delivery. Each is tackling key issues plaguing our food system, making it easy for the average Joe to help fight food waste, support domestic, sustainable fishing, and eat locally raised meat. On top of that, they all deliver. Saving the world just got a little bit easier. No superhero cape required.

Imperfect Produce: Imperfect Produce is a San Francisco-based company that sources “ugly” produce and sells it to subscribers. What is “ugly” produce you might ask? Harvested produce goes through a culling process, where fruit and veggies are judged on their symmetry and blemishes. The produce that doesn’t make it gets discarded, never seeing the light of the market. In the end, more than six billion pounds of fruits and vegetables goes unharvested or unsold each year in the United States. Imperfect Produce says its customers can reduce unnecessary waste, as well as save money (visit imperfectproduce.com for more information.) Not only is the produce delicious, half the time it’s hard to figure out what actually makes it “imperfect” in the first place. Maybe, at most, the apples lean slightly to the left, but who doesn’t love a left-leaning apple? If you want to try it for yourself, the company is offering Climate readers a 30 percent discount off the price of the first box. Use promo code CLIMATEMAG; expiration 3/28/2019.

Five Marys Farms: Five Marys Farms is for omnivores who want to support local farmers. Owned and operated by Menlo Park natives Brian and Mary Heffernan, Five Marys is a family-run ranch raising Black Angus cattle, Navajo Churro lambs and Gloucestershire Old Spot heritage pigs. The animals are pasture-raised and spared of hormones or antibiotics. The customer has a wide range of ordering choices, from shanks, chops and steaks to animal shares (from a quarter of an animal all the way up), as well as sampler boxes with medleys of meats and cuts. Even offal (entrails and organs) that are a major source of waste in the meat industry can be purchased. While Five Marys Farm doesn’t make the claim to being 100 percent organic, it is “organically minded and GMO free whenever possible,” according to the website (fivemarysfarm.com). Five Marys is also offering a discount to Climate readers.  Use  CLIMATE5MARYS for 15 percent off the first order.

Sea to Table: Buying seafood has always been a struggle for me, and it’s not for a lack of wanting to eat fish. It just seems downright impossible to buy fish that is affordable and ethically/environmentally sourced. There’s just too much that I don’t know, so I basically avoid sea creatures altogether. Enter Sea to Table. Working with both large and small American fishing outfits, the company says all of the seafood sold is wild-caught, domestic and sustainable. What I also love about Sea to Table is that they work with chefs from all over the country, helping them think differently when it comes to seafood selection. Let’s all let the bluefin tunas repopulate, and give Atlantic spiny dogfish a moment in the spotlight! For information, go to www.sea2tablecom, and if you want to try the service for yourself, you can use promo code CLIMATE for $10 off of an order $30 or more; valid through 7/1/2018.

This article first appeared in the May 2018 issue of Climate magazine.

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