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  • Gas Prices: A counterintuitive finding

    The travel intensive bookends to the summer — Memorial Day and Labor Day — find the press focussing on gas prices; and rightly so. We see the big numbers on every gas station sign and the pump reminds us constantly. My folks searched for the cheapest gas back in the ’60s and especially the ’70s during the OPEC oil crisis. And it feels like we are paying a lot these days, but I recently saw a data-driven view that bursts that bubble. From Gemini:

    The inflation-adjusted national average price of gasoline since the 1973 OPEC oil crisis fluctuates between $3.00 and $4.00 per gallon, indicating that when evaluated against the long-term purchasing power of the U.S. dollar, real fuel costs have remained remarkably stable. Despite sharp increases in the absolute numerical price at the pump over the last 50+ years, historical data tracking adjusted for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that regular gasoline rarely strays from a long-run historical average of approximately $3.61 per gallon.

    Direct Comparison: Selected Historical vs. Modern Gas Prices

    Era / YearNominal Pump Price (Per Gallon)Inflation-Adjusted Price (In Modern USD)Economic Context
    Early 1973 (Pre-Crisis)$0.39$2.85Stable domestic production
    1974 (Post-Embargo)$0.53$3.60Initial OPEC shock wave
    1981 (Historic High)$1.38$5.18Iranian Revolution energy gap
    1998 (Historic Low)$1.06$1.98Asian Financial Crisis crude glut
    2008 (Commodity Peak)$3.27$4.77China economic boom & speculation
    2020 (Pandemic Low)$2.07$2.61Global COVID-19 lockowns
    Current (Sept 2026)$4.21$4.21Middle East conflict fluctuations

    Nationally, we are at the upper end of the long-run normal range, but tack on the California gas tax premium (just raised again by 2.2 cents on July 1st) and the costs of our oh-so-special blend plus refineries closing and the pain increases. But it’s still not enough to make me buy tires with inferior traction, lesser water/snow shedding and longer stopping times. Sorry, Gavin. Not gonna do it to.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    1 comment on Gas Prices: A counterintuitive finding

  • Broadway RR crossing: Same ole same ole

    I’m not sure anything substantive has changed since we last looked at the Broadway grade separation saga in January here. We read about another 2 million here or 50 million there, but not much in the way of firm plans to start. Measure XYZ funds are collected. The city website returns 953 hits on “Broadway grade separation”, but the top 10 are all from 2024. In the meantime, high-speed rail got another $1.5 billion in the latest state budget. While back in B’game there are more accidents. From the Comicle we read and see a photo:

    Caltrain service was disrupted Wednesday evening after a train struck a vehicle near Burlingame, causing major delays during the weekday rush hour, according to a passenger and an announcement made aboard the train. (Train passenger) Bilani said he could see a blue Subaru with its rear window shattered. The Subaru appeared to have been pushed into another vehicle that had been waiting near the railroad crossing between Burlingame and Millbrae, he said.

    The talk elsewhere on-line is that there were two Caltrain incidents in B’game this week. Since only one has been reported on that I can find, the other might have been a suicide. Caltrain and the local papers, led by the Daily Post, are no longer reporting on suspected suicides although they may get counted in the annual totals.

    Back in June 2019 the situation looked like this. Since then the Caltrain’s electrification has upped the cost due to the shortened work hours available each night while they deenergize the line. It’s like chasing a faster guy. Be safe out there.

    Posted by:

    Joe

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  • RIP: Jerry Deal and JoAnn Johnson Deal

    The news of former councilmember and planning commissioner Jerry Deal’s passing in June is reaching the B’game community along with the news that his wife JoAnn passed the week before he did. Jerry resigned his council seat mid-term in July 2014 as noted here. JoAnn was a long-time teacher at Franklin and moved around the elementary district offering art instruction to all the schools. The couple were a fixture on the local political, school and community event scene with a pair of smiles and quick quips that are easy to recall if you knew them at all.

    An avid fly-fisherman, Jerry moved up to Bend, OR but maintained a pied a terre in SF for years after. Via a local contact, I received this background information

    Jerry grew up in Redwood City. He went to Sequoia high, but I don’t know when he graduated. He then went to Berkeley, and he was working with an architect when he was in his third or fourth year there and I guess was doing so well that he just started getting clients and never finished the Berkeley architecture degree, but he didn’t need to finish. He was doing very well so I guess he quit in his last year.

    I think of Jerry as the “father of design review” in B’game. I recall his powerful slideshow presentation to the city council that highlighted the need photographically. There was some terrible stuff getting built. It didn’t always go smoothly as you can read in this post from 2009. He was also in the middle of the long Safeway saga. For a fun time trip, Google “Burlingame Voice” and Jerry Deal and any topic of your choosing.

    JoAnn’s obituary just showed up in the Comicle which you can read here. It notes 35 years of teaching and that she passed on July 12, 2026. I have not seen an obit for Jerry, but will add it if I find it. We shared an enthusiasm for music and wine and he showed me how to secure bottles in racks from earthquakes with a little double loop piece of fish line. Regardless of whether we agreed or not on some city issue or political slant, we were always cordial and for that I am grateful. RIP Jerry and JoAnn.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    2 comments on RIP: Jerry Deal and JoAnn Johnson Deal

  • Floppy Signs: Visual clutter

    While pedestrians need to keep their heads on a swivel, B’game drivers must real-time process all sorts of confusing clutter around town as installed by the city. The intersection of Chapin and Primrose is the classic example with incorrect and poorly maintained signage that I don’t believe adds anything to pedestrian safety. In fact, the distracting clutter and a code-disallowed floppy sign may make the intersection more dangerous. They also aren’t doing anything for some vehicles paint jobs. I bet tractor trailer drivers don’t even realize they have ploughed over these signs–or don’t care.

    It turns out the front one with the STOP symbol is explicitly not allowed and crossed out in the code! Maybe Sacramento could pass a law against selling them in California?

    There’s nothing like almost rear ending someone who stops because they see a stop sign even when no one is in the crosswalk. I see that happen at Howard and Costa Rica a couple times a month when a pedestrian isn’t intending to cross right away and some driver decides to stop anyway because of the floppy sign.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    8 comments on Floppy Signs: Visual clutter

  • Walking B’game: Your head on a swivel

    Pedestrian safety certainly isn’t improving in B’game or elsewhere on the Peninsula. I walk a lot to and from the Avenew and on B’way. You will see unsafe maneuvers all the time. But let’s put some numbers to my gut feel about it. A couple weeks ago, BPD ran a four-hour enhanced morning enforcement near Christie’s and the train station. I heard from multiple sources that it was like “shooting fish in a barrel”. Per BPD

    Approximately 16 citations were issued during our four-hour operation focused on pedestrian right-of-way violations.

    Doing the math, that is a citation every 15 minutes. And that is with enforcement being visible as the ticket gets written thus warning the next guy! Keep your head on a swivel. I think we need a couple more officers and a little less overhead elsewhere.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    2 comments on Walking B’game: Your head on a swivel

  • Historic housing: A little help from a friend?

    The very cute story in the Daily Journal about the oldest house in San Mateo coincided with me seeing an actual newspaper ad about Truckee having the Mills Act in place and asking for submissions. The San Mateo home sits only five blocks from the impending disaster further south.

    The oldest standing private dwelling in San Mateo sits on the corner of South Delaware Street and First Avenue. It was built by Williams Sands, an Irish expat who moved to California in 1857. He built the iconic eye-catching Gothic revival structure for his wife and five children in 1860. The original farm house stood on First Avenue, and the Gothic steamboat-style front was added on the Delaware Street side of the home around 1880. The home stayed in the Sands family for more than 100 years before it was purchased by Frank Jaros who cared deeply about preserving the structure. After Jaros’ death, his sister, Denise Nagel, sold the home to Aikin in 2012. In his bid for the house, Aikin wrote a letter promising to preserve the home’s history.

    You should click through for more of the color commentary on the property, but right at the end we find out

    His home is eligible to receive local landmark status that would limit major exterior changes but could also make Aikin eligible for property tax relief through the California Mills Act.

    The city of San Mateo had to enable that. B’game has a very limited Mills Act property tax abatement program in place specifically within its Downtown Specific Plan Area. It ain’t easy to find or understand on the city website but thanks Gemini I did. Wouldn’t it be nice to expand into residential areas? And then actively promote it as Truckee (a town less than half the size of B’game) has done?

    Posted by:

    Joe

    2 comments on Historic housing: A little help from a friend?

  • Old Post Office: Almost dinner time

    While enjoying the bands at Burlingame on the Avenue this year I noticed that the long-awaited Old Post Office restaurant in the old post office is hiring. It also has the liquor license application filed so we must be getting close.

    The little sign telling people to stay off the beautiful lawn was promptly and widely ignored all weekend.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    1 comment on Old Post Office: Almost dinner time

  • 1971 Chevelle SS comes home

    I seldom do the “Feel Good Friday” type of posts, but this one from the new California Post plucked my choke cable. I’ve never had any Detroit muscle preferring my nimble Japanese sports car, but I love seeing them on ECR and at car shows like the one this Sunday on the Avenew.

    A Northern California man whose prized muscle car was swiped more than three decades ago has finally been reunited with his beloved wheels, cops revealed this week. Police in Auburn recently discovered the black 1971 Chevrolet Chevelle through a vehicle-identification-number inspection, they said. California Highway Patrol cops did not say what prompted the VIN probe into the car, but noted that during it, they noticed something that “warranted a closer look,” CHP wrote on Facebook on Thursday. It turns out the classic had been stolen from San Mateo County more than 158 miles away in 1993.

    “With assistance from the San Mateo Police Department, investigators were able to confirm the vehicle’s history and do something that probably seemed impossible after all these years – reunite the Chevelle with its original owner,” CHP said.

    The car is reported to have been well taken care of and hopefully we will see it rolling down the roadway in San Mateo and B’game soon. The photo in the Post shows it to be a Chevelle SS, so here is a stock photo. The original owner didn’t want to be identified — probably to avoid have the ride boosted again! See you Sunday on the Ave.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    1 comment on 1971 Chevelle SS comes home

  • B’game real estate update: 1H26

    Local realtor Raziel Ungar provides bi-annual, B’game-specific updates on a variety of real metrics on how our local market is responding to market conditions. The brochure is really well-done (speaking as numerate former analyst) and provides a permanent view that we can look back on later. For example, here is the April 2013 post.

    For the first half of 2026, sales jumped to 104 from the mid-70s the last two years, up 33.3%. Prices still rose with the additional monthly inventory which remains low at 13.3 vs 17-18 the last two years. Average price per square foot bumped up to $1,539 – up 3.1% YoY and up $184 per ft2 in two years. As Raziel notes, “this remains the metric that best reflects true appreciation in this market.” Back in the linked post from 2013, it was less than half that in Burlingables and B’game Grove.

    The average home price was up 2.0% to $3.37M which seems a bit low but is partially explained by the median size being 3.5% smaller–just a sales mix change as houses certainly are not getting smaller in B’game! Lastly, for the first half, average sales prices were 107.5% of asking with Raziel and others suggesting that AI money is flowing into B’game and will continue. All this in the face of high, but not crazy high since the October 2023 Peak of 7.79% was the highest point since late 2000. Raziel notes that the second half generally “flattens” but he doesn’t think we are set up for that this year. We shall see.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    1 comment on B’game real estate update: 1H26

  • My Mourning Doves

    We have a lot of wildlife visitors to our yard, but none more regular than this mated pair of mourning doves. I think they actually live here most of the year and have had several broods each season. The other frequent visitors are listed here from my recording two years ago.

    Mourning doves are strongly monogamous and often mate for life within their short lifespan. Pairs stay together through a single breeding season to raise multiple broods, and many will reform bonds with the same partner the following year if both survive.

    Mourning doves symbolize peace, love, hope, and spiritual renewal, frequently acting as messengers bringing comfort and reassurance, particularly regarding departed loved ones or during times of grief. Their gentle, melancholic cooing is associated with tranquility, divine presence, and the soul’s journey, often interpreted as a sign of inner peace.

    The cooing is very relaxing, and they aren’t afraid to land together to get a drink and a quick dip.

    Posted by:

    Joe

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