Message from the Chief
By Susan E. Manheimer, Chief of Police
I am so very pleased and excited to announce that on April 30, 2007, ground was broken at 200 Franklin Parkway for our new, state-of-the-art, environmentally-sensitive police building. The police building will be a grand benefit to our community and our city services, and I would like to once again thank the voters of this great city for their approval of Measure C in November of 1998, designating an increase in hotel tax to fund public facility safety upgrades. Admittedly, it has been a long process involving site selection and project revisions; however, we can all now look forward to a building that will allow us to share a wonderful community room and enhanced community services.
Additionally, we are very proud that our newest city facility is working toward achieving a silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification rating.
The project design team has worked diligently to integrate energy efficiency and green building goals as a part of the design process to meet the city council goals of sustainable design through conservation, and energy, water, and waste efficiencies.
The new police facility will offer state-of-the-art design and functionality including:
• 44,000 square foot building with an additional 9000 square foot parking garage;
• Open work spaces for all of our crime-fighting personnel, including detectives, narcotics officers, and neighborhood response team officers with an ability to work in a single environment that promotes communication and information sharing;
• A six-lane tactical firing range to enhance the shooting skills and decision-making of our officers;
• State-of-the-art fitness room to promote increased physical fitness and wellness;
• A Green Building with LEED silver certification;
• Modern communications headquarters with the potential for growth and regional dispatching capabilities;
• Adequate facilities for all male and female employees;
• The site of the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC);
• Excellent response location with easy access onto Highways 101, 92, and other major arteries;
• An Emergency Operations Center that will prove to be a county-wide attribute equipped with modern technology and its own self-sufficient dispatch center;
• Community services, including ATM, interactive reporting and crime statistics kiosk, Police Activities League (PAL) registration lobby for our youth and families, and pharmaceutical drop box.
All of this will be within a community landmark that continues to set the tone, along with our wonderful library, of distinguished and outstanding public facilities designed to meet the public’s needs.
As we in the police department are celebrating our centennial celebration, we thank all of those involved in moving ahead with this important link to our exciting future. And as we recognize our proud tradition of 100 years in serving our community, we look forward to continuing and enhancing that tradition.
On behalf of the men and women of the San Mateo Police Department, we invite you to follow our City’s progress, and come back and join us in early 2009 for the grand opening of your new state-of-the-art green police building.
Welcome!
San Mateo/Glendale Village Neighborhood Association
2008 Update
Sorry it has been so long since our last update. Everyone is busy and spending time on the recent elections. Once again, the incumbents were re-elected. Attention is now being focused on development at Bay Meadows and at the K-Mart site. Go to the City website and attend the hearings and meetings that you can find posted there:
I have spoken to Greg and there is talk of another SMGVNA meeting. We will let you know when it happens.
Construction of the new Police Station on Saratoga and Franklin Way is progressing. I'm sure you have seen the dirt in the gutters at the Hillsdale/Saratoga intersection. See the Report from the Chief below.
City Council Agenda items now available online:
Biking in San Mateo
Learn where to ride your bike in the City to get healty. To commute to school, work or a park. To exercise in the fresh air. To pick up something at a corner store. To shop or dine downtown. To explore the great outdoors of our beautiful City.
Check out the City of San Mateo's new Bike Map. Go to:
to find out where you can pick up a FREE copy of the map. (Soon you will also be able to download the map from the City's website). You can also read about where bike racks and lockers are located throughout the City, featured bike rides, bicycle safety information, public transit information, and other information sources related to bicycling.
Mary, Mary, How Does Your Garden Grow? by Mary Crowell
Recently I found this Chinese saying in a magazine and it spoke to me: “Pleasure for an hour, a bottle of wine; pleasure for years, a marriage; pleasure for a lifetime, a garden”. Speaking of pleasure, my epiphytic cacti gave me such joy this season with about 75% of my large hanging plants blooming with no duplicates. For those unfamiliar with epis, as they are called, do a google search with image for epiphyllum hybrids and you will see why they make me smile.
Hope everyone was able to make it to the San Mateo County Fair this year, unfortunately I was in Alaska at a cousin’s reunion so missed all the fun of entering designs and specimens. I heard though, that there were beautiful cut flowers and potted plants along with some innovative balcony gardens. The amateur and professional gardens outside Redwood Hall were especially gorgeous along with the artful and creative floral designs. There were some huge challenges this year as floral arts had a new venue.
September is also the month many garden clubs resume their meetings after a summer hiatus. There are many advantages to joining a garden club. You learn about horticulture and floral design and you widen your circle of friends and your plant population. I think gardeners, on the whole, are very generous and very friendly. All the bay area garden clubs and societies welcome new members with open arms, cuttings, plants, bulbs, divisions, diverse programs, tours and great eating treats at the meetings. Check with the San Mateo Garden Center or with me for a society or club that might interest you. The Peninsula Succulent Club, of which I am the President, meets at the San Mateo Garden Center and is very active especially at the fair. There will be a wonderful day at the center Sept 27th where many clubs will be selling items and our Peninsula Succulent Club will have their annual plant sale. Come by and say hello.
Prune boxwood, laurels, pittosporums and other formal hedges. This is a great time to reshape those plants growing crowded far too long. We had to prune the wisteria as it was climbing in our front window and crawling on our roof, generally making a nuisance of itself, but oh so rewarding whne it blooms in the spring. Also now is a great time to divide perennials and give some to your neighbors and friends. Deadhead all things in the garden, especially the roses. Take out any dead or crossed canes. Mulch now as our days are still hot and it keeps the moisture in the ground and the weeds out. Container pots dry out quickly so always keep an eye on them. Perennials such as hostas, bleeding hearts, fountain grasses, lamiums, and coral bells are great in containers. I just saw a beautiful flax called creme delight which is an arching one and stays small. So my tomatoes did well in those chimney flues I found on the street though I did have to stake them as they wanted to fall over, also I planted sorrel seeds to make a great soup I just love. Plant other vegetables such as brussel sprouts (yuk), cabbage, spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, radishes, and cauliflower. Take advantage of the warmth to get roots on your plants established before the winter. Plant annuals such as pansies, Iceland poppies, snapdragon, violas, and cineraria. Perennials such as chrysanthemums, cyclamen, coneflower, primula, primrose, yarrow, penstemon, candytuft, and my favorite, salvia (mine bloom 10 months of the year and I have several varieties) can be planted now. Fertilize trees, shrubs, lawns and groundcovers that love all-purpose (16-16-16) fertilizer helping with not only the fall growth but the spring too! Feed roses with rose food. Camellias, azaleas and rhodies love the 0-10-10 until they finish blooming in the spring. Look through catalogues and choose bulbs to plant in Oct and Nov like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, Dutch iris, freesias, anemones, crocus, sparaxis, ixia and ranunculus. Some great places to plant bulbs are clustered in a border, in entryway containers, in front of shrubs, containers for decks and balconies, or in a rock garden. Refrigerate tulips, hyacinths and crocus. The best selection is now. Stake tall perennials and trim iris foliage to 6 inch fans. Control snails by putting down non-toxic snail bait, such as "Sluggo".
Hope everyone was able to make it to the San Mateo County Fair this year, unfortunately I was in Alaska at a cousin’s reunion so missed all the fun of entering designs and specimens. I heard though, that there were beautiful cut flowers and potted plants along with some innovative balcony gardens. The amateur and professional gardens outside Redwood Hall were especially gorgeous along with the artful and creative floral designs. There were some huge challenges this year as floral arts had a new venue.
September is also the month many garden clubs resume their meetings after a summer hiatus. There are many advantages to joining a garden club. You learn about horticulture and floral design and you widen your circle of friends and your plant population. I think gardeners, on the whole, are very generous and very friendly. All the bay area garden clubs and societies welcome new members with open arms, cuttings, plants, bulbs, divisions, diverse programs, tours and great eating treats at the meetings. Check with the San Mateo Garden Center or with me for a society or club that might interest you. The Peninsula Succulent Club, of which I am the President, meets at the San Mateo Garden Center and is very active especially at the fair. There will be a wonderful day at the center Sept 27th where many clubs will be selling items and our Peninsula Succulent Club will have their annual plant sale. Come by and say hello.
Prune boxwood, laurels, pittosporums and other formal hedges. This is a great time to reshape those plants growing crowded far too long. We had to prune the wisteria as it was climbing in our front window and crawling on our roof, generally making a nuisance of itself, but oh so rewarding whne it blooms in the spring. Also now is a great time to divide perennials and give some to your neighbors and friends. Deadhead all things in the garden, especially the roses. Take out any dead or crossed canes. Mulch now as our days are still hot and it keeps the moisture in the ground and the weeds out. Container pots dry out quickly so always keep an eye on them. Perennials such as hostas, bleeding hearts, fountain grasses, lamiums, and coral bells are great in containers. I just saw a beautiful flax called creme delight which is an arching one and stays small. So my tomatoes did well in those chimney flues I found on the street though I did have to stake them as they wanted to fall over, also I planted sorrel seeds to make a great soup I just love. Plant other vegetables such as brussel sprouts (yuk), cabbage, spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli, carrots, radishes, and cauliflower. Take advantage of the warmth to get roots on your plants established before the winter. Plant annuals such as pansies, Iceland poppies, snapdragon, violas, and cineraria. Perennials such as chrysanthemums, cyclamen, coneflower, primula, primrose, yarrow, penstemon, candytuft, and my favorite, salvia (mine bloom 10 months of the year and I have several varieties) can be planted now. Fertilize trees, shrubs, lawns and groundcovers that love all-purpose (16-16-16) fertilizer helping with not only the fall growth but the spring too! Feed roses with rose food. Camellias, azaleas and rhodies love the 0-10-10 until they finish blooming in the spring. Look through catalogues and choose bulbs to plant in Oct and Nov like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, Dutch iris, freesias, anemones, crocus, sparaxis, ixia and ranunculus. Some great places to plant bulbs are clustered in a border, in entryway containers, in front of shrubs, containers for decks and balconies, or in a rock garden. Refrigerate tulips, hyacinths and crocus. The best selection is now. Stake tall perennials and trim iris foliage to 6 inch fans. Control snails by putting down non-toxic snail bait, such as "Sluggo".
You may contact me at:
macro6096@yahoo.com
or write me c/o the San Mateo Garden Center News
605 Parkside Way
San Mateo, CA 94403
650-341-6963
Next Neighborhood Association Meeting
To Be Announced
Things SMGVNA can do:
Home remodelling tours
Email newsletters
Join Neighborhood Watch
Take NEST training
Future Meeting Topics:
Safe Streets
Ice Cream Social
Bay Meadows
Transit-Oriented Development
Fire Chief
Planning Department
Schools
Library
Humane Society
Recreation Department
Hillsdale Shopping Center
San Mateo Times
Vikas Bakshi
Association President
SMGVNA.US
New Domain name for our site. Now just type smgvna.us in your browser's address page and you are here.
It's easy - smgvna - that's us!
Beware of Neighborhood Scam
This June, there have been reports of college students going door to door asking for donations of $48 for the Integrity Program. They say the money will help them get to Australia to take part in a Marine Biology program. They will also offer you magazine subscriptions and tell you their mother lives in the area. Do not believe them! They themselves are victims of this scam. They have been shipped in from all over the country with the promise of a good job. But once here, they are forced to work long hours and lie to trusting neighbors. They are very nice, but do not be fooled!
