Month: August 2010

From the city:

Fremont Aqua Adventure Waterpark Closed Today Due to Power Outage
Scheduled to Re-open on Saturday

Fremont, CA – August 27, 2010 – Due to a power outage, the Aqua Adventure Water Park at 40500 Paseo Padre Parkway in Fremont is closed today, Friday, August 27.  According to PG&E, the power should be restored by 10 p.m. this evening. The waterpark is scheduled to re-open tomorrow, Saturday, August 28 at      11 a.m. 

The last Family Friday event originally scheduled for tonight from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled this season.  For more information, please call (510) 494-4426.

Also courtesy of the district:

     Kindergarten – was 30:1 — changing to 28:1

     Grade 1, 2, 3 – was 20:1 — changing to 28:1

     Grades 4, 5, 6 – was 32:1 – changing to 30:1

     Grade 9 – English and Mathematics – was 20:1 – changing to 28:1

The school district was kind enough to email me bios of the six new Fremont principals. Here they are:

Brian Weems has been appointed Principal at Walters Jr. High School
Mr. Weems began his career in 1997 as a 6th grade teacher in the Hayward Unified School District. He came to Fremont in 1998 as a 6th grade teacher at Grimmer Elementary School where he taught 5th and 6th grade until 2005. He became the interim Vice Principal at Hopkins Junior High in 2005 and then served as the Assistant Principal at Kennedy High School from 2006 to 2009. Prior to this appointment as Principal at Walters, he was the Vice Principal at Hopkins Junior High School.

Judy Nye has been appointed the Interim Principal of Grimmer Elementary school.
Mrs. Nye began her educational career in Fremont as a student teacher in 2001. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Elementary Education. Mrs. Nye taught 3rd grade at Azevada, 4th grade at Glenmoor Elementary, and worked as a Teacher on Special Assignment with the Department of Federal and State Projects prior to her appointment as Principal at Grimmer.

Steve Musto has been appointed the Interim Principal of Horner Jr. High School.
Mr. Musto began his career in education in 1999 as a high school social studies teacher with the Romulus Community Schools in Michigan. He came to Fremont in 2002 and Continue Reading →

From the cops:

A middle-aged man went bonkers Thursday after getting a haircut he didn’t like at the Top Hair Cut salon, 39435 Fremont Blvd.  After the salon person refused to refund his money, he assaulted the salon person and took $25 from the register.

A perp didn’t have the decency to take off his motorcycle helmet before robbing the Patelco Credit Union at gunpoint Thursday.  He got what he wanted from the joint at 5166 Mowry Ave., and fled on a silver motorcycle. Cops thought they might have found him on I-880 in Hayward, but it was the wrong guy.

From the cops:

A 17-year-old girl on the 3200 block of Lake Mead Court call the cops when she saw a man trying to break into her house. Police arrived to find a broken garage door window, but the perp had already fled.

From the wire:

The Fremont Opera is doing its thing this weekend at Ohlone’s Smith Center.

Heads up:
My editor was excited about bikini baristas he had me return there and talk to the owner. Nice guy. We’ll have a story on the place this weekend. I was there from about 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. this morning. I counted 22 vehicles pulling up to the drive-through window, including one City of Fremont truck. All of the drivers had Y-chromosomes.

FL is close enough.

The photo is of the beanie babies at Remember When, an odd mix of deli and novelty store in Niles.

The store is closing this weekend. The female owner can’t run it full-time anymore and no one else in the family is interested in keeping it afloat. The owner’s husband said he’ll miss the folks in Niles, but not the store. The beanie babies will soon be available on eBay.

Union City just sent out a press release announcing that virtually all non-sworn, civilian employees (not the cops) have agreed to a 4.5 percent reduction in pay, most of which will come thorugh unpaid furlough days.

The city has also agreed with its non-sworn unions to lower pension benefits for future workers. The new system will be “2 percent at 60,” which means if you work there for 35 years and retire at 60, you’d get a pension equal to (2 times 35 years equaling 70 percent of your final salary). Again, this will only apply to future workers. I guess you can’t roll back pension benefits under California law.

The press release doesn’t mention the Police Department. Union City police officers don’t contribute to their pensions.

The Nakamura family vacated the Naka Nursery and Mission Adobe Garden Center along Niles Boulevard earlier this month. As you can see, it looks pretty bare.

The city is preparing to invite nursery businesses to bid for lease of the 11-acre city-owned property. One very possible scenario is for Regan’s Nursery – the last major nursery in Fremont - to take over the spot.

Regan’s is on city-owned land at Decoto Road and Fremont Boulevard, that was set aside for the Route 84 project that never materialized. If Regan’s moved to the Naka site, which is a park and unavailable for development, the city could sell the current Regan’s site and make some money on the land sale. A request for bidders on the Naka site is expected to be released in late September. Regan’s has already expressed interest, city folks said.

There’s also a new nonprofit sustainable agriculture group in town, LEAF. They plan to bid for the 11-acre site, which they would use for community and display gardens, but the city is apprehensive about turning over the land to a fledgling nonprofit.

However, LEAF is about to take over maintenance of the adjacent rose garden, seen below.

The Assemlby today voted 48-8 to reduce the fine for right turn violations filmed on red light cameras from $450 to $219.

The Senate already passed the bill, which now goes to the lame duck governor, who doesn’t have please voters.

If Arnold signs the bill into law, cities like Fremont would get significantly less revenue from their red light camera systems and might have to reconsider them altogether. Only three of Fremont’s ten camered approaches are set up to catch right turn violators, but those approaches consistently rack up the most fines.