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Nonprofits In Action Advocates for Children Advocates for Children, CASA of San Mateo County, is actively seeking caring and consistent adults to mentor and speak up for the best interests of these children. Over 130 children are waiting for someone who cares. If you would like to become a volunteer advocate, or just want to learn more, please attend an orientation held in their San Mateo office. Visit their Web site (www.AdvocatesFC.org) or call 650-212-4423 for more information. City Talk Toastmasters Join the City Talk Toastmasters to develop communication and leadership skills. The club meets Wednesdays 12:30–1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road. Call Manny Rosas at 650-780-7468 if you would like to check out a meeting, or just stop in. Visit www.toastmasters.org for more information about the Toastmasters public speaking program. CityTrees CityTrees is a nonprofit working with the Public Works Department to enhance and care for Redwood City’s urban forest. They usually plant or prune on the third Saturday of each month. Check their Web site (www.citytrees.org) for a listing of events, dates and how to join. Family Connections This nonprofit group is the only parentparticipation preschool in San Mateo County focusing on low-income families. Their Redwood City classrooms offer children through age 5 and their parents a tuition-free learning environment that’s supportive and fun. Family Connections parents stay involved in their children’s education and, as a result, their children are more prepared for kindergarten and beyond. They are always looking for volunteers to play with the children while moms and dads attend parent-ed classes, organizers to help coordinate fundraisers, and people from the business world to initiate new corporate partnerships. Check www. familyconnections.org for more information. Family Service Agency of San Mateo County Looking for a dependable source of skilled, reliable workers? Family Service Agency of San Mateo County provides employers with mature, ready-to-work, experienced workers who are 55 years and older. Employers contact the service because they appreciate the superior work ethic and the commitment to quality that mature workers possess. There are no fees for hiring candidates. Contact Barbara Clipper at 650-403- 4300, ext. 4368, to place your job order. For those who are looking for work and are at least 55 years of age, Family Service Agency provides a range of services, including referrals for classroom training, vocational counseling, job referrals and on-the-job training for qualified participants. Contact Connie Tilles at 650-403- 4300, ext. 4371, if you are looking for work. www.SpectrumMagazine.net Friends for Youth Do you like to play video games, shoot hoops, watch baseball games or just have fun? Then you have what it takes to be a mentor! As a mentor, you can hang out with a young person like Reggie. He’s a 12-year-old who loves pizza, baseball and cars. He lives with his grandmother and three sisters and would love to hang out with a guy and have fun. There are 30 boys like Reggie waiting to be matched with a mentor like you. Most of the boys wait more than a year to meet their mentors. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, you are invited to attend a one-hour information session in Redwood City. For upcoming sessions, call 650-482-2871 or e-mail mentor@ friendsforyouth.org. Funders Bookstore If you haven’t wandered into the Funders Bookstore, you have missed one of Redwood City’s hidden treasures. This project is a volunteer effort by a group of dedicated people interested in supporting the San Mateo County History Museum and simultaneously providing a community bookstore for everyone’s pleasure. A large collection of hardback first editions, trade paperbacks, children’s books, cookbooks and an entire room of $1 paperbacks are featured. Bookstore hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is on the lower level of the San Mateo County History Museum at 2200 Broadway, with the entrance facing Hamilton Street. Stop by for a browse! Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Locally, the Greater San Francisco affiliate partners with working families and the community to build affordable ownership homes in Redwood City. Formed through the merger of Peninsula Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity San Francisco in August 2008, Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco provides a unique solution to the local housing crisis and has enabled nearly 150 families to purchase affordable housing. Contact Jennifer Doettling, communications director, at 650-568-7335 or jdoettling@habitatgsf.org. Visit their Web site at www.habitatgsf.org. Hearing Loss Association of the Peninsula Hearing Loss Association is a volunteer, international organization of hard-of-hearing people and their relatives and friends. The nonprofit, nonsectarian, educational organization is devoted to the welfare and interests of those who cannot hear well but are committed to participating in the hearing world. A day meeting is held on the first Monday of the month at 1:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Ave. Educational speakers and refreshments are provided. A demonstration of assistive devices is held on the first Wednesday of the month at 10:30 a.m. in the second-floor conference room at the Redwood City Public Library, 1044 Middlefield Road. Please call Marj at 650-593-6760 with any questions. Nursing Mothers Counsel Nursing Mothers Counsel, a nonprofit organization since 1955, provides free breastfeeding education and assistance by highly trained counselors (moms who breastfed for at least six months). To speak with a counselor (no fee), call 650-327-MILK (327-6455). NMC also has breast pumps and breastfeeding supplies available for purchase and rent. Call 650-364-9579. If you’d like to become a trained counselor, call 650-365-2713. Visit their Web site at www.nursingmothers.org. Optimist Club of Redwood City Optimist International is one of the largest service organizations in the world, where “bringing out the best in kids” has been their mission for over 80 years. The Optimist Club of Redwood City meets every Tuesday at 12 p.m. at Alana’s Cafe, 1020 Main St. For information, visit www.optimist. org or call President Ed Rosen at 650-366-7589 or Membership Chair John Butterfield at 650-366- 8803. Or just come join them for lunch to learn more about how you can make a difference to the youth in our community. Peninsula Hills Women’s Club Founded in 1960, Peninsula Hills Women’s Club, a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and the California Federation of Women’s Clubs, is a philanthropic organization serving the community through charitable, educational and service programs. Meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. For additional information, contact PHWC, P.O. Box 1394, Redwood City, CA 94064. Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA In addition to sheltering and finding new homes for stray and unwanted animals (100 percent placement for healthy dogs and cats since 2003!), PHS/SPCA has vital programs for people. The shelter drives its mobile spay/neuter clinic into low-income neighborhoods, offering owners free “fixes” for their pets. PHS/SPCA also provides a free animal behavior help line in English and Spanish. Call 650-340-7022, ext. 783 or 786. And domestic abuse victims who wish to leave their abusive situation but are fearful of doing so because they have pets can receive temporary sheltering for their pets through PHS/SPCA. Call 650-340-7022, ext. 330. Peninsula Sunrise Rotary Club The Peninsula Sunrise Rotary Club was chartered in April 1988. In the years since that time, the club has met weekly at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast and to hear a speaker at the Waterfront Restaurant at (continues on page 16)
P.S. The People Speak: Letters to the Editor Restoration vs. smoke and mirrors? Dear Editor: Media has a charter to do its best in fair and balanced reporting, but it is up to each individual reader to ask themselves what they really believe to be the truth in what they see and read. If you are moved by the Saltworks Development Project, either for or against, please do not rely on statements from Save The Bay. Nor should one rely solely on accounts coming from DMB Associates. DMB Associates has been very forthcoming and transparent in their proposal for Saltworks. They have secured water rights and paid for them so water will not be impacted in Redwood City. They have offered and will continue to offer site visits to anyone who wants to come out and inspect the site for themselves. Furthermore, Save The Bay doesn’t have a plan for the Saltworks site, yet they call for the full restoration. Apparently, this nonprofit from the other side of the bay is rich in cash, as it must have the money to purchase and restore the site. That’s funny, considering I just read that the Fish and Wildlife Service just issued their Bay Recovery Plan, which has a price tag of $1.3 billion. The article also went on to say that there is no money currently available to restore these already publicly owned lands. As I see it, the Saltworks proposal actually is about restoration, and I’m all for it. All I see from Save The Bay is smoke and mirrors. Until you have an actual plan, I suggest you focus on trying to come up with money to restore the lands already in public ownership. Praise Save The Bay and Menlo Park Andrew Lomano, San Mateo resident Dear Editor: Cargill/DMB have been spending lavishly for three years to manipulate the public in favor of filling the bay, and they have the audacity to claim that “Save The Bay is trying to corrupt the process.” How about a comparison of how much the developers have spent compared to what project opponents have spent. Save The Bay and Menlo Park should be praised for trying to find a solution that brings more affordable housing without sacrificing our precious San Francisco Bay. Atlantis 94063? Michael Dean Hitchcock, Redwood City Dear Editor: Since the Redwood City City Council and their friends, Cargill, are hell bent on filling in the bay for profit, let us call the new sunken community Atlantis. When the water rises due to global warming, this future community will flood like Milpitas. What do you expect from a company like Cargill that produces bad hamburgers? Will levees fail? Raymond DeMattei, San Carlos Dear Editor: Our San Francisco Bay is the vital, defining aspect of the Bay Area, and it has already shrunk by one-third due to filling and paving. For that reason, Peninsula leaders should oppose any development on the Cargill salt ponds. There should be no housing, schools or even businesses out there — behind levees that could fail. What the community does need are sports fields and park lands that are accessible to all. Redwood City already spelled out a plan that includes a huge new city park, protects the port and restores most of the salt ponds back to the bay where they belong. Why is nobody on the council speaking up for that positive vision? They seem to prefer to make people believe that we need to let Cargill build 12,000 homes in the bay in exchange for a few playing fields. It’s just not true. The levees and more will be welcomed! Joan Parker, Portola Valley Dear Editor: The benefits to the community and the region from the Saltworks plan are clear. We need more housing near jobs. We need parks and public open space in Redwood City. We need the economic boost, the flood protection and new transit links that would get people out of their cars and improve traffic flow along Highway 101. Experts have concluded that the project is not only feasible; it’s a once-in-ageneration chance to fix long-standing problems in the city and region. I live near the Saltworks area and very much look forward to the parks, the levee and the restored tidal marshland. This generation needs to get moving and make sure there are no more delays in the plan’s formal review. It’s time to stop talking and start acting. For the sake of our region and the next generation, let’s get this project started. SamTrans makes things less safe Connie Sadler, Redwood City Dear Editor: A gate connecting Pico Boulevard to Twin Dolphin Drive, which has for years provided important access for bicyclists and pedestrians to the Redwood Shores levee trail, has been closed by SamTrans. This gate closure disrupts bicycle traffic coming from the Whipple Avenue/Shoreway bike path into Redwood Shores. SamTrans recommends a detour out to Redwood Shores Parkway, which it claims is safer because it does not go by the yard entrance. Its suggested route is through the intersection that was recently the site of a bike fatality. While there is a marked bike path on Redwood Shores Parkway, bikers wishing to use the levee path must make two street crossings, for which there is no bike accessible signal control. I feel much safer riding on Pico than I do on Parkway. It seems to me that this action by SamTrans is making the situation less safe for bikers and is interfering with one segment of the Bay Trail bike route. Let your opinion be heard! Richard Bitting, Redwood City Send your letters to letters@spectrummagazine.net or Opinions & Letters, The Spectrum Magazine, P.O. Box 862, Redwood City, CA 94064 Letters to the editor should be no longer than 300 words. Columns should be no longer than 750 words. Illegibly written and anonymous letters will not be accepted. Please include a daytime phone number where we can reach you. The Spectrum 13
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Page 3 and 4: The Spectrum.MAR.2010 Steve Penna O
Page 5 and 6: RCSD Corner: News From the Redwood
Page 7 and 8: Get the red carpet treatment Everyt
Page 9 and 10: Celebration Begins As Courthouse Hi
Page 11: Cultural Events ‘Curtains’ Wood
Page 15 and 16: Donate Your Vehicle 650-363-2423 Pr
Page 17 and 18: Parties Around Town Chamber of Comm
Page 19 and 20: “San Mateo Credit Union has for m
Page 21 and 22: Community Interest Foust Named to H
Page 23 and 24: Feel Warm During Winter - Shop Redw
Page 25 and 26: News Briefs (Continued) child and g
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Page 29 and 30: Vicky Costantini Presents. . . 522
Page 31 and 32: Fundraiser to Keep ‘Danny G’ Da
Page 33 and 34: Insurance Tips: Checking With Your
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