I wrote this!

Scroll down to page 16. It takes a bit to load; I wrote the story about the dirt-bike-racing kid :-)

http://www.spectrummagazine.net/pdfs/2011_02_SpectrumArchive.pdf

Slightly less random

Than Manic Monday (though somewhat stream-of-consciousness)

I wish people wouldn't send messages to the mothers club about stuff like spanking and circumcision. Honestly. It just clogs the forum and pisses people off. What is with the Menlo Park-Palo Alto people? I'm hoping these kinds of messages are coming from the latter. I didn't have this problem in Redwood City.

Speaking of Redwood City, I wonder if the parents could somehow revolt and turn all the schools into charters? Or maybe secede with West RC and East RC districts to remove the transient population and possibly switch to basic aid funding?

I can understand how parents fall into the trap of overscheduling. This summer both boys will be in summer school (together! in the same place at the same time!!!) Tues-Wed-Thurs for four weeks. I could conceivably sign both of them up for soccer, swimming and gymnastics. It's just down the street, but still. In the end, we plan to sign them both up for swimming and let each choose soccer or gym.

Manic Monday!

It looks like there is FINALLY some physical movement happening on the future site of the Redwood City In N Out.

This is disappointing, but not exactly surprising. At least it frees up Kiefer to be in lots more terrible movies.

I truly hate Heidi more and more every year.

Top 5 Friday!

A day late because I couldn't think of anything yesterday...

Top 5 People I Most Frequently Run In To in and Around the RC

5) Steve Penna

4) Rebecca Ratcliffe

3) Becky Robbins

2) Ian Bain

1) Maggie and Mary Courtney (my sons' classmates)

Election Today

It's time to vote here in the RC. I'm really hoping my fellow citizens make the right decisions at the polling places today.

This is an important election because two council members are terming out and someone elected today could be on the council for sixteen years!

Cherlene Wright is at the top of my endorsement list. She's a genuine person and not a political insider who has raised tons of money to waste on ads and and whatever it is you would spend $30,000 dollars on during a city council campaign in a city of 70,000.

Jeff Gee is one of the few candidates who actually spells out what he's going to do rather than spew platitudes. Here's an example of the scintilating language of one of the other candidates under the category of "top priorities": "Working together to achieve our community's vision. Fiscal responsibility. Building community partnerships." Way to go out on a limb there. I'm just saying.

Jeff Ira is the only incumbent on the ballot (due to term limits). He's the candidate of solid experience and should be a shoe-in.

Elect Cherlene Wright to Redwood City council

Here's the second in my series of endorsements for Redwood City Council: Cherlene Wright.

I think it's important to have a variety of segments of the city's population represented in city government. I don't know Wright super-well (yet), but I think she has something of a "mom six-pack" quality: she's open an inclusive and can relate to a lot of moms -- and moms are really the people who keep our community humming along.

Cherlene is set apart from the rest of the candidates and council members because she's not already part of the political establishment in Redwood City. She offers a fresh voice, and it's important on a body like the city council, where people can stay on for as long as 16 years, to get someone totally new into the mix.

Cherlene is also clearly committed to the community; she has been and will continue to be out-and-about as much as any candidate. She really wants to take her consitutents' wants and needs into account, but she also has a strong personality, so she won't simply cave to special interests or blindly sign off on what the city staff recommends.

Finally, I think what I like best about her is that she does not give off the politician vibe. Yeah, we need some of the politician-types in office, but it's refreshing to see someone running who isn't constantly trying to say exactly what's most optimal for getting them elected.

What. Is wrong. With people. Seriously.

Yesterday we had yet another fabulous block party. There was

* a great band, featuring our neighbor, Greg;
* food and drink;
* stomp rocketing in the middle of the street;
* and best of all, our wonderful neighbors hanging out with us.

There were also

* at least two people yelling obscenities at us;
* at least one person honking in anger and speeding off;
* and one folding chair, with a "McGarvey Closed Ahead" sign taped to it, stolen.

All this anti-social behavior was from people who consider McGarvey Avenue to be their own personal freeway. They are so oblivous that they don't see it as the residential street where people live, work, sleep and play with their kids. Seriously, is everyone so keyed up that they can't accept the closure of one block of a moderately busy street on a major holiday? It's not like we're closing the Bay Bridge or something.

Biggest News of the Year in the RC

We are getting an In N Out Burger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of you might be thinking that I'm exaggerating, or being hyperbolic, but unless Jack Hickey gets elected to the school board, this is it. This is a very, very long time in coming. Right now, Redwood City residents have to drive to Mountain View or Milbrae -- Milbrae! that's almost San Francisco!! -- to get an In N Out burger. It's outrageous.

But in a few months, this wrong will be righted, according to the Spectrum. Opening scheduled for November, but will be closer to January, the magazine says.

Seriously, this is really, really important. I don't eat hamburgers unless they're from In N Out. And it's a California icon. When Nathan and I first saw our favorite movie, I think we pretty much viewed In N Out as a made-up entity. When we arrived from the frozen Midwest and discovered we could actually eat at In N Out burger and go through the drive through while listening to Oye Como Va, all was right in our world.

Again, I say, We Are Getting An In N Out Burger!

Redwood City Council: Vote for Jeff Ira

Here's my first in a series of candidate endorsements: re-elect Jeff Ira for City Council.

Jeff Ira is the only incumbent running for re-election this year, since two other council members (Howard and Hartnett) term out. Jeff Ira has been on the council for more than 10 years and knows his stuff. He's fiscally conservative and helped keep the city from having to make major cutbacks when the bottom fell out of the economy -- instead of blowing surpluses on recurring expenses like new staff, RC bolstered its savings and did some one-time infrastructure improvements.

Basically, Ira is a voice of reason and experience on a council that will have at least two rookies and will be relatively inexperienced overall.

Redwood City government is doing a lot of things right right now, and keeping the one incumbent running for council is a good move.

Election season in the RC

Before you know it, people will be getting their vote-by-mail ballots and candidate signs will be popping up in what seems like every other yard. There's an election Nov. 3, and Redwood City will be electing new council members and school board members.

In coming weeks I'll be publicizing my endorsements here. What makes me think I'm any more qualified to make endorsements than the next blogger? Well, I know all but two of the candidates, at least a little. (I don't know a single person running for the high school district board, but if I have time to learn enough about them to make solid choices, I will.) And I know Redwood City, since I've lived here for seven years and have been heavily involved with entities that deal directly with local government. And before that I covered Redwood City for the Examiner for more than two years, so it was my job to know Redwood City.

Of course, I may be totally off base with the picks I make and if you think I am, let me know. Hopefully these blog posts will create some interesting dialog and spread reliable information.

Top 5 Friday!

Top 5 Things I may do with my extra free time:

5. Sew

4. Scrapbook

3. Blog

2. Become a professional organizer

1. Start a Redwood City news blog

Manic Monday!

There's a lot up in Emerald Hills that Nathan and I wanted to buy a couple years ago and build a fab MKD house on; the new owners have built a house that looks like it belongs in some dismal midwestern subdivision -- and it's GRAY! (what's the emoticon for "gag"?)

I hate it when I'm craving In n Out but don't have time to drive to Mountain View or Milbrae. Stupid Redwood City.

Least favorite thing about homeownership: disposing of rodents that die in our yard.

Have I mentioned recently that I wish Janice Joplin were alive to beat Faith Hill unconscious with a copy of her unbearable cover of "Piece of My Heart"?

Screw our schools

That appears to be the official stance of the vast majority of Redwood City residents. Today's election on Measure E put one issue on the ballot: yes or no. Yes = give our school district money it needs to function, No = our children who don't go to private school can make do without, say, science teachers and pencils. More than 60 percent of people who bothered to vote in this election voted yes, but we live in this effed up state where everything needs a 2/3 super-majority to pass, and we all know that you can't get more than half of any one group to agree on anything, unless it's, say, a group of newspaper reporters choosing whether to get liquored up or not get liquored up after a long day in the newsroom.

More than 75 percent of registered voters couldn't be bothered to drag their sorry hides to their local polling place (likely as not to be all of 100 yards from their front door), putting them solidly in the "screw our schools" camp with those who voted "no."

Oh for Pete's sake

Really? Someone's trying yet again to build something on the bay in Redwood City? Yeah, that's worked out so well in the past.

I'm not the only one creeped out by Redwood Shores, right? A former council member who lived in Redwood Shores called it "Stepford Shores."

BAD Redwood City!

I just got a totally bogus ticket parked downtown. I shall be fighting it...

UPDATE: I called my contact at the city and he jumped on it -- I guess bogus parking tickets are not the way to get people to return to downtown and spend money. The traffic sergeant called me personally and said he was taking care of it and if I got any more notices in the mail to call him!

Go Redwood City!

Conserving water, like we didn't know that.

Oops, we did it again

Yet again Redwood City has effed up in its efforts to revitalize downtown and gotten into legal trouble.

This time, a judge basically told the city to start over again in its environmental review of the downtown plan, which calls for 12-story buildings, thousands of apartments, etc. This is a few years after the city had to write a formal letter of apology and post a plaque in honor of their victims in a case of overzealous eminent domain seizure.

G'day!

Technology is cool: we just did a video chat with Linda, who is in Sydney tomorrow afternoon while we're in Redwood City this evening!

I'm also glad we'll probably be going to Sydney in their winter, because Linda said they have humidity there in the summer. Blech.

Finally, we're still looking for a house swap, so if you know anyone who lives in Sydney and wants to spend some time in Redwood City... "Climate Best By Government Test"!!

Miscelany

I got all my final Christmas errands done this morning, thanks to the babysitting co-op!

I'm continuing to be glad I'm not traveling to the Midwest this month.

I usually get cash or a gift certificate from the kids I read to at a local day-care; this year I got candy.

I should really start a Redwood City news blog.

I thought video games were recession-proof?

EA to cut 1,000 jobs.