The Burlingame Voice

BHS Graduation 2011

With very comfortable weather, if a bit changeable at times, and plenty of low-speed trains passing that cause everyone to stop and clap (a BHS tradition for a loooong time), graduation went off without a hitch yesterday.

SMUSHD Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer gave the commencement speech and did a fine job.  LLD, feel free to post it here as a comment if you happen to read this.

Since this might be my last graduation for awhile, allow me to mention the amazing amount of volunteer work that goes into the whole process.  Starting with Prom, moving through Awards Night, Senior Day, the actual graduation and Grad Night (which was a cruise on the bay this year), a lot of parents step in and make B'game proud by upholding traditions and standards.  Kudos to all!!

 
I have probably missed a few activities as well, like "senior sidewalk" and the end of season sports nights.

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!

 

 

Art off the Avenue

Public art is alive and well in burlingame today. Local artist and business owner,Nancy Call Torres and her class from Art Attack! Studios have been working on a mural on the wall next to the tot lot on Primrose Avenue. According to Torres, who designed and directed the painting of the mural, the group hopes to be have the mural completed on Friday. In fact a dedication of the mural is scheduled for Friday at 2pm. Come on by and congratulate Nancy and her students.

   

Almost Homeless in B'game

An elderly neighbor of mine rang my doorbell this week.  I was surprised to see her since I had not seen her walking her dog in quite sometime.  It turns out she had moved several months ago but was now faced with a large rent increase--large enough that she was concerned that she would not have a place to stay by the end of the week.  She was looking for help in the form of leads on somewhere else to go.

The immediacy of the situation got me thinking about the various agencies we have in the County to help with this kind of need.  My former neighbor had spoken to several people at the County, but so far had not had any luck.  As my mind spun through the other options, I recalled HIP Housing, a non-profit organization located in San Mateo.  They have four programs of which the "house sharing" service offered the most immediate possiblity of helping.

After speaking with Laura Fanucchi, the Associate Director, I learned that the house sharing program involved connecting Home Providers with persons seeking housing (Home Seekers) who pay rent, exchange services in lieu of rent or do a combination of the two. Rents vary from $550 on up with occasional lower rents.  Service Exchanges involve non-medical care such as helping with meals, shopping, cleaning, companionship and doing errands. There are generally more rent exchanges than service exchanges. Each person has their own room and shares the common areas of the home.

I'm hoping this new connection works out for my neighbor and I'm grateful that Burlingame and San Mateo County have groups like HIP Housing.  There seems to be an increase in homeless people in B'game lately, but my elderly neighbor was not prepared for that level of hardship even for a short period of time.  I know we have bloggers with first hand experience with Call Primrose, Community Gatepath and the Shelter Network--how are these organizations doing these days?

Firefighters Annual Holiday Toy Drive

The Firefighers will be hosting their Annual Holiday Toy Drive. This is an excellent way to donate new, unwrapped toys to all Burlingame and Hillsborough Fire Stations. Another way to donate is through monetary donations to CCFD Holiday Toy Drive, 1399 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010 Donations will be gratefully accepted until December 24. For further information, please call (650) 558-7600 or send an email to Firefighter Herman Barahona

- Written by Fiona

Burlingame Commissions - Four Openings

Burlingame Commission Openings (from City Website)

Are you interested in finding a way to participate in your community? Then consider applying for appointment to the City of Burlingame Beautification Commission! The City invites applicants to offer their interest, experience, and enthusiasm in service of their City. Commissioners offer their ideas and recommendations to the City Council and staff in order to help them to make the finest, most informed decisions in the best interest of everyone living, working, and visiting our community.

The City is seeking to fill the following Commission seats:

Beautification one seat
Parks & Recreation three seats

Commission Vacancies page

Application Deadline is September 24, 2007. Applications and supplemental questionnaires will be available on the City's website. If you have any questions, please contact Ana Silva in the City Manager's Office at (650) 558-7204

- Written by Fiona

Best of Burlingame

Stephen and Fiona Hamilton are far too modest to tell you themselves, but I want to point out that they are featured on the home page of Burlingame's Web site because they are the latest winners of the "Best of Burlingame" award.

You can read about them here.

- Written by Terry Nagel

Womens Hall of Fame

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the Commission on the Status of Women are seeking nominations for the 23rd Annual Women's Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recognizes the outstanding achievements of San Mateo County women and girls for their exemplary efforts, achievements and contributions to the communities of San Mateo County in the non-profit, community development, volunteer, or business world.
Nominations are being accepted for:

• Women's Hall of Fame (19+)
• Young Women of Excellence (High School Juniors and Seniors or the equivalent)

The awards will be presented at the Women's Hall of Fame Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at the South San Francisco Conference Center.
The nomination deadline is November 15, 2006.
You will find the nomination form at www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/hr/csw.
Please contact Honora Miller at 650-363-4872 or hmiller@co.sanmateo.ca.us for more information or to obtain paper nomination forms and flyers.

- Written by admin