Not One Fence But Three

Included in next Monday's council agenda is the following item:

Provide direction to staff relative to the follow-up session on the Burlingame Train Station.

I thought the Caltrains plan included "only" one ugly a.... cyclone fence running between the tracks from North Lane to Howard Avenue. This **670 ft**. platform fence would cut off all pedestrian/vehicle access through the station arch and on South Lane, the pressure valve of dangerous North Lane. No, no, no .... we get three fences. One between the platforms (**670 ft**) and two either side of the tracks. To "spice it up", these ugly a.... fences broaden and narrow like a cattle chute. Take a walk down to City Hall, get a copy of the plan and with a bold red marker highlight the ugly a.... fences. You will see that for the price of $11-14 million we are getting a helluva lot of fencing plus closing a street, plus closing a pedestrian walkway, plus unnecessary parking, etc.

But the million dollar question will always be... will the train stop at our fenced-lined cattle-chute of a station one year, two years, five years down the line?

- Written by Fiona

Comments

[James]

If the council doesn't approve a plan that the train people can build, the station will be closed because it does not allow handicap accesibilty. The train guys are looking for a way to speed up their train schedules, and closing a station because the city council couldn't come to an agreement on public safety takes it off the shoulders of the train officials and on to the heads of the Burligame City Council. They can blame the council for the closing of the station. The few citizens who can't walk an extra 50 feet are the ones who need to be walking around the track.

You are right, the Council will be blamed if Caltrains takes their marbles and goes home. But can't we expect more than a fenced off maze in front of our wonderful station. Is all that plastic coated wiring necessary for safety, ada, whizzing trains? Surely not?

It's not 50 feet, James. How did you ever come up with that? The diversion takes 37 seconds more, (according to Caltrain). Now I guess you'd be a mighty slow walker to only walk 50 feet in that period of time. (I'd say about 250 is probably closer to reality.) But let's not worry about 37 seconds.

If a path, whatever the length, is attractive and pleasant, people will walk it. This plan, as presented, resembles a cattle chute, which is even more stunning when one sees all the fencing planned. It rivals Lawrence station for pure use of chain-link. Maybe they can supply a retired engineer or ticket agent to brand us with a big "B", while they're at it. (Humm, would "B" stand for Bullet, or Burlingame? I'll leave that up to interpretation.) It ends with a walk on a narrowing sidewalk (why? because a wider one doesn't even fit) through a bleak, unnecessary parking lot. The sidewalk was meerly an afterthought. They assumed everyone drives, anyway. At this rate, they will- yet another problem for our city.

If there is a closure (and there may be) it will not be related to the implementation of this or any other project. They've invested lots of money in Broadway, and in Hayward Park, including (I'm sure, handicap access) and look what happened to those stations. I don't know about you, but deserted stations are really eyesores for a city. Who will clean them up?

The issue that concerns me is that the long view doesn't exist with these agencies. That is the biggest problem here, and nobody is talking about it. In order to be healthy and to grow well, our cities will need local trains, too. If passing tracks are what it takes to facilitate more locals, then that is what the emphasis needs to be on. How far would 12 million go for doing that? I see a third track running through Burlingame. Could tracks like these be retrofitted as passing lanes. I don't know, but I'd like to find out.

Also, Caltrain credits the bullets with keeping them afloat over the past year or so. But what about the improved economy, the price of gas, or even the increase in traffic on the freeway, as having affected their ridership in the same period of time?

In fact, the local trains would probably do better now, too (if we had them.)

[James]

Wow, you really quantified it. 37 seconds verus public safety. 37 seconds versus someone in a wheel chair geting onto a train. 37 seconds out of someones presious life to make it safer for the whole city. 37 seconds to make sure we don't loose the last train station in town. And you think Caltrain is short sited.

The bad news is that they have thrown chain link fencing up the wazoo to unglorify our beautiful station plus have thrown in unwalkable cobble stones, no foliage to speak of, concrete parking lots, closing an important public street, etc. BUT the good news is that there is no blue and silver tinsel or a red letter S in their plans. Perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies.

If we need gobs of fencing for "safety", this town is in really bad shape!

This is not the end of the world. Visit the Menlo Park Caltrain station for a good example of what a revamped Burlingame depot would look like. It's not that bad. Not at all. Menlo Park has survived. So will Burlingame. Really.

Excuse me - we have just visited Menlo Park to see what they did and their station does not look like our planned station will look.

Number 1 - they do not have chain link fences. In fact their open style fences are very attractive.

Number 2 - they do not have three fences down the track. They have two - one between the tracks and one where there is a a grade difference.

Number 3 - the station does NOT - yes remember does NOT - have a fence going past it on one side of the track by the station building. Perhaps Menlo riders are smart enough not to be fenced in or fenced out near their station. Yes this side of the track is open, open, open!

Number 4 - there are some beautiful palms which look like Caltrains integrated in the (attractive) fencing.

Number 5 - there is no cobblestone garbage.

Number 6 - there is no funnel cattle chute effect like we will have.

Don't know if they had to close a public street to get all the "safety", ada requirements but of course they do not have dangerous North End either.

Menlo Park has survived but their station does not look like our station will look. We both have trains stopping at the station (as of todays date!) but there the similariy ends!

Funny, we were just there, too! We did train stations 101 today: San Bruno, San Mateo, Redwood City, Menlo Park. All of the above post is true. Please look closely at the plans, and at these stations. I'm so glad that wJones mentioned going to see Menlo Park. The plan for Burlingame seems to be a combo between San Bruno and Menlo Park: cheap fencing of San Bruno, including bleak landscaping. Did you see those freeway bottlebrush? (I didn't see any strange cobblework, did you?) The odd one out was Redwood City, which had filled in the grade differences with loads of concrete, what a mess.

Menlo Park has mature palms and Oaks that were obviously there way before the "upgrade." I learned a lot, particularly seeing the shared pedestrian and car area over their street, Oak Grove, (which is surely what they have planned for North Lane.) Not Good! The other end of the station is much better, where there is a ped crossing., though also with cattle chutes, at least the fencing seems to be of better quality.

[fred]

From Fiona - "BUT the good news is that there is no blue and silver tinsel or a red letter S in their plans. Perhaps we should be grateful for small mercies."

Fiona, both the hotels and auto row rely heavily (over 90%) on revenue generated from people who live outside of Burlingame. That means that a majority of the city of Burlingame's discretionary tax income comes from 'outsiders' who patronize Burlingame. There are many different ways these businesses attract customers. The large "S" and the large hotels visible from the freeway get traveller's attention, luring people who might otherwise end up in South City or San Mateo. Tinsel over car-lots makes the cars look shiny and sparkly under lights, making them more attractive to potential buyers.

These things you see only as tacky generate income that helps create the funds that make other parts of Burlingame livable and beautiful.

Similarly trains stops and easy freeway access allow more people to access all types of Burlingame businesses. Just as you may visit Tahoe for the snow or the wine country for a weekend or San Francisco for the night - many people visit, dine and shop Burlingame. It is important for everyone that the city assists these people with easy and multiple access points to our town.

If the out-of-towners aren't here to supply the needed tax revenue it will be up to the residents and businesses to pay for the budget shortfalls.

Fred, I kind of like the tents and even some tinsel, though personally prefer flags (I'm not joking.) Every year I worked cleaning up for the Concours, I rolled up black and white flags, and sometimes flags in primary colors. I like them. They are very fresh looking and dress up even older cars. It would be very interesting to study the history of car advertising in the last 50 years or so, but I digress.

I personally wish there were of a retro look to the dealer lots because there is a certain charm about it. I drove by Putnam on the weekend, and one of the large alien-like light fixtures had fallen over, just crashed to the ground. My kids were just fascinated with the shape that they've never really noticed before. Sadly, that light fixture will probably be replaced with a modern one. Too bad. These are little details that people don't even notice until they have been replaced.

[fred]

Jen, I also see beauty in unusual places, but my point is sometimes it is important to look past appearance and focus on the importance of practical uses.

*******

Here is an article I stumbled across today from almost two years ago.

From San Mateo Daily Journal July 2004

Train station relocation will not happen
By Bill Silverfarb

A Burlingame auto dealer who suggested combining two train depots into one conceded yesterday that merchants on Broadway and Burlingame Avenue would never let it happen.

I guess my proposal is fraught with problems,? Mike Harvey said yesterday.

The auto dealer owns Mike Harvey Acura on Broadway and Mike Harvey Honda near Burlingame Avenue.

His company also leases space from Caltrain to store cars and he is miffed the transit agency didn't contact him about proposals to upgrade the two train stations that may include taking back land Harvey uses.

But Caltrain spokeswoman Janet McGovern said last night it is not a certainty Harvey will have to give up any space.

It's the beginning stages of the design. We don't know what we are doing yet,? McGovern said.

She did, however, say any land the agency owns is reserved for transit use.

As part of a $6.9 million project, the center platform at the two stations will be eliminated, and a fence will be installed between the tracks. Caltrain said this will allow crossing gate down time to be greatly reduced as well as adding a level of safety.

At the Broadway station, Caltrain proposes to move the northbound stop to the north of Broadway while keeping the southbound spot where it is. That would eliminate the need to block traffic on busy Broadway as often.

A lot of people have an interest and a stake in our plan. We are perfectly happy to talk to Mike Harvey or anyone about concerns,? McGovern said.

Caltrain held two public meetings on July 29 and Aug. 3 and will bring a proposal to Burlingame city staff in September.

Harvey characterized Caltrain's plans as goofy.?

I think for the long term merchants in those business districts need to really think about combining those stations,? Harvey said. It would help greatly reduce traffic backups on Broadway.?

Manal Arikat, manager at the Jewelry Exchange on Broadway, said it would be a bad idea to move the station but admits the traffic backup is awful, especially in the afternoon.

We need free access to the freeway. The trains come every 10 minutes in the afternoon. They should think about putting an overpass or underpass there,? she said. Commerce will pick up on Broadway and the city needs to think about traffic.?

Bob Gorman at Weimax Liquors supports Caltrain's plan to move the northbound spot to just across Mike Harvey's Acura dealership.

The north pickup shuts down traffic when it doesn't have to,? Gorman said.

David Elmashni, a worker at the Incredible Edible Deli on Broadway, said Harvey should at least get an audience with Caltrain because of the jobs and revenue he created for Burlingame.

They have to listen to him. But I don't think moving the station is the answer,? Elmashni said.

Over at the Pez Museum on California Drive, Gary Doss said no merchant on Burlingame Avenue would want the depot moved.

It's so convenient now. The shoppers can get off the train and there's the shopping,? Doss said. Besides, Caltrain features the Pez Museum as a notable place to visit on its Web site. I don't want it to move.?

Once Caltrain is finished with its upgrade plan, however, Harvey said people will be disappointed.

There will be a human cry,? he said, once people see what they end up with.?

I attended those meetings, Fred, and wow were they an eye opener!

Just bought a car at Mr. Putnams - it wasn't for the tinsel but because of the great service (thanks Daniel and Jimmy) and a small effort "to buy Burlingame"!

By the way, it's nice to see this Council call a special study session on the station issue . I think only good can come of it.