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By Ken, May 24, 2010 7:32 am

Suspicions were raised when two young men claiming to be from Comcast roamed through White Oaks recently asking homeowners about their service. Many people didn’t think this idea was very Comcastic.

The men, wearing a neon Comcast vest over otherwise casual clothes, went door to door inquiring about service, implying that they were conducting a survey. They carried clipboards, as if these were customer records, but seemed not to know which service packages were in place with each home.

We contacted both Comcast and San Carlos Police Department, and here’s the story:

The men, according to Comcast regional officials in Livermore, work for a contract firm that Comcast uses for door-to-door upselling. They are not Comcast employees. Essentially, they’re trying to find out if you have Comcast and, if not, encourage you to take the service. If you already have Comcast for one or two services, such as cable TV and Internet, their mission was to suggest that you add telephone service as well. They might offer a special promotion.

What makes these door-to-door roamers appear less credible is that they don’t dress like Comcast service workers, who wear logo shirts and hat, carry Comcast identification badges and drive Comcast trucks. These subcontractors either drive unmarked cars or are dropped off by a manager.

The problem, say police, is that they do not have a city permit to solicit. Comcast feels they may not need one because of Comcast’s contract with the city to provide cable service. In any case, police say that residents should contact the department if they show up again and officers will check them out.

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By Ken, March 30, 2010 9:33 pm

San Carlos Police are on the lookout for a gang of robbers who entered an open door of a home on the 1300 block of Hull Drive – in the north part of town just off El Camino Real – tied up the resident and made off with money and jewelry.

Police said the daylight robbery, at 11:15 a.m. on Monday, involved several suspects, described as Hispanic and between the ages of 20 and 30. After tying up the occupant, the suspects ransacked the entire house before fleeing, they said. The victim received minor injuries but required no medical treatment.

Police are investigating.

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By Ken,

Once again, surveillance video has proven to be critical in a San Carlos police investigation – this time resulting in the arrest of a suspect in the December armed robbery of our Best Buy store.

According to detective Sgt. Marti Overton, San Carlos investigators distributed still photos of the gunman to Bay Area law enforcement agencies. One detective noticed that the suspect resembled a man in a wanted photo from another jurisdiction, for a different crime.

San Carlos officers then obtained a $1 million arrest warrant and the suspect, Anthony Byrd, 24, was arrested at his East Bay home on Sunday by Hayward Police. San Carlos detectives searched the residence and found numerous pieces of suspected stolen electronic items, including flat screen TVs, computers and gaming consoles, said Overton.

On the evening of Dec. 29, the robber entered the Best Buy store at San Carlos Marketplace on Industrial Road, loaded a cart with selected items from the shelves and headed for the rear exit. When he was confronted by a store employee, the man brandished a handgun and made his escape.

Faced with a 25 percent rise in major crimes in the city during 2009, San Carlos Police have chalked up a series of key arrests lately. The department has a clearance rate of 75 percent for violent crimes – nearly twice the California average. And just a few weeks ago, police cracked what they believe was a highly organized burglary ring after a house in the Oak Creek area (upper Eaton) was entered and $30,000 worth of goods was stolen.

These successes come as the city council is considering a city staff recommendation to dissolve the police department and outsource all law enforcement functions to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department.

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By Ken, March 24, 2010 11:12 am

Sign our online petition against outsourcing!

FINALLY, San Carlos residents are beginning to understand what’s at stake if the city outsources the police department to the San Mateo County Sheriff and the fire department to CalFire. Overwhelmingly, speakers at Monday’s city council budget session criticized city manager Mark Weiss’ recommendation to dismantle the departments, and some council members felt more options were needed to solve a $3.5 million budget deficit. Weiss had offered what he called his “Two Paths” approach: farming out all of public safety or slashing parks and recreation, including the possible closure of the Youth Center.

Despite the concerns of residents, a majority of the council seemed to espouse the parks-at-any-price option and instructed the city staff to further explore outsourcing police and fire. The proposals from the sheriff and CalFire may soon be joined by a proposal from Redwood City, which could offer a contract for services or some type of consolidation. It’s not known whether this would be limited strictly to police functions or might also include the fire department, which is shared jointly by Belmont and San Carlos.

If the city thought that few people cared about public safety, Monday’s meeting was a revelation. The council might also want to consider the fact that an online petition against outsourcing that we’ve started at Change.org is approaching 200 signatures. They might want to consider that a group of Central Middle School youngsters, concerned about the fate of their firefighters and police officers, have collected hundreds of signatures from fellow students urging the council not to break up the departments. And they might want to consider that an online poll from fellow blogger Chuck Gillooley (www.whiteoaksblog.com) is running two-to-one against outsourcing.

There is no escaping the fact that this issue is convulsing our city, perhaps as never before in its history. Just look at the media circus this has caused, with three Bay Area TV stations, local newspapers and even The New York Times covering the story. San Carlos has become the embarrassment of the Bay Area. So much for “The City of Good Living.” Our image is going down in flames.

Police and fire protection represents the foundation, the bedrock of city government, and for anyone to speak of these dedicated men and women in terms of numbers and costs is hard to swallow. Nothing personal about this, insists the mayor and some council members, it’s only business.

I’ve got news for them. It’s VERY personal.

Continue reading 'The Personal Toll of Outsourcing'»

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By Ken, March 19, 2010 9:14 am

A proposal by San Carlos City Manager Mark Weiss to hand over our police department to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office raises a host of questions, including the one that everyone is asking: Will it make us safer?

There is little doubt that regionalism in public safety is becoming a trend. Just this week it was announced that Burlingame and San Mateo are taking the first steps toward a merged police department. Millbrae and San Bruno are in talks to do the same thing. As cities struggle to find solutions to their budget challenges, consolidations look very tempting, especially if the savings are substantial.

In San Carlos, the city needs to close a $3.5 million budget gap, and Weiss has presented a “Two Paths” plan; with one option that drastically cuts all city departments — including Parks and Recreation — and another that pulls all of the savings out of public safety by outsourcing police to the sheriff and the San Carlos portion of the fire department to CalFire, the state agency.

The way that the city staff is embracing the outsource concept, Two Paths are looking more like One Track – and a fast one at that. In the first council budget session last Saturday (the next one is this Monday, March 22, at 6 p.m. in city council chambers) , the city management put up rosy numbers that would purportedly save millions on the outsource option – and provide the city with a fat surplus, to boot. Officers would drive around in the same cars that say “San Carlos Police.” There would be no loss of jobs. No closure of parks and recreation programs. All of the fun stuff in town would continue. And we all live happily ever after!

What could be wrong with that picture?

Continue reading 'Outsourcing the Police Dept: Lingering Questions'»

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By Ken, March 12, 2010 4:34 pm

Outsourcing San Carlos Fire Department to State Agency Sparks Firestorm of Questions

ALARMS are going off everywhere – except, apparently, in City Hall — over a proposal to outsource the San Carlos portion of the Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department to the state-run CalFire agency.

A report issued yesterday from City Manager Mark Weiss’ office suggested that the city could save $1.2 million to $2 million a year by turning over all firefighting functions to CalFire, formerly known as the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). The idea is to help offset an expected $3.5 million budget deficit for the next fiscal year.

The San Carlos City Council will review the proposal, starting with a Saturday, March 13, budget work session that will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on the second floor of the library, with the public invited to attend. See the full city staff report.

In the context of these deliberations, there has been ongoing strife between San Carlos and Belmont over the cost-sharing formula for running the jointly-managed Belmont-San Carlos Fire Department. Reportedly more heat was generated this week at a meeting of the fire board, which includes two council members from each of the two cities.

Also, San Mateo County supervisors may have concerns over what might become of the department’s hazardous materials response team, which is responsible for serving the entire county. As the county’s designated hazmat unit, the department receives nearly a half-million dollars a year from the county. The team includes a vehicle, special equipment that can deal with toxic leaks as well as terrorist attacks, and special training for firefighters.

But there’s more – much more – that the city council is not getting from the city staff report, which was prepared by Assistant City Manager Brian Moura.

Apart from taking a hard look at the accuracy of CalFire’s numbers, or the city staff’s mathematics, there are major issues swirling around the operations of CalFire, its relations with communities that have contracts with the agency, and skyrocketing cost increases to the state government that have drawn attention in Sacramento and could well have repercussions for any community with a CalFire agreement.

Continue reading 'CalFire Proposal: Smoke and Mirrors?'»

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By Ken, February 13, 2010 8:52 am

“Why can’t city government operate like a business?”

This is a question we’ve heard a lot lately, especially with cities struggling to make ends meet. In San Carlos, the severity of a projected $3.5 million budget shortfall is prompting the city council to look at fundamental changes. Proposals include shutting down one of two fire stations and replacing the San Carlos police force with hired guns from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department.

Maybe there’s another way. Maybe the council might consider the reverse option: Keeping the fire and police departments intact — and outsourcing city hall.

That’s already being done in Georgia, where several cities have hired a for-profit private company to run everything – and I mean everything – except public safety departments. One city, Sandy Springs, population 85,000, has operated in this fashion since 2005. According to the city’s website, “the result of this unique partnership has been a significantly higher level of customer service along with a focus on quality, increased responsiveness to individual needs, and dramatically lower operating costs with a total savings of approximately $20 million per year.”

Sandy Springs has an annual budget of $98.8 million and 380 employees. Even though San Carlos is just under one-third that size, with a $28.4 million budget and 110 staff, the prospect of saving millions might well provide an ongoing solution to the chronic financial problems that have plagued San Carlos for a decade.

The contractor for these services is an Englewood, Colorado-based company with a name that sounds like a Secret Service code: CH2M Hill. This firm operates everything from city wastewater treatment plants to public works departments. But, recently it began managing entire cities, mostly smaller municipalities with a population of 100,000 or less. Apart from Sandy Springs, it also runs Milton and Johns Creek which, like Sandy Springs, are suburbs of Atlanta. In Colorado, two places with private management are Centennial (population: 103,000) and Castle Pines North, a new residential community.

Continue reading 'Keep Police and Fire, Outsource City Hall'»

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By Ken, February 8, 2010 1:55 pm

A White Oaks block captain passed this article to us, and it’s worth reading if you carry a cell phone or use a GPS navigation device in your vehicle.

GPS: IS IT A ROADMAP TO YOUR HOUSE?

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS — don’t put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station or police department) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES — A GOLD MINE OF INFORMATION FOR CROOKS

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet… etc…was stolen.

Twenty minutes later when she called her hubby from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says “I received your text asking about our PIN number and I’ve replied a little while ago.”

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text “hubby” in the contact list and got ahold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:

– Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.

– Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….

– Very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when your friends or family members are texting you to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don’t reach them, be very careful about going places to meet “family and friends” who text you.

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By Ken, January 28, 2010 11:36 am

Teen salespeople linked to crimes; employers elude law with shady tactics

San Mateo Daily News
January 28, 2010

BY WILL OREMUS
Daily News Staff Writer

At 5:39 p.m. on Jan. 6, on the 300 block of Louis Road, Palo Alto police arrested a 19-year-old woman from St. Clair Shores, Mich., who was selling magazines door-to-door. She had already been warned and cited for soliciting without a permit, a violation of Palo Alto’s municipal code.

So this time, the officers took her into custody and booked her into Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose.

It might sound like a harsh penalty just for selling magazines, but police Sgt. Wayne Benitez said the department is trying to send a message to the young woman’s employer.

Magazine solicitation, Benitez explained, isn’t always as benign as it sounds. In many cases the salespeople have been linked to other, more serious crimes. And often they’re victims of exploitation themselves, lured from troubled homes with promises of easy money by fly-bynight companies that treat them poorly and cut them loose if they don’t perform.

The problem isn’t new, but authorities in at least two Peninsula cities said it seems to be on the rise. As in Palo Alto, police in San Carlos said they’re starting to get tougher on offenders in hopes of stemming the practice.

Continue reading 'Palo Alto Going After “Magazine” Solicitors'»

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By Ken, October 29, 2009 3:22 pm

Almost every weekend, the San Carlos Police Department devotes a great deal of manpower and resources to quell fights and drunk-and-disorderly conduct at some of San Carlos ’ drinking establishments. Mind you, I’m not a teetotaler – I like a glass of wine or a Mojito or a Corona now and then.  Nor am I a killjoy about parties.

But, at a time when we have a greatly reduced staffing situation with our police department, the issue with unruly people at some of the city’s bars and nightclubs warrants a closer look.  Why should we be concerned about this?  Because when the police are responding to bar brawls, they are not patrolling our neighborhoods.  This was the case when vandals slashed the tires of 45 vehicles in White Oaks earlier this year.

Last Friday night, a dustup at one watering hole required a response by the entire police night shift AND a call to Belmont Police Department for backup.  If you count the cost of engaging 8-10 police vehicles for this fracas, and writing up reports, are we into some serious expense here?

One might ask:  Is it fair for one segment of our business community to create such labor-intensive oversight by our publicly-financed and undermanned police department?

Continue reading 'City of Good Drinking?'»