As we commence the new year in San Mateo County, perhaps this is as good a time as any to voice some hopes for progress in the coming 12 months along the Peninsula. Here goes:

1. Let’s have a final resolution on the future of the Bay Meadows race track in San Mateo. It’s high time. The citizens (and the owners) of the county’s second-largest city deserve to know the fate of that historic property. Continuing legal challenges to development of that land have clouded things.

2. If Jackie Speier is going to challenge the venerable Tom Lantos for a congressional seat, let’s get that out in the open ASAP. Lantos, who turns 80 in February, is one of Congress’ leading lights. Though controversial and certainly not universally loved, he has represented the northern portion of the county with dedication and aplomb for a full generation. He is owed at least that much by Speier and her supporters.

3. As Hispanic students continue to grow in number in our public schools, an all-out academic blitz ought to be undertaken to bring these kids up to speed in the classroom. They are now the largest single ethnic group in our public schools but their performace lags badly behind Asians and whites.

4. There ought to be some big-time reality checks regarding our municipal and county budgets, specifically in the areas of employee retirement and health care benefits. The annual increases in those areas are skyrocketing. They are not sustainable. Let’s get real here. Red ink is very much in our future.

5. And, speaking of health care, if the county is really serious about providing such services for poor, uninsured adults, perhaps it ought to examine a provision mandating legal residency status, or progress in this regard, as part of the equation. Without it, adults who are here legally and lack health insurance are being discriminated against.

It’s getting to the point where Christmas references aren’t just avoided like a bad case of herpes on the Peninsula, they are positively shunned. Officials bend over backwards not to give even a hint of cultural offense. Christmas displays have morphed into “winter celebrations.” Christmas trees are “holiday trees.” Manger scenes are definitely out of favor. And Santa Claus isn’t welcome on many public school campuses. St. Nick is treated like some vile denizen of the Megan’s Law Web site, a sort of neighborhood pervert in a red suit. His unfortunate reindeer have no animal rights cachet whatsoever. And you can forget about the height-challenged elves. They are barely mentioned any more even though you could argue that at least they can claim to be a rather unique minority group all on their own. Fortunately, kids don’t seem to be all that confused. They still have a clue. Usually, that’s courtesy of their parents who take such matters into their own hands. Thank goodness.

When San Mateo County Supervisor Jerry Hill issued a not-so-veiled threat that he might consider questioning the use of public monies at Sequoia Hospital, soon to be a private entity owned by Catholic Health Care West, on the basis of separation of church and state, he wasn’t playing games. Hill well knows that the county, which will announce an impending structural budget deficit this week, is being drained financially by its health care burden. Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ cash are being funneled away from other programs and services to support the county’s big public hospital and associated medical clinics. By and large, they serve the poor and the uninsured, a population which is growing. A recent county study indicated that there are at least 40,000 needy, uninsured adults living on the Peninsula. Further, the analysis indicated that more than half of those individuals were not U.S. citizens. It did not note how many of those were here illegally. For years, Hill, along with other county officials, have been seeking ways to ease the fiscal stress caused by the uninsured. They see money generated by the Sequoia hospital district’s property tax (not to mention similar dough to the north in the Peninsula hospital district) as enticing sources of revenue. If these policy-makers get their way, property owners living in the Sequoia district (and, perhaps, the Peninsula district) would find themselves being taxed twice for the uninsured _ once via the county’s regular tax rate and, again, by the district’s. It would be nice if the public had a real voice in all of this.