The Burlingame Voice

San Mateo High: Averting violence

A reader posted this comment on three different SMUSHD posts all of which are lengthy so you would have to scroll and scroll and scroll to read it.  I'm reposting it here for easier reading and commenting.

Regarding the recent stabbing incident at San Mateo High School: I’d be interested to know if the students involved had any prior history or reports of violence and threats in their student records? The news reported there were knives and a gun on campus. This reminds me of the pregnant teacher who spoke at the board meeting last year, begging the Superintendent to remove violent students from her class. What are we waiting for? Are my kids going to be the next victims? The Administration needs to do a better job of protecting our students. What are we waiting for? Are my kids next?

I'm guessing no public disclosure of any students' records will happen, but the SMUSHD Board and/or Superintendent should certainly take that into account and issue some statement about their position--past and future.

P.S.  People can use the editor email link on the right frame to ask for something to get an original post.  No guarantees, but we will likely be agreeable.

Caltrain give the eucs a major haircut

In a classic case of closing the barn door after the cows have departed, Caltrain has done a "hard prune" of the remaining eucalyptus trees along the railroad right of way.  Of course, doing this before the massive storms and wind that we had in January would have reduced the wind load on the trees and possibly prevented the track closures we endured.  Better late than never I suppose, but one hopes they realize a hard prune means the foliage comes back strong.  Better put another trim on the calendar for October or November 2023.

Update:  In a classic case of what happens when you assume something--you make an ass of you and me--I stand corrected on who closed the barn door.  I'm told this part of the euc grove is actually owned by the city unlike the part of the grove that is north of Oak Grove; which is Caltrain's and some other agencies' section.  These had been pruned a bit but never topped and thus were quite tall.  I'll leave the title of the post as is to avoid confusion and so it's clear where we are talking about.

B'game History thru Gabriel Moulin's lens

It was standing room only for the quarterly Burlingame Historical Society meeting Tuesday night in the Lane Room.  More than 100 people showed up to hear local historian Joanne Garrison describe photographer Gabriel Moulin's documentation of the early days of the Easton Addition as part of the effort to sell building lots around Hillside Dr.  The genesis of the presentation was a book of said photographs that was donated to the Society.  That kicked off Joanne's effort to take current day matching photos to show the similarities and the changes.  Over 50 minutes, she added details about the Mills, Easton and Howard families--the original land owners in B'game.

The crowd included 17 descendants of Moulin, some of whom travelled from as far away as San Diego, plus a number of local residents of the Hillside-Summit-Canyon area.  Ms. Garrison was able to locate several houses that still exist on Cortez and Cabrillo, but the sad news that an important one on Hillside is schedule for scraping and sub-dividing was the downer of the night.  As the saying goes, "You'll miss it when it's gone".

It was great to see so many people come out to learn about and appreciate B'game history.  Here are the tram tracks going up Hillside drive that carried potential buyers.

Memorial Day Parade 2023

The chilly marine layer we have been shivering through for the last week cleared just in time for the Hillsborough Memorial Day parade to be a bright, sunny affair.  I love the small town feel of this short little parade populated by kids' activity clubs, a few vets and antique cars along with fire trucks and convertibles with politicians sitting on the back decks.  We had all of the electeds at the state and federal level, except for DiFi...including the other Diane (misspelled Papen on the sign), Kevin Mullin and Josh Becker; plus all five H'borough council members.

But the highlights were the San Mateo High and B'game High marching bands.  San Mateo looked noticeably sharper in the marching category, but B'game held its own and played more songs along the route--always a plus regardless of how much you like the drummers' street beats.

I noticed many neighbors had made the effort to put out their American flags and one can only hope all of us will take some time to remember those who gave all.  I don't think of it as "Happy Memorial Day" but rather reflective Memorial Day7.  Here is a fully equipped US Marine Corps jeep that spurs reflection and the B'game band.

The BAAZ is back--for a couple of weeks

With a hat tip to Thin Lizzy, here is an ode to the Burlingame Avenue Autonomous Zone--the BAAZ:

Guess who just got back today?
The wild-eyed BAAZ that had been away
Haven't changed, had much to say
But man, I still think them blocks are crazy
They were askin' if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
I told 'em you were livin' downtown
Drivin' all the merchants crazy

The BAAZ is back in town (the BAAZ is back in town)

I said (the BAAZ is back in town)
(TheBAAZ is back in town)
The BAAZ is back in town...ow..ow.owwn

 

As reported in the Daily Journal here, the council has voted to bring back the BAAZ for two weeks in August--exactly three years after it was stopped as we noted here.

 

The closure will take up two blocks of Burlingame Avenue east of Primrose Road, west of Lorton Avenue and a small portion of Park Road. The Park Road segment will be a small portion of the road ending before the city-owned parking lot, so vehicles will be able to park or turn around. The council also agreed to start the two-week street closure after the Burlingame on the Avenue festival, Aug. 19, which is hosted by the Chamber or Commerce, and reopen the streets Labor Day, Sept. 2.

 

There was council commentary on the thing we need most on the Avenew--live music.  I'm not sure it needs to be taxpayer subsidized beyond waiving the entertainment permit and encroachment permit fees, but 5 grand is a modest amount either way:

 

(Council member Emily) Beach said the city could work with the downtown businesses and the Chamber of Commerce to provide a musical ambiance the remaining two weekends.  “Quite frankly, the smaller single [or] duo instrumental might create exactly the right ambiance as opposed to a big loud band that some people may like the style and some people not like the style,” Beach said.

One option, she suggested, would be for the city to set aside $5,000 to match restaurants or businesses who may want to hire a small band for the night and then the city would reimburse the business up to $500.

Mark your calendars for Art on the Ave Aug 19-20 followed by two weeks of strolling the BAAZ for dining, tippling and hopefully some good music.  Maybe we will even see our guitar-strumming council member out busking on the Ave.

Water Rates: Drip, drip, water torture

The SF Comicle is giving us the unfortunate preview of coming water rate increases.  Reporter Kurtis Alexander's piece titled "Storms replenished California’s reservoirs. So why are Bay Area water bills about to soar?" brings the bad news into focus:

The SFPUC, which directly serves nearly 900,000 people in San Francisco (Ed: and most of the Peninsula including B'game), is scheduled to vote on its higher water and sewer rates Tuesday. Under the proposal, both the fixed base rate and the amount charged for the volume of water used, or discharged in the case of wastewater, will rise, resulting in an average 8.3% annual increase over three years for single-family households...or a cumulative 27% increase.

“We get this question a lot: Why raise rates if we have this abundance of water?” said Christopher Tritto, a spokesperson for EBMUD. “Well, what we’re really paying for is all of the infrastructure to store the water, to transport it to the Bay Area and to distribute it. … The water we get from the rain and snow is essentially free.” 

“Even with these proposed rate increases, our services are a tremendous value,” said John Coté, spokesperson for the SFPUC. “One gallon of our world-class tap water would cost only 2 cents, while a gallon of bottled water costs $1.79 on average. Our services are also competitive with our peers.”  The agency did not raise rates last year. Over the previous four years, rates rose an average of 8% annually.

Get your calculator or spreadsheet out, add in the coming sewer rate increases we wrote about in October 2021 here and revise household budget accordingly.  The other front-page article in today's Chronicle was about the impending transit system "doom loop" being nearer than believed.  The sad thing is anyone could see that the "doom loop" started the day we went into Covid lockdown; when the managements of all these systems stuck their head in the sand and stuck out their hands for $4.5 billion of federal "aid" to keep empty trains and buses running.  Now they want more even though BART ridership, for example, is still 60% down from pre-Covid.

If the trade-off is water system reliability vs. 95% empty SamTrans buses running up and down El Camino--and it might just be given the $31.5 billion and growing budget deficit--I'll take water reliability for $500, Alex.

E-bike litter arrives promptly

The Spin e-bike rental program has kicked off in B'game and Millbrae and already I have seen several bikes left in random spots around town.  One was left right on a corner on Carmelita blocking the sidewalk.  Another was deserted in Heritage Park.  The Daily Journal noted aspects of the program that would mitigate e-bike littering:

Burlingame installed around 20 bike corrals around transit areas, downtown and major parks. City officials hope riders use the corrals to park bikes after use and has incentive alternatives if needed.  “We just hope that the corrals will be used,” (Burlingame Sustainability Program Manager Sigalle) Michael said. “We are trying to avoid bike litter and we are trying to incentivize it by using the corrals, luckily, the program is very adaptable and it’s easy to make adjustments on the app.”

Burlingame and Millbrae plan to slowly integrate the bikes inventory as the program begins and there will eventually be more than 200 bikes available between both cities.  Spin was awarded the contract by both cities because of its lower user fees and competitive pay to local employees. It will hire two local employees between both cities who will move the bikes to heavily used locations, charge them and fix any issues. It will be moved within two hours of it being reported as somewhere a resident doesn’t want.

The DJ article did not explain how to get the litter bikes removed.  The city e-newsletter may have included that information, but if it did I missed it.  So here is what I found elsewhere:

Feel free to reach out to us via these two methods:

1. Call us: 1-888-249-9698
2. Email us: [email protected]

Before contacting us, please have the below information readily available so we can relocate our vehicle in the fastest & most efficient way possible:

• Approximate address or crossroads to where our Operations Specialists can accurately find our vehicle.
  • Example: 123 Blueberry Lane, San Francisco, CA
  • Example: Off 1st St & Bran Muffin Rd, near the alley way

• If you can, feel free to include the vehicle’s unique 7-digit ID#  
  • Found on the handlebars -> underneath the QR code

We shall see if that two-hour turnaround time is met on a regular basis.  In the meantime, put Spin's number in your phone.  You will need it when people fail to park inside the white lines like these on Broadway.

New word for the week: Presentism

I came across a new-to-me word that captures a social phenomenon that is infecting a lot of interactions and policies in current society.  The word is "presentism".  The minute I read it; I instinctively knew what it meant.  But rather than do the homework to craft my own definition, I asked ChatGPT to do it for me.  I think the bot did a nice job of defining it:

Presentism refers to the practice of interpreting or judging historical events, people, or ideas through the lens of present-day values, beliefs, and perspectives. It involves applying contemporary moral, cultural, or social standards to evaluate the past, often disregarding the historical context and the complexities of the time being examined.

Presentism can be problematic because it overlooks the historical, cultural, and social conditions that shaped people's actions and decisions in the past. It assumes that current beliefs and values are universal or superior to those held in the past, which can lead to a distorted understanding of historical events and figures.

By imposing present-day perspectives on the past, presentism may lead to misinterpretations, unfair judgments, and a failure to grasp the complexities of different eras. It disregards the fact that societies and individuals change over time, and what may be considered unacceptable or morally wrong today may have been widely accepted or even considered morally right in the past.

Historians and scholars strive to avoid presentism by using primary sources, contextual analysis, and a thorough understanding of the historical period under study. They aim to understand events and people within their historical context, taking into account the prevailing beliefs, norms, and social conditions of the time.

Recognizing and avoiding presentism is important for developing a nuanced understanding of history, appreciating the diversity of human experiences across time, and avoiding the imposition of anachronistic judgments on historical figures or events. It allows for a more accurate and empathetic interpretation of the past, fostering a deeper appreciation for historical complexities and facilitating a more informed understanding of how societies and cultures evolve over time.

The bot warns of the flaws of presentism, and we see those flaws all over the state, across Northern California, and yes, in Burlingame.  Look no further than the mural in the main library--well, you can only see part of the mural because the original caption has been covered over by misguided presentists.  Now that we have a word for it, we can look for more examples and call them out for what they are.  Is "Berkeley" next?

Remembering a community leader: Suzanne Tateosian

Family and friends of a local leader in disaster preparedness joined together on Saturday in the Fragrance Garden at the far northeast corner of Washington Park for a memorial service.  Suzanne Tateosian passed away suddenly and unexpectedly more than a year ago.  As a key member of the Burlingame Neighborhood Network and proprietor of Earth Shakes, Suzanne was a forward-looking can-do person.  I met Suzanne years ago when I went looking for my 50-gallon emergency water drum and an assortment of other sensible things to have ready.

BNN board member, Anne Hinckle, led off the memorial comments followed by board member David Harris.  New city councilmember Peter Stevenson concluded the remarks.  Our local woodcarver, James Delaney, recently restored the Fairy House that is tucked away in the Fragrance Garden and now bears a plaque to Suzanne.  You can see the Fairy House in the background behind Anne.  Stop by and check it and its new plaque out as well as the other carvings in the Park.

P.S.  I inadvertently omitted board member Rik Kasuga as a speaker at the event.  He had a number of insights about how Suzanne was a glass-half-full person.  Apologies.

Housing policy: Some thoughtful ideas

We have some thoughtful council members here in Ole B'game.  I don't always agree with their priorities or their approaches, but in the case of Mayor Brownrigg and Vice Mayor Colson, there is recent evidence of thoughtful housing proposals.  For the moment, let's put aside whether or not there is a "housing crisis", whether or not the local population will return to positive growth, whether or not the RHNA numbers driving policy (and the Big Stick from Rob Bonta) are reasonable and just look at the Brownrigg/Colson proposals as shown in a recent Guest Perspective in the Daily Journal.  I will boil them down a bit or you can click through for all of it:

1.  Sacramento could waive capital gains taxes for property owners who sell land to affordable housing developers.

2.  The state could streamline eminent domain for housing on underutilized parcels and then subsidize a city’s acquisitions.

3.  The state should help market-rate builders include more affordable housing units with tax rebates or direct cash subsidies.

4.  Faster than cities can create affordable units, we are losing even more “naturally affordable” units in older buildings when they get sold.  Indeed, the state does not even count a deed-restricted preserved affordable unit toward a city’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation requirements. That has to change.

5. The state’s housing targets seek a 15% increase in Bay Area housing. Punitive and prescriptive state housing mandates should be waived for cities issuing building permits exceeding a 10% increase in units.

6.  Water allowances should be prioritized for cities that undergo a 10% increase in actual occupied housing units. (see the post directly below)

7.  Infrastructure spending should be directed to communities that are getting housing built.

8.  And for social mobility, let’s reward cities that create more affordable family units (two bedrooms or more). 

Number 2, easier eminent domain, is the only one that raises a "Hell no" from me.  That is just replacing one big authoritarian stick with another.  Missing is my number 9:  introduce a pause in commercial development to give the housing market time to catch up.  That is really the only feasible way to bring back some balance without demolishing single-family zoning and quality of life while overstressing our infrastructure.  All of the others "just take money" that the state doesn't have.

Water ideas: Is anyone listening?

I hope no readers have been lulled into mistakenly thinking our water woes are over.  They aren't.  I have taken four months off the topic last addressed here.  That was when they were letting water out of Crystal Springs and warning people who live along the San Mateo creek.  Now a thoughtful piece in the Wall Street Journal by Edward Ring of the California Policy Center merits some mention.

With the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, drawn down to historic lows, the seven states that use water from the Colorado River have failed to agree on how to adapt to its dwindling flow. The impasse pits California against everyone else. If California’s political leaders had the political will, they could solve the problem for every member of the Colorado River Compact by developing infrastructure to use untapped sources of water. But to do that, the state Legislature would have to stand up to a powerful environmentalist lobby that views humans as parasites and demands rationing as the only acceptable policy.

The Colorado crisis underscores California’s grotesque failure to upgrade its water infrastructure for the 21st century. Since 1980, Californians have endured five droughts, and politicians are predicting worse in the future. With groundwater aquifers dangerously depleted and access to Colorado River water imperiled, rationing won’t be enough.

There are two major projects that could unlock millions of acre-feet of new water for Californians. The first is to eliminate nutrient pollution in the San Francisco Bay, which feeds toxic algae blooms that kill aquatic life. The solution so far has been to dilute the nutrient loads in the bay by requiring massive diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta—a little like flushing a toilet. But upgrading the urban wastewater-treatment facilities surrounding the bay would eliminate nutrient pollution, permitting more delta water to be directed to California’s farms and cities—a lot more water.

Another piece by CalMatters mentions that eliminating nutrient pollution is actually getting harder and more expensive:

As Californians replace their water-guzzling household appliances with more thrifty devices and let the yellow mellow before flushing, the waste stream becomes more concentrated — which could lead to higher treatment costs, more contaminants and less recycled water overall.

Notice the Law of Unintended Consequences at work?  The rest of the CalMatters piece is good for data, but basically rehashes old ideas, so back to the Ring piece:

The second major project, then, would be for Californians to build new ways to extract and store water from the delta during atmospheric river events. A new technique, already demonstrated on the Tuolumne River, creates channels in some of the delta islands so that huge perforated pipes can be installed under a gravel bed. Fish aren’t endangered by such installations. This water could be rapidly transferred to aquifers south of the delta via surface percolation and deep injection. Unused aquifer capacity in the San Joaquin Valley is conservatively estimated at more than 50 million acre feet.

We shall see if any of the "human parasites" that populate Sacramento are listening.  There's more from Edward Ring of the CPC on water here.

Our own Kardashian: Who knew?

Here at the Voice we cover all things Burlingame--the good, the bad and sometimes the sad.  Yesterday's Daily Post front page article about the passing of a B'game woman who worked as a Kim Kardashian impersonator is in the sad category.  The Post writes:

San Mateo County authorities are extraditing a Florida woman who is accused of injecting silicone into the rear end of Kim Kardashian lookalike from Burlingame who died.  Christina Ashten Gourkani, 34, was a social media influencer and model who was best known for her work as a Kim Kardashian lookalike.

Vivian Gomez traveled to a Burlingame hotel and gave Gourkani "several injections" of what is believed to have been just silicone on April 19, according to DA Steve Wagstaffe.  The coroner's office is still investigating Gourkani's death, Wagstaffe said.  Shortly thereafter, Gourkani began having health issues, according to her family's GoFundMe, she died in the early hours of April 20 from a heart attack.

There are at least a few lessons in this sad tale.  Most of them should be obvious.