Local Briefs

ATLANTA — A candidate who dropped his long-shot bid for California governor two years ago amid news he was a homicide suspect was arrested and charged Friday with the 1996 murder of an Atlanta businessman.

Scott Davis, 40, was taken into custody by the Palo Alto, Calif. police following his indictment on murder charges in Fulton County, Ga., said Erik Friedly, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said they would seek to have Davis extradited, which could take at least 15 days if he fights the request to have him returned to Georgia.

Davis was indicted earlier Friday on one count of murder and four counts of felony murder in the death of David Coffin Jr.

Davis, a self-employed software consultant who was one of 135 candidates in California’s 2003 recall election won by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, originally was charged in Coffin’s death, but the charges were dropped in 1998 for lack of evidence.

According to prosecutors, Coffin was romantically involved with Davis’ wife, who had filed for divorce three months before Coffin’s death.

Davis has said in the past that he is "absolutely 100 percent innocent. I just think the police are here to harass me.”

Coffin, 41, a member of a prominent Connecticut family, was found shot to death in his expensive home in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. The home had been set on fire.

BART to receive $82 million for construction

Just passed congressional legislation will give BART another $81,860,000 for construction of the extension to San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae. U.S.. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, announced Friday.

"Bringing these funds to the Bay Area has been neither easy nor a matter of course,” Lantos said. "I am pleased that we are within reach of fulfilling the financial commitment for this major project. The BART extension to the airport once was only a dream, but with federal support it has been realized.”

The 8.7-mile, four-station extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit service from the Colma Station to the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and the city of Millbrae is a $1.483 billion project, with half of the funds provided by federal government. The project was opened for service on June 22, 2003. With the latest installment of funds in the just-passed Transportation, Treasury, HUD, Judiciary, District of Columbia Appropriations Act, the federal payments are nearly complete; just under $800,000 remains to be paid. Lantos spearheaded the effort.

In addition to the BART funding, Lantos ensured the transportation bill also included support for several other important local projects, including $800,000 for a ferryboat for the planned expanded service between downtown San Francisco and Oyster Point in South San Francisco, $400,000 for the Trails Forever initiative of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy for trail development, and $300,000 for the SamTrans revenue collection system to replace out-dated fare boxes.

Foster City to consider new cable agreement

After three years of negotiations, the city of Foster City will consider a new cable franchise agreement with Comcast at the City Council meeting Monday, Nov. 21.

Comcast has operated under an existing franchise agreement in Foster City that was originally created in 1992 with TCI Cablevision, which is now Comcast.

The new 15-year agreement provides nearly $7.7 million by Comcast in capital investment in eight Peninsula cities.

The investment includes local programming and a fiber network. Foster City will receive $915,000 in improvements including money for FCTV and connecting City Hall with other facilities like Leo Ryan Park, Sea Cloud Park and the community center.

SFO reports jet fly-by

Four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets will perform a missing man formation over the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno at 11:25 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 22.

The aircraft are doing so to pay respect for a fallen comrade.

Company helps SFO reach recycling goals

Limited space and security concerns led San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the 12th largest airport in North America with more than 33 million passengers last year, to take an innovative approach to its waste removal and recycling.

Consumers and passengers flying in and out of SFO bear no witness to the extensive recycling process that is helping San Mateo County reach its recycling goal.

South San Francisco Scavenger Company, a 92 year old locally-owned waste hauling business, located just two miles from the airport, has designed and implemented a recycling program uniquely designed to meet SFO's special needs.

The airport has had to limit the number of waste bins due to security concerns and space limitations. There are very few separate recycling containers for paper, plastics and glass in the passenger terminals which are increasingly common elsewhere.

Consumers and employees throw most of the waste and recyclables into one bin and SSF Scavenger hauls the mixed waste loads seven days a week to their Materials Recovery Facility where the recyclables are then sorted from the non-recyclables .

More than 50 percent of the waste currently generated at SFO is diverted from landfills and recycled with a target goal of 70 percent by 2009.

BART makes progress in earthquake safety

BART officials said Friday they’ve taken steps to shorten the pre-construction process for a $1.3 billion, 10-year earthquake safety program.

The project, which was approved by nearly 70 percent of Bay Area voters in the November 2004 election, calls for strengthening Bay Area Rapid Transit stations, elevated train tracks and the transbay tube so they can withstand a massive earthquake.

BART officials said that during the past year they have shaved months off the pre-construction process of selecting the right retrofit methods for all three parts of the project.

Work on the transbay tube is to begin first, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin in the middle of 2007.

BART officials say they are in a race against time to strengthen the transit system before the next big earthquake hits because U.S. Geological Survey researchers and scientists predict a 67 percent chance that at least one or more magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquakes will strike the Bay Area in the coming years.

BART officials say they’ve completed global modeling and analysis of the transbay tube, completed the environmental analysis for the transbay tube and related work, accelerated design of the retrofits and awarded numerous design and construction-related contracts to strengthen the tube and other structures.

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