Roadshow: Interstate 680 tops the Dirty Dozen

By Gary Richards

grichards@mercurynews.com

Posted: 12/28/2010 09:45:29 PM PST

Updated: 12/29/2010 06:05:00 AM PST

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The drive over the Sunol Grade along Interstate 680 is a beast again. Roadshow’s No. 1 beast.

From I-580 in Pleasanton to Highway 237 in Milpitas, motorists on I-680 are roaring with anger. Many southbound commuters blame the new toll lane for long backups, but there’s plenty of grumbling left over for the northbound ride.

This 22-mile stretch tops the 2010 Dirty Dozen list, Roadshow’s annual ranking of the highways, expressways, interchanges and intersections we complain about most. The ranking is based on hundreds of calls, e-mails and faxes that roll into the Roadshow desk every week.

The terribly rough pavement on Monterey Highway checked in at No. 2, followed by traffic woes at Mathilda

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• Vote: What’s your least favorite road or intersection?

Avenue near Highway 237 — the Mathilda Monster, as Sunnyvale engineers dubbed it years ago — and last year’s No. 1 hot spot, the 101-880 interchange in San Jose.

When readers weighed in with praise, the runaway winner was the paving of Highway 101 from the San Jose airport to Highway 85. “Smooth, like buttah,” wrote Becky Bilderback of San Jose in an e-mail.

But complaints are Roadshow’s bread and buttah, which leads us back to the Sunol Grade.

Countless drivers are steamed about delays resulting from the new southbound express-toll lane from south of Route 84 to Highway 237. Just as many, if not more, are fuming about the lack of a northbound carpool lane and can’t understand why some of the $200 million for the southbound

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work wasn’t instead spent on the other side of the freeway.

“Going up the Sunol Grade continues to be very, very bad,” said Chris Maskiell of Pleasanton, who called planners “idiots, selfish ignorant individuals incapable of placing themselves in the shoes of their constituents. I can’t believe that we are still years away from improving that side of the commute.”

That was one of the milder comments, but a little history explains the southbound changes.

In 1998, as the dot-com boom engulfed the Bay Area, southbound I-680 ranked as the region’s worst daily commute — the only time since Caltrans began tracking congestion levels in 1981 that the Bay Bridge has failed to hold that unwanted distinction.

With the morning rush hour beginning as early as 5 a.m. and lasting as late as 10 a.m., traffic planners went into action. They added a longer exit lane to south Mission Boulevard and installed an interim carpool lane in the median. They also began planning to convert it into a toll lane. It made sense, at the time.

“It can take years to make changes, and southbound was the big problem,” said Frank Furger, executive director of the express lane agency. “That’s what had everyone’s attention.”

Then the dot-com bust hit, and the Great Recession followed a few years later. In hindsight, the temporary southbound changes might have been enough for a few years, but planners say it was too late to pull back.

Pre-construction studies for northbound 680 are under way, yet it will be years before a carpool lane is built from 237 to 84.

As for drivers who say the southbound express lane has added 15 or more minutes to their commute, strap on your seat belts. Three months after it opened and contrary to popular opinion, delays are easing.

The week of Nov. 1, Caltrans surveyed the time it took to drive from 580 to 237, compared with before the express lane made its debut. On four of the five days, the drive ranged from a couple of minutes slower to a few minutes faster. For example, on Nov. 3, it took 24 minutes to cover this distance beginning at 8 a.m. The average travel time before the toll lane went in was 28 minutes.

Only on Nov. 1 was it a bear. The typical driving time of 31 minutes for a Monday took 59 minutes starting at 8 a.m. — a 28-minute increase. Why? A collision before Paloma Road near Sunol at 7:12 a.m. took 35 minutes to clear out of the median.

So has the new toll lane made the commute slightly better or terribly longer?

“Definitely worse,” said Rob Jensen, of Tracy, who says his commute to Fremont “has increased by about 15 to 20 minutes.”

But, said John Hamblin, of San Ramon: “It’s better than my first trips after they opened it, when it was backed up to 580. I guess people are used to it now so we get less backup.”

The number of motorists warming to the toll lane appears on the rise. Nearly 8,000 solo drivers paid to use the toll lane the week of Dec. 6, compared with 6,629 the opening week of Sept. 20. Toll income jumped to $21,260 that week, compared with $9,114 the first week.

Wow, great article. Anyone have any thoughts of their own about these project?

Crews clearing large tree blocking Pleasanton-Sunol Boulevard

By Robert Salonga
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 12/29/2010 08:28:46 AM PST

Updated: 12/29/2010 08:40:08 AM PST

SUNOL — A large tree that fell across a thoroughfare early this morning is expected to be cleared by 9 a.m., the California Highway Patrol said.

The tree, described in CHP patrol logs as “huge,” was first seen down about 4:10 a.m., blocking Pleasanton-Sunol Boulevard south of Verona Road.

The fallen tree sat on the roadway for more than three hours before county crews got to the scene. No injuries were reported.

Hopefully no one got hurt.

Local scoreboard for Sunday, Dec. 26

Bay Area News Group-East Bay

Posted: 12/25/2010 06:00:50 PM PST

Updated: 12/25/2010 08:58:11 PM PST

Basketball-G

West Coast Jamboree

Monday’s games

Platinum Division: at Deer Valley High, San Diego vs. Bishop O’Dowd, 10 a.m.; Sacramento vs. Hanford, 11:30 a.m.; Bishop’s School vs. St. Mary’s-Berkeley, 1 p.m.; Presentation vs. Georgetown-Texas, 2:30 p.m.; Eastside College Prep vs. Long Beach Poly, 4 p.m.; Modesto Christian vs. Carondelet, 5:30 p.m.; Del Oro vs. Deer Valley, 7 p.m.; Pleasant Grove vs. Berkeley, 8:30 p.m.

Gold Division: at Pittsburg High, Cloverdale vs. Terra Nova, 10 a.m.; Sheldon vs. Sonora, 11:30 a.m.; Chatsworth vs. Clovis, 1 p.m.; McKinleyville vs. Narbonne, 2:30 p.m.; Armijo vs. Clovis West, 4 p.m.; Monache vs. Vanden, 5:30 p.m.; Washington-SF vs. Pittsburg, 7 p.m.; Vista Murrieta vs. Yosemite, 8:30 p.m.

Sapphire Division: at Heritage High. Corcoran vs. Hercules, 10 a.m.; St. Mary’s JV vs. Calaveras, 11:30 a.m.; Rodriguez vs. Clovis East, 1 p.m.; Turlock vs. Anderson, 2:30 p.m.; Ripon vs. Crater-Oregon, 4 p.m.; Sierra vs. Acalanes, 5:30 p.m.; Weston Ranch vs. Heritage, 7 p.m.; University vs. Buchanan, 8:30 p.m.

Agate Division: at Cornerstone Christian High, Valley Christian-Dublin vs. Rio Vista, 11:30 a..m.; Ygnacio Valley vs. Fremont Christian, 1 p.m.; Redwood Christian vs. Mariposa, 4 p.m.; Drew School vs. Encinal, 8:30 p.m.

Amber Division: at Miramonte High, Albany vs. Petaluma, 11:30 p.m.; Terra Linda vs. Enterprise, 2:30

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p.m.; Campolindo vs. Hogan, 5:30 p.m.; St. Francis-MV vs. Christian Brothers, 8:30 p.m.

Diamond and Ruby Division: at Freedom High, Caruthers vs. Amador Valley, noon; Buhach Colony vs. College Park, 1:30 p.m.; Mission Prep vs. Freedom, 3 p.m.; at Liberty High, Sanger vs. Pinole Valley, 1 p.m.; Las Lomas vs. Liberty, 2:30 p.m.; Jurupa Valley vs. CSD, 4 p.m.

Emerald Division: at Miramonte High, Moreau Catholic vs. Tamalpias, 10 a.m.; Turlock Christian vs. Reed-NV, 1 p.m.; St. Mary’s Academy vs. Maria Carillo, 4 p.m.; Miramonte vs. Whitney, 7 p.m.

Garnet Divsion: at Cornerstone Christian High, Chinese Christian vs. Ferndale, 2:30 p.m.; San Francisco Waldorf vs. Point Arena, 5:30 p.m.; St. Elizabeth vs. Conerstone Christian, 7 p.m.

Jade Division: at Alhambra High, Arroyo vs. Natomas, 11:30 a.m.; Chico vs. Oakmont, 1 p.m.; Washington-Fremont vs. Fortuna, 5:30 p.m.; Palo Alto vs. Florin, 8:30 p.m.

Opal Division: at Jesse Bethel High, John Oliver vs. Jesse Bethel, 11:30 a.m.; Mission-SF vs. Valley, 1 p.m.; St. Helena vs. St. Patrick-St. Vincent, 2:30 p.m.; June Jordan vs. Corning, 4 p.m.

Onyx Division: at Alhambra High, Mt. Diablo vs. Sir Francis Drake, 10 a.m.; El Cerrito vs. Lassen, 2:30 p.m.; Eureka vs. American, 4 p.m.; Los Banos vs. Alhambra, 7 p.m.

Pearl Division: at Antioch High, Head Royce vs. Orland, 11:30 a.m.; Contra Costa Christian vs. St. Bernard, 2:30 p.m.; Bay School vs. Fresno Christian, 5:30 p.m.; Bret Harte vs. Bretheren Christian, 8:30 p.m.

Quartz Division: at Las Positas College, Dublin vs. Granite Bay, 11:30 a.m.; Casa Grande vs. Scotts Valley, 1 p.m.; California vs. Saratoga, 2:30 p.m.; Centeral Valley vs. Vista Del Lago, 8:30 p.m.

Tanzanite Division: at Antioch High, Concord vs. St. Mary’s-JV, 10 a.m.; Foothill vs. Grace Davis, 1 p.m.; San Ramon Valley vs. Grant, 4 p.m.; San Leandro vs. Antioch, 7 p.m.

Topaz Division: at Las Positas College, Bradshaw Christian vs. Monte Vista, 10 a.m.; Granada vs. James Logan, 1 p.m.; Valley Christian-SJ vs. Montgomery, 4 pm.; Tennyson vs. Dougherty Valley, 7 p.m.

Football

Good job to all!

Two out of five drivers admit to falling asleep at the wheel

Written by Editor

Saturday, 25 December 2010

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – A new study from AAA finds a shocking number of drivers admit falling asleep behind the wheel. The study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds that two out of five drivers (41 percent) admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel, while 10 percent admit to having fallen asleep in just the past year. More than a quarter of those surveyed admitted that, in the previous month, they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open. “There’s a huge disconnect between what people know to be safe and what they are actually doing,” said AAA Northern California spokesperson Cynthia Harris. “One out of every four drivers, or 27 percent of those surveyed, say they drove despite being so tired they had difficulty keeping their eyes open, but 85 percent said that behavior is unacceptable.” Sleepiness decreases awareness, slows reaction time and impairs judgment just like drugs or alcohol. A new analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data finds that nearly 17 percent of fatal crashes, 13 percent of serious injury crashes and seven percent of crashes where a vehicle is towed involve a driver who is drowsy. Younger drivers age 16-24 were nearly twice as likely to be involved in a drowsy driving crash as drivers age 40-59. AAA is sharing the results of their recent study as part of the National Sleep Foundation’s Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, so that drivers will know the contribution drowsy driving has to motor vehicle crashes and take steps to remain alert behind the wheel. To remain alert and avoid drowsiness, AAA suggests: • Getting plenty of sleep (at least six hours) the night before a long trip; • Scheduling a break every two hours or 100 miles; • Traveling at times you are normally awake, and staying overnight when possible; • Stopping if you become sleepy; • Drinking a caffeinated beverage; Symptoms of sleepiness include but are not limited to: • Having trouble keeping your eyes open and focused; • The inability to keep your head up; • Daydreaming or having wandering, disconnected thoughts; • Drifting from your lane or off the road, or tailgating;

Hope everyone is driving safe for the holidays and especially for the New Year.

Popular Serramonte Center shifts hands

• TAGS:
• Equity One
• Peninsula
• san francisco
• San Mateo County
• Serramonte Center

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By: Shaun Bishop 12/26/10 8:00 AM
Examiner Staff Writer

Development in store: A real estate investment firm is set to purchase the Serramonte Center, which it says has growth potential. (Mike Koozmin/Special to The Examiner)

A Florida-based real estate investment firm has nearly completed the purchase of one of the Peninsula’s largest shopping centers, and officials say the property is primed for future expansion.

Equity One, based in Miami Beach, Fla., is poised to be the new owner of the Serramonte Center, the 821,950-square-foot mall that first opened more than four decades ago along Interstate 280.

The purchase, expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011, is part of a $600 million acquisition of Capital and Counties USA, an investment firm based in San Francisco that currently owns Serramonte and 14 other California properties.

Michele Villano, investor relations manager for Equity One, declined to discuss the company’s plans for the mall because the deal is not yet done. But she said the mall will be the company’s first in California and noted its growth potential.

“It’s sitting on about 72 acres,” she said. “There’s a lot of room for expansion.”

Villano said the firm was attracted to the mall by the dense population and below-market rents in the area, among other factors.

“I don’t think the incomes are extraordinarily high, but it’s so densely populated so the retailers such as Target and those kind of shops do very, very well,” Villano said.

Daly City Vice Mayor Sal Torres said he hopes the city will sit down with the new owners once the deal is done and “scope out what their ideas are” for the long-term.

“There’s always room for improvement in any shopping district, any business corridor,” Torres said. “I think there’s a lot of things they can do out there, a lot of land they can still develop.”

In the short-term, though, shoppers shouldn’t expect major changes, other than the previously planned opening of JC Penny in spring 2011.

“I think it’s pretty much business as usual,” said Georgette Sarles, president and CEO of the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce.

Pretty interesting.

Livermore theater project looks hopefully at demographics, diversity

By Jeanine Benca
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 12/27/2010 12:00:00 AM PST

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LIVERMORE — During a recent performance at the Bankhead Theater in Livermore, a group of magicians asked for some courageous volunteers to come up on stage and assist them with their acts.

The first audience member to take the proverbial bait was from Dublin. The second was from Tracy, while the next three hailed from Hayward, Pleasanton and Livermore, respectively. The final volunteer was from Oakland.

The entertainers — part of “It’s Magic,” a decades-old variety show featuring world-famous illusionists — performed their tricks flawlessly. But they weren’t who captured the interest of Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center Executive Director Len Alexander that evening.

For Alexander, the real magic was found in the crowd. The diverse geographic mix represented by the volunteers was evidence, he said, that the city’s planned 2,000-seat regional theater would be successful.

“My favorite was the very last kid from Oakland,” Alexander said. “All in one show, we have an example of people who actually got in their cars and drove to Livermore because they wanted to see this production. And I think the same thing will definitely happen in the big theater.”

Approved in May 2009, the theater is being spearheaded by the Arts Center, which also runs the 3-year-old, 500-seat Bankhead. That facility houses more intimate productions from the Tri-Valley and around the world, but the proposed 2,000-sweater is envisioned as an arts hub that

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could draw large Broadway shows.

If it comes to fruition, the theater will join the Tri-Valley’s sizable cast of cultural venues from Walnut Creek to San Ramon. Advocates say it could inject more than $20 million annually into the local economy.

But not everyone is convinced.

Opponents argue that the project — whose total price tag, factoring in finance costs, would come to about $169 million over the next 30 years — is unnecessary and financially risky. They also contend that having two theaters competing in Livermore will be problematic because the venues will undercut each other’s ticket sales.

That outcome probably is not likely, said former Walnut Creek Mayor Gwen Regalia.

Regalia, who voted to build that city’s Lesher Center for the Arts while serving on the Walnut Creek council, recalled how initially there was debate over whether to build one large theater or several smaller ones. The latter option was chosen, resulting in the 785-seat Hofmann Theatre, 297-seat Margaret Lesher Theatre, 133-seat Knight Stage 3 Theatre and 384-seat Del Valle Theatre.

Those venues all serve different needs, with the smaller ones accommodating more intimate performances and the larger ones reserved for bigger shows, Regalia said. Patrons come from all over the Bay Area — from East County to San Francisco, she added.

“Now there’s a push (in Walnut Creek) for a 2,000-seat theater,” she said. “It has been (the feeling) for the last few years, that 800 seats is not large enough. If you want some of the larger Hollywood or Broadway productions, the larger theater is what they’re looking for.”

About three-quarters of the debt for the Livermore theater would be paid by the city’s redevelopment agency, with the rest from a mix of waste revenues from the Altamont Landfill, capital fundraising and facility fees.

Though no city general funds would be used for construction, the project would tie up much of the redevelopment agency’s future tax increment funds — the increased taxes generated when redevelopment improvements raise property values. The financing would be unique in that it relies on funds that don’t yet exist but that city leaders hope will pour in once condos, offices, hotels and other amenities rise around the theater.

Great to see the audience being able to participate. Who wouldn’t want to be chosen to help out with a magic trick?

Experts: Foreclosure Crisis Far From Over In The Bay State

By Brandon Butler

Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer

Yesterday

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It’s been easy in recent months for state officials to claim that the Bay State’s economy is on the upswing and well on its way to a full recovery.

The jobless rate has been on the way down and is well below the national rate, and the housing market, while certainly not the picture of health, is not as dire as it is in harder-hit regions like the South and Southwest.

Home prices have even seen increases in recent months, according to The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate tracker.

But the foreclosure mess that has weighed the economy down for more than three years may not be over, according to the region’s bankers and real estate experts.

Much like it is in other areas of the economy, the job market still isn’t good enough to ensure that homeowners can’t fall into unemployment and eventually lose their homes.

The problem is especially prominent in the Fitchburg-Leominster area, where unemployment lingers around 12 percent while the state’s overall rate is below 9 percent.

“I do not think it’s over,” said Martin Connors, president of Rollstone Bank and Trust in Fitchburg. “Unemployment nationally is close to 10 percent, and unemployment in Fitchburg-Leominster is close to 12 percent, and in a lot of the foreclosures we’ve been involved with, the common theme is job loss.”

Rollstone’s $325-million retail loan portfolio is about 64 percent residential loans.

“It’s hard to think that it’s over when the economy is the way it is,” Connors said.

The numbers back up Connors’ perceptions. As of October, there have been more foreclosures this year than in each of the past three years. Through the first nine months of the year there were 11,334 foreclosures, according to The Warren Group. At the same time last year there were 7,710, and 10,615 in 2008. Still, Vincent Valvo, group publisher at The Warren Group, said foreclosure petitions slowed down in the middle of 2010.

“It hasn’t been a situation where fewer people are being foreclosed upon, it’s a situation where the technicalities are slowing down the process dramatically,” he said.

A moratorium on foreclosures by national banks because of lawsuits concerning faulty paperwork slowed down the rate of foreclosures. But Valvo argues that that could actually be a bad thing.

“Anybody who has had a three-day cold or looked over at their co-worker that has been sniffling for months can appreciate the notion that you want bad things to pass quickly,” Valvo said.

Furthermore, a slowdown because of legal holdups could create a backlog of foreclosures that will come to a head in 2011, suggested David Wluka, a Sharon-based real estate agent and past president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

The problem is not with the small, local community banks, but rather with large, national lending institutions, which are far more unlikely to renegotiate loans with homeowners to avoid foreclosures, according to Wluka. One solution, he said, is for the large national lenders to give authority to local community representatives to negotiate with homeowners or brokers.

For other local bankers, there is a clear connection between unemployment and the foreclosure crisis. Still, foreclosures will continue to be an issue if people continue to be out of work, said Richard Leahy, president of Webster Five Cents Savings Bank.

Foreclosure rates increase in 2010

Published: Sunday, December 26, 2010

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By LINDA GITTLEMAN
Gratiot Managing Editor

From last year to this year, the mid Michigan area saw a significant jump in home foreclosure rates.

Michigan scored fifth highest nationwide for foreclosure rates in the month of October. While mid-Michigan communities don’t come anywhere close to the numbers in the metropolitan Detroit area, there’s no doubt that the local cities followed the trend.

Ithaca was one of the few cities that didn’t. Its foreclosure rates actually decreased in part.

In October of 2009, it had a total of four foreclosures. In September of this year, that number had grown to five. But, bucking the trend, in October it was only two, according to published reports.

Like most other cities, Mt. Pleasant saw an increase: from 13 foreclosures in October 2009, to 21 in September of this year and 27 a month later.

One in every 701 homes in Mt. Pleasant – out of total of nearly 19,000 homes – is foreclosed, according to the report.

Alma, with a little more than 5,000 homes, saw 11 foreclosures in October and seven in September of this year, compared to just four in October of 2009.

Well hopefully 2011 Is A good year for us then.