PACIFICA – Two San Francisco men were arrested Monday morning in Pacifica after they drove a stolen car the wrong way on Highway 1 and crashed, police said.

Around 2:25 am, an officer spotted the car driving the wrong way on the Manor Drive off-ramp from Highway 1, the Pacifica Police Department said in a news release.

The officer tried to stop the car, but it continued southbound in northbound lanes, police said.

“Seeing how the vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction and into oncoming traffic, the officer did not pursue the car,” police said.

A short time later, another officer spotted the car exiting the highway at Oceana Boulevard. The officer tried to stop the car, which had been reported stolen in Daly City, but the driver reversed down the off-ramp, police said. The car then left the roadway, rolled onto its side and came to a rest partially blocking one lane of the highway.

Two men got out of the car and ran toward Ingrid B. Lacy Middle School, police said. One was found hiding in some heavy brush at the school and the other was found a few blocks away, at the corner of Palmetto and Carmel avenues, in an open stairwell.

Neither man was injured in the crash, police said.

One of the men was booked into San Mateo County jail on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle, taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, evading a police officer and resisting arrest, as well as a pair of bench warrants. The other was arrested on suspicon of resisting arrest and giving false identification to a police officer.

The California Highway Patrol recovered the stolen car and cleared the affected lane, police said. The incident did not result in any closures of the highway.

Anyone with information related to the case can contact the police department at 650-738-7314.

The post San Francisco duo arrested after crashing stolen automobile in Pacifica appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

“Seeds are nature’s magic trick,” Shalaco shares as we stroll down 24th Street in the Mission, seed and rice hull-filled parmesan cheese shakers in hand. We’re sprinkling seeds into tree planters, and can already see nature’s magic coming to fruition, with greenery and blooms popping up from previous scattering sessions.

This is part of a daily routine for Shalaco (who goes by the mononym professionally) and his fiancée, Phoenix (who declined to share her last name). Together, they are SFinBloom, a TikTok account with more than 200,000 followers and a shared mission to “normalize planting native wildflowers.” This duo isn’t using the standard tools to get the job done — they’re riding Onewheels around San Francisco, dressing like bees and using parmesan shakers and toy guns to scatter their seeds, including local plants like white yarrow, farewell to spring, lupine, baby blue eyes, poppies and more.

SFinBloom’s work is visually entertaining (Shalaco runs a creative production studio), but it’s also based on a deep knowledge of gardening and native plants. Phoenix has almost 20 years of gardening experience in the Bay Area and owns and operates Green Earth Gardeners, a sustainable garden and landscape design company.

So how did this all get started?

“I thought to myself, the world’s on fire, how can I make a difference? Well, I can increase biodiversity locally to support pollinators — namely bees.” Shalaco told me recently on our wildflower scattering run.

Much of the world’s nutrition is pollinated by honeybees.

@shalaco, courtesy of Shalaco Studios

Greenpeace says 70 of the top 100 food crops are pollinated by bees, and there’s been a near 60% decline in honeybees between 1947 and 2008. In short, bees equal food and food equals life, so flowers aren’t just for beauty — they ‘re a matter of existential importance for the planet and its inhabitants.

SFinBloom plants mostly in public spots, like street medians and tree planters. (Watch them sprinkle around Lake Merced, for example.) The pair lives in the Mission, and one of their favorite spots to sprinkle is on 24th Street, where we walked together on a recent evening.

When 31 ficus trees were cut down on the street in 2021, Shalaco and Phoenix were saddened by the loss of the historic plants. Shaking wildflower seeds in the beds where trees had been cut down eased some of the pain.

“Greenery is starting to come up everywhere — and the blooms will be next,” said Shalaco. “The shallow roots of native annual wildflowers interplant well with the deep-rooted trees.”

When I ask if what they’re doing is legal, Shalaco shares a video of him shaking seeds at the Mission police station. He also said, “I think there’s a better question: ‘How do you encourage responsible planting?'” (The Department of Public Works, which did not want to be quoted for this story, hinted that it’s within the bounds of the law. )

In general, SFinBloom does have some suggested guidelines to follow if you’d like to start planting yourself. Do look for freshly turned soil. Don’t plan on someone else’s lawn. Don’t plant in a bed where a tree might just be getting established or where there is already a planting program, like in state or national parks.

Plant with intentionality and ask yourself, “Is this the right plant in the right space?” and “Is this going to detract from or be invasive to the environment?”

Shalaco said, “If nothing’s there and you get something to grow and thrive, and it’s not pushing out the native ecology, you’ve made an improvement.”

SFinBloom’s information is packaged up into snappy social media posts, and the word has gotten out. Shalaco and Phoenix have received comments and questions on how to replicate what they’re doing — plus reaction videos — “from every continent except for Antarctica,” Shalaco said. Back here in the US, some were inspired to pass out toy guns filled with seeds at their wedding instead of throwing rice.

SFinBloom’s mission is to democratize gardening and normalize planting native wildflowers.

Courtesy Shalaco Studios

And SFinBloom has also taken their message to professionals. They’ve run corporate offsites, have been invited to talk with beekeeping associations and UC Davis and have even traveled to Maui to volunteer at Kipuka Olowalu Cultural Reserve, interviewing the organizers about sustainable land practices and amplifying their message.

In the future, they said they want to work with businesses and the city government to organize events and invite people to plan in neglected places that need love and attention. Working with the government, for example, look like the city or Caltrans might encourage medians to be planted with a percentage of native pollinators and beneficial plants (you can visit an example pollinator median on Dolores Street). Phoenix said, “We want to reach out and work with civic groups and existing organizations and get the community involved to collaborate on and promote new and existing programs.”

The duo reminds me that seeds are the cheapest way to get into plants, and shaking some seeds takes just a few seconds. It can have an addictive quality as I learned on my walk with them, but they also reminded me to be patient: Plants can take time to sprout.

“People often think of reasons why they can’t garden and give all sorts of excuses. They say, ‘I don’t have time to garden, I don’t have money. I don’t have enough space,’” Shalaco said. “The reality is you can make plants work for you. And we are here to show people how to do that. People want to help the world; they’re just not sure how. We came up with a simple way to do that.”

If you want to join the movement, check out SFinBloom’s website for some seed starter kits, to take classes on converting your lawn to a habitat garden or to join their mailing list to take part in an upcoming community planting event.

The post This duo scatters native flowers round San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – National Construction Women Week was celebrated March 8-12. Ohio Valley’s associate builders and contractors used the week to highlight women who work on-site in the construction business and encourage other women to think about jobs within the construction industry.

Dayton-based Envirocontrol Systems owners and executives Lisa Crosley and Jessica Arney share their experiences as women in the industry to encourage other women to consider applying.

“My advice to women is to know what you can do, and not have a chip on your shoulder that feels like you have to prove something to someone else,” said Crosley, president and majority owner of Envirocontrol Systems .

Crosley and Arney also have a unique situation. They work together, but are also mother and daughter. Crosley says she and her husband bought the company in order to build a family legacy in 2004.

“There is no one better to do business with than your family because they will always be your biggest fans.” said Arney, owner and service manager at Envirocontrol Systems.

They support each other and make a point of supporting the other women who work with them and are in the industry with them.

“There isn’t a feeling that I have to hold back other women in order for me to excel,” said Crosley. “There is a feeling that as women we all help one another.”

In 2019, women made up only 10 percent of the construction industry. Crosley and Arney say women may overlook lucrative job opportunities.

“In our industry, in heating and air conditioning, [there are] other options beyond physical labor, ”said Arney.

“Women, don’t think you have to be Rosie the Riveter to get into the trades,” said Crosley. “There are a lot of really good career opportunities within the trade.”

The Ohio Valley ABC says that more than 5 million women have lost or left their jobs since the COVID pandemic, and no, it is the perfect time for them to enter an industry where there is a huge demand for labor.

“When you go to a job site and see diversity, it fits better together and makes you more confident about who works for you,” said Carlos Panzardi of ABC Ohio Valley. “You will get a better team because there are more people from different places.”

To encourage more women to apply for jobs in the construction and commercial sectors, ABC from the Ohio Valley offers an apprenticeship program. They currently have around 250 participants. The deadline for the group next year is September. Click here for more info.

The post Mom-daughter HVAC enterprise duo inspiring extra ladies to work in building business jobs appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.