Comments (2) A woman who called herself Lynn was making the rounds today in White Oaks. She purported to be representing Adelfio’s Choice seafood and steak. When asked if she had a permit to solicit, she claimed to have one in her car. Uh huh. Regardless, it is clearly not visible on the video here.
Last seen, she ran into a white truck with “Adelfio’s” on the side and jumped in and they drove away.
The San Carlos (AKA “the broke city”) City Council heads into tonight’s vote whether to outsource the police department with their minds made up. The only councilperson so far against these proposals has been Matt Grocott. The remaining 4 councilpeople all are determined to “outsource” (what a nice word) the police department in one form or another. Not to be one ever to look at other options, the San Carlos City Council seems hell-bent on defending bad decisions, justifying their decisions based solely on the bottom line. Quality of life does not enter into their equation in anyway.
This means that the city council has failed the city. In desperate need of adult supervision, the City Council members on the Joint Fire commission have been combative with Belmont. So, unable to keep a decent relationship with Belmont’s government, they (Belmont’s representatives) are unlikely to want to join forces with San Carlos to keep a local police presence.
The major regional newspaper has referred to San Carlos as “the broke city” and you were at the head of the ship when that happened. Massive failure.
The City of Good Living? What a joke.
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.
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.
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'»
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.
“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'»
Neighbors to the east of White Oaks have also formed an organization: Greater East San Carlos, or GESC. This groups focuses on many of the same items as the White Oaks Neighborhood Organization, but also includes school issues and parking problems.
This group is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12.
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?
White Oaks Neighborhood Organization sent a cub reporter to San Bruno with 2 San Carlos Public Works employees on Wednesday to see San Mateo County’s first installation of a natural flood control system.
San Bruno implemented the system in April in a school parking lot to control the deep ponding occurring after heavier rains. The curb extension is 75 feet long, filled with pea gravel and designated plants. Water enters through an opening on one end, filters through the plants and pea gravel, and ultimately trickles out the other end, leaving cleaner storm water drainage to the Bay.
San Carlos is considering these systems in White Oaks to help with localized flooding.
Sign at Stormwater System in San Bruno
Rain water enters through here and is filtered
Panorama theme by Themocracy
