Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Volume ı ı ı Number 39 | 75 cents Serving the entire San Mateo Coastside since ı898 www.hmbreview.com

Editorial a 4A | Weather & Tides a 5A | Police Log a 5A | A&E a 2B | Sports a 7B | Real Estate a 1C | Classifi eds a 2C

a n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l ea n d p e s c a d e r o p e b b l e

LEDERMAN EARNS HONORCoastside theater arts champion named

Arts Educator of the Year | Page B2

COUGARS FINDING THEIR FOOTINGGirls soccer team has a toughtime with San Mateo | Page B7

New classes, new doubts for college

FATE OF COASTSIDE

COMMUNITY COLLEGE ANNEX

UNCLEARBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

A new semester at the Coast-side College of San Mateo starts today, but the ringing of the class bells could sound more like a funeral toll.

The fate of the satellite cam-pus is hanging by a thread, threatened by upcoming cut-backs that will be decided by the board of trustees for the San Mateo Community Col-lege District in the coming weeks.

Administrators at the com-munity college say it is like-ly the nascent campus will be shuttered after this semes-ter, even though the Coastside branch has been open for less than two years.

Talk of closure has frustrat-ed many Coastside students, many of whom have sent let-ters beseeching the college dis-trict to save the campus.

“We can’t just let this cam-pus wither. There’s too much at stake for the community,” said Coastside resident Jo-Ann Ordano. “I’m a senior, I have mobility problems … I have hesitation in going over the hill for community college.”

Her watercolor painting class starting this week, Or-dano said she would speak up at the beginning of class and urge her classmates to petition the college district to save the campus.

The community college dis-trict is reeling from multi-ple fi nancial burdens, includ-ing a $30 million defi cit from the Lehman Brothers invest-ment house collapse and ongo-ing cuts to education from the state. For the upcoming budget year, the College of San Mateo is looking to trim its $28.3 mil-lion budget by 22 percent.

Those setbacks have made cost-cutting a brutal necessity for the district, which oversees the College of San Mateo, Sky-line College and Cañada Col-lege.

“To be honest, everything’s

Sound offThe next San Mateo Com-munity College District board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Jan. 27, at the district boardroom at 3401 CSM Drive in San Mateo. Send an e-mail with your comments to trustees@smccd.edu, or call (650) 358-6753.

“We can’t just let this campus wither. There’s too much at stake for the community.”

— Jo-Ann Ordano, Coastside CSM student

Skylawn plans ahead for grave futureCEMETERY SUBMITS

300-YEAR PLAN TO COUNTYBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

The Skylawn Memorial Park may become a boomtown for the dead.

That growth won’t happen overnight. In fact, cemetery di-rectors are planning expansion for the next 300 years.

Currently featuring about 40,000 burial plots, the large cem-etery has submitted plans and studies to San Mateo County to grow by about fi ve times that amount. And Skylawn offi cials are certain the next three centuries will provide plenty of cus-tomers.

General Manager Chuck Hotchkiss led a visitor on a tour of the new graveyard areas being planned at Skylawn. A fourth-generation cemetery director, Hotchkiss is a large, goateed man with the practiced calmness of a delicate profession. He explained that he was pulled into the family profession after getting his MBA. He said Skylawn was following the same ad-vice it gives all its clients about preparing for the future.

“We looked at the entire property for how we can serve the community for generations,” Hotchkiss said. “Obviously, it‘s

Lars Howlett / Review

Chuck Hotchkiss of Lifemark Center at Skylawn Memorial Park looks out at the area his company hopes to turn into natural gravesites as part of a 300-year plan for expansion. See CEMETERY a 8A

Parcel tax vote

a go, but how much?

SCHOOL LEADERS MULL LOW RISK VERSUS HIGH

REWARDBy Mark Noack

[ mark@hmbreview.com ]

Elected leaders for the Ca-brillo Unifi ed School District unanimously voiced support for a June parcel tax for local public education.

But the devil is in the details. School board members remain undecided on the specifi cs of a tax initiative, particularly on the dollar amount.

Cabrillo schools are facing a $2.5 million defi cit next year that will need to be addressed in the coming months. With no easy choices left, local school offi cials are crossing their fi n-gers, hoping that a sympathet-ic Coastside public can relieve the district from the worst out-comes of a bad budget situa-tion.

Budget meetingsThe Cabrillo Unifi ed School District has announced four meetings to discuss the funding situation for local education and the possibil-ity of a parcel tax. The meetings will be held at 6 p.m. at the following dates and locations:t Thursday, Jan. 21, at the multiuse room at Farallone View Elementary School.tMonday, Jan. 25, at the library at El Granada Ele-mentary School.tTuesday, Feb. 23, at the multiuse room at Hatch El-ementary School.tThursday, Feb. 25, at the District Offi ce boardroom.

See PARCEL TAX a 8A

See COLLEGE a 8A

Lars Howlett / Review

A double rainbow envelops the fi eld along Airport Road in Moss Beach during a lull in the bad weather Monday. Similar unsettled weather is expected through the rest of the work week.

WEATHERING THE STORMCOASTSIDE SURVIVES FIRST ROUND,

BUT MORE IS ON THE WAYFrom staff reports[ clay@hmbreview.com ]

Foul weather blew into the Coastside this week, and it looks like it’s here for an extended visit. Despite periods of heavy, sustained rain and wind gusts as high as 50 mph, the coast escaped serious problems … so far.

That isn’t to say everything was left high and dry by sporad-ic deluges Monday and Tuesday.

Much of the damage Monday occurred between 10 a.m. and noon, when a violent burst of rain and wind toppled trees and power lines and left some prominent landmarks worse for wear. Then the skies boomed overnight Monday, as thunder and lightning rattled homes and nerves across the coast. An-other heavy band of rain followed just in time for the morning commute on Tuesday.

The forecast calls for rain today through Friday, and again Sunday and Monday following a brief respite on Saturday. The National Weather Service has issued a variety of watches and warnings, including a high surf warning through 4 p.m. Thursday and small-craft and coastal fl ooding advisories.

Monday morning Half Moon Bay Police blocked the 700 block of Main Street when a power pole leaned over the road-way. A couple blocks north, plywood paneling was stripped away from the roof on City Hall. The paneling, which had covered mechanical units on the building’s roof, were even-tually removed.

City employees heard the plywood working loose on the roof and beating against the air-conditioning machinery. “It was like a loud drum,” said City Manager Michael Dolder.

“With the sheer mass of those boards, they could’ve caused some damage if they fell off.”

Further up the coast, the wind took the roof from the ter-race behind Sam’s Chowder House. The dislodged roofi ng damaged solar panels used to power the restaurant. Owner Paul Shenkman said Tuesday morning that a gas line also ruptured and he was waiting for PG&E crews to come restart gas fl ow.

“It was gnarly,” Shenkman said. “I haven’t tallied it up, but it’s a lot of damage.”

Thousands of local customers were without power Monday,

Lars Howlett / Review

A volunteer, working with the Half Moon Bay Police Depart-ment, directs traffi c around a power pole that was leaning precar-iously over the 700 block of Main Street Monday.

[ w i n t e r s t o r m s ]

See STORMS a 8A