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As we reflect on 2025, the first quarter of the 21st century, the Redwood City Pulse contemplates a big year of loss, change and development.
From the critical vote by San Mateo County supervisors removing Sheriff Christina Corpus in October to the progress on the long-awaited 101/84 interchange project, the year was marked by civic developments and local debates.
Politics took precedent, as President Trump’s ambitious agenda was felt intimately locally, compelling high school students across the Midpeninsula to protest his policies in Redwood City and express solidarity with the immigrant community.
As the artificial intelligence arms race revved up big-time this year, its shrapnel was felt intimately in Redwood City. Oracle mounted significant layoffs in the Bay Area amid its $365 billion AI surge. Business news extended to include the opening of Your Mom’s Haus in El Granada, which has been embraced as a far-from-forgotten culinary destination.
From family-friendly events to bold civic actions and new ventures, 2025 was a year of milestones for Redwood City and the surrounding communities. Let’s look at the top stories that defined the year.
10. Friends remain hopeful missing Redwood City hiker will soon be found
In one of the year’s most emotional ongoing stories, friends, family and volunteers came together this spring in a determined effort to locate 79‑year‑old Redwood City resident Margaret “Elaine” McKinley, who disappeared while hiking at Windy Hill Open Space Preserve on May 1. McKinley was last seen wearing a red jacket and black pants on the Lost Trail during a group hike; she has dementia and became separated from her companions.
Search and rescue operations immediately expanded into a multi‑county effort, with hundreds of trained volunteers, drones, K‑9 units and ground teams covering thousands of cumulative miles in rugged terrain. Authorities described the search as exhaustive and methodical, urging residents to share possible leads or video footage that might assist.
Friends and family, including McKinley’s sister and longtime companions, maintained hope throughout the search, highlighting her strength, hiking experience and deep ties to the community. Supporters gathered regularly at the preserve’s trailhead, emphasizing their belief that McKinley could still be found safely.
9. Redwood City OKs land deals for 101 interchange project
In one of the year’s most significant land‑use developments, the Redwood City Council unanimously approved multiple property acquisitions on May 2 to move forward with the long‑anticipated State Route 84/U.S. 101 Interchange Reimagined Project. The overhaul project, which is expected to begin construction in 2027, aims to reduce congestion, improve safety and create enhanced bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
Council action cleared the way for negotiations and eminent domain proceedings to secure land from 11 property owners needed for widening, bikeways, pedestrian improvements and realigning the interchange near Veterans Boulevard, Broadway, Bay Road and Seaport Boulevard. City engineers noted that the existing interchange, originally built in 1959, had seen 195 crashes between 2018 and 2022, nearly half of which were rear‑end collisions, making safety upgrades a central priority.
8. Redwood City native opens German-inspired taproom Your Mom’s Haus
In the spring of 2025, a new culinary destination opened just north of Redwood City when Casey Plemons and partner Paul Watson unveiled Your Mom’s Haus — a German‑inspired taproom in El Granada that quickly became a coastside highlight. The space, housed in a bright Victorian‑style building that formerly hosted Breakwater Barbecue, offers 12 rotating taps of German and local craft beers, along with Bavarian pretzels, an array of sausages and other German‑style fare.
Plemons said the concept grew out of a desire to bring German‑style food and beer to the San Mateo County coast, filling a niche in the local dining scene. The menu, developed with help from chef Denise D’Amico, includes giant pretzels with haus‑made beer cheese, currywurst, beer cheese fries and traditional sides like German potato salad.
About half the tap list showcases German beers, while the remainder features rotating local craft brews from Peninsula and Coastside breweries. The cozy interior, complete with ocean views and a playful community board dubbed the “Mom’s Wall,” has made Your Mom’s Haus a welcoming gathering spot for both locals and visitors.
7. Students march to Courthouse Square after walkout to protest deportations
In an early‑year show of youth activism that resonated across the Midpeninsula, hundreds of students from the Sequoia Union High School District walked out of classes on Feb. 6 to protest President Trump’s immigration policies and their impact on families and communities. Students from multiple high schools — including Sequoia, Menlo‑Atherton, Woodside, Redwood, Sacred Heart Prep and Tide Academy — marched through Redwood City streets in rainy conditions and gathered at Courthouse Square to voice their concerns.
Organizers and participants carried Mexican and El Salvadoran flags, chanted and held signs calling attention to deportations and family separations, and emphasized solidarity with immigrant communities locally and nationally.
The walkout remained peaceful and student‑driven, with school administrators providing guidance on students’ rights to protest. Students said their action was about standing up for immigrant families and drawing attention to policies they viewed as harming those communities.
6. Oracle’s $300B OpenAI deal shadows Redwood City layoffs
In 2025, one of the most impactful business stories was the juxtaposition of Oracle’s meteoric rise as a major artificial intelligence cloud provider with significant workforce reductions at its longtime Redwood Shores offices. While Oracle’s AI-focused deals helped propel the company’s global profile, including a reported $300 billion cloud contract with OpenAI that briefly pushed market valuation to historic highs, the local community felt the effects of hundreds of layoffs this fall.
As part of broad corporate cuts affecting tens of thousands of employees worldwide, Oracle’s Redwood City facility was set to lose well over 300 staffers by winter, possibly the largest layoffs at any Oracle site in the U.S. this year. Industry reports indicate that dozens more reductions occurred across other Bay Area locations and overseas, even as the company secured major cloud contracts and pursued growth in AI infrastructure.
The cuts coincided with Oracle’s shift away from its historic Silicon Valley headquarters, which has left much of the 1.5-million-square-foot Redwood City campus vacant. Local officials acknowledged the economic and symbolic impact of job losses in a city where Oracle had long been a cornerstone employer.
5. No sheriff for San Mateo County, Christina Corpus removed
One of the most consequential local government stories of 2025 unfolded in October when the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to remove Christina Corpus from her position of county sheriff. This made her the first sheriff in California to be removed for cause under a county charter amendment approved by voters earlier in the year.
The decision capped a months-long process that began with the overwhelming voter approval of a charter amendment that gave the board the authority to oust an elected sheriff for cause. An independent investigation and subsequent hearings found evidence of conflicts of interest, misuse of authority, and retaliation against employees within the Sheriff’s Office.
Corpus, the first female and Latina sheriff in county history, defended her record but was unable to stop the board’s final vote to remove her on Oct. 14.
4. Cyclist injured near Filoli two days after motorist fatally struck rider in Woodside
Just days after a bicyclist was killed in a serious collision in Woodside, another cyclist was injured in a separate crash near Filoli that underscored ongoing concerns about road safety for cyclists across the Midpeninsula this year. On Aug. 31, at about 11:21 a.m., a motorist driving a Toyota sedan struck a cyclist at the intersection of Canada and Edgewood roads near the historic Filoli estate, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The injured cyclist was transported to Stanford Hospital with complaints of pain, but authorities said no arrests were made and the incident was not considered a DUI collision. The collision came just two days after a bicyclist died in Woodside when a pickup truck struck them at the intersection of Highways 35 and 84.
3. Teen critically hurt after driver runs red light, police say
A traffic collision in Redwood City drew widespread attention this year when a 17-year-old pedestrian was critically injured after being struck by a vehicle on May 5. Redwood City police reported that the crash occurred at about 12:10 p.m. at the intersection of El Camino Real and Dumbarton Avenue when the teen who was legally crossing in a marked crosswalk was hit by a car that may have run a red light, according to authorities.
Police said the driver, a 64-year-old Menlo Park resident, showed no obvious signs of impairment, and initial information from medical personnel at the scene indicated he may have experienced a medical emergency immediately before the collision.
2. Suspect in deadly Redwood City Caltrain stabbing has history of felonies
A deadly stabbing at the Redwood City Caltrain station became one of the most talked-about public safety stories of 2025. On Aug. 27, 66-year-old Joseph Carreiro of San Mateo was fatally stabbed on the southbound platform after an altercation with another man, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. Carreiro was transported to a local hospital and later pronounced dead.
The next day, authorities arrested 31-year-old Redwood City resident Jose Gomez-Bustamante on suspicion of murder. Gomez-Bustamante had recently been released on parole in April after serving less than two years of a six-year sentence for a 2020 unprovoked knife attack in Redwood City. Prosecutors said that earlier incident involved an attempted stabbing at a local restaurant.
1. Man charged in street racer crash that killed couple dies in jail
Our most read story this year involved the death of a 25-year-old man in the Maple Street Correctional Center in Redwood City. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office reported that Kyle Harrison — who had been sentenced in February to eight years in prison for his role in a 2022 street-racing crash that killed a San Carlos couple — was found unresponsive in his cell on March 15 and later pronounced dead at the facility.
Harrison had been convicted on two counts of vehicular manslaughter and a felony street-racing charge tied to the collision on El Camino Real that killed Grace Spiridon and Gregory Ammen and left their twin 7-year-old daughters injured.
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