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Authorities are investigating what caused a solo crash that killed a 22-year-old man on State Route 92 at El Camino Real early Saturday.

The CHP responded to the solo vehicle crash involving a 2017 Acura at about 1 a.m. They learned the sedan had left the south road edge of SR-92 eastbound. The vehicle traveled off of a dirt embankment before overturning and colliding into the top of a concrete wall that divides northbound from southbound SR-82, also called El Camino Real, according to the CHP.

Both directions of SR-82 were closed during the investigation and cleanup, with the northbound lanes reopened at about 2:40 a.m. and the southbound lanes reopened just before 4 a.m., the CHP said.

The identity of the victim has been been released pending notification of next of kin, CHP said.

It is not known yet if drugs and/or alcohol were a factor  in the collision. Any witnesses are encouraged to contact Officer H. Clayton at the Redwood City CHP office. (650) 369-6261.

As Redwood City grapples with projected budget deficits due to the COVID-19 pandemic and amid communitywide calls for police reform, the city is proposing pay raises for top officials and an increase to its police budget. Meanwhile, the budget proposed for 2020-2021 reduces overall spending on parks, recreation and community services.

At tonight’s meeting, the Redwood City council is set to review a budget proposal to solve a $10.1 million deficit next fiscal year that increases the police budget by $2.3 million, from about $46.6 million to $48.9 million, while cutting its overall funding of parks, recreation and community services by $520,000, from about $19.5 million to just under $19 million. The budget for police patrols is increased by $1.3 million, from $28.3 million to $29.6 million.

See the full proposed budget here.

Meanwhile, the city council tonight is also set to review a proposal to increase the annual salaries of City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz and City Attorney Veronica Ramirez, who make $295,008 and $251,604, respectively. The pay raises were delayed from 2019, the city said. In late March, the proposed pay raises for the top city officials were shelved amid uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and to better enable the public’s ability to chime in on the matter. With that uncertainty ongoing, the proposal is back on the council agenda, but with adjustments. Due to COVID-19, according to city documents, both the city manager and city attorney requested to forgo their 3-percent merit increase from 2019, as granted by an ad hoc committee that reviews their performance annually. Also, they agreed to forgo a planned 1-percent internal equity adjustment. The ad hoc committee recommends instead that both positions receive a 3 percent cost of living adjustment for 2019.

Some in the community have questioned pay raises for top officials in city government at a time when many in the community are suffering amid the shelter-in-place order. Redwood City businesses thriving before the shelter-in-place order are now struggling, as evidenced in projections for sales tax revenues to the city, which are the second largest contributor of revenue to the city budget behind property taxes. Sales tax revenue is forecast to drop by 5 percent next fiscal year compared with 2019-2020, and to decrease by another 1.3 percent in 2021-22 before ticking back up again. However, the city warned that it cannot fully predict how local businesses will rebound from the recession, with COVID-19  social distancing protocols expected as well as probable changes in consumer behavior.

“…Auto sales are among the top 10 sources of sales tax paid to the city and dealerships currently are permitted to repair cars, sell auto supplies, and only sell vehicles online or by phone,” the city said in documents. “Restaurant activity also contributes significantly to the city’s sales tax base, and restaurant sales are expected to plummet due to requirements to provide food only for take-out or delivery.”

Those impacts were partly offset by large retailers deemed essential during the shelter-in-place period, online retailers headquartered in the city and also online retailers complying with new legislation related to the South Dakota vs. Wayfair case, the city said.

Tax revenue from hotels and similar businesses, called transient occupancy tax, is expected to decrease by 31.3 percent compared to the 2019-2020 fiscal year, and the utility users’ tax revenue is projected to decrease by 5.4 percent over the same period.

The unexpected recession also came in the middle of city efforts to deal with significantly rising pension costs. The annual CalPERS payment is projected at $43 million in 10 years, or $12.8 million more than next fiscal year’s payment of $30.2 million.

Redwood City’s proposed budget for next fiscal year includes $292.9 million in revenues and $292.6 million in expenditures, with a general fund of $148.3 million. Police and fire department salaries account for $67.5 million, or 66.8 percent of all salaries, wages and benefits in the general fund, the city said.

The City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. on Zoom. To view the agenda and to find out how to join the meeting, go here.

For city leaders and residents alike, Redwood City’s core identity has been wrapped up in being the entertainment capital of the Peninsula, a destination alive with bars, restaurants and theaters. Overnight, the coronavirus has brought back a vampire specter no one imagined could ever return: Downtown “Deadwood City.”

Misery has company, it must be said, and neighboring cities with thriving downtowns a couple of months ago are in exactly the same boat.

For restaurateurs and retailers, for the self-employed in offices and contractors working outdoors, the coronavirus and the response to it have been devastating. Two months into an abrupt shelter-in-place closure, many business owners whose revenue took a nosedive are struggling to pay rent and make payroll and wondering how they’ll survive. Though government and community members are trying to throw these flatlined small businesses a lifeline, the economic undertow is powerful.

Take Ron Brown, 75, for example. He began in the flower business with his dad at the age of six and with his wife owns Redwood City Florist on Woodside Road, next to Crippen & Flynn Funeral Chapel. Bay Area funerals are limited to 10 people or fewer, and this normally large part of the Browns’ revenue has virtually disappeared. Their son, daughter and a grandson are the paid staff.

Sales in March and April were down about $40,000. A $4,000 wedding planned for five days after the shutdown got cancelled. Administrative Assistants’ Day came and went uncelebrated April 22. “We always do Woodside and Sacred Heart (graduations),” Brown says. “They order big arrangements for the stand. All the proms and the spring dances were all cancelled and we do maybe 300 or 400 wristlets over the course of a couple of weeks. … If something doesn’t happen pretty soon,” Brown says, “if we miss Mother’s Day … I don’t know if we’ll be in business in June.”

This story was originally published in the May edition of Climate Magazine. To view the magazine online, click on this link.

Family-owned Plaza Florist & Gifts in San Carlos has been able take orders by phone at home, create the flower arrangements at the store on San Carlos Avenue and then drop them off. They’re mostly small birthday or “thinking of you” bouquets, says florist Jill Naghdchi, not big orders like weddings and graduations that pay the bills. The store had to lay off two employees. In business since 1985, “We’re taking it day by day,” she says.

As government officials look at reopening the economy, many business owners say there needs to be more flexibility for individual businesses who are able to operate safely.

Though he has understanding landlords, J. Vincent is struggling to pay his apartment rent as well as for his Hair Loft space on Broadway, near City Pub in Redwood City. He thinks hairstylists should be classified as “essential” businesses. Furthermore, they are state-licensed and must meet high sanitation standards. “We wash our hands more than the average person,” he says. “We wash heads. We cut hair. We’re not kissing clients. … My salon is only a five-station salon. I have six feet of space (between them).”

He applied for a federal loan, but like many small businesses, got squeezed out when bigger companies got in before the first round of funding ran out. “We’re all in it together,” Vincent says, “but for me, I’m fearful that I might lose my business. I’ve worked so hard to have good credit and that’s going to go down the drain.”

Losing Event Income

Even if other stores start to reopen, until people flock to downtown Redwood City for entertainment and events, things will remain slow at Busy Baby Bottoms/Stuff on the Square, a small specialty store in a kiosk on Courthouse Square. Angela Rogan has been the co-owner with Realtor Greg Garcia for two years.

“The summertime is our biggest revenue and with that it usually sustains the store through the winter months because we do so well (with) summer concerts, the events,” Rogan explains. “The Fourth of July (parade and festival) is a big revenue maker for us. In fact, the Fourth of July will pay for our insurance for the whole year. And all these activities and events have now been cancelled and at this point I’m very worried.”

She has a second job as a waitress but says it will put a strain on the family budget to keep the store afloat until crowds come back. “It’s going to be a vicious, vicious year,” she adds, “because not everybody is going to come out even if they loosen the restrictions.”

In San Carlos, the uncertainty about special events has put the Chamber of Commerce itself in “a bit of a bind,” according to Tom Davids, a former mayor who is now its part-time interim CEO. About 60 percent of chamber income comes from events, including an October art and wine fair.

Not knowing whether the state will allow “people wandering around without a mask” by then makes it difficult for the chamber to plan, Davids says. “We have some question how we’re going to raise the money we need to keep the doors open.”

There Are Winners

In every crisis there are unexpected winners. And owners who get creative and adapt.

Business at Ralph Garcia’s vacuum and sewing machine store on Main Street in Redwood City has “actually been gangbusters,” he says. “We’ve sold more sewing machines in March and April than in the previous six months. Everybody’s dragging out their machines to make masks.” About 1 ½ years ago, he bought a large quantity of fabric and has been able to sell mask-makings too. “I find it hard to believe there’s still a shortage of masks the way they’re cranking them out,” Garcia says.

Peter Borrone and his wife initially shuttered their popular Vesta restaurant on Broadway but were worried about their employees and reopened two weeks later for takeout. They’ve only been able to bring back four of 18 servers, but all the kitchen staff and dishwashers are at work. Chairs and tables have been rearranged to facilitate pick-up by DoorDash-type services and customers, and a few kid-friendly items have been added to the menu.

Not knowing what to expect the first night they reopened, Borrone was at home fixing dinner when a staffer called and said he needed help. “When I drove up there were people six feet apart, but they were down the block,” he says. “They were on that side of the street. They were sitting in their cars. They were everywhere. It was amazing support.”

City and business organizations have jumped in. The Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce initiated a “Feeding Our Local Heroes” campaign to deliver restaurant meals to hospital staff and other essential workers. Funds to buy the lunches and dinners come from community-minded corporate and individual sponsors. By late April, about 1,100 meals had been delivered.

Dani Gasparini, a former mayor, has helped match recipients and restaurants. It’s a way to thank the workers who are keeping essential services going and also keep chefs and other restaurant staff on the payroll. “The winner in it,” she says, “is really the restaurant.”

$1 Million to Start

Local government is trying to help. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors allocated $1 million for small businesses in the county through the San Mateo Strong Fund. Grants are being administered by the San Mateo County Development Association jointly with the San Mateo County Credit Union.

At a $10,000 maximum per grant, that translates to money for 100 business across 21 jurisdictions, SAMCEDA’s executive director Rosanne Foust told the supervisors. Since the initial outlay, a growing number of cities have been adding to the fund to help their own businesses—$1.3 million and counting. Redwood City added $300,000, Foust says, so on top of the grants made countywide, “we can save at least 30 (Redwood City) businesses if not more.” Applications opened April 27 and the number of businesses applying far exceeded available funds. The small business grant portal has closed and the applications are being reviewed for funding.

“We’re trying to get corporate donors, any residents who want to donate to it, high net-worth individuals, whoever we can get,” adds Foust, who is also a former Redwood City mayor. “If we want to keep these small businesses which really matter to us open, then we’ve all got to be dialing for dollars.”

She and her staff put in long days to gather information for the SAMCEDA website on loans and grants available to businesses, legislation and other vital topics. San Mateo Strong had to be built “from the ground up” in less than three weeks, she adds. “There’s no other mechanism that is out there to really get money to small business quickly.”

Don Burrus, Redwood City’s economic development manager, enlisted librarians to call the city’s 6,600 business license holders to find out what they need and offer information. Burrus had personally handled more than 300 calls and emails from often desperate business owners, especially after funds from the initial bailout legislation had been exhausted.

“I definitely think that it’s going to be very difficult for all businesses, not just Redwood City but every business in the United States to try to recover from a lack of revenue generation certainly for 60 days,” Burrus says. “It’s going to be tough for everyone.”

Mayor Diane Howard made phone calls to the management companies at Sequoia Station and the downtown cinema asking them to cut their tenants some slack. All businesses may not survive, but she hopes the city can provide encouragement and resources “that they’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Real Recovery

Ultimately, though, real recovery hinges on getting back to work, and pressure to reopen is increasing, especially as other states greenlight their businesses.

Foust participates in a thrice-weekly call with city, county staff and business leaders, and she has been advocating for residential construction to be allowed to continue. The county-led group, Foust adds, is starting to focus on what can be opened and when. “They want to do this but they want to do it in the safest way possible.”

Howard sympathizes with residents who got caught up in the shutdown while remodeling and are living with an unfinished bathroom or a wall that wasn’t closed up. Others may have moved out during the construction and are paying double rent. That said, she adds, “I’m all for trying to get back, but I’m going to follow the guidelines of the county and the governor. I feel that we really need to be very careful as we go forward so we don’t have a relapse.”

Tiny Tim never saw this coming.

For those unfamiliar with late-1960s television, Tiny Tim was the stage name of the late actor (no one would say, “singer”) Herbert Khaury. He achieved notoriety on “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” by accompanying himself on the ukulele while warbling “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “On the Good Ship Lollipop” and, most infamously, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” all in an ear-bending falsetto.

The ukulele itself was half of the joke. What a silly little instrument. And there was homely, long-haired Tiny Tim, all six-feet-one of him, clutching it to his chest, strumming away as viewers across the country lunged at their TVs to change channels.

Now, the ukulele is hip – and enthusiasm has been growing for more than a decade. According to market and consumer research firm Statista, sales of ukuleles in the U.S. soared to 1.77 million in 2018, up from 501,000 in 2009. Locally, staff at Gelb Music in Redwood City and Clock Tower Music in San Carlos estimate they collectively sell around 900 ukuleles a year.

The 700 PUGS

On the Internet, YouTube brims with performances ranging from those of virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro to kids’ laptop-recorded versions of their favorite pop tunes. The Peninsula Ukulele Group, known as the PUGs, counts more than 700 members, and an event in Santa Cruz called “Burning Uke” (in a turn on the “Burning Man” festival in Nevada) sells out each September.

What’s going on?

Brian Kimmel, who with his wife Susan owns Clock Tower Music, and Mike Craig of Gelb Music both say the ukulele is the perfect starter for someone who wants to try playing music.

“The instrument itself is small and portable, and it doesn’t require a lot of hand strength to produce the chords,” Kimmel observes. “And the chords are so simplified that you can often play a three-chord song with just one or two fingers.”

Adds Craig, “It’s not as intimidating (as a guitar). We see with a lot of customers who come in, they look at a guitar and a ukulele, and for whatever reason, the ukulele looks like it’s not as challenging or the mountain is not as high.”

While Brian Kimmel was commenting for this article, Clock Tower co-owner Susan Kimmel sold a ukulele to a musical beginner, Michele DuBarry, of Belmont. Now in her 60s, DuBarry says she always wanted to get involved in music again after briefly studying the viola at age eight. “I play air guitar like anything,” she laughs, and was pleased that after one lesson with Clock Tower teacher Mike Ehlers, she could play “Clementine,” which requires just two chords. (“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” takes just one, which can be played with a single finger.)

This story was originally published in the May edition of Climate Magazine. To view the magazine online, click on this link.

Beyond instant gratification, low prices offer another attraction. Whereas a beginner’s electric guitar and a small amplifier cost around $200, a rock-bottom, plastic ukulele retails for just under $40 in the Kimmels’ shop. Serviceable wooden models start at around $50. At the other end of the scale, premium ukes crafted from exotic woods such as Hawaiian koa can bring up to $5,000.

Social Time

Then there’s the social aspect. Ukulele players like to get together. Amelia Lin of the PUGs says monthly meetups at the Belmont and Woodside libraries draw an average of 40 to 60 musicians. Each gathering starts with a lesson for beginners, and then the group branches into folk songs, classical music, oldies and even contemporary pop hits by artists such as Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. (Information about the PUGs is available at www.facebook.com/peninsulaukulelegroup. The organization should not be confused with another Peninsula Ukulele Group, in New Zealand.)

Ukulele-playing spans generations; Ehlers says his students range literally from seven to 70 years old. For players above 55 years of age, the Avenidas Ukulele Band at the Avenidas Village senior-citizen center in Palo Alto focuses on older adults. Founded by Redwood City residents Edward and P.A. Moore, the Avenidas group holds twice-monthly jam sessions that typically attract around 20 participants.

Another source of the ukulele’s continuing popularity, says Edward Moore, is that the instrument “has crept into the mainstream of media.”

In a current television commercial for Hawaii’s Kona Brewing Company, actors David Bell and Blake “Brutus” LaBenz pose as two Hawaiian “bruddahs” who ask why each day features just one “happy hour,” while LaBenz strums a ukulele. Meanwhile, pop-music hits by singers such as Jason Mraz (“I’m Yours”), Paul McCartney (“Ram On”) and Taylor Swift (“Fearless”) have all included the ukulele. The late former Beatle George Harrison was a big ukulele fan, and Shimabukuro’s ukulele cover of Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” has generated nearly 1.5 million views on YouTube.

The Internet, says Gelb Music guitar and ukulele teacher Chris Stone, has propelled the wave for many of his students.

“YouTube is huge,” Stone says. “Not only can you see artists from all over the world very easily, but you also see people in their rooms recording themselves, doing their own versions of their favorite songs. It’s endearing and it’s inspirational to see someone like you – not some star up on a stage – sitting and just strumming something.”

When it comes to stars, however, no ukulele player is more widely respected than Jake Shimabukuro. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the 43-year-old Shimabukuro is, in Craig’s words, “the Van Halen of the ukulele.” Shimabukuro combines rock, jazz and other musical genres, pushing the ukulele’s melodic, harmonic and rhythmic extremes and achieving a unique sound that’s an entire universe away from “Aloha ‘Oe.”

A Childlike Sound

Even with the complexity of his playing, Shimabukuro believes it’s the “childlike” character of the ukulele that contributes considerably to its popularity. The instrument’s lowest note is middle C; consequently, it plays in a fairly high range like that of a child’s voice.

“I tell people that sometimes I feel like the tone of the ukulele or the sound or the frequency range of the ukulele is very similar to a child laughing, or children laughing and playing on the playground,” Shimabukuro says. “When I pick up the ukulele and play it, it makes me feel good. I feel like my day gets better when I hear the ukulele or when I get to play it. I feel more positive. I feel like I have more energy.”

All this comes from a simple, four-stringed instrument that descended from the Portuguese braguinha, which, according to the richly illustrated book, “The Ukulele: A Visual History,” is still popular on the island of Madeira. It was a collection of 419 immigrants from Portuguese-held Madeira, in fact, who introduced the instrument to Hawaii in 1879. Jim Beloff, the book’s author, credits three craftsmen from Madeira – Augusto Dias, Manuel Nunes and José do Espirito Santo – with developing the modern ukulele.

How the ukulele got its name appears to be a matter of folklore. “Ukulele” in Hawaiian means “jumping flea.” Beloff says one version of the story holds that Edward Purvis, a British army officer who was appointed to the royal court of Hawaii’s King David Kalakaua, was nicknamed “Ukelele,” in part because of his relatively small size next to that of the Hawaiians. Purvis was an exceptional braguinha player, and the name may have hopped from the man to the instrument. Another telling has it that “jumping flea” refers to a ukulele player’s fingers as they leap from string to string.

However it donated its name, the “jumping flea” bit Beloff big-time. He left his job as associate publisher of music-industry publication Billboard Magazine and devoted his professional life to writing for and about the ukulele. His ukulele method books and song collections have sold more than a million copies. He has performed his ukulele compositions, including a concerto called, “Uke Can’t be Serious,” with the Michigan Philharmonic and other ensembles.

Shimabukuro says the ukulele’s reputation for frivolity helps when he plays before audiences.

“One of the things that I usually say at the end of my concerts, I tell people that one of the best things about being a touring ukulele player is that audiences all over the world have such low expectations,” Shimabukuro says. “And I think that’s another charming characteristic of the ukulele – that you don’t take it so seriously. That’s one of the things that I love about the instrument. It’s not intimidating. It doesn’t push people away. It embraces people, and that’s something I love.”

Want to add a unit to your property? A San Mateo County program is offering 100 hours of free feasibility and project management support to eligible homeowners.

The program, Bright in Your Own Backyard, is launching in the pilot communities of East Palo Alto, Redwood City, City of Pacifica, and unincorporated areas of San Mateo County. Applications from all eligible homeowners are being accepted through 5 p.m. on June 1.

Bright in Your Own Backyard is a collaboration involving Hello Housing, philanthropy, major employers, local government, and homeowners to build more housing in the San Mateo County community. Launched with approval by the County Board of Supervisors last year, Hello Housing provides homeowners with no-cost support in the design, estimating, permitting and project management involved with building a second unit.

For eligibility and application details, visit https://www.hellobright.org/one-stop-shop.