The Burlingame Voice

Brawling on Park Rd.

There's a short piece in the Daily Journal about a big brawl on Saturday night

An off-duty Berkeley police officer was stabbed several times and three others were injured in a brawl involving dozens of people outside a Burlingame bar on Saturday night, a police sergeant said.

Two groups of people confronted each other outside of the Vinyl Room at 221 Park Road, off of Burlingame Avenue, shortly before midnight, Burlingame police Sgt. Don Shepley said.

A group of about 10 people had been denied entry to the bar because a private party was taking place inside, Shepley said. When members of the party exited the building, a fight broke out between the groups, he said.

You need to keep your wits about you even in downtown B'game although this doesn't sound like it is part of a recurring pattern between known combatants.

Blast From the Voice Past - 2002

Old-timers...here is a blast from the past back when the Voice was a print edition!  Who remembers this column?  Enjoy!

 

What's up with that? Part III

From Volume 3, Number 2 Published December 16, 2002
Fall has been lovely in Burlingame and it was never more evident than  on Friday nights. Much of the south end of town got to hear the football  games at Burlingame High, regardless of whether they bought a ticket or  not.  Some people may find it irritating, but I like it.  I think of it  as a quaint  part of the community.  With a 75 year history, the Little Big Game has  a historic feel that is totally fun, especially when the Panthers win as  they did again this year. 

I wish I could say the same about the late night flights from SFO.The  spin-doctors from the airport say new runways will lessen the noise.  But they never mention that the takeoffs that wake up Burlingame  wouldn't decrease and they might get worse with more air traffic.  Building new  runways would only reduce landing noise.  Good for Foster City but not  for us.  What's up with that?

 Riding my bike around town has yielded some observations about the  building boom.  I still cannot get over the building at 1411 Chapin Ave  that has been leased by Fidelity Investments.  We featured the apartment  building that used to be there in Vol. 1 Issue 3.   Both buildings are  shown below. I didn't have a problem with the owner, Joe Karp, building  something new there, but the end product looks like a prison.  That is  why the last Planning Commission denied it.  Too bad the last City  Council didn't have the same good taste.  I call it Karpitecture, and it  is an unfortunate legacy for a major property owner who could easily  build nicer stuff.  What's up with that?  At least the residential  Design Review process is working pretty well. 

On the top, The Karp property on Chapin today.  On the bottom, The Karp property on Chapin last year.

And what's up with gossip columnist Jerry Fuchs of The Independent?  He recently came out of his haze to pick on my wife, City Councilwoman  Cathy Baylock, and fellow Voice board member, Russ Cohen.  He has a  bunch of mistaken ideas about Burlingame history and tried to criticize  Baylock and Cohen without checking his facts.  He is attacking experts,  but it is hard to have a battle of wits with an unarmed man. Fuchs'  paper should hire a fact checker to help him; it would be a full-time  job.  Fuchs claims he is only as good (meaning as accurate) as his  sources, so he might want to find some new sources; if indeed he has any  interest in being accurate. 

Now back to reality. The Burlingame P.D. did a great job catching the  suspected murderous bank robbers who hit Wells Fargo.  Nothing will  bring back Alice Martel, but the police did their job and they did it  very quickly.  For that we are thankful. 

With the holiday season of sharing upon us, Samaritan House needs  our donations of food. You can call them at 347-3648 for details or just  drop donations off at 401 North Humboldt St. in San Mateo any day  between 830 and 530. It will bring you the proper spirit of the  season.

Regardless of how badly Safeway is behaving in its senseless battle  for its monster store, I am still optimistic about how Burlingame is  progressing. And you should be, too. Take your bike or walking shoes out  for a look-see. More people are waking up to what makes our town  special.  If you stay informed, talk to your neighbors, and speak up  when the urge strikes, you will find you have plenty of company.

Lessons to be Learned

My whole neighborhood went dark Wed night around 11:30pm and then the sirens started.  The Daily Journal has the story and we have the photo

San Mateo police were called to the scene of a two-vehicle accident at El Camino Real and Peninsula Avenue Wednesday night at about 11:30 p.m. and discovered that two northbound sport utility vehicles, each driven by intoxicated 17-year-old girls, collided in a sideswipe fashion at the intersection, according to police.

No injuries were reported but property damage, including a sheared PG&E pole and a sheared fire hydrant, caused significant impacts and delays in the area, according to police. Police and other agencies worked together to manage traffic closures, power outage and flooding in the area after the accident. The streets were partially reopened after a four-hour closure, but repair crews were working on the damaged intersection well into the daytime hours, according to police.  

The two girls, both from Burlingame, were both found to be under the influence of alcohol and arrested. They were cited and released to parents, according to police.

Aside from the obvious lesson that will be delivered to the two girls, this was a good reminder to me to check flashlight batteries and candle supplies.  The supposedly rechargeable flashlights were not that recharged.  Here's the hydrant spout and you can make out the downed power lines.  It was a huge turnout of SM and B'game police, fire and ambulances.

 

Stepping up Traffic Enforcement

Today is the first day of the "S.T.E.P." program that BPD describes as

The Burlingame Police Department is pleased to announce the first deployment of the San Mateo County Saturation Traffic Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P.) on Wednesday, January 16^th. S.T.E.P is a collaborative effort, consisting of traffic officers from local law enforcement agencies throughout San Mateo County.  Participating officers are detailed to problem locations in San Mateo County based on collision data, community complaints, and expert officer opinion.  Specifically, officers will be looking for distracted drivers (talking on cell phones and texting), pedestrian right-of way violations, and unsafe speed.

If I get a chance to chat with BPD I'll add some more detail later.  In the meantime, as Sgt. Phil Esterhaus used to say on Hill Street Blues, "be careful out there".

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!

North Park Apartment Fire

This major fire probably happened too late to make tomorrow's papers so you are getting my first hand account of it here on the Voice.

The North Park Apartments are the large complex between Carolan Ave and Rollins Rd just south of B'way.  As I drove past the complex at 11:30 pm, the fire was just hitting the critical phase.  BPD had blocked off Cadillac Way and at least one fire engine was on the scene.  As I doubled back up Carolan from the south, an engine crew had determined that it should head over to Rollins from Carolan.  When I got out to take the photo below, I discovered why:  there is a pond in the middle of the complex that appeared to be large enough to prevent any firefighting from happening on the Carolan (i.e. the west) side of the complex's eastern buildings.  It's not a very clear photo, but I can tell you this one apartment was fully consumed.

I just hope everyone got out in time and Central County Fire can figure out how to keep the neighboring upper floor units from being consumed as well.  As you can sort of see, it was roaring and some residents appeared to be just figuring out that something serious was happening.  There are going to be some tired firefighters making pancakes at the annual breakfast tomorrow morning at the California Dr. fire house.

Here is an update with the photo of the "morning after" which is surprising for how restrained it all seems.  This is the same perspective and all you can see is some charring

And how often so you see the Red Cross in B'game delivering services--one thinks of Haiti or Japan after the tsunami, but here they are

A funny thing happened on the way to...

Well, who knows where this car was headed early this morning, but we know where it stopped.

Howard Avenue and California Drive--for a free car wash. (No one was hurt.)

Multiple Violations found on Broadway. Evictions occur. House closed.

The talk of the town up North is the closure and subsequent boarding up of what some coined "a meth house" at 1600 Broadway.  I don't have a lot of details, and like many of you, I don't WANT a lot of details.  I'm just glad it's closed.  Apparently having the BPD, the fire marshall and code enforcement tell everyone to leave because of code/fire violations was not enough, so the City had to have it boarded up to keep former residents from returning.  I do know the neighbors are pleased some action has happened, but it may take awhile to sort out.  Let me reiterate the need for us to just not "move the problem around" as I posted a couple of days ago.  Here's the front porch of a seemingly normal B'game bungalow that apparently had more than six "units" on the property.

 

Watch Out!

The City put out this notice via the non-emergency email system:

The City of Burlingame has experienced an increase of residential burglaries within the past two months. In over half of these burglaries, the suspect(s) gained entry through an unlocked door or window.

It goes on to suggest

Some people will leave their garage doors or front doors open while you are outside in the back. Open doors and windows are invitations to burglars. Work with your trusted neighbors to keep each other safe.  

Here are some items to consider for burglary prevention:  

• Keep doors and windows locked when you are not home.  

• Be aware of what parts of your home are locked when you are home (is your garage door open while you are mowing your back yard?)  

• Set your alarm when you leave, even on short trips during the day. Most residential burglaries happen during the day.  

• Use timers on lights and radios. Make the burglars think you are home.  

• Don’t ignore people knocking on your door. Many burglars knock first to determine if someone is home. If you don’t want to talk with them, don’t, but let them know you are there.  

• Keep shrubs trimmed back from windows and doors. Burglars like privacy.  

• Stop your mail and newspaper delivery or have someone you trust pick it up.  

• Ask your neighbor to use your driveway to park while you are gone.  

• Secure sliding doors with a pin to lock the doors together when they are closed. This prevents the door from being lifted out of the track. Most of the burglars we catch are caught because a neighbor was paying attention and called 911 to report unusual activity.

By the way, it's not just a B'game thing either!  I spoke to a friend in Belmont who said they had EIGHT burglaries in ONE week on his street!