Electric bikes are powering an urban transportation revolution. They flatten hills, haul cargo and people, and offer an alternative to driving that doesn’t involve breaking much of a sweat or waiting for a bus.

At rush hour — and increasingly the rest of the time — traffic chokes San Mateo County, clogging Highway 101, El Camino Real, Interstate 280, even some side streets.

When a parent dies and leaves a house, the adult children often assume what their parents did, that they can keep the home and pay roughly the property-tax bill the family has paid for years. In California, that assumption used to hold. Since 2021, it mostly doesn’t — and the gap between wha…

As America celebrates its 250th birthday this year, it is a moment to reflect on the state of our republic.

New homes in a neighborhood are often welcomed as signs of investment and renewal. They can modernize aging housing stock, improve property values and bring new energy to a community. Growth, in itself, is not the problem.

A troubling pattern is beginning to emerge in San Mateo County that deserves discussion. The county government, through its purchase of property throughout our locality, has in recent months made unilateral decisions that all have the potential to reshape a city’s future, doing so without me…

After 36 years of teaching in the San Mateo-Foster City School District, I have closed my classroom doors and turned in my keys for the last time. Although I had been planning to retire after this school year for a while now, I don’t think the actual process and concept of retirement will hi…

In today’s world, I find we often debate homelessness in relation to policy, funding, addiction and mental illness. Those discussions need to happen in honest, open forums. But sometimes we overlook something equally powerful — the quiet acts of kindness that help someone survive long enough…

In the archeology of my memories, I am in the first public library — long gone — I frequented as a child, in downtown San Mateo.

Last year, California did something remarkable.

The last time I saw my son alive, nothing felt unusual.

Frank Borman, commander of Apollo 8 mission and CEO of now-defunct Eastern Air Lines, compared capitalism without bankruptcy to faith with no hell.

When California communities talk about infrastructure, the conversation usually centers on roads, water systems, broadband and undeniably housing. We debate zoning and density, and update general plans that shape where people will live and work for decades to come.

Growing up in the Bay Area, there is a culture of not only needing to be academically perfect, but also needing to do every extracurricular under the sun to get into a top 20 college. I attend an Ivy League university, so take it from me and say it with me: No college acceptance can measure …

Recently, in Orange County, tens of thousands of people spent five days away from home. A tank at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove began to overheat and bulge, threatening to either explode or release a toxic plume. Schools closed. Pets rode in laps to shelters. By Tuesday evening, the …

Nearly half — 48% — of all new housing units permitted in San Mateo County in 2024 were accessory dwelling units. This is more the double the statewide rate. As California has struggled to build enough housing to meet demand, ADUs have become one of the few housing types that have shown stro…

Driving in the Bay Area is like driving in the future. Sharing the roads with autonomous vehicles is the result of over a decade of work, yet nobody anticipated their teenage rebellion. Fortunately, California’s system of governing these vehicles is up to the task.

Educating a student in San Mateo County costs far more than elsewhere in the state.

This year marks the halfway point in “30x30,” California’s ambitious commitment to conserve 30% of our lands and waters by the year 2030. Here in San Mateo County, progress is increasingly visible in restored habitat, vibrant open spaces and landscapes better prepared for a changing climate.

The San Mateo County Charter Review Committee has recommended amending the County Charter to establish an independent redistricting commission for drawing Board of Supervisors district maps.

Right now, somewhere in San Mateo, a teacher is kneeling to meet a toddler eye to eye. That quiet, unremarked moment is doing some of the most consequential work in education anywhere. And most of us will never know their name.

Each day, someone takes a U.S. Constitution from the public library in Burlingame. The Library Foundation keeps a stack of pocket Constitutions in a plastic stand on the main floor, and folks are welcome to have one for free and take it home. I must admit I find even this small act hopeful —…

With what seems like daily inconsistent grave announcements by each side in the U.S.-Iran war, it is rightly hard to focus on other international matters. But the China-U.S. relationship is one that bears constant attention given not only its worldwide impact, but its potential for constrain…

To serve at your local library could be a matter of your interest, availability or your skills.

Amidst a global war with Iran and rising gasoline prices, people across this nation, and especially in the Bay Area, have another concern to add to their lists.

Californians are hurting, struggling to get by under the high energy costs that have become a hallmark of life in our state. 

San Mateo County has long lived in the shadow of its more widely recognized neighbors with San Francisco to the north, San Jose to the south and Oakland across the Bay. It is a familiar narrative, and one that, over time, can quietly shape how others see us and even how we see ourselves. Tha…

San Mateo County is losing the ability to engage in civil public dialogue. At recent meetings, including the Board of Supervisors informational session on the proposed behavioral health treatment center, shouting and disruption replaced listening and reasoned discussion.

As San Mateo’s former mayor and a current member of the City Council, it is my job to ensure our residents have a say in all major policy decisions.

At 1:41 Thursday morning, many of us were pulled out of sleep by shaking and by our phones lighting up with wireless emergency alerts. The earthquake that struck the Boulder Creek area of the Santa Cruz Mountains registered a magnitude 4.6. No significant damage was reported in San Mateo Cou…

In California, state leaders often speak about fairness between communities. Yet when it comes to a key funding commitment to local governments, San Mateo County is being treated differently than almost every other county in the state.

Water in San Mateo County has always been about power. In this context, I facilitated a workshop on March 11 as part of Skyline College’s State of Water exhibit where students crafted lyric lines drawn from real-time observations and placed them alongside legal instruments (i.e., the 1879 Ca…

What if you learned about a state initiative that takes cars off California’s congested roads, cuts fuel consumption, and lowers carbon dioxide emissions — all backed by years of data and requiring no new technology or infrastructure? What if it saved taxpayers a quarter-billion dollars annually?

Last year, I wrote to the Glendale Unified school board urging a bell-to-bell ban on smartphones.

Joint U.S.-Israeli air strikes against Iran are underway. Iran’s Supreme Leader has been killed in what appears to have been a decapitation strike—an effort to accelerate the regime’s collapse or force Tehran to acquiesce to U.S. and Israeli demands.

I’m often in a minority among progressives because I am a staunch patriot. Granted, an objective reading of American history reveals many sad political choices, some of which were undeniably evil. But it also surfaces instances of noble decisions and sacrifices which made the world a better place.

You cannot read the news without hearing about schools’ struggle to prepare students for an immediate future shaped by AI. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of companies trying to sell AI tools to schools, and educators are scrambling to determine which ones will best prepare their students. I…

In early February, I took my kids to Belmont’s Community Center for a talk on the city’s hidden role in the Summer of Love and the 1960s music scene. Seventy-five people packed into a small classroom to hear about The Warlocks’ residency in Belmont. 

Having just celebrated another turn around the sun, I find myself trying to understand what makes some folks tick.

Lives are at stake. We can’t look away when teenagers are getting severely injured or killed riding vehicles that are prohibited on public roads. What most of us call e-bikes are actually not e-bikes at all.

In San Mateo County, we often talk about the “price of paradise.” We see it in our bustling downtowns, rising cost of everyday items, and, most acutely, in our monthly housing costs.

The White House, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington, D.C., has served as the official residence of every president since John Adams moved there in 1800. 

An artificial intelligence transformation as profound as the Industrial Revolution is occurring. While I remain a firm believer in the enormous power and promise of AI to solve complex problems, such as curing diseases, I also believe we have a deep responsibility to keep our economy human c…

Recently, a 128 unit downtown San Mateo apartment proposal was approved by the Planning Commission. The project description says it will include 20 "affordable" below-market-rate units, half for very low-income brackets and the other half for moderate-income households. As is usual in these …

With each new tragedy, the moral imperative to act grows stronger. By now, it is undeniable that something must be done. We need to protect our youth — and ourselves — from throttle-activated electric two-wheelers commonly referred to as “e-bikes.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order addressing the mental health crisis among young men and boys speaks to something many of us see every day, even if we don’t always say it out loud.

I’m a high school junior, which means I’ll be putting on a cap and gown next year. But before I do, I’d really like to see California formally integrate digital wellness into existing health education classes. 

San Mateo County is at a pivotal crossroads. As local leaders explore ways to address our region’s staggering child care crisis, several funding mechanisms are under consideration. Most notably, the county is currently commissioning a poll (conducted by McGuire Research) to gauge resident su…

The death of 4-year-old Ayden Fang in August of 2025 after an e-bike collided with a compact SUV that veered onto a Burlingame sidewalk is an enormous tragedy.

While the eyes of the nation are on the horror unfolding in Minneapolis at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, our democracy itself and voting rights in particular, are also under increasing and insidious attacks. I do not say this lightly. The threat is coming directly…