City Manager’s Update
Brian Dossey, City Manager
At the September 8 City Council meeting, the City Council awarded over $95,000 in grants to numerous San Mateo County non-profit organizations that serve our community. This has been an annual program that the Town has participated in for some time in an effort to make sure our community has access to programs and services that the Town could not sustain independently. The range of organizations funded cover food relief programs, youth and senior services, groups that advocate for underserved populations or protect the environment, and medical services. If you are in need of programs and services similar to these, please contact Town Hall at 650-997-8300 and we can connect you with one of these non-profit organizations.
Even though we seem to be emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, we continue to make efforts in keeping everyone safe. Therefore, with Halloween being right around the corner, and Colma being one of the Bay Area’s most popular destinations for Trick-O-Treating. For the second year in a row, we are recommending that the community refrain from passing out candy to Trick-O-Treaters throughout the neighborhoods. Once again, we ask that you keep your porch lights off and ignore the “knocks” or “ringing of your doorbell” at your front door. The Town plans to put up signage throughout the neighborhood allowing for local-vehicle traffic only on October 31 – Halloween. I know this has been a very difficult 18 months, but we as a Town want to make sure we do everything possible to keep our community safe as we start to exit the pandemic, and try to keep unvaccinated children safe from Covid-19.
However, we do have some good news; we are going to host a Trunk O’ Treat event on October 29 from 5:00pm-7:00pm at the Colma Community Center. The event will be hosted by the Colma Police Department, Recreation Services Department and the Colma Fire Protection District. Residents can safely trunk or treat in the community center parking lot and youth 14 and under can receive candy and other ghostly goodies. Please see the flyer inserted for all the details. Please be sure to register in advance through the Recreation Service Department at 650-985-5678.
It’s About to Get Darker So Please Drive Safe
John Munsey, Chief of Police
Shorter days, fatigue, compromised night vision, rush hour and impaired drivers are some of the risks we face when driving at night.
When Daylight Saving Time ends – for 2021, that’s 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 7 – many people will find themselves spending more time driving in the dark. Depth perception, color recognition and peripheral vision can be compromised in the dark, and the glare of headlights from an oncoming vehicle can temporarily blind a driver.
Even with high-beam headlights on, visibility is limited to about 500 feet (250 feet for normal headlights) creating less time to react to something in the road, especially when driving at higher speeds.
Colma Police Departments Recommendations for driving safe in the dark:
- Make sure your headlights are clean
- Dim your dashboard
- Look away from oncoming lights
- If you wear glasses, make sure they’re anti-reflective
- Clean the windshield to eliminate streaks
- Slow down to compensate for limited visibility and reduced stopping time
- Don’t be an impatient driver; slow down
- Minimize distractions, like talking with passengers or listening to the radio
- Even though the route may be familiar, don’t go on autopilot; stay alert
- Don’t touch your phone, eat, drink or do other things that are distracting