The Blast City Manager Dennis' Weekly Update | October 29, 2025

• Reminder about Halloween Night Road Closures & Incoming SMC Alerts
• County Commits Funds to Shore up Local Safety Net
• Farewell, October...
• Make Your Voice Heard in the Nov. 4th Statewide Special Election
• Quarry Project Update: Advanced Manufacturing 101 Webinar Recording
• IDEA's 2025 Short-Film Festival
• Happy Diwali!
• November STAR Now Available to Read Online
• Annual Winter Yard Waste Cleanup is Nov. 15-16
• Registration Open for Annual Holiday Food & Gift Distribution

Reminder about Halloween Night Road Closures & Incoming SMC Alerts

This Halloween, Brisbane will be piloting something new to improve safety for trick-or-treaters: hard street closures in select neighborhoods.

What to Expect

Streets marked in black on the map will be closed to vehicle traffic during the closure period. Public Works will set up barricades at the designated intersections beginning at 6 PM. Overflow parking will be made available that evening at several locations, including:

• Brisbane Post Office
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church
• City Hall
• City Hall Annex
• Former Bank of America parking lot
• Brisbane Village Shopping Center

We thank the property owners for allowing their lots to be used for parking, as well as the many volunteers who are helping monitor closure points. This street closure wouldn't be possible without their support!

Note: we will be sending out a series of SMC Alerts starting Thursday evening to remind residents about the following evening's closure. A follow-up one will be sent at 3 PM on Friday, and a final, third one will be sent at the start of the 2-hour closure period. Even if you think you're already signed up for SMC Alert, please take a moment to log in and check your settings/addresses to ensure you receive our messages.

Staff will be set up at this Thursday's Farmers' Market between 3:00-5:30 PM to help residents get signed up for SMC Alert on the spot, as well as at the Sunrise Room on Friday between 11 - noon.

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County Commits Funds to Shore up Local Safety Net

The County Board of Supervisors recently approved nearly $900,000 to help fund a network of Core Services Agencies purchase and distribute food over the next year (Brisbane's Core Service Agency is the YMCA Community Resource Center, which also offers satellite office hours at the Brisbane Library each Monday from 1-4 PM). The funds come as nearly 35,000 San Mateo County recipients of the CalFresh food assistance program could lose their benefits as early as next month.

Residents can access help, volunteer time, or support local food programs by visiting the Human Services Agency’s website. Learn more about the Board’s support of families during the federal shutdown here. Free food is also available through Second Harvest of Silicon Valley to anyone in need.

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Farewell, October...

Has October felt like an usually full month to you? It's the month right before the holidays really get started, and thus affords the opportunity to raise awareness for many important causes and cultural celebrations, including the following:

• National Pedestrian Safety Month - a reminder to follow the speed limit, use caution when driving at night and when visibility is limited, never drink and drive, always stop for people in crosswalks and avoid blocking crosswalks while waiting to make a right-hand turn, and avoid distractions such as texting or eating while driving. Keep your focus on the road!
• Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month - honors the achievements and contributions of Italian immigrants and their descendants living in the United States, particularly in the arts, science, and culture.
• Filipino American History Month - commemorates the arrival of the first Filipinos in the continental U.S. on October 18, 1587, at what is now Morro Bay, California, marking a significant moment in U.S. history.
• Domestic Violence Awareness Month - raises awareness about domestic violence and support survivors. Communities Overcoming Relationship Abuse (CORA) staff provided more than 10,000 critical services in the past year, and provided over $1 million in client cash assistance, including subsidized rent, security deposits, and a range of emergency expenses, from car repairs to storage costs. CORA operates a 24-Hour Hotline: 800-300-1080 and a Legal Information Line: 650-259-1855.
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month - promotes screening, research, and support for those affected by breast cancer. The Brisbane Police Department is proud to participate in the Pink Patch Project throughout October, with officers wearing specially designed pink patches on their uniforms & their patrol vehicles displaying breast cancer ribbons as a visual reminder of the importance of early detection & research.

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Make Your Voice Heard in the Nov. 4th Statewide Special Election

Did you know that if you plan to mail in your ballot for the November 4th Statewide Special Election, it must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by November 12, 2025?

If you did not register to vote by Oct. 20, you will have to vote in-person at a vote center using Conditional Voter Registration. Seven more vote centers in San Mateo County will open on Saturday, Nov. 1, bringing the total to 15 open vote centers. A list of all the open vote centers and ballot drop boxes is at smvote.gov.

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Quarry Project Update: Advanced Manufacturing 101 Webinar Recording

The Guadalupe Quarry Redevelopment Team recently hosted a webinar, Advanced Manufacturing 101, which is available for play back below:

The presenters' slides are available on the project website here. Should you have any questions after viewing the webinar, you can send those to Kit Cole or Justin Salters, as they continue to hold monthly office hours via Zoom where they're collecting questions from community members and steadily updating the spreadsheet with responses. See their FAQ tracker here.

Their final office hours in 2025 take place on November 12th and December 10th from 4-5 PM.

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IDEA's 2025 Short-Film Festival

To round out this eighth annual United Against Hate Week (Oct. 19-25, 2025), the City's IDEA Committee held a Short-Film Festival on Saturday, October 25th at City Hall's Community Meeting Room. The dreary weather was the perfect setting for a Short-Film Festival. The atmosphere inside the Community Meeting Room at City Hall wasn’t that at all, maybe just teary!

There was a desire from the attendees to be able to play back and share not just the films shown at the 2025 event, but also those that were shown in 2023 (yes, a few in the audience were at the inaugural event, having left City Hall looking forward to the next time this event would take place)!

Here is 2025's playlist to 5 of the 7 videos, with the 6th one, How Social Media Algorithms Create Echo Chambers, available on PBS' site, and the 7th one, People, available to view on Vimeo. Attendees were also afforded the ability to view an unreleased music video, El Norte, contributed by Brisbane non-profit, Lyrical Opposition (who happened to be attending the launch screening of their newly-produced film, Deville, that same day).

Here is 2023's playlist to 5 of the 6 videos, with the 6th one, Loop, available to view here.