A person was fatally struck by a Caltrain near Hillsdale Station about 4:22 p.m. today, officials said.
The person, who hasn’t been identified, was “trespassing on the tracks” when struck by southbound train No. 602, Caltrain officials reported. No injuries were reported among the about 300 people on board the train.
The incident has caused trains in the area to hold in both directions, leading to delays.
Check back for updates.
Of all the pastel-hued, brightly foiled Easter candy out there—the malted eggs, the big chocolate bunnies—nothing quite grabs my childhood heart like a Cadbury Creme Egg.
I have very vivid memories of eating Cadbury Creme Eggs as a child, except part of the memory includes not loving all of the goopy “yolk” inside. There was always just a little too much, and even then I didn’t love the sticky mess it made. One spring afternoon I took matters into my own hands, poured out half of the sugary filling and … fed it to my aunt’s cat. It made good sense at the time.
As an adult I want to partake in the joys of Cadbury’s seasonal offering, but I still don’t want the commitment to a whole, messy egg. Enter the Cadbury Creme Egg-inspired brownie, from the blog Love and Olive Oil. I like to think of this as a less messy version of the candy from which it’s inspired. Sure, it’s still a total sugar bomb, but I like to argue that using high quality cocoa adds some antioxidants, and going the homemade route cuts out whatever weird preservatives are lurking inside that hollow chocolate egg. And of course, with a brownie, you have portion control—if self-restraint is your thing, that is.
Creme Egg Brownies by LoveandOliveOil.com
These brownies are sweet — there’s really no denying it. But they’re fun to make — and make for the perfect homemade spring treat. So embrace your inner child, and go for it.
For brownies:
For cream filling:
For glaze:
Directions:
This story was published in the April print edition of Climate Magazine.
A 33-year-old man was arrested Monday night on suspicion of firing a gun inside a home in North Fair Oaks while two toddlers were in the next room, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
At 10:41 p.m. Sunday, San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home in the 100 block of Amherst on a report of shots fired, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Responded deputies learned there had been a domestic disturbance — after an argument between residents, suspect Christopher Green retrieved a gun from a back bedroom and fired a single round into a closet, they said.
“Two young toddlers were in the next room when Green discharged the firearm,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies found the firearm and the bullet lodged in the door frame of a closet.
Green was arrested and booked on charges including felony discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and felony cruelty to a child.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to call the Detective Bureau at 650-599-1536 or the anonymous tip line at 1-800-547-2700
Redwood City’s ongoing, controversial districting process, along with its participation in regional planning efforts in regards to flooding and rising sea levels, were among several important topics discussed at the City Council meeting on Monday, April 8, 2019.
Here’s a brief overview of decisions made during the meeting:
SEA-LEVEL RESILIENCE: Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency Agency Proposal. The plan intends to establish a unified county agency that would be better positioned to win grant funding for projects concerning flooding and sea level rise. The council also approved spending $55,000 annually for three fiscal years to support the agency’s start up.
DISTRICTING: City Council held another public hearing on its tumultuous transition from at-large council elections to district elections. Council is prepared to decide on a final map on May 6. More on this subject in Mark Simon’s column later this week.
SAFE STORAGE: Redwood City staff was also directed by council to draft a proposed ordinance requiring the safe storage of firearms for future consideration. The consideration comes after the county recently approved a similar ordinance. Councilmember Diana Reddy expressed some reservations about the ordinance, saying it doesn’t provide necessary public education on safe storage and lacks plans to enforce it. She said she plans to work with city staff on the proposed law.
STANFORD: Also, council unanimously approved Stanford University’s request for authorization to conduct parking enforcement at their Redwood City Campus. Stanford plans to implement a virtual parking permit system similar to its Palo Alto campus where enforcement is conducted by vehicles equipped with License Plate Readers (LPRs), according to city documents.
APPOINTMENTS: Rene Alejandro Ortega was appointed to the Planning Commission, and Ashley Quintana was appointed to the Civic Commission. Each received five council votes. Mayor Ian Bain urged those who were not appointed to apply at a future date, as there were “so many qualified candidates.”
TRAFFIC SAFETY: the council approved a number of items, including a $132,860 contract with Lisa Wise Consulting Inc. to prepare residential design guidelines in the city. The guidelines will attempt to address neighborhood compatibility concerns regarding projects to build second-story additions and two-story single-family homes in the city.
Council also approved two contracts for traffic calming measures: a $107,725 contract with Alta Planning + Design, Inc. to design pedestrian crossing safety improvements at Jefferson Avenue and Cleveland Street, and also $108,340 with Fehr & Peers for the Roosevelt Avenue Traffic Calming Plan.
FARMERS MARKET: In addition, council approved a three-year term with two one-year extensions to have the Redwood City Kiwanis Club’s Farmers’ Market locate on Arguello Street at Bradford Street.
SEQUOIA STAMPEDE: The market plans to open for the 2019 season on April 20. The council also approved temporary street closures on April 20 for the 8th Annual Sequoia Stampede 5K sponsored by the Sequoia High Booster Club.
A traffic stop in San Carlos last week led to the arrest of two suspects found with several 30-pound trash bags filled with stolen toiletries, over-the-counter medications, health products and cosmetics, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred Wednesday about 9:45 p.m. when driver Lavett Williams, 26, of Oakland, was pulled over for various traffic violations on Holly Avenue and the southbound Highway 101 on-ramp. Williams admitted to the officer to having a suspended license, and a passenger in her vehicle, Erisha Johnson, 25, of Oakland, was on probation for burglary out of San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, sheriff’s officials said.
The 30-gallon trash bags filled with products were found during a search of the vehicle.
‘Many of the products still had security alarms attached to them and appeared to be stolen property,” the sheriff’s office said. “The total value of the stolen property was approximately $15,000. At least two stores in San Mateo County have been confirmed as victims.”
The suspects, described by the sheriff’s office as an “organized retail theft crew,” were arrested and booked into San Mateo County Jail.
After San Mateo County passed a new ordinance in February requiring the safe storage of firearms in homes in unincorporated areas, Redwood City is considering a similar law.
At tonight’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Shelly Masur is set to call on her council colleagues to direct staff to develop a safe storage of firearms ordinance modeled after the county’s. The ordinance would be considered at a future City Council meeting, according to city documents.
According to the County’s new ordinance, guns stored in homes in unincorporated areas must be kept in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock. Lost or stolen firearms must be reported by their owners to law enforcement within five days of their knowing that the firearms are missing. Failing to do so could lead to prosecution for violating the locked container provision.
The consequences for failing to safely store firearms in homes is up to six months in County Jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
When the County Supervisors adopted the safe storage ordinance, they hoped it would serve as a model that all 20 cities in the county would also adopt, Supervisor David Pine stated in a letter to Redwood City Mayor Ian Bain (see full letter below). Recently, San Carlos introduced a nearly identical ordinance. Fourteen other California jurisdictions have adopted similar ordinances, Pine said.
“The County ordinance goes further than state law by requiring gun owners to actually use those safety devices when storing a firearm at home,” Pine said. “The ordinance fills an important gap in existing law and aims to reduce accidental gun shootings, gun-related homicides and suicides, and the theft of unsecured firearms.”
In 2013, Sunnyvale voters approved similar regulations that survived a court challenge by the National Rifle Association. In addition to safe storage rules, the Sunnyvale law also includes a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more ten rounds.
Tonight’s City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at 1017 Middlefield Road.
Pine’s full letter to Redwood City’s council follows:
The apartment was small and tidy, with a friendly gray dog swooshing her tail and a big-screen TV dominating one wall. On the couch sat an equally neat 29-year-old woman dressed in sweats and wearing her hair in a small bun.
She was quietly sobbing. At 1 p.m., by her own account, she had already consumed a pint of hard liquor. She wanted to try rehab, but then again, somehow, she didn’t.
Two officers, a man and a woman from the Redwood City Police Department, stood near her. The man, Officer Jesse Castro, spoke in the soft tones of a social worker.
“It’s up to you,” he told her. “You’re the one who has to do this.”
“I know,” she said, removing her small horn-rimmed glasses and wiping her eyes. “I know.”
Castro left her in the care of the other officer, Stephanie Aguilar, who was waiting for medical help. The visit, known to police as a “welfare check,” was not the first Castro had made to the apartment. Nor, he suspected, would it be the last.
The call had followed another in which Castro and Officer Daniel Di Bona had been sent to intervene in an argument between two motorists who had met through a fender-bender in a parking lot. Castro had also stopped in to an auto-body shop near the railroad tracks on Chestnut Street. The owner was concerned about a homeless encampment behind his business, next to the tracks.
So it mainly goes these days for the Redwood City police – and they’re not complaining. Thirty years ago, the city was famous to officers around the Bay Area for altercations, gang violence, narcotics and prostitution. If a cop wanted action, Redwood City was a place to find it.
“When I started, it was a rock-and-roll town,” recalls Sergeant Dan Smith, a 25-year veteran of the Redwood City force. “There were rocking bars, and lots of bar fights. We haven’t had a homicide in two years now. We used to have three, four, five a year.”
Smith, a history major at UC-Berkeley who once aspired to teach school, attributes the change to “the evolution of a city.” Much of it, he says, has to do with redevelopment, especially in the downtown core.
“It’s made a big difference,” he says. “Almost all of those bars have shut down. The Fox Theatre became an anchor to the downtown. The 800 block of Main Street used to be a hotspot (for crime). Now we have the Euro Hotel and Angelicas” (as well as a large office-retail complex currently under construction).
The statistics bear out Smith’s on-the-street observations. According to the FBI, which tracks numbers provided by local police departments, serious crime in Redwood City dropped by more than 47 percent between 1995 and 2017. From 2017 to 2018, serious crime dropped by 10.45 percent, according to police-department statistics. (Serious crimes are considered to be homicide, rape, assault, burglary, robbery, larceny and motor-vehicle theft.)
FBI statistics for 2017, the last point for which year-long numbers are available nationwide, show Redwood City is generally safer than California as a whole. The one exception is rape; some 57 rapes were reported to Redwood City police in 2017, compared with a California-wide number of 37.2 per 100,000 population. (City officials estimate Redwood City’s current population at 86,380.) Rapes in Redwood City fell to 46 in 2018.
Mulholland suggests the difference in the California and Redwood City numbers for rape stems from the police department’s efforts to build trust in the community.
“A lot of times people are reluctant to report those crimes,” Mulholland says. “We have to work very hard with those victims in order for them to feel comfortable. I would like to think that there is significant trust-building that’s been taking place within our community over the years – they feel comfortable calling the police and they feel that they are freer to report those to us because of the relationships that we’ve established with them.
“If you have a community that’s comfortable with their police department, that’s more receptive to reporting crimes of a delicate nature … that could tend to contribute to an increase in reporting” Mulholland continues. “There’s always that (possibility) that these crimes could have been taking place all along, but we never knew about them because nobody felt comfortable.”
Smith adds that the type of offense is also important to consider. Rapes, he says, come in three categories – “stranger” rapes, in which someone is attacked by an unknown assailant; date rapes; and status offenses, such as unlawful intercourse between minors.
“I cannot think of the last time we had a stranger rape in Redwood City,” Smith says. “Most parties know each other. ”
Just how safe from crime do citizens feel? Interviews with numerous Redwood City residents reveal that people consider themselves pretty secure.
“I feel very safe,” says Erin Callaghan, co-chair of the Redwood Oaks Neighborhood Association, located in the vicinity of Woodside Road and El Camino Real. “On NextDoor, you see people discussing things, and we used to have someone whom the police were working very diligently to get out of the neighborhood, who was a drug dealer and we kind of knew the ‘drug house.’” (Callaghan says the landlord eventually evicted the suspected dealer.)
“I have big dogs, and I have great neighbors,” Callaghan continues. “We all know each other. We know our schedules, we know our vehicles, we watch out for each other.”
Asked if she feels safe, Redwood City Council member Janet Borgens replies, “Yes, absolutely.” She adds, “I do think the world we live in has changed, and we need to be vigilant.”
Says Borgens, who has lived in town since 1969 and the eastside Friendly Acres neighborhood since the early 1980s, “I don’t leave my doors unlocked, I don’t leave my car unlocked, I don’t leave things on my seat. But I think that’s in any town you’re in, not just Redwood City. But, yes, living in Redwood City, I do feel safe … There was a time when I wouldn’t walk around certain streets alone, but I don’t feel that way anymore.”
Charlotte Russell, a Redwood City insurance agent with offices on Woodside Road, says she, too, feels secure, adding that she has not seen an uptick in her clients’ property-theft claims. Kent Johnson, another insurance agent in town, says he has “not had a claim for property being stolen in the last five years” from his 200 to 300 residential clients.
That’s not to say thefts don’t exist. Last year, the police department logged 1,134 complaints for robbery, burglary and larceny, down from 1,293 the year before. (Robbery includes a threat to a victim, as in a stickup. Burglary includes breaking and entering, and larceny involves other types of thefts.)
A map on the city’s website shows property crimes sprinkled around town, with a concentration downtown and the near west side. (As the bank robber Willie Sutton once famously explained, “That’s where the money is.”) Redwood City’s experience notwithstanding, Castro, the beat cop, says property crimes generally are on the rise and represent local residents’ top public-safety concern.
“They happen everywhere,” he says. “No one is immune. Don’t leave anything visible. Put locks on your side gate. If you put that lock on, then a burglar might pick someone else’s house.
“Don’t advertise,” Castro continues. “A lot of people like to brag on social media about going on vacation. Thieves look at social media, too.”
Second on the list of residents’ concerns, Castro says, is parking – not just downtown, but in the neighborhoods, as well.
“Parking in this city is ridiculous,” Castro says, adding that he typically writes 10 to 20 parking tickets a day. Department-wide, Redwood City police issued around 10,400 parking citations last year, according to Mulholland.
“Parking is huge in my neighborhood,” says Callaghan. “I think in some other neighborhoods that have a lot of apartment buildings, it’s probably worse. But a very good portion of our neighborhood meeting last week was all about parking.”
Callaghan notes that many of her neighbors are so frustrated by the scarcity of parking that they have posted signs advising “No Parking” and “Parking for Residents Only.” The police, she says, are currently developing fliers to advise people that the streets in front of their homes are city property and open to all for parking.
Beyond parking, says Officer Di Bona, residents are highly concerned about homelessness.
From a resident’s standpoint, the homeless often make people feel edgy, threatened or even potentially invaded. Russ Castle, another local insurance agent, speaks with obvious pique about the homeless sleeping behind his business on Woodside Road. “They bring furniture,” Castle says. “You could stay here for a day and get a whole education. Especially on Woodside Road, it’s getting worse every day.”
Callaghan, of the local neighborhood association, acknowledges the presence of homeless people in the area, especially around the interchange of Woodside Road and El Camino Real. For her, however, the homeless represent more than a local issue, although Mulholland suggests the city, as the county seat and center for welfare and mental-health services, may be something of a magnet.
“It’s just like, this is kind of the nature of our world right now, and we need to figure out a solution,” says Callaghan. “We can’t just push it off on somebody else so that it’s no longer our problem.”
For the police, the homeless seem to evoke a combination of compassion and professional concern. Says Di Bona, “They have no place to stay at night, they don’t trust the police, and they’re victims of unreported crimes.”
Whereas the Redwood City police formerly dealt with the homeless through more of an enforcement tack, today the department takes what Mulholland terms a “softer approach.” Each shift has a designated homeless liaison officer, and the police work with other city and county departments and non-profits such as the faith-based Street Life Ministries, which feeds local homeless people and offers additional social services.
The department’s new method stems from an understanding that the homeless are not just an eyesore or the perpetrators of what police call “quality-of-life” crimes such as public urination and drunkenness.
“We can look at someone and recognize, ‘Okay, this is someone that’s in a mental-health crisis, and they need to get plugged into behavior-health services,” Mulholland says. “And perhaps there’s a psychiatric evaluation that needs to be done in order for that person to receive medication to then get them stabilized. And then, (we look for) some sort of warm handoff, where we could then partner with some other entity to try to find some housing somewhere, or placement in a group home.”
“We have officers, including Dan Smith, who I think know every homeless person (in Redwood City) by their first name,” says Borgens, whose husband, Milt, is a retired Redwood City cop. “And that’s a good thing. When you engage with them, find out their stories – you know, how many people look at a homeless person in their face? You walk past them and don’t look at them. And I think if you get to know that element – because that is part of the criminal element on the streets sometimes – they’re trying to survive and they’re doing what they need to survive.”
“We know homelessness is not going away any time soon,” Mulholland says. “And it’s not just a law-enforcement issue. It’s a community issue; it’s a city-wide issue. So how do we all work together to solve this?”
One problem that seems to be coming under control is gang activity. Once notorious for gangs and related violence, Redwood City appears to experiencing far fewer gang-connected issues than before.
Part of the solution, Mulholland and Smith say, has been a joint effort between the Redwood City police and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office to drive gangs from the area. Mulholland also believes that other, more socially focused programs such as the department’s adopt-a-school program and Police Activities League have enabled officers to connect with youths and attract them away from the perceived glamour of gangs.
Even with the decline in Redwood City gangs, Mulholland says they’re still out there, not just in one location but in all parts of town. Redwood City police continue to participate in a county-wide gang task force among law-enforcement agencies, and work to keep gangs from coming into Redwood City, especially to retaliate for incidents elsewhere.
Less serious than gangs is, nonetheless, something Mulholland says “kind of kills me” – people chattering on social media about crime and suspected criminals in their neighborhoods, without calling the police.
“I’ll hear about somebody saying, ‘Hey, did you see this, or did anybody else have the strange person come by their house after hours, and knock on the door asking to see somebody who doesn’t live there, and they looked really shady?’ Call us. We want you to call us. It’s a good idea to let your neighbors know. But oftentimes we’ll find out that there was never a phone call that was generated to the police department. We’ve almost been robbed of our opportunity to try to get some kind of satisfaction and address those particular issues.”
Calling the police takes trust, and that’s something the department is working hard to build through programs such as citizens’ police academies, “Coffee with the Cops” (an informal outreach at various cafés around town), and its own social-media outlets.
Run by Officer Chris Rasmussen, the department’s social-media program has won numerous awards, and includes a Twitter feed often laced with humor. One recent message celebrated National Doughnut Day, and on Valentine’s Day the department showed a motorcycle officer in wait with a radar gun and the tagline, “Making hearts skip a beat since 1930” (the earliest date Rasmussen could determine the city used police on motorbikes).
Residents who want to follow the department can enter “Redwood City Police” in their Twitter search function, or “@RedwoodCityPD” in their Internet browser. Public-safety information is also available via an online system called “Nixle,” which forwards alerts about weather, traffic, criminal activities, missing persons and local events. To join Nixle, residents can text their zip code to 888777. Nixle messages are available in both English and Spanish.
At the department’s headquarters east of U.S. 101 on Maple Street, the 12-week citizens’ police academies are also offered in both Spanish and English. Mulholland says they fill up quickly with people interested in learning about police work and testing their perceptions of the cops.
One recent participant was Nazia Khanzada, a stay-at-home mom and immigrant from the U.K. with a law degree from the London School of Economics. She says she was concerned about racial profiling and discrimination in enforcement, mainly through viewing social media and news reports.
“I just wanted to see for myself what the Redwood City Police Department was about,” she says. “I found it was much more interesting and detailed than I had perceived.”
As part of her experience, Khanzada rode at night in a police car. Pulling people over, she says, was pretty scary.
“You don’t see people’s faces, because it’s pitch-black. When you’re actually doing that, it’s completely different from how you read stuff online. I actually felt the danger. They can pull over anyone at any time, and you don’t know who’s in the car and how they’re going to behave. For me, that was really eye-opening.”
Khanzada also found domestic disturbances frightening.
“Your emotions are heightened, and you feel stressed,” she says. “You don’t know what kind of situation you’re going into.”
Mulholland hopes first-hand observations such as Khanzada’s will lead people to form an independent view of the Redwood City police.
“They’re looking to the media, whether it’s national news, (or) whether it’s online forums,” Mulholland says. “A lot of times they’re allowing other people to determine what those relationships (with the police) should be, and what their trust levels should be in their police department.”
As local crime falls and the need for social-service policing rises, Mulholland sees changes on the horizon.
“Maybe one might get into police work 30 years ago thinking it’s all about driving fast and issuing tickets and (breaking up) bar fights and solving crimes,” Mulholland says. “And some of that still takes place. But we’ve got a much higher demand for the delivery of social services to folks than we did before.”
Today’s service calls may present different challenges than responding to brawls and car chases, but the outcome can be just as consequential. In December, for example, Redwood City officers answered a call about a man cutting himself with a large kitchen knife, attempting suicide. Tragically, the encounter ended with his being fatally shot. (The district attorney’s office concluded recently that the use of force by the police was legally justifiable and that criminal charges against the officers were not warranted; the family has expressed dissatisfaction with the decision.)
In a city that boasts multi-million-dollar homes and competes daily for high-tech investment, public safety is a paramount concern. Preventing crime, addressing homelessness and steering kids away from gangs all go into that. The community’s law-enforcement priorities may be shifting, but for cops like Smith, Castro, Di Bona and Aguilar, the beat goes on.
This story was published in the April print edition of Climate Magazine.
Redwood City’s joint project with the YMCA to rebuild and expand upon the aging Veterans Memorial Senior Center moved an important step forward last week.
At its March 25 meeting, City Council received a presentation on the proposed design and estimated cost for the first phase of the project that aims to create state-of-the art facilities for both the YMCA Sequoia and Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center.
Then in a 6-0 vote, with Vice Mayor Diane Howard abstaining because she is a YMCA board member, council directed city staff to initiate development of construction documentation for Phase I, which includes traffic calming measures in roads near the project, as well as developing the area of the project that includes the new senior center, a parking area east of the senior center, and a new active pedestrian promenade on Nevada Street.
The city aims to release a draft environmental impact report (EIR) on the first phase for the public to view this summer, with the target of September this year for City Council approval of the final project. The city aims to begin construction in December this year, with opening set for February 2022. The first phase is expected to cost roughly $60 million, of which nearly $10 million was appropriated from Park Impact Fees (development fees) and $1 million from Stanford University’s development agreement with the City. The largest portion will likely come from debt financing (lease revenue bonds), city staff said, with estimated annual debt service payments of about $1 million to $3 million in the 10 year financial forecast.
For more than a decade, the community has discussed replacing the Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center, first constructed in 1956. In 2015, the Sequoia YMCA, seeking to replace its aging facility at Palm Park, entered into an agreement on a joint project with the city to help reduce costs and maximize benefit.
On March 25, city staff shared a video of the proposed design for the future Veterans Memorial Building/Senior Center. Born from ample public outreach, staff said, the project features a modern two-story, 45,000 square foot building with a 266-seat theater, catering kitchen, multi-purpose rooms, senior club room, nonprofit partner offices, gardening space, mini-gym and roof jog track, among other amenities, according to city staff. It will also feature gallery exhibition space honoring local veterans and NFL alumni of Northern California.
A new pedestrian promenade would replace the part of Nevada Street that separates Veterans Memorial Building and the new Sequoia YMCA, the city said.
Meanwhile, the project envisions a new Sequoia YMCA boasting an aquatic center with two pools, one indoor and the other outdoor, an outdoor children’s play area and “state-of-the-art wellness and fitness programming,” the city said.
With help from the new promenade, walkable space in Red Morton Park will be enlarged by the design, with updated landscaping including 100 new trees, officials said.
The project will require replacing The Veterans Memorial Senior Center, Herkner Pool, Wellness Center (Old 49er Building), Resource Building and the NFL Alumni Building.
In response to ongoing neighbor concerns over the project’s potential impact on traffic and parking, city staff proposes parking areas for 288 vehicles. and is developing traffic calming solutions for four intersections, several along Madison Avenue.
ELS Architecture and Urban Design is working with the city and YMCA on the project, which received full support from the city’s Senior Affairs Commission.
“It’s looking great,” commission member Jodi Paley said.
Councilmember Janet Borgens lauded the joint project as a smart opportunity, while Mayor Ian Bain said he felt satisfied by the progress made, calling the design renderings “beautiful.”
As for the cost and plan to take on debt, City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz said staff feels comfortable adding that to the city’s longterm financial forecast given the project’s longterm benefits.
For more information on the project, visit the city’s project site here.
As Redwood City hits the reset button on its turbulent districting process, one thing appears certain: The city is going to end up with two districts in which Latinos will be the majority of the voting age population and a third district heavily dominated by an Asian-American voting population.
This will be distressing, no doubt, to those who want to preserve the status quo, which was well represented by the district map adopted by the council nearly a month ago by a 4-3 vote, a map now abandoned in the face of legal challenges that the council was warned were all too likely to be successful.
We can dwell on the fact that the council appeared to adopt a set of maps that was illegal. Or that in a city that is more than 52 percent nonwhite and nearly 40 percent Latino, the council managed to adopt a map that created only one minority-majority district. Or that the council, cautioned by a consultant not to negate the will of the voters who elected them, appeared much too focused on making sure that the sitting council members had a district all to themselves. Or that the consultant who gave them all this advice apparently is working on other projects now.
Not only can we dwell on these things, it appears we did.
For those of you just joining us, the reason for dividing up Redwood City into council districts is that the city is moving from an at-large system, in which all seven council members run for office citywide, to a system of seven districts, where voters elect only the council member who lives within their district. The city was compelled toward this transition under the threat of a lawsuit asserting the at-large system was systematically diluting the electoral impact of minority residents and denying the opportunity to elect more minorities to the council. The seven-member council has only one Latina.
There are those who are unhappy that the city’s political fortunes are being determined along racial lines. I can assure you there are plenty of ethnic minorities who know just how that feels.
Meanwhile, there is an expected amount of maneuvering already underway and speculation about who might run for which districts.
We won’t know how that plays out until after next Monday’s council meeting, where they will review new maps (which are posted online here) that have been produced by the new lead consultant and by members of the public, and, presumably, start the process of adopting one. Until then, speculation can wait.
What is likely, however, is that incumbent Councilwoman Janet Borgens, up for re-election next year, is going to end up in a Latino-majority district.
It also seems clear the Latino community has some significant work to do identifying viable candidates in the new districts in which they will be the majority.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: If Redwood City was not the first penguin off the ice floe – that was Menlo Park – the process should be an object lesson to the other cities that are likely to face similar legal challenges to their at-large election systems, most notably San Mateo, Daly City, Foster City, Millbrae and South San Francisco.
Menlo Park appointed a citizens’ commission, which functioned largely independent of city politics. There’s an important distinction to be made, by the way, between a citizens’ committee, which is appointed by a city council, and a commission, which has an inherently more independent appointment process.
Of course, the net result of the process in Menlo Park is that two well-entrenched incumbents were defeated in the first all-district election, which may not be all that attractive to an incumbent council. Interestingly, the two winners were not the top spenders.
LABORING: This weekend’s 50th San Mateo County Progress Seminar in Monterey – the annual gathering of business, government and political leaders to work on the tough issues of the day — was almost derailed by a labor dispute at the Hyatt hotel that has hosted the event for as long as anyone can remember. The hotel ran afoul of a local union, which put up pickets and put the hotel on the no-fly list.
That would be a real problem for the elected officials who were planning to attend the event and curry support from labor for their campaigns, which is almost everyone, and who aren’t going to cross a sanctioned picket line.
But credit goes to Amy Buckmaster, president and CEO of the Redwood City/San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the Progress Seminar, and Julie Lind Rupp, executive officer of the county’s Central Labor Council, who worked out a temporary solution that allows the seminar to go forward at the original site. In essence, they got a one-time waiver for the weekend.
They reached the solution quietly, without a huge fuss and by working together in a collaborative manner rarely seen in labor-business relations. That’s an outcome that is uniquely San Mateo County.
THE POLITICAL CLIMATE: That is the name of the column, after all, and there are plenty of political tidbits to share.
Belmont Councilman Charles Stone is about to declare for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors seat held by Carole Groom, who will be termed out in – 2022. Yes, she just got reelected last year. Nonetheless, Stone apparently feels compelled to start now because there are likely to be more than a few candidates for the seat. Among those who is openly saying he will run is San Mateo Councilman Rick Bonilla.
In the Groom district, San Mateo is the predominant city and Belmont is not even close. That’s reason enough, it appears, for Stone to start campaigning early and often in the hopes of gathering endorsements and money sufficient to discourage Bonilla and, presumably, anyone else. Among those also rumored as possible candidates are Maureen Freschet and Diane Papan, two of Bonilla’s colleagues on the San Mateo Council.
In San Carlos, where a Black Mountain development proposal – notably absent affordable housing – is likely to be one of the hot-button issues, incumbent San Carlos City Councilman Ron Collins is opting not to run for another term, which means the council is losing its most effective veteran. Incumbent Mark Olbert is said to be seeking a third term. The departure of Collins means the council will have four members in their first term.
Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.
*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.
CORRECTION: An earlier version incorrectly stated San Carlos Council incumbent Mark Olbert is seeking his second term, when in fact he is seeking his third term. The story has been corrected.
Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services recently launched their summer activity guide to help you plan your summer with kids.
They offer programs in: Arts, Crafts, Technology, Engineering, Science, Recreation, Field Trips, Swimming and various Sports options.
To view the 2019 Summer Camp guide, click here. 
The programs vary from half day camps to full day camps, and they also offer bridge care, after care and new this year is pre-care.
Pre-care allows you to drop your camper off at 8:00am and an early bird staff will bring your camper and check them in to their 9:00am camp. Not every camp has this option but applicable camps with the sun icon next to them qualify for pre-care.
Bridge care is a way for you to customize a camp experience that fits your families schedule and your child’s interests. Bridge care gives the opportunity for parents to add an additional lunch hour to their half-day camp or piece together an AM and PM camp of their choice. Children will be walked from their morning camp options to the Red Morton Community Center where they will eat lunch in an enclosed room and play yard from 12-1pm. Children will then be walked to their afternoon camp option by our staff.
After care allows staff to pick up campers from their PM camp and walk them to the Red Morton Community Center. Parents are to pick up campers by 6pm. After care is available for the camps with the clock icon next to them.
For more information about the Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services department’s summer camp options, click here.