Check Your Ballot
Happy Wednesday Daly Citizens!
Bins stolen from a Daly City post office last Wednesday may have held San Mateo County mail-in ballots. The county elections office put out a release about it, and our friends at the Peninsula Buzz and the San Mateo Daily Journal both covered it. The extent of the impact is unclear. Check your ballot's status at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov. If anything doesn't look right, request a replacement online by October 27th or in person at any county vote center. Registration closed Monday, but you can still register and vote conditionally, in person, at a county vote center.
The $500k hearing on Monday
Next Monday, October 26, the council holds a public hearing on moving federal housing money out of the Early Learning Center and into the residential rehabilitation program. In April the council put $761k of this year's federal block grant into building the center and $298k into the residential rehabilitation program, which pays for repairs at deed-restricted affordable apartments. Construction of the center is behind schedule. The staff report says that if the money sits unspent the city "risks being untimely in its expenditure of CDBG funds which could result in a reduction of future CDBG allocations," so staff want to move "a portion" of the center's share over to the rehab program. The report is filed under a $500,000 title. (Staff report) The federal deadline is real, and so are the repairs. The open questions for the hearing are when the Early Learning Center breaks ground, and whether it gets this money back next year.
The hearing is 7 p.m. at City Hall, 333 90th Street. Fill out a card in the chamber, or email [email protected] with "Public Comment" in the subject line by 4 p.m. that day.
October 12 - City Council Meeting Recap
The City Hall roof
The $871k roof replacement passed 5-0 by roll call (meeting page). Councilmember Manalo asked whether the contractor hires locally, and Tom Wooten of the Garland Company answered that the quotes came off Daly City's own contractor list, the one the city solicits every year under the state's small-project bidding rules. Every licensed roofing contractor on that list got the solicitation, two of them local and three minority-owned. That is more than the staff report's "informal competitive quote process" said.
Acting Public Works Director Joshua Cosgrove said the current roof is almost 30 years old and one of the active leaks is over the police department's electronics. The new one carries a 30-year warranty with no dollar cap. Staff had budgeted $650k for the roof, so the full cost runs $221k over. That difference comes out of the City Hall parking lot expansion, which gets pushed to next fiscal year. (Staff report)
Mussel Rock
Mussel Rock is the old city landfill on the bluff at the end of Westline Drive, closed since 1978. It sits inside an active landslide, and the waves keep cutting away the bottom of the bluff. In January 2022 garbage started showing on the cliff face. Since then the city has pulled waste back from the edge and rebuilt the seawall and the rock armor below it. That repair work was authorized at up to $6.8M last year, with $1.3M moved over from the Westlake Library roof and HVAC, War Memorial and John Daly library projects to pay for it.
The bigger question is retreat. The California Coastal Commission requires the city to have a Planned Retreat Management Plan, a study of whether, when and how to move some or all of the landfill back from the coast and eventually take out the seawall. The city sent one in 2015. The Commission found it lacking and in February 2024 issued a Notice of Violation. Tetra Tech, an engineering firm Acting Public Works Director Joshua Cosgrove said has worked on the site for over 20 years, was hired last October for $207k to revise the plan. The revised plan went to the Commission on September 8th.
The amendment on October 12th adds $92k, which brings the contract to about $333k, 60% over where it started. $72k pays for work already done: the landslide modeling had to reach into neighboring slides nobody had planned for, and the cost estimates covered six different ways of digging out the waste, because the landfills that would take it limit how much they accept. The other $20k covers revisions once the Commission reviews the plan and sends back its comments. (Staff report)
Councilmember DiGiovanni asked for a public discussion of it and raised Tetra Tech's Hunters Point shipyard case, where she said the firm settled for $57M over false test results. Cosgrove said staff had looked into it: the litigation involved a different Tetra Tech unit based in Georgia, and the Oakland group doing the city's work is separate. Her motion to approve with a condition that staff keep up their due diligence got no second. A plain motion to approve passed on a voice vote, with her abstaining.
Vista Grande
The third contract that night, $916k more for the environmental consultant on the Vista Grande tunnel, was on the Sanitation District's consent calendar, the block of routine items a board passes in one vote unless a member asks to discuss one. The district board is our five council members in a different hat, meeting at 6:45 in the same room. The tunnel and canal sit in San Francisco, but the basin they drain is ours: Westlake and Broadmoor run into it, and staff have said local storm drain fixes "will have little effect until the downstream Vista Grande facilities are replaced." Minutes and recordings for the district's last two meetings aren't posted yet.
Cannabis equity
Ordinance 1495 passed its second reading 4-0 with DiGiovanni abstaining. Her reason, on the record: "I support equity, but I was hoping it to be more than cannabis. I support medical as well." An applicant to the city's cannabis equity program now has to meet one of three criteria rather than all of them, and staff said the change has already helped the city secure more state money. It takes effect in 30 days. (Ordinance)
Battery safety
Twenty minutes of the October 12 council meeting went to lithium-ion batteries, because the Fire Prevention Week proclamation turned into a Q&A with Fire Chief Nick Gracia and his prevention staff. The useful parts: a damaged battery is an unstable battery, so get rid of it instead of keeping it in a drawer. Disposal goes through Recology or whoever collects your refuse, never the household garbage can, where batteries can off-gas and ignite. Buy UL-rated chargers. Anything hot, swollen, leaking or making popping sounds is done. One council member told of a neighbor who lost most of their house to a box of drill batteries in the garage while the family was out for half an hour. Make a Difference Day on Saturday takes e-waste, if you have a drawer to empty.
Other business
Assistant Public Works Director Jeffrey Fornesi retires this Saturday after more than 30 years with the city.
The Small Business Commission seat declared vacant on September 28 is still open with no nominations. If you run a licensed business here and want a say, tell a council member.
Mayor Sylvester opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the Daly City couple killed in a collision earlier this month. A San Francisco man has been charged with murder.
Library Board
The board met Tuesday night (agenda). The September numbers in its packet are a nicer read than last month's statewide comparison. About 10.7k physical checkouts, 7.8k eBook and eMagazine checkouts, 19.9k visits, 353 new library cards and 69 programs with about 1.5k people at them. Digital is now running at roughly three quarters of physical circulation. Comments go to [email protected].
Jefferson Elementary closure committee, tonight
A correction first. Two weeks ago I wrote that the committee's second meeting was where individual schools would come up. The district has since posted the agenda and it isn't that. Fifty minutes on agreeing the criteria for closure considerations, forty on reviewing data in small groups, then a list of what data they want for November. No school is named anywhere on it, and no district document has named one. Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 8 p.m. at the District Office boardroom, 101 Lincoln Avenue. Open to watch, no public comment, and comments go to [email protected]. The next one is Thursday, November 12.
The regular board met October 14 and said more than the agenda did. A trustee put the district's structural deficit at "$7 to $9 million." A teacher's written statement, read aloud by a colleague, said teachers got a 1% raise while the superintendent's compensation went up 13%. The superintendent answered on the record that the 13% is accurate but runs over four years, and that the teachers' union got 19% over the same period. A parent from George Washington Elementary said many of its families live on the San Francisco side of town and would transfer into San Francisco Unified rather than travel if that school closed. For more context, check out my Four Schools post.
Election season
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd. Three of five council seats are up, and we vote at large, so everyone votes on all three. The second round of campaign finance reports is due Thursday and should land on the city's election page. If you want to know what the seven candidates have said and how the three incumbents have voted, start with Seven Candidates, in Their Own Words.
Important dates
Tonight, Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 8 p.m. Jefferson Elementary closure committee, District Office boardroom, 101 Lincoln Avenue. Committee page
Thursday, October 22, 7 p.m. Women's Commission, City Hall. Three items held from September for absent commissioners: the status-of-women report, the City Manager's letter on the commission's advisory role and the format of the November 5 speaker series. Agenda not posted yet. Meeting
Thursday, October 22. Second pre-election campaign finance reports due, covering September 20 through October 17.
Monday, October 26, 7 p.m. City Council, with the Sanitation District at 6:45. The $500k HUD hearing, the St. George Orthodox Church addition on Southgate and the September 28 and October 12 minutes. Agenda should post Friday. Council
Tuesday, October 27, 7 p.m. Recreation Commission, City Hall. The pickleball and tennis court usage discussion, plus a presentation on an official Daly City car show. If you play either sport, this is your meeting. Meeting
Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election Day.
Thursday, November 5, 5 to 8 p.m. Women's Commission speaker series on domestic violence awareness and community resources, City Hall Rotunda. Free. Details
Around town
First Inventors: DIY Hydraulics Arm Today, Wednesday, October 21, 3 to 4 p.m. Bayshore Library, 460 Martin Street. Free.
Paws for Tales Today, Wednesday, October 21, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Westlake Library. Kids 5 and up read aloud to therapy dogs from the Peninsula Humane Society. Free.
Paying Less for College Thursday, October 22, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Peninsula Books, 441 Westlake Center. Last of three financial literacy workshops, for students and parents: comparing offers, scholarships and appeals.
Make a Difference Day Saturday, October 24, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. City Hall. Drop off e-waste, mattresses and tires, with volunteer cleanups organized around it. From the City Manager's report on October 12; the city hasn't posted an event page.
Kapwa Kultural Center 2 Year Celebration Potluck Saturday, October 24, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 11b San Pedro Road. Registration required.
Trunk or Treat Saturday, October 24, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Westlake Park, 111 Lake Merced Blvd. $5 per kid ages 3 to 14 if you pay ahead, $10 the day of. Under 3 free.
Halloween Cookie Decorating Saturday, October 24, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Peninsula Books. Ages 8 to 14 with an adult. Registration required, and the cookies contain wheat and dairy.
Likha: Community Altar Tuesday, October 27 to Friday, October 30, noon to 6 p.m. Kapwa Kultural Center & Café, 11b San Pedro Road. A Dia de los Muertos altar you can add to.
Teen Art Workshop: Papier Mache Trinket Shelf Wednesday, October 28, 4 to 5:30 p.m. Serramonte Main Library, 40 Wembley Drive. Free, first come first served.
Tricks F'or Teens Wednesday, October 28, 1:30 to 3 p.m. and Friday, October 30, 2 to 4 p.m. Bayshore Library. A Halloween costume workshop, then a Halloween Eve party. Free, teens.
The weekly standbys keep running: Tuesday Fun Night at Westlake Library at 6, Family Night at Bayshore Thursdays at 6:30, Teen Space at Bayshore weekday afternoons, and the storytimes at Serramonte Tuesdays and Baby Bounce Wednesdays at 10:15 a.m., John Daly Wednesdays at 6 p.m., Westlake Thursdays at 10:15 a.m. and Bayshore Thursdays at 6 p.m., plus Play & Learn for ages 0 to 5 Fridays at 10:30 at Serramonte. All free.
Everything past two weeks out is on the events calendar.
Until next time!