One Week Out
Happy Tuesday Daly Citizens!
Election Day is next Tuesday, November 3rd. Three of five council seats are up, and since we don't have districts, you get to vote on all three. If you haven't decided yet, start with Seven Candidates, in Their Own Words. Check your ballot at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov, and if anything looks off you can still vote in person at any county vote center.
Community service center may have to move
The Daly City Partnership runs the city's community service center, and it may be moved out of its home on 90th Street to make room for our city's own Human Resources (HR) department. The center is where people in Daly City, Colma and Broadmoor go when they need groceries or help with rent, or a case manager to connect them with county services. A recent petition from the REACH Coalition calls on city leaders "to prevent its relocation to the Top of the Hill."
The center is currently on the first floor of the city-owned building at 350 90th Street, across the parking lot from City Hall. The county health center is next door and the Youth Point clinic is upstairs. A county social services office is a block away. It is a dense cluster of service organizations that would be broken up by moving the Partnership's offices to another location.
How we got here
Human Resources spent about 20 years in leased offices in a private building at 295 89th Street, at roughly $100k a year with utilities. In July 2023 the council voted 4-0-1 to design offices for HR in the "unfinished and underutilized portion" of the 90th Street building. Council members asked at the time whether the Partnership had been told and whether services would be affected. Staff said the city had cleared out its own storage there and was "trying to maintain the amount of square footage that they currently have if not enlarge some of their square footage" (meeting). Construction finished in July 2025 at about $1.8M (notice of completion).
That first move already squeezed the Partnership. Legal Aid used to meet clients there and has moved those services to South San Francisco for lack of a private room, according to Tatum King, a neighbor who has been following this.
Tatum spoke at Monday's council meeting to ask the city to form a committee that works directly with the Partnership's leadership, and pause the HR move "until you can really understand ... the impact on the community." (video, 1:35:42) Tatum said that about 90% of the Partnership's clients are Daly City residents, and made the case for the current spot: mental health, food and medical services in one place, ample parking and police across the street. In Tatum's words, "people getting these services don't have time to bounce around to different locations." The council doesn't respond to public comment items.
Offices can work in a lot of buildings but a pantry, a case manager and a clinic in the same block took decades to put together. Before any final decisions are made, the council should hold the hearing Tatum asked for.
For anyone interested, the REACH Coalition has a petition to keep the Partnership at 90th Street, with 102 signatures so far. It's an advocacy group, so read it as such. It describes the Bepler Street site as "a narrow, congested street across from a fire station."
City Council, October 26
The $500k HUD hearing
Last week's post left two unanswered questions about moving $500k of federal block grant money out of the Early Learning Center: when does the center break ground, and does it get the money back? Both got answered at the council meeting last night.
Staff are aiming for construction in February 2027, with a possible slip of three to six months. If construction invoices aren't in by March 2027, the city fails HUD's spending test in May, and as Lenelle Suliguin of city staff put it, the city "has been untimely" recently (video, 2:07:43). The $500k then instead goes to nonprofit owners of affordable rentals for repairs, up to 134 low-income households, which have to be done by March. Next year's grant can put up to $500k back into the center, and staff said the center's funding is "on track."
Councilmember Manalo asked why this skipped the council's Community Development Block Grant committee, where allocation changes usually go first. The answer was speed. It passed 5-0.
A new sidewalk on John Daly
The sidewalk on the north side of John Daly Boulevard between Eastgate Drive and Skyline is done: about 1,400 feet of new walkway, a curb ramp at the Skyline corner and eight new pedestrian streetlights. It cost $635k, nearly all of it from a county Measure W grant the city applied for back in 2020.
Library money
The Daly City Public Library Associates presented $25.6k in grants: $5k for ideas the community submitted (a tool lending collection, workshops, CD and DVD players), digital books for kids up to age 5, new Chromebooks for all four branches to replace the 60-plus lost or broken over the past seven years, and $4.5k from the Hillside Homeowners Improvement Association in memory of Michael Roqueta, half of it for a classical music series. The group has now given the libraries more than half a million dollars since 2011. Thank you, DCPLA!
St. George Orthodox Church
The church at 1617 Southgate got a use permit to replace its rear two-story addition with a three-story one of about 4,100 square feet: storage, meeting rooms and a guest room for visiting clergy. As a church representative put it, they've spent 13 years making "makeshift rooms" out of the sanctuary. Mayor Sylvester pressed on traffic, since the lot has one gate for cars and Sunday parking already spills into Serramonte. Staff want every car using the signal, so the second gate stays for the fire department.
Important dates
Tonight, Tuesday, October 27, 7 p.m. Recreation Commission, City Hall. Staff report on the pickleball courts and a presentation on a Daly City car show. Meeting
Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election Day. The Planning Commission meeting that night is canceled.
Wednesday, November 4, 6 p.m. Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee. Agenda not posted yet. Meeting
Monday, November 9, 7 p.m. City Council, with the Sanitation District at 6:45. Agenda not posted yet. Council
Around town
Bayanihan Disaster Response Fundraiser Wednesday, October 28, 2 to 5 p.m. Kapwa Kultural Center & Café, 11b San Pedro Road.
Tricks F'or Teens: Halloween Eve Shin-dig Friday, October 30, 2 to 4 p.m. Bayshore Library. Classic Halloween movies, free snacks and a photo booth. Free, teens.
Mall-O-Ween Saturday, October 31, 2 to 5 p.m. Stonestown Galleria. Trick-or-treating at the stores.
Veterans Day Celebration Thursday, November 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. War Memorial Community Center, 6655 Mission Street. Light lunch to follow. RSVP by Friday, October 30, at (650) 991-8127.
Women's Commission Speaker Series Thursday, November 5, 5 to 8 p.m. City Hall Rotunda, 333 90th Street. The commission's first community conversation on domestic violence: a keynote from Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, a survivor and a panel with the police, CORA and Bay Area Legal Aid, then resource booths. Free and open to everyone. Questions go to 650-991-8028 or [email protected].
Turkey Bowling Tournament Friday, November 6, 4:45 p.m. Classic Bowling Center. The Daly City Colma Chamber's annual one.
Meet & Greet with Asya Pereltsvaig Saturday, November 7, 2 to 3 p.m. Peninsula Books. The author of Murder in Petrograd.
Día de los Muertos Saturday, November 7, 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. City Hall, 333 90th Street. The Arts and Culture Commission's third annual. Past years have had altars anyone can add to, live music, dance, vendors and food. From the City Manager's report Monday; the city hasn't posted this year's event page yet.
Farmers Market Sundays, November 1 and 8, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Stonestown Galleria, northwest parking lot.
The weekly standbys keep running: Tuesday Fun Night at Westlake Library at 6, Family Night at Bayshore Thursdays at 6, Teen Space at Bayshore weekday afternoons, the storytimes at all four branches, and 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!