Week in Review

The owner of the historic Crocker Bank building in the heart of downtown San Mateo that now houses the popular B Street Billiards may want to move his growing law firm into the ground floor — prompting the city to consider revisiting an eight-year-old ordinance banning ground-floor offices.

The ordinance was written in response to a number of high-tech businesses seeking to fill vacant downtown retail spots during the height of the dot-com boom. At the time, the City Council worried offices on the ground floor would forever change the nature of downtown.

But times have changed and the City Council just might make an exception to its rule.

Paul Barulich owns the historic Crocker Bank building at the corner of Second Avenue and B Street. He is asking the City Council allow him to move the Barulich Dugoni Law Group to the ground floor, replacing a long-standing pool hall. The city may consider lifting the ground-floor office space ban as not to risk losing a longtime business and property owner. It would essentially replace a nighttime draw with offices that bring daytime business to the city’s core.

Reviewing proposals for ground-floor retail should be taken on a case-by-case basis despite the possibility that it could prompt similar requests from other businesses, Mayor Carole Groom said.

County budget facing more losses

San Mateo County is looking at approximately $13 million more in budget shortfalls than previously anticipated due to a mix of fewer property transfer taxes, the Lehman Brothers investment loss and the overall struggling financial atmosphere.

"Obviously, there are not a lot of good things in the local economy in the last several months,” Budget Director Jim Sacco said at this week’s meeting of the county finance and operations committee.

The county ended fiscal year 2007-2008 with $309.3 million in discretionary general purpose revenues — approximately $3.8 million less than mid-year projections.

The shortfall is chalked up to $1.8 million less in property transfer taxes, $1.9 million in fewer interest earnings and $691,777 less state mandated cost reimbursements. Revenue, too, is looking like $915,000 below the anticipated reduced budget and the Lehman Brothers loss will hit the general fund with a $11.8 million shortfall.

The difference overall between the actual figures and the projections is $13.36 million, according to Sacco’s budget update.

Historic moment hits home

It was a moment many of the 150 people gathered in a downtown San Mateo bar never thought they would see.

There was a time when black San Mateo residents were denied home loans in the 1950s or were dissuaded from buying in certain neighborhoods in the 1980s. For them, Barack Obama’s presidential victory is the latest chapter in an ongoing struggle for equality in the nation.

"So many times we work hard, get a victory and then stop. This is a celebration but tomorrow our work starts. Ask what can I do and what can we do together,” the Rev. Larry Ellis told the crowd gathered at B St. Billiards.

The San Mateo Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted Tuesday night’s party. Many at last night’s party were not confident until recently — some as late as last night — that Obama could win this election.

"I’m ecstatic. It’s something I didn’t think was going to happen, but this country that I was born and raised in rose to the occasion,” said former San Mateo mayor Claire Mack.

County OKs $1M liver transplant

San Mateo County officials could shell out up to $1 million to Stanford Medical Center for a liver transplant needed by a critically ill 42-year-old cirrhosis patient whose financial situations makes him ineligible for the indigent health plan and may not be covered by Medi-Cal.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to guarantee payment to Stanford for the man’s pre- and post-transplant care as well as the liver transplant itself. The surgery itself runs approximately $500,000 and the lifetime aftercare could be another $500,000, according to Dr. Sang-ick Chang, chief executive officer of the San Mateo Medical Center.

The patient is not being identified because of legal restrictions. Chang could only say he is young, otherwise healthy and suffering from end-stage liver cirrhosis.

The San Mateo Medical Center contracts out a number of medical services it cannot provide in-house, such as transplants, with reimbursement at current Medicare rates.

The liver transplant candidate in question is "likely” to receive Medi-Cal but it is "not a slam dunk,” said Chang, who told the board the possibility was about 70 percent.

The patient also has savings, a 401(k) and an IRA which makes him ineligible for the county’s indigent health program.