Peninsula news from Bay Area Brief: local stories summarized with links to the original reporting.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday, Oct. 14, seeking to stop the National Archives from closing its San Bruno research facility and shipping records out of state. Officials say the first boxes, including NASA files bound for Fort Worth, could move as soon as this week.
Measure F on the Nov. 3 ballot would amend San Mateo's city charter to match the district-based council elections used since 2022, give the council 60 days instead of 30 to fill a vacancy, and remove several outdated procedures. It needs a simple majority and does not change taxes.
South San Francisco City Manager Laura Snideman says subsidized childcare and after-school programs serving more than 800 children could be cut or cost parents more if the state does not fix San Mateo County's in-lieu vehicle license fee shortfall, which the county puts at nearly $230 million this year.
Measure W on the Nov. 3 ballot would let San Mateo-Foster City School District issue up to $498 million in bonds for facility upgrades, career-tech shops, STEM labs, fire and security systems, and teacher workforce housing. The district estimates an average tax of $29 per $100,000 of assessed value. It needs 55% approval.
Measure L asks San Mateo County voters on Nov. 3 to add a paragraph to the County Charter preamble declaring long-term resilience to fire, flood, heat, drought and sea level rise a county priority. It needs a simple majority, has no direct fiscal impact and has no organized support or opposition.
Bayspring Development Partners has applied to replace the Chipotle building at 2675 El Camino Real and 450 Sheridan Avenue with an 85-foot, eight-story complex of 156 apartments, ground-floor retail and 200 parking stalls, the first major El Camino Focus Area proposal north of Page Mill Road.
Robert E. Hall, 83, a Stanford economics professor and Hoover Institution senior fellow emeritus who lives in Menlo Park, shares the 2026 economics Nobel with Columbia's Michael Woodford for work behind the models central banks use to manage downturns and inflation.
Measure R on the Nov. 3 ballot would authorize $100 million in bonds for Burlingame School District roofs, plumbing, electrical work, STEM labs and portable replacements. The estimated tax is $16 per $100,000 of assessed value. It needs 55% approval.
Measure H on the Nov. 3 ballot would add a quarter-cent local sales tax, lifting San Mateo's combined rate from 9.625% to 9.875% and sending roughly $7 million a year into the general fund. Groceries and prescriptions stay exempt. It needs a simple majority.
Citizen-sponsored Measure D would require a citywide vote before Los Altos sells, leases or substantially alters its 10 downtown parking plazas, with an affordable-housing exception on Plazas 7 and 8. The state housing department says passage would force a Housing Element amendment.
Prosecutors say James Mercurio steered county-funded Event Center construction work to a childhood friend and got money back. Both men pleaded not guilty and are due back in court Monday.
Measure O on the Nov. 3 ballot would authorize up to $125 million in general-obligation bonds for a library, emergency command center, civic center, youth sports park, water and storm-drain work. It needs a two-thirds yes vote and averages about $105 per $100,000 of assessed value.
Measure X would replace Brisbane’s decades-old tiered business license tax with $50 for the smallest firms and $50 plus $1 per $1,000 of receipts above $25,000 for most others. It is a general tax that needs a simple majority and has no sunset.
A two-alarm blaze in one unit of a six-unit Highland Avenue building early Friday left the apartment unlivable. The cause is still under investigation.
The 54th Art & Pumpkin Festival brings a Giants legend as parade grand marshal, a Monday weigh-off that could chase the world record, and organizer advice to arrive early or take Highway 84 home.
Prosecutors say Alvaro Caballero Arteaga ran a red light with a 0.15% blood-alcohol reading and broadsided a car at San Jose Avenue and Flournoy Street, killing Rhiannon Lawler and Agustin Garcia.
A wildlife camera at Midpen's Cloverdale Ranch preserve near Pescadero caught a North American river otter. Biologists say it's a sign the species is reclaiming its old range and that the watershed is healthy.
The county is urging people to make a plan, build a kit, pick up sandbags and sign up for SMC Alert now, with federal forecasters giving better than 90% odds of a very strong El Niño this fall and winter.
The City Council approved a $1.3 million design contract for gate upgrades at Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive and Charleston Road, a step toward federal 'quiet zone' status.
In a reply to Bay Area members of Congress, the agency says a two-to-three-year move will protect records dating to the 1850s, including Angel Island-era immigration files. Lawmakers and tribes remain opposed.
A joint city and school district statement says the agreed price sits just above the top of the city's 2024 appraisal range and well below the district's $90 million ask, as voters weigh the Measure J sales tax.
Caltrans crews are paving and fixing guardrails, drains and curb ramps between South San Francisco and East Palo Alto as part of a $177 million project.
Eight candidates for three seats sparred over oversized vehicles, permit delays and City Manager Ed Shikada at a Palo Alto Weekly forum.
The citizen initiative would cap rent hikes on pre-1995 apartments and expand eviction protections. The City Council opposes it, citing costs of up to $11 million a year.
San Mateo County Parks says a metal slide topped 130 degrees in summer sun. The county now hopes to open the long-awaited playground before November.
ALAS and Stanford's PRIMES program opened a larger ground-floor space at La Piazza offering free therapy, playgroups and screenings for children up to age 5.
A six-story building with one very low-income unit will rise on a surface parking lot at Oak Grove Avenue and Crane Street, a block from Santa Cruz Avenue.
The district's new bell-to-bell rule seals phones in pouches at 10 campuses; students worry about reaching family in a crisis, while the district says safety instructions come first.
Mayor Vicki Veenker and Ed Lauing are the only incumbents in a field that includes two city commissioners, a doctor, a software engineer and the first DSA candidate in city history.
Supervisors ended in-lieu fees and off-site options in three high-density districts, took a stand against a two-thirds vote rule for citizen-led special taxes, and endorsed the $11.25 billion Prop 1 housing bond.
A yes vote keeps the city deal with Mercy Housing for 40 affordable apartments for senior farmworkers downtown; a no vote repeals it. The ballot pamphlet will carry no opposition argument after a judge ruled it was filed late.
The American Public Transportation Association named Caltrain its Outstanding Public Transportation System, citing record ridership growth since electrification. Without new money, the railroad has warned of deep service cuts.
The citizen initiative would require a public vote before the city cuts downtown parking, and nearly every council candidate says they'll vote no.
A free one-year trial will pit the two systems against each other, as police tighten audits in response to a county grand jury report.
The ordinance would cover streets within 100 feet of any residential use and add about $140,000 in signs at 50 city entrances. It's on the consent calendar.
A yes vote lifts San Carlos from the lowest sales tax rate in San Mateo County, 9.375%, to 9.875% for 14 years, with every dollar staying in the city.
