Community Corner

Week in Review: Hillbarn Theatre's New Season Opens, Police Partner with Carfax and More

A round-up of the biggest news stories around Foster City over the past week.

Saturday, Aug. 27

As the continue to roll in, Patch sports reporter Scott Campbell wrote a column pondering what can possibly be done—if anything—to make sure no more fans get hurt. In addition to the well-publicized beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow on opening day of Dodger Stadium, additional violence recently took place at Candlestick Park during a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. A man was brutally beaten in a restroom, and shootings took place in the parking lot.

Friends, family and well-wishers gathered in the east bay on Saturday to mark the three-month anniversary of . Balloons were released in a park in Hayward as people spoke in remembrance of her.

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Dozens of flights scheduled to depart from San Francisco Airport headed to the northeast as Hurricane Irene began its decent on the east coast.

 

Find out what's happening in Foster Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sunday, Aug. 28

In our Peninsula Playbook sports column, Scott Campbell took time to visit with Menlo School graduate Ryan Cavan, who has been making strides and getting noticed while minor league team.

Foster City Patch ran coverage of in Mountain View over the weekend, in which government officials and members of many local cultural groups spoke about continued violence, harassment and discrimination against groups such as Sikhs, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians since 9/11.

 

Monday, Aug. 29

We continued our series of profiles Monday on the candidates for the San Mateo County Community College Board of Trustees with a profile of , who said he would keep a close eye on taxpayer dollars if elected.

Longtime San Mateo County resident and motorcycle enthusiast Jeff Frishof left from his home Sunday to to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. He said he plans to stop and visit with victims’ families of Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania, as well as visit the Pentagon in Virginia and Ground Zero in New York City.

Sports reporter Scott Campbell took the top 15 high school football teams in the county and discussed what he thinks are , as we get ready for the pre-season to begin.

 

Tuesday, Aug. 30

We continued our series of profiles on the candidates running for the San Mateo County Community College Board of Trustees with an article on , who said she believes in “the system” and thinks that making community college cuts fairly requires full participation and a clearly defined process.

BART protesters during the busiest part of the evening commute. Officers are struggling to find a balance between protecting safety and the rights of other commuters, and the Constitutional right to free speech. Meanwhile, other commuters were interviewed as to their thoughts on the protests, and many called them “misguided” and “annoying.” Rumors on the Internet suggest a counter-protest group made up of other commuters may soon form.

 

Wednesday, Aug. 31

In our sports column, Peninsula Playbook, Scott Campbell included a profile of the former College of San Mateo football star Jeremy Galten, who is gearing up to start —and there’s a chance he may be picked to start the upcoming, nationally-televised season opener.

In the continuing saga with PG&E over last year’s fire in San Bruno, that points to a “systemic problem' and finds strong similarities between the Sept. 9 San Bruno fire and the 2008 Rancho Cordova explosion, in which PG&E’s poor handling of a pipeline’s installation ultimately led to that accident.

Patch ran a video in which reporter Sadaf Ayub examines . Though many love having geese around the town, some feel the amount of droppings they leave behind are excessive, and City representatives say it can cost upwards of $25,000 per year to clean up after them and install fences to keep them out of certain high-traffic areas.

In our weekly Council Corner column, we featured a letter by Mayor Linda Koelling discussing how she feels that passing Measure P, which , could benefit the City and prevent some future spending cuts by raising roughly $250,000 annually.

 

Thursday, Sept. 1

This week, BART’s board of directors appointed Grace Crunican as its new general manager, replacing Dorothy Dugger, who resigned under pressure. However, following her appointment, . It was revealed that Crunican was pressured to resign from her former job as a transportation director in Seattle after what many felt was a poor response to snowstorms that temporarily paralyzed parts of the city. Also, director James Fang of San Francisco said he felt Crunican displayed a lack of knowledge of BART's systems and needs during her job interview.

This week, Foster City Police announced a new partnership with the popular car history report Carfax, in which . For a $5 fee, anyone with a few needed pieces of information regarding a collision can log on to the website and print a copy of a report.

Hillbarn Theatre celebrated the start of its 71st season by opening its latest production Thursday night, of the hit musical “City of Angels.” Patch reporter Monique Soltani took Patch readers backstage during .

The San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees approved a measure this week that would for classified, professional and supervisory staff despite the prevailing atmosphere of budget tightening. The measure, approved on Aug. 24, is the result of a salary comparison of positions such as bookstore manager, director of library services and manager of compensation and benefits, with those of nearby districts. It intends to provide a basis for comparable salaries and increases.

A “Spare the Air” alert was issued for the Bay Area on Friday, as . Wood burning was not allowed, and residents were encouraged to drive less and reduce their energy use to lower pollution levels, according to the air district. The alert was due to a brief but quick spike in temperatures.

Columnist Scott Delucchi, an employee of the Peninsula Humane Society, wrote a piece this week highlighting , playfully nicknamed the agency’s resident “Cagney and Lacey.”

 

Friday, Sept. 2

As we enter the Labor Day weekend, Caltrain and SamTrans announced they will be as well, due to the holiday. Caltrain will run 28 trains between San Jose and San Francisco, as well as four Baby Bullet trains.

In other Caltrain news, the Board of Directors announced Thursday that it had approved , who will soon take over for Amtrak. TransitAmerica will be paid $59.5 million for the first year with the option to renegotiate each year, and Amtrak will remain on for the first five months of the transition period.


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