The Burlingame Voice

All About Anson

The Library is hosting an event about Anson Burlingame next week.  While old Anson didn't spend much time in B'game, he did have quite an impact on international affairs.  You can read about the Tuesday event here.

I know I cannot make it so if you go, please take some notes and fill everyone in on the information David Chai presents!

Fiscal Expats, Mais Oui!

Normally I would not be able to tie the article in today's Wall Street Journal to B'game except I spoke to a local friend this week who was considering moving out of state after the recent passage of Prop. 30.  The Journal article is titled "Moving Sale: A Chateau on the Cheap?" and relays how upper income French folk are selling their high-end real estate (sometimes multiple properties) and leaving the country.

The number of high-end homes on the market has increased, with sales due to expatriations skyrocketing this year to several a week from a few a month, says Charles-Marie Jottras, president of leading luxury brokerage Daniel Féau. Fiscal expats account for more than half of the homes Daniel Féau lists between $6.4 million and $19.2 million, compared with about 10% in prior years.

And it goes on to note

Of course, the French have been moving abroad for decades to escape the country's punishing taxes. But the profile of those leaving is changing. In the past, the typical fiscal expat was a golf-playing retired Frenchman, who packed up after the kids left home and 40 years of paying French taxes, brokers say.

Today, the new expats are younger and still earning their fortunes, a reflection of the government's shift toward targeting high salaries instead of household wealth, as well as the greater ease of moving across Europe's open borders.

So, who knows?  The California "barbell economy" and long-term trend of people leaving for OR, AZ and CO could impact our state economy in a similar way as we move to the highest state income tax rate in the country.

Happy Thanksgiving All

I want to wish the little, local Voice community a very happy Thanksgiving.  We have a lot to be grateful for here.  As I wander about town talking to friends and friends-not-yet-met, the feeling that we live in a special place remains as strong as ever even with the problems we know we have.

One of the things I like best about this time of year is the foliage.  It is the City of Trees and the season is much longer than the places we think of as foliage-central...New England.  Back on Oct. 14th I noted the arrival of the season.  Here we are five weeks later watching the ginkos and Japanese maples finally turning.  In New England, the season is usually a week or two long before the winds and rain take the leaves.  Not in B'game.  We have a durable season and a durable town.  Enjoy the time off.

Just Hats?

No one supports local businesses more than I do, but I have to ask--can you pay the rent a block off the Avenue with just hats?  If I needed a hat I would get it here, but I am getting that "cupcake" feeling........

I hope I am wrong.

Remembering Geo. Howard

Our very own Joanne Garrison, author of the Burlingame Centennial book, has a retrospective piece in the Daily Journal about local architectural legend George Howard.  In it she notes

Most of George’s architectural projects were either Neoclassical or English Tudor in design, reflecting the Gilded Age preference for all things European. The one major exception was the project for which he is best known, the Burlingame train station. In 1893, the newly formed Burlingame Country Club sought its own train station to welcome guests in style from San Francisco. George and his architect partner Joachim Mathisen chose a quintessentially California design for the station—that of a California mission. The train station, completed in 1894, is now designated as a California Historical Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places due primarily to its architectural significance as the earliest permanent example of California Mission Revival architecture.

If you would care to learn more and perhaps add a bit of info (for you old timers), the Historical Society has a place for that too.  Here's the aforementioned book which is available at Books, Inc. and makes a great present during the holidays.

Tweet Along

The Daily Post had an interesting article over the weekend about Palo Alto doing what it calls a "virtual ride-along".  They describe it as

Last night from 5 pm to 1 am, a public information officer hopped into the front seat alongside a patrol officer and live-tweeted all of their calls for service, an event  the department dubbed a virtual ride-along.  The tweets were posted on the police department's official Twitter account, @PaloAltoPolice.

Interested residents asked questions during the ride-along by including the hashtag "PAPDvra" or mentioning the police department's account.

I think this is a great idea.  I did a ride-along with the B'game PD back in 2006 and wrote up my impressions of the night for the Voice.  Here is a small excerpt of that story

My immediate impression was that our cops really know the town’s habits and many of its inhabitants.  Our first call was a mere 10 minutes into my shift.  It would be the easier of two meth-induced problems we would deal with that night.  This contact was the third one with the same individual in less than 24 hours and highlighted to me the need for a little tougher stance at the Psych ward of Peninsula hospital.  The revolving door needs to slow down a bit.  The second meth-driven incident was worse. Later on a fire truck had to get a man off the roof of a commercial building and then an ambulance took him to the County hospital.  He was an expensive problem for the taxpayers.

It was an education for me and I think having BPD do a Tweet-along (a better name than virtual ride-along) would allow more people to get a taste of what goes on in town.  It's sort of a curated, modern version of listening to a police scanner!  And it costs nothing!

Sidewalk Savior

The issue of bikes and skateboards on sidewalks continues to percolate in B'game after the city survey was conducted.  I am told that Burlingame resident Georgia Rothrock is on a mission to reclaim the sidewalk for pedestrians, having been nearly knocked over by bike-riders several times near her residence. 

She took bike counts on Wed. Nov. 7 and Thurs. Nov. 8 from the corner of California Drive at Oak Grove. She constructed a display that she held on the street, with posters about bicycle education and highlighted the Burlingame Municipal Code regarding bicycle riding on sidewalks. The whole display was topped with a big shoe. She rang a big bell, each time an “outlaw” biker rode by on the sidewalk to capture their attention. On Wed. from noon-2pm she counted 17 street cyclists and 3 outlaws, on Thurs. between 7:15am and 9:15am, she counted 18 street cyclists and 7 outlaws.

Here she is with her sign!

Winning The Paw in the 85th Rendition

On a crisp, clear day, the 85th game of the Burlingame-San Mateo high school football rivalry was won by B'game this afternoon, 41-13.  Some crafty running by B'game and some slippery-handed receivers for San Mateo sealed the deal to keep "The Paw" in B'game.  The boys did indeed go into beastmode!

A goal line stand in the first half helped a lot too.  Here's the offense taking over on downs

Sweet Story

The Daily Journal has a sweet piece about Aida Opera Candies moving onto the Avenew as the Landmark (better known as the old Crosby Commons) makes room for The Plant.

The Basques family’s popular Aida Opera Candies has been a milepost in Burlingame for 26 years and is in its fourth generation of ownership. Previously located inside the Landmark shopping center on Burlingame Avenue, the 65-year-old business has relocated down the street to a storefront location across from Starbucks.

Here's the new Avenue storefront

For better or worse?

I happen to be walking down California Avenue near Stacks restaurant the other day and I noticed the sign showing the improvements to the building pictured below. Is it me or are these improvments  simply a way to make this building look generic rather than the way it looks today, which has a bit of an "edge" to it?

My friend, the late planning commissioner and architect Stan Vistica once said to me about architecture that good architecture either blends with its environment or stands out. I agree with him. These suggested improvements seem to make this building a medicore one. Unfortunately, the planning dept meeting regarding this design has come and gone and I am unaware of what transpired.

Decide for yourself whether throwing some eldorado stone on this building is the right thing to do.

Below: Building s it is today followed by the architectural sketch with the proposed improvements.