San Mateo-Foster City Real Estate News

If you live or work -- or want to live or work -- in San Mateo County, you're invited to join a unique discussion about long term housing solutions. The dialogue provides an opportunity to increase understanding, exchange perspectives, and express your views on housing choices in San Mateo County. A unique citizen-driven effort to engage the people of San Mateo County in decision making about housing issues has been taking place this year and it's called Threshold 2008. Threshold 2008 believes that by including more people in the discussion housing, San Mateo County's leaders will be in a better position to understand what decisions the informed public will support to sustain our communities. Threshold 20008 does not advocate for any specific policy agenda or development project. They provide an inclusive forum to build the public voice on housing choices.

Earlier this year Threshold2008 conducted a weekend of public discussions and then followed up with many online opportunities where San Mateo County citizens had the chance to talk about their vision for our County.  What may be the final opportunity for you to have your say will take place this coming Saturday morning on November 15th at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, 1700 South El Camino Real.  There's free parking and refreshments and you can join in the discussion between 10 AM and 12:30 PM.  There is a catch though, you have to preregister to attend.  It's easy to do.  Register at here or call 650-655-5851.

If you're interested in learning what went on at the Countywide Assembly read about it here.  Join in and be part of the public voice.  We have some serious choices to make for San Mateo County. Every single city in the County is involved with this process.  Don't stand on the sidelines.  Get involved!!  You can afford to devote 2 and a half hours to help make a differene.

Last year, here, I wrote about the possibility of FEMA updating their flood maps for San Mateo and Foster City and including Foster City into a flood zone.  The maps came out last month and FEMA released preliminary drafts of revised Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) for the entire County of San Mateo. 

FEMA Has New Methodology

They have determined that a section of levee within the City of San Mateo does not meet FEMA's requirements for adequate flood protection.  Because of these changes in their methodology being used to generate flood plain data, the revised maps show all of Foster City to be in a Special Flood Hazard Zone, or Zone A.

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It happens every year.  Parents lining up, sleeping bags in hand, wine and food being passed, a jolly good time be had by all, except this is for a coveted space in the 2008 Kindergarten class at San Mateo's Baywood School.  Registration doesn't even begin until February 1st, which is this Friday.  The line up began last night and parents are desperate to get their children into the local school with too few places for new kindergarteners.

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Last week, the Vice Mayor of Foster City, John Kiramis, wrote an op ed peice in the San Mateo Daily Journal that rang a chord with me. Foster City shares a zip code with San Mateo, but Foster City has the majority of the citizens and businesses in this zip code, 94404. I've mentioned this zip share before both about Foster City and Burlingame but the Burlingame-Hillsborough zip makes sense since Hillsborough has about 9000 residents and Burlingame has almost 30,000. It makes no sense with Foster City and San Mateo since Foster City has about 30,000 residents and the area of San Mateo covered by 94404 has about 9000. John Firamis makes a good case for making a change. I, for one, am ready to help John make the post office change this. If you live in Foster City, how do you feel about this? Here, with John Kiramis' permission for reprint, is his commentary.

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