Soul Stroll Saturday, May 21 at Coyote Point

It’s that time — register and come on out with tons of neighbors and friends for a great day of fun and exercise at Coyote Point!

There are different length walking courses laid out around the park, lots of great community/health resources showing off their info and goodies (kids will leave with their ands full!) and music and fun.

Here’s the link! Soul Stroll 2011

Free Disaster Preparedness Class, Thursday, March 24th, San Mateo Senior Center, 2645 Alameda De Las Pulgas, 7-9pm

Brought to you by the City of San Mateo CERT (Community Emergency Response Team)

How can you help your family and your community in the event of a disaster? Come learn how at one of our “Get Ready” classes! This basic disaster preparedness class will teach you how to prepare yourself, your family, home and workplace for a major disaster. This class will give you the information to allow you to help, instead of needing help, following a disaster. Join us at one of the classes listed below. You only need to attend one session. Sign Up Now

Thursday, March 24th- Register
San Mateo Senior Center
2645 Alameda De Las Pulgas
7:00 – 9:00 PM

Workshop on Making Smart Choices about Growth in San Mateo, April 27, 5:30-8:30 pm San Mateo Main Library

YouChoose San Mateo County WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2011, 5:30 – 8:30PM

Location San Mateo Public Library
55 West 3rd Street
San Mateo CA 94402
Event Contact Karima Bouyahi, email: kobouyahi@siliconvalleycf.org or call 650.450.5535
Link http://www.youchoosebayarea.org

By 2035 there will be an estimated 1.2 million new jobs and 900,000 new households within the Bay Area. Where will all of these people live? Where will the new housing be built? How will people get around? Will the air we breathe and the water we drink be clean? Will we still be able to enjoy extensive and accessible open spaces?

Envision Bay Area, an initiative led by Silicon Valley Community Foundation in partnership with Greenbelt Alliance, TransForm and other partners, invites you to join us for one of five county forums being held this spring around the Bay Area to discuss the growth and development of our communities.

Participants in these forums will work together with a fun, interactive web-based simulation, YouChoose Bay Area, to outline priorities, choose different growth options and see future consequences. See the links between growth and the things you care deeply about, such as open space conservation, clean air, water consumption, public health, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and access to mass transit.

Envision Bay Area has teamed up with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments to conduct these forums, which will be crucial to aligning transportation, land-use and housing policies to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets as required by state law.

Envision Bay Area is supported by funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its Community Information Challenge, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and other public and private sources.

To register, please click here and then scroll down to “sign up” button at the bottom of the page.

Earn It! Keep It! $ave It! — Free tax help for families earning less than $49,000 at King Center

The United Way is offering free tax help for low to moderate income families in the Bay Area.

Infomational Flyer in English
Información en Español

Click here to find one of the many locations offering help, including the King Center on Saturdays:

Services Available
Languages: Spanish
ADA Accessible: Yes
Types of Returns Processed 1099 MISC / Schedule C-EZ, Schedule A

Schedule
Sat., 4/2, 10am-2pm
Sat., 4/9, 10am-2pm

Availability: Walk-In Only
Things You Should Know:MFS returns processed.

Other Services Available at This Location
One-on-One Financial Counseling

High Speed Rail Decision-Making Framework Info Available Online

Have you wondered how High Speed Rail decisions have been made? There’s now a ton of information posted online here at Clem Tillier’s great blog on High Speed Rail in the Caltrain Corridor. The good people at CARRD (Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design) have gotten the CHSRA to produce these documents. Thanks to them and all their hard work!

This info can be a slog to get through as are many gov’t and construction documents, but we’ll try to keep you posted as people work through them.

Personal Note: I will be looking hard at their cost estimating methodology. — Karen Jensen (your HANCSM web lady & construction cost estimator)

High Speed Rail — Time to Regroup

Recently High Speed Rail’s focus has shifted away from the Peninsula to the Central Valley. The valley will be home to the first tracks and we are getting another year or so to plan and make our wishes known.

Here are all the items from our early page on High Speed Rail — you’ll be able to find all our HSR updates in our High Speed Rail category from now on.

How to Write an Effective EIR Comment

Complete Preliminary Alternatives Analysis Report April 8, 2010

Alternatives Analysis Report delayed to April 1 at the earliest

City of San Mateo’s web page on High Speed Rail

City of San Mateo’s web page on Public Input Opportunities for High Speed Rail

References for HSR information

HSR-PREP
The CHSRA estimates High Speed Rail will require between 75 and 110 feet for its right of way. Our neighborhood is a tight squeeze. You can see for yourself. Here’s the current Caltrain right of way map for North Central (Poplar is top center and the map is read as north is on the left, south is on the right. Further south to Tilton and downtown in is the bottom half). Thanks to Clem Tillier for his great blog where I found these maps posted. All the other Caltrain right of way maps (ROW) are listed too.