It’s an interesting experiment, apparently the first of its kind in the nation. Users of Hayward libraries will soon have the option of paying a nominal monthly fee in exchange for never having to return the materials. That is, they’d have to return the materials when they want to check out something else, just like the Netflix movie rental system.

Other libraries have tried the other part of the Netflix model, mailing materials to library users. Orange County, Fla., has a particularly successful system that library users love. Here’s some discussion on that service. But they don’t charge the fee and they don’t drop the due date, and that’s what makes Hayward’s system unique.

DVD late fees run a dollar a day, books and other materials cost a quarter per item. For those who use the library as a movie resource, it wouldn’t take too many forgetful mornings to rack up the $3 a month it costs to join the optional new plan.

What about those items that go missing for an extended period? Sean Reinhart, the acting library director, said they will buy additional copies when people begin to queue up for hot items. They will use the same system they do now: Whenever three or more people are on the waiting list, an additional copy will be acquired.

Reinhart said they expect to have the new model up and running by Christmas.

I corresponded with Reinhart about potential problems, i.e. research materials going missing for extended periods, out-of-print books. Some of the information is in the story, but for those who want to know more, click on the “Read the rest of this entry.” And here’s a library blogger’s thoughts about adopting the entire Netflix model.

Read the rest of this entry »

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for the Hayward area, meaning that nuisance flooding could occur. Not nearly as extreme as a flash flood watch. Regardless, we went down to take a look at San Lorenzo Creek in a number of spots and found it flowing rather rapidly.

Here it is near Foothill Boulevard and City Center Drive.

Here it is at the Grove Street Bridge.

Here it is behind the Meek Mansion.

Want to know how your surrounding area would fare in a 100-year-flood? Here’s a FEMA site where you can punch in your address and get an overview.

And here’s a Daily Review from the mid-1950s, before the San Lorenzo Creek was calmed by dams and culverts.

Let us know if you are aware of any particularly flood prone areas in the greater Hayward area that we should be keeping an eye on.

Speaking of Phil Long, the Castro Valley artist who made the Oakland police tribute in this year’s Day of the Dead exhibit, here’s a really neat video of him making his first such work out of leather. It honors his father, who was murdered off the coast of Mexico while trying to sail to Ireland. Long said it took more than 500 hours of cutting, gluing and stitching to make the piece.

There’s a lot of neat stuff over at the Meek Mansion, the site of “The Art of Remembrance: Days of the Dead 2009,” an exhibit that kicks off with a Saturday event. In addition to the works mentioned in our article that ran today and Phil Long’s amazing tribute to four fallen Oakland police officers, there’s a columbarium entry that we are particularly fond of.

Mary Ann Davis created this, depicting the death of her obsession with collecting newspapers. A cover-to-cover reader, she would hoard the papers in her living room.

“Always local papers — the Daily Review,” she wrote in an artist statement. “I could toss a San Francisco Chronicle in a heartbeat.”

What’s not to love about that? Bravo, Mary Ann Davis!

There’s a baby two-headed snake down at the Reptile Room, 1223 A St. It’s on display for the curious public at least until this Saturday, when the owner expects a potential buyer from SoCal to come and take a gander. He says more than a hundred people have come by to check it out, and it’s worth it — there hasn’t been such a thing around these parts since a double-headed specimen at the California Academy of Sciences died some years back after a long run of freaking out field-trip kids.

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Motion failed 2-to-3 in an overflow meeting that involved a lot of heat, not just from audience members but between board members as well. Here’s our early version of the story, we will have a longer piece in tomorrow’s paper. A motion to approve a modified six-period schedule passed, although the HEA is challenging the validity of that schedule because it wasn’t bargained.

The Hayward Unified School District meeting on Wednesday is sure to produce some feelings of deja vu, as the board is slated to again address the high school block schedule. While the board voted in February to nix the schedule to save money, board member Luis Reynoso changed his mind and is bringing it back.

What do you think about Reynoso’s decision to revisit the issue? Is it a chance for a needed reprieve for a well-liked system, or is it time to accept the change as a budget-cutting casualty and move on?

UPDATE: They changed the route at the last minute this morning. Not sure why, but the train came through town on the less-used rails closer to the shoreline off Industrial Boulevard, then hooked up through Newark to Niles before continuing its route. An unfortunate bypass of the more populated parts of Hayward. I asked avid train chaser and Lamorinda Sun editor Sam Richards about it and he said not to take it personally — railroads change their routes all the time like that and often run late.

An old Union Pacific steam-powered locomotive is on tour in the area, and will be making a run from Oakland to Stockton on Wednesday morning.

According to the UP tracking site, our leg will bring it through San Leandro, Ashland, Cherryland, Hayward and Union City! It is scheduled to leave Oakland at 9 a.m. and arrive in Stockton around 11:30 a.m., so those with an inkling to see some vintage steam action should plan accordingly.

The planned course follows the rails next to the BART tracks, down San Leandro Street, Western Boulevard and Whitman Street.

We’re trying to figure out the best spot along the route to watch this magnificent machine chug through. Any suggestions?

Calpine announced Thursday that an amended power-purchase agreement with PG&E was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission for the proposed Russell City Energy Center, a 600-megawatt power plant that would be placed near the Hayward shoreline.

That doesn’t mean the plant itself is approved. It has some of the required permits, but the main hurdle remaining is approval from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, acting as a delegate of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The air district previously gave it the go ahead, meaning it didn’t find evidence that the plant would add significant amounts of pollution to the air, but that permit was revoked after a lawsuit on the grounds that BAAQMD did not follow federal guidelines for publicly noticing the permitting process.

The air district is currently reviewing and responding to public comments submitted regarding the permit. No time frame has been given in which a decision will be made.

We will have a larger story on this posted online Friday, running in Saturday’s paper.

… but for a bit of a polar opposite, a somnambulist died of exposure in another Hayward, where wind chills are expected to bring the temp down to 50 below zero. According to the story, “Flesh can freeze in 10 minutes when the wind chill is 40 below or colder, the weather service noted.”

Around these parts, it’s expected to remain more than 100 degrees warmer than that, for the time being.

As mentioned in today’s story, there will be a protest rally at Birchfield Park this afternoon about pending cuts in the Hayward Unified School District. Organizers say it will be big. Here’s the press release:

East Bay School Cuts Showdown as Hayward Teachers Rally Today Against Music, Smaller Class Size Hits

Marching Band to Join 3:45 p.m. Protest Over $12 Million District Cuts List

HAYWARD — Sparked by the state budget crisis, the Hayward Unified School District’s plans to find $12 million in “savings” for next school year by potentially cutting all elementary instrumental music and class size reduction efforts  — and scrapping high school art and other electives – is prompting a protest rally at Birchfield Park this afternoon. Teachers and members of the award-winning Hayward High School student marching band will attend, and the “Angry Tired Teachers Band” of Hayward High educators will play rock protest songs.

“This district is making the same mistake as the governor and lawmakers in Sacramento by trying to balance the state budget on the backs of students,” said Kathleen Crummey, president of the 1,330-member Hayward Education Association. “Music and arts programs are vital to a well-rounded education, and instrumental music in the lower grades is crucial to strong programs in middle and high schools. The district will have about $11 million in reserves and therefore should not be looking at such severe classroom cuts.”

Among widespread cuts being considered for the next school year, the district is considering ending the 20-student class-size caps in K-3 classrooms and changing the high school block system of scheduling to give students a choice of only taking six classes per year instead of eight, which could eliminate high school music and art programs.

*WHAT: Protest rally by hundreds of teachers and students against music and other cuts now among $12 million in budget “savings” under consideration by the Hayward Unified School District for the 2009-10 school year.

*WHEN: 3:45-5:30 p.m. TODAY, Tuesday, Jan. 13.

*WHERE: Birchfield Park, Santa Clara at Winton streets, across from the main post office in Hayward