Bits of News around Redwood City

Editor's Note: There's always so much going on in Redwood City that sometimes Patch can't cover everything with as much in-depth reporting as we'd like. So we're compiling bits of news and information into a "Redwood City Round-up," so we can ensure that you're in tune with everything going on in the community.

Port Awarded $542,492 Homeland Security Grant

received a Homeland Security Grant of more than $540,000 to create a digital mapping and data collection system of the Port’s facilities and infrastructure. This will allow the port to analyze the area in detail and plan for more build out.

The Department of Homeland Security is funding the two-part system: the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Tactical Survey Information System. The GIS is a digital mapping system that identifies utilities, roads, train tracks, and land use designations in a series of visual layers. The Tactical Survey will provide advanced visualization and target-folder information to port personnel and local first responders. It integrates a variety of other Port applications including security, executive management, and operations management.

The first step is an $84,000 contract with Redwood City's GIS/IT services to add utility and non-utility structures to the existing GIS system to include Port areas. Upon completion, Port staff will have entry into the city's intranet to view all layers of the data.

Tactical Survey Group, Inc. (TSG) was hired for a $445,405 agreement to work both with the Port and the City in order to add more detailed information to the GIS mapping system. The GIS System locates and identifies structures and the Tactical Survey provides 360° imaging of the interior and exterior of structures. It identifies exits, entrances, fire ratings of doors and their locations and inventory of staff.

The end product will produce a catalog of inventoried data and real time information for security and emergency response. It will create a “virtual Port” and will be made available to response agencies.

San Mateo County History Museum Joins Reciprocal Program

joins the ranks of top museums around North America as part of the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) program.

The reciprocal program lets the museum visitor into over 500 art, cultural and history museums around North America for free by becoming a member of one museum at a donation level of at least $100.

If museum-goers join one of the participating museums at the level that qualifies for a gold NARM sticker, it entitles them to free admission as well as member discounts at museum shops, concerts and lecture offerings at all the museums in the program.

Other local museums include the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the San Jose Museum of Art.

Review the City’s Proposed Budget Amendments

Need a bit of “light” reading? The city’s 2011-2012 recommended budget amendments are available online http://www.redwoodcity.org/finance/fininfo/budget/index.html. The budget plots the city’s financial roadmap for the next two years, so city staff have made changes since the July 2010 adoption of the 2010-2012 budget. This budget focuses on a three-pronged approach to arriving at financial stability:

• – creating a fiscally‐sound and sustainable compensation program for employees;
• Organizational Efficiencies – sharing services, restructuring, and reorganizing to maximize efficient service delivery;
• Revenue Generation – assuring that Redwood City’s revenues are equitable and meet cost recovery goals.

Meet the Producers of Art on the Square

Photographer Beth Mostovoy, a.k.a. Honeybear Prints, travels the world in search of images that “reveal the extra-ordinary in the ordinary moments that color our lives.”  She utilizes distinctive formats to capture the cultural flavor behind the photographs. Her “Doorway Collection,” on display at Café La Tartine, explores the universal fascination with amazing doors from diverse locations such as Italy, France, China, Greece, Mexico, New Orleans, New Mexico, and Australia/New Zealand.  Images are offered as a series of nine or three that capture a moment in time and tell a story in images.

Beth is also an advocate for the Arts, was instrumental in starting the and helped bring Phantom Galleries to the downtown.  In addition to Art on the Square, she currently serves on the Peninsula Arts Council Board and chairs the ARTS RWC group.

Wearable artist Julie Goodenough exhibits her work and teaches her craft both locally and nationally.   She returned to her artistic roots and started her own business, Julie Goodenough Contemporary Crochet, in 2000.  Today she co-produces Art on the Square, and serves on the board of the Peninsula Arts Council.

 “Only the best is Goodenough” is more than just a play on words.  Goodenough uses exquisite and intriguing materials to create original hand crocheted beaded jewelry, scarves, hats, and felted bags.  She considers her work a contemporary interpretation of the traditional craft of crochet.