The Burlingame Voice

Plan Your Summer in B'game

It still barely feels like Spring out there, but you need to get out your calendar and plan your summer activities in our beloved little burg.  Here are some of the key dates to keep in mind:

May 15  --   Green Street Fair  (City lot J)

June 11 and 12   --   Art in the Park

July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31  --  Sunday afternoon Music in the Park (Salsa, Classic Rock and Blues, Rock and Soul, Country, and Classic Rock) five Sundays in a row

August 13-14   --  Artzfest (aka Art on the Avenew)

August 19, September 9 and 23  --   Friday night Movies in the Park

See, you don't really have to Go Anywhere!

Major Announcement - Burlingame Voice To Merge!

The Editorial Board of the Burlingame Voice is announcing an agreement to merge its intensely local blog with the newly combined AOL/Huffington Post/Patch.com properties.  After the February 7th announcement by AOL and the HuffPo and the subsequent move to put Arianna Huffington in charge of the Patch.com properties, AOL knew that it had to up its game in term of true, experienced local reporting.

The Board has agreed to sell the BurlingameVoice.com property to AOL for $375,000 plus a three year retainer and will immediately donate 50% of the net proceeds to various local charities.  The decisions on which charities will be determined by nominations from long-time Voice bloggers including Ron F., Holyroller, Anne, Scheherazade, Two Cents, A Little Bird, KRN, Fred, JF, Pat G., Jeff, Jennifer, Mr. Slate, Boogeyman, Been Around, Chianglo and Lorne.

AOL spokesman Seymour Argent noted "The Burlingame Voice is an incredible example of what true community interaction can deliver.  As a non-profit blog it has blown away all for-profit competitors and we believe we can commercialize it without losing the flavor that has made it successful."

The deal is expected to close on May Day when the current TypePad platform will be migrated to a union-maintained, TARP-subsidized, LEEDS compliant, platform with frequent spammers like Nike, Coach, Ugg and Supra as inital sponsors.  Blog on!

 

Ruth Jacob's Living Memorial

You can read up a bit on the passing of Ruth Jacobs here.  Her public memorial was today in front of City Hall where a tree was planted in her memory.  Her husband and one daughter spoke along with Vice Mayor Jerry Deal who served on the Planning Commission with Ruth for years.  About 50 people attended and signed the stakes holding up the young tree.  Here is the ceremonial shoveling of dirt to plant the tree which is expected to take the honored position as the City's Christmas tree in about 10 years.  She was quite a gardener herself winning a Blue ribbon in a local contest and would be pleased!

 

 

Good Grass

I try not to duplicate what goes out in the City's e-newsletter because I assume if you are reading the Voice you are also plugged into the official channels.  After all, if you are reading this blog regularly you are better informed than 95% of the people walking around town.

But this little competition is noteworthy because I want to follow the results, so be on notice that:

The Burlingame Beautification Commission and the City Council are pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the Best Business Landscape Award, which recognizes the efforts of businesses to maintain and beautify the City of Burlingame and to encourage attractive landscaping improvements in our community.

If you have a favorite

Nomination Form and Award Rules & Standards are available at the Parks & Recreation Department, 850 Burlingame Ave.

Which seems downright archaic to have to go get a piece of paper, but that's the drill.  Before winter returned this week, there were some gorgeous blooms happening around town--like this

 
As a native New Englander seeing this in mid-February NEVER gets old.

One Tough Sport

Kudos going out to the wrestling coaches at Burlingame High.  Wrestling isn't one of the high-profile sports at BHS, but the dedicated staff convinced the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) that they could host the championship tournament this year.  A successful Christmas tournament last year was proof.

Today's 13 hour affair with ten teams was a great success.  PAL powers South City and Half Moon Bay vied for the overall trophy, but the real winners were the kids who have stepped up to a sport that builds character and mental toughness like few others.

 

Easton Library Saved

There has been great progress on Easton Library fundraising since we wrote about the grass roots effort to save the branch back in August.  While the comments back then show that not everyone thinks it a good use of City money, I think they are in the small minority.  Last night Gretchen Cody, who spearheaded the effort, presented outgoing Mayor Cathy Baylock with the last installment of $75K in donations that will keep the library open.  Nice job.

 
As the Mercury Times notes here:

Still, library leaders cannot predict the branch's fate beyond next spring. Harding said officials will wait until the overall city budget process starts, likely in January, before evaluating whether -- and how -- it could stay open.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Respects for a Great B'gamer

I learned of Ruth Jacobs' passing yesterday and that deserves mention to all.  Ruth spent years on the Planning Commission and knew her way around the city and City Hall like few people do.  I loved her rule about really long Commission meetings:  "After midnight, I'll sit and listen to the proceedings, but I abstain from voting at that point."  She served at more than her fair share of long ones and knew when to withhold judgement.

Ruth was also an early and consistent supporter of the print version of the Burlingame Voice.  She walked her neighborhood with the new editions and engaged her neighbors on the issues.  My condolences to her husband Bob and her whole family.  She will be greatly missed as someone with an opinion who was never shy about sharing it.

Respects for a Good Guy

This news from today's Daily Journal was a bit of a shock.  I knew Charlie as an acquaintance--one of those guys who called once in awhile when some burr got under his saddle--but it was almost always something that was bothering me too.  He had great horse sense as they say. 

An 85-year-old Burlingame man died Thursday evening after being hit by a car while crossing 25th Avenue in San Mateo, according to police.

Police were called at 7:55 p.m. Thursday to East 25th Avenue between El Camino Real and the railroad tracks for an accident. A man, identified by the Santa Clara Coroner’s Office as Charles Bolt, suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to the nearest trauma center, Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, where he died hours later.

God bless you, Charlie.

Easton Library Fundraising

Keeping the Easton Branch library open is one of the worthy causes circulating in town and a more concerted, grassroots, door-to-door effort is about to start.  Here is an excerpt from the group's e-mail notice:

The purpose of our visits with Burlingame and Hillsborough neighbors of the Easton is to educate residents about the many services this gem of a community resource provides, to inform them about the immediate need for funds to keep the library fully operating and to encourage donations large and small to the Burlingame Library Foundation's Team Easton Drive.   As well, we want to tell residents how they can make an online donation using a credit card on the Burlingame Library.

Volunteer walkers will not accept any funds directly but will hand out informative materials which include a printed addressed envelope which residents can use to mail in their donation or drop off at the Branch and Main Libraries.

You can read more on the branch and the fundraising at http://www.burlingamelibraryfoundation.org/

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

There's lots to do around town on a sunny Sunday in Burlingame. For the entire month of July, there was Music in the Park and everyone knows about the Farmer's Market on Park Rd. But just a few steps away on the first Sunday of each month--that would be tomorrow, August 1, The Burlingame Hillsborough History Museum is open inside the historic Burlingame Train Station. 

It's open tomorrow from 1pm-4pm. 

Go check it out, you can see displays about the fire department in it's earliest days, you can see a display of what the town looked like in yesteryear and compare it to what it looks like today and so much more.

 
The train station is the site of the Burlingame Hillsborough History Museum. This ishot is from around the turn of the 20th century.