The Burlingame Voice

School Funding: Newsom's Next Budget

There is a group called Govern For California (GFC) that keeps an eagle eye on where state monies go--and suffice it to say they often point out poor trade-offs and poor policies regarding expenditures.  I like the group a lot and rely on their assessments of various buckets of spending.  School funding is going to be a hot topic in B'game over the next two months as Measure O is on the ballot hoping to raise $97 million in bond money for school facilities and teacher housing.  Before we get into that, here is GFC's latest comments on the Gavinor's 2020-2021 budget proposal

K-12. At $84 billion, Proposition 98 spending is nearly 70 percent greater than ten years ago and total K-12 spending will exceed $100 billion this year on nearly six million students but student performance has not materially improved and many school districts are in fiscal distress despite record revenues. The causes predate Governor Newsom's tenure but still we are disappointed the governor proposes only to modify bureaucratic Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) forms and to boost training dollars rather than to enact bold reforms that would enable school districts to manage workforces and budgets for the benefit of students.

90 percent of California's public schools are operated by public employees under an Education Code written by elected officials who have been heavily influenced by public employee unions since 1975. When combined with the centralization of school funding in Sacramento following the passages of Proposition 13 in 1978 and Proposition 98 in 1988, one result has been central control that runs schools chiefly for the benefit of those unions instead of students.

Also, the Governor's Budget doesn't address easily fixable fiscal distress in school districts such as Sacramento City where, despite record revenues, young teachers are currently being laid off in part because -- believe it or not -- that district is unnecessarily diverting money from classrooms to subsidize out-of-pocket health costs for retired employees, including retirees covered by Medicare or eligible for Obamacare or new state subsidies for middle-class Californians enacted last year.

The rough numbers of $100 billion divided by 6 million means spending is about $16,600 per student.  There are multiple sources for state-by-state spending and they vary quite a bit from source to source, so I wouldn't take any of them to the bank for comparison purposes, but they mostly show California in the middle of the pack.  The last Superintendent election didn't go as I had hoped so I'm not sure there will be any progress on most of these allocation issues any time soon.  In the meantime, we can ponder the best way forward for our excellent Burlingame schools, especially with all of the residential construction going on.

David Chiu: Robbing Hood Rides Again

From today's SF Chronicle article, here is the latest proposal from my second least-favorite Progressive Fascist:

SACRAMENTO — California homeowners with big home loans and vacation properties would owe higher taxes under new legislation to raise money for programs to get the state’s homelessness crisis under control.

The bill by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would cap a state tax break for mortgages to the interest paid on the first $750,000 of a loan for a primary home. It would eliminate the deduction altogether for mortgage interest on second homes.  Chiu’s office estimates the changes would bring in $400 million to $500 million per year, which would be set aside as dedicated funding for shelters, permanent supportive housing and other homelessness services.

“These are the individuals who own the most expensive homes in California,” Chiu said. “It’s a small price to pay among a small number of wealthier homeowners to establish a permanent fund for homelessness prevention.”

I'll bet Chiu was at the front of the line to criticize Trump for limiting the State and Local Tax deduction on one's Federal taxes to $10,000 per year, but that won't stop Robbing Hood from doing far worse damage to California taxpayers.  "It's a small price to pay" especially if he doesn't have to pay it.

Crime Doesn't Take a Holiday

Happy New Year?  I've been getting the daily email from our centralized crime mapping tool that the City has enabled on its website.  It can be eye-opening some days and I would encourage you to subscribe at least for a couple of weeks to get a sense of what is happening on an on-going basis in town.  You can go here:  https://brm.crimegraphics.com/2013/default.aspx  and look on the lower left side to sign-up.  Here is the crime report for the first three days of 2020 courtesy

Case #	Date of Crime	Date Reported	Crime Type	Crime	Classification	Location	Map
19-4074	12/19/2019 20:28-20:28	12/19/2019 20:28	Assault	Battery On Person	Misdemeanor	1400 Block of OLD BAYSHORE BL, Burlingame	(View)
20-10	1/1/2020 21:30-08:30	1/2/2020 08:32	Burglary	Burglary:second Degree	Felony	3100 Block of FRONTERA WY, Burlingame	(View)
20-11	1/2/2020 08:45-09:57	1/2/2020 09:57	Burglary	Burglary:first Degree	Felony	1400 Block of BALBOA AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-13	12/23/2019 14:12-11:52	1/2/2020 11:52	Stolen Vehicle	Vehicle Theft	Felony	1400 Block of ROLLINS RD, Burlingame	(View)
20-14	1/1/2020 19:00-12:00	1/2/2020 12:34	Attempted Burglary	Attempted Burglary	Felony	800 Block of WALNUT AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-23	1/3/2020 13:47-13:47	1/3/2020 13:47	Warrant	Outside Warrant Arrest Misdemeanor	Misdemeanor	1400 Block of BURLINGAME AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-24	12/25/2019	1/3/2020 15:41	Assault	Attempted Sexual Battery-Misd	Misdemeanor	1500 Block of NEWLANDS AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-28	1/3/2020 19:30-21:30	1/3/2020 21:30	Burglary	Burglary:second Degree	Felony	HOWARD AV/HIGHLAND AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-37	1/5/2020 01:23-01:23	1/5/2020 01:23	DUI Driving	Driving Under Infl Alcohol	Misdemeanor	CALIFORNIA DR/HOWARD AV, Burlingame	(View)
20-38	1/5/2020 04:31-04:31	1/5/2020 04:31	Assault	Battery W/Serious Injury Felony	Felony	1400 Block of HOWARD AV, Burlingame	(View)

PG&E: The Revolving Door & Climbing Rates

One of the biggest stories of the last 5+ years has been the power outages, blackouts, wildfires, and the San Bruno gas explosion that have plagued Northern California and PG&E.  Here in B'game, we have had outage issues over the years that lead to the founding of Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts (BULB) that appeared to get PG&E to do some equipment upgrades that improved uptime.  We have been lucky in not having any wildfires, but anything can happen--there is plenty of fuel in Mills Canyon and throughout our City of Trees and in our up-the-hill neighbor H'borough.  Keep your fingers crossed.

The Wall Street Journal published a three and a half full page investigative piece on PG&E on December 28th.  If you have access and missed it, go back and read it.  Otherwise I will be taking a few excerpts from it to illustrate not only the PG&E failings, but those of the CPUC and Gov. Brown and Newsom.  There is plenty of blame to go around.  This first installment starts with the revolving door at the top.  It's never easy to turnaround a huge operation like PG&E and heavily regulated utilities are even harder than a regular large company.  It takes strong leadership, methodological and patient strategy and execution and good relations with the regulator and investors.  Stability helps too and we have not had that in the CEO's office.

The Journal article starts with Peter Darbee taking over from 35-year veteran Gordon Smith in 2005.  Known as the "Green CEO" who arrived with a plan for "business transformation" using Accenture as a major consultant and a mission to move towards more green power, Darbee fell far short on the earnings front and resigned in the wake of the San Bruno explosion.  There was an interim CEO, Lee Cox, until Tony Earley was hired from DTE Energy in Detoit on a "back to basics" theme.  Infrastructure investment went up

PG&E traditionally had spent $5 to maintain its far bigger electrical transmission and distribution system for every dollar it spent maintaining its gas network each year. The furor over the San Bruno explosion skewed spending toward gas.

In 2011, the company spent $237.8 million to maintain its gas network, more than twice the amount in 2010, according to federal filings. That spending kept rising, hitting $658.3 million in 2016, when it topped the spending on electric upkeep by $60 million.

Then came the power failure at Candlestick during Monday Night Football.  Earnings suffered for a number of reasons and Early was gone in 2011 and

In his final year, PG&E’s average cost of electricity for residential customers had risen an inflation-adjusted 10% to 20 cents per kilowatt hour, among the most expensive of any large utility in the country.  Mr. Earley, who had touted his practical-minded, back-to-basics approach, returned to Detroit, never having tamed PG&E.

“We are coming back to Michigan when this adventure is over,” he had promised the Detroit Economic Club two years earlier. “One of the reasons is someone once summed up San Francisco absolutely perfectly. They described the city as 49 square miles surrounded by reality.”

The next CEO, Geisha Williams, had been the PR face of PG&E during the San Bruno aftermath and was elevated to CEO with an emphasis on "affordability" of rates.  Then the major fires started and continued

While its service area burned, PG&E’s residential electricity rates averaged 21 cents a kilowatt hour in 2017, rising to 22 cents the next year. Only New York’s Consolidated Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric charged more among the nation’s largest utilities.

She lasted 14 months, followed by another interim CEO, John Simon, until another industry vet, Bill Johnson, was brought in from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in April of last year.  In addition to all of the operational issues, Johnson has competing bankruptcy plans to shepherd, an ever climbing green energy mandate to satisfy and hundreds of wildfire and blackout-related claims to work through.  That is a lot of change - people and strategy - at the top for any organization to digest while keeping the lights on.

Happy New Year: 2020 Vision

Every New Year's Eve and New Year's Day represents a new beginning.  I read an article today that sought to burst the idea that special days were all that special for resolutions.  The author thinks you can start anew on any given day.  That may be true especially if one has a strong sense of self-discipline to start, but special days are easier for reflection and renewal.  So let's do that--renew--sort of like your old library card.  I'll commit to celebrate all that makes our little burg special.  I'll also commit to fight all that tries to make it just another faceless, joyless patch of earth with no sense of history or livability or neighborliness.  It won't be easy because the joyless, faceless advocates can be desperate and often act desperate, but we have public opinion on our side as shown by elections and by the chats you have on your sidewalk, in the grocery store aisle, in the baseball stands or just reading the comments on the Voice.  Happy New Year.  No need for new glasses--we have 2020 vision.   

Local News: East Bay Decline

Let's go a bit afield of our usual turf to examine an interesting piece from the AP.  Commenting on the state of local newspapers in the "tech capital" of the the East Bay, it notes

Gone is the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, The Daily Review of Hayward, The Argus of Fremont and the Tri-Valley Herald, among others. All had tens of thousands of readers during their heyday and served communities populous enough to be among the largest cities in many other states.  Ownership changes and consolidations have left the region known as the East Bay with just a single daily newspaper. The East Bay Times, based in Walnut Creek, attempts to cover a region nearly the size of Delaware with a fraction of the staff of the former dailies.

“It is really shocking that the place with the demographics and the business and the universities and the progressiveness, that this is a news desert ... ” said U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat who represents a significant part of the East Bay.

Perhaps DeSaulnier should question whether the echo chamber of "progressiveness" across so many papers-- and the AP itself--might not account for a wide swath of the reading public choosing to get its news elsewhere.  As we approach 2020, I'm thankful that our two local papers, the Daily Journal and the Daily Post (when you can get one at the Broadway post office or the market on Oak Grove) are at least somewhat balanced.  The columnists span the spectrum and they use more than just the AP and the New York Times as sources for news pieces.  Here's hoping they stay financially healthy for a long time to come.

Santa, I Want a Swimming Pool

Another long-running B'game saga is coming to a conclusion in the next two weeks as the BHS pool is ready for swimsuits.  Here is your personal invite to the Grand Opening courtesy of the Trustees:

Be among the first to dive in when the San Mateo Union High School District and City of Burlingame celebrate the Grand Re-opening of the Burlingame High School Aquatic Center: 

Wednesday, January 8 at 5 p.m.

Burlingame High School 

 With strong financial support and through a partnership with the City of Burlingame, the San Mateo Union High School District has just completed renovation of the Burlingame High Pool including a new shell, deck and substantial sustainability upgrades.

It's likely to be chilly at 5pm in two weeks, but go for it anyway.  You can click through to here for what it looked like in January and this is what $6.4 million can do

SFO Runway Noise: Speier Jumps in With Legislation

My take on Rep. Jackie Speier's townhall meeting on airport noise back in October 2018 is here.  In the interim 14 months we have been pursuing legal, small claims recourse in hopes of getting the City of SF's attention (you can read all about it using the SFO Airport link on the lower right hand side).  We will hear the City and the airport's latest defense on January 21st.  The parallel effort on governmental action occurs at the Airport Roundtable "Ground-based noise" subcommittee.  In my post about that meeting, I noted that we need a greater sense of urgency on the issue of engine back blast.  Right on cue, Jackie Speier has authored proposed legislation described by a member of our SFOrunwaynoise.com group who attended the last Airport Roundtable meeting like this:

• The most important point at this meeting was that Kathleen Wentworth (retired United Pilot working with Jackie Speier’s office) surprised us by announcing that Congresswoman Speier has introduced EIGHT pieces of legislation aimed at helping communities address AND CHANGE noise issues that affect them. Currently, curfews, flight paths, number of flights, etc. are all under the control of the FAA and there is no way for an impacted community to bring about change or force SFO or the FAA to negotiate policies that affect surrounding neighborhoods.

• Passage of any of these bills would be beneficial for all of us, as well as for the thousands of Americans across the country who are fighting similar issues with their airports. If passed, this legislation would give the public the ‘teeth’ to get something done. Please let Congresswoman Speier know that you appreciate her efforts on our behalf by contacting her office. While there are 8 bills, HR 5112, the LEAVE Act, specifically addresses GBN:

"As an airplane leaves from an airport, its takeoff generates significant amounts of ground based low-frequency noise and vibration impacting residents in the vicinity. While measurement, standards, and mitigation of airborne flight noise is well defined, low frequency noise and vibration caused by an airplane on the runway at high thrust levels accelerating for take-off is not yet established. The bill would lead to the establishment of standards and remedies related to ground-based noise (GBN).

If enacted, the bill would permit a state cause of action for GBN if a state has undertaken a study of GBN at an airport, determined the amount of GBN, and identified a level of substantial negative impact and any diminution in real property values caused by such GBN. Before a cause of action would be permissible:

a. the state must complete a study of ground-based noise at the airport in question
b. the state must set a limit for ground-based noise emanating from the airport
c. the airport would have to be shown to have exceeded that limit"

Rep. Speier and her colleague to our south, Anna Eshoo, held a press conference on Friday that the Daily Journal is reporting included these comments:

San Mateo County Supervisor David Pine said years of work by local officials about the problem have left them frustrated.  “We haven’t moved the needle,” Pine said. “The FAA cares very little about noise.”   Burlingame Councilman Ricardo Ortiz, who along with Goethals and Pine serves on the San Francisco International Airport Community Roundtable, said he welcomes Speier’s proposed legislation.  “We can recommend little changes,” Ortiz said of local officials — who he said don’t really have any power over airport traffic.

And in the "This Should Get Their Attention" file:

SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said of the proposed legislation that, “We are reviewing the impact of the proposals and look forward to working with Congresswoman Speier to appropriately address the issues.”

I will follow-up with more details as they come available, but this is clearly progress!  I'm looking forward to ensuring the judge is fully aware of this legislation since it buttresses our point about the continuing nuisance--a legal term that understates the problem.

Friends With Benefits: New CalPERS Guy Gets Tough

We haven't addressed much in our "Friends With Benefits" category since this post in August of 2017 that noted an 11.2% return that year and a 68% funded ratio for benefits.  During the council rotation Monday night, Mike Brownrigg commented that some of the unheralded accomplishments of the council this year was additional funding for pension benefits.  Compared to many cities we are in good shape--emphasis on compared to many other California cities.  This matters because the added funds come out of the funds available for everything else in town.  Last week, the WSJ had a piece on the new investment head at CalPERS that was revealing and encouraging

It didn’t take Yu Ben Meng long to find problems at the nation’s largest pension fund.  Six months after starting as investment chief of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, he told board members at a Santa Rosa, Calif., gathering in July that some older investments might be valued too richly, said people familiar with the matter. By fall, the fund had shaved the value of a real-estate investment trust and was looking more closely at a five-plus-year-old bet on a solar developer, other people said.

Now as his first year comes to a close, Calpers has cut ties with a longstanding manager on a hometown project, jettisoned under-performing stock pickers, and slowed work on a multi-billion-dollar private-equity experiment.  Calpers’ has struggled to consistently meet its 7% yearly target at a time of high retirement costs and ultra-low interest rates. The pension fund has on hand only about 70% of the assets it will need to fund future retirement checks.  He told board members in January that the world today has many bigger, more nimble asset managers not based in Sacramento.

The fund also jettisoned four of five firms in a program that sought to attract women and minority managers that his predecessor helped grow.  Cuts to such a program “could be a hot potato and have political ramifications,“ said Co-Chairman Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management. ”But if your job is to achieve investment performance, you can’t be confused about what’s No. 1.”

Staffers are looking more closely at a developer of solar energy assets that some staffers at the fund believe is worth half or less of what it is valued at, a person familiar with the matter said.

So he won't overtake Judge George Miriam as person-of-the-year, but I'm thinking he makes an excellent runner-up.  Now if Yu can just keep the Legislature and Newsom from burning through the $21.5 billion budget surplus on pet projects and be as disciplined as B'game has been, we might get somewhere.

Death...Oops... Trains and Taxes

Since affordability is such a hot topic these days we should examine each and every effort to degrade our affordability.  Gas taxes.  Highway 101 fees.  Natural gas bans in new buildings--or at least so far only new buildings--so we can spend oodles on electricity.  School bonds and parcel taxes.  More bonds for affordable housing.  A sliver for the Rec Center.  I'll bet some of the regular Voice commenters can remember some that I am missing.  So here are the latest two-- a slice for the train and a big bite on commercial property which is to say a big bite on brick and mortar retail.  Amazon must be thrilled.

"Nimby's" Win One

I am enjoying the gnashing of teeth I hear from the SF Comicle and various other development addicts and so-called affordable housing advocates over the recent court ruling in favor of the city of San Mateo and its well-established building code.  Judge George Miram is leading the race for Person of the Year as the Daily Journal reported

An effort to take legal action against San Mateo for the City Council’s decision to reject a proposal to build a 10-unit condominium building off El Camino Real in 2018 hit a stumbling block earlier this month when a judge ruled the city did not violate the Housing Accountability Act when the council denied the project’s approval based on height differences between properties.

City Attorney Shawn Mason has alleged the city’s decision regarding the project near El Camino Real and West Santa Inez Avenue is defensible because the proposed development objectively violated the city’s multi-family design guidelines aimed at smoothing height differences between properties with transitional features, such as setbacks.

“This court finds that the city of San Mateo is a charter city whose charter fully incorporates the home rule doctrine and that the approval of the instant residential housing project is an appropriate exercise of municipal affairs,” wrote Miram in the denial. “Furthermore, this court finds that to the HAA is unenforceable to the extent the HAA conflicts with or purports to disregard otherwise enforceable portions of the city’s Municipal Code regarding review of housing development projects.”

That ruling has set off a firestorm of criticism from the housing fascists who want the biggest, cheapest, densest buildings built the fasted wherever some developer can acquire a lot.  The Gavinor is apparently one of them now along with all of the usual suspects.  The SF Comicle followed up its "news" piece titled "Ruling may undercut law on housing: Judge says San Mateo can ignore California statute" with an editorial today that starts and ends with some gibberish about "objective standards" that show a crisis--one that they help manufacture with a steady stream of name-calling, narrowly-edited statistics and a refusal to admit the basic economics of bad policies like rent control.  And yes, I do realize I am fighting fire with fire on the name-calling.  Bottom Line:  We should be thankful there is at least one judge willing to reinforce the obvious and stand up for local control.

P.S. If Laura's comment on the Lyon Hoag Emergency post is accurate (I have no reason to doubt her) and the developer has scratched that approved project at Bayswater and Myrtle  perhaps the development addicts will realize over-in-filling the Peninsula is even more complicated than they think.  Anyone care to speculate on whether the latest rent control statewide law or the return of even more stringent ones next election may have played into the decision?  Here's the now empty Hower Auto lot.

Fall Treehugger Post: Pear's Best Year

For my Fall treehugger post, let's revisit my pear tree to see how it is finishing the best pear season in memory.  You will recall the crop photo here.  The tree yielded at least two dozen pears this year net of what the squirrels got to before me.  And after a couple of days of ripening in a brown paper bag, they were delicious.  Oddly enough the pear leaves have held on longer than a lot of other species this year and turned a lovely yellow.  For the Fall post, we usually enjoy our ginkos, Japanese maples and Chinese pistaches that are all over town, but the 2019 post goes to the pear.