The Burlingame Voice

Late Summer Musings on Politics

If you have read the Voice for much of its 19 years on-line you have run into the occasional "think piece" that spices up the usual fare.  The quiet weeks of mid-August before everyone gets back to our little town is a particularly good time for such a post.  With plenty of time to read things like book reviews of books I'll never read (perhaps that is the purpose of a book review), some gems can pop out.  Barton Swain at the WSJ did just such a favor in reviewing a new book about John Locke, the 17th century British philosopher.  Locke is sometimes referred to as "the first liberal".  Swain uses that as a jumping off point:

One way to sum up postwar American politics is to say that conservatives try to stop liberals from breaking the liberals’ own rules. The “rules” in this formulation are those of liberalism in the broadest sense: constitutional principles, the rule of law, rights-based protections. 

“Liberal” regimes aren’t supposed to impose a particular understanding of the Good on their citizens; they’re meant to ensure local and individual freedoms and enable citizens to figure out what the Good is for themselves. But some liberals—typically the highly educated and privileged sort—tend to forget they are liberals and try to define righteousness for everybody. They do this by reallocating citizens’ wealth according to their own ideals, regulating private economic behavior, dictating to local communities how they should govern themselves, imposing protean codes of correct speech and behavior on everybody else, and so on. Conservatives, in this admittedly biased way of putting it, are there to stop liberals from indulging these illiberal impulses; to remind them, in other words, that they are liberals, not potentates.

Well put.  We see the potentates very clearly in Sacramento; and the county and our city are not immune by any means.  We see Sacramento "dictating to local communities how they should govern themselves" all over the place.  It makes one wonder why someone who just wants to serve the community, instead of climbing the political ladder, would want to run for city council when Newsom, the state senate and assembly can dictate how everything will run?  We have an election in 13 weeks.  We will have at least one brand new city council member (in the new, open seat that was dictated to us), a new assemblywoman and a new federal House member.  Here's hoping they will be truly Locke-style "liberals".

My, what a big crane you have

We last checked in on the Old Post Office project downtown (aka the Sares-Regis project) here.  We are about eleven months after the groundbreaking ceremony and the Big Dig phase is over.  This week an enormous construction crane was put in place.  I was struck, metaphorically speaking, with how it towers over downtown.  One of my regular downtown contacts told me that I missed the wild scene as the workers walked along the "arms" out to the end to put the counterweights in place on the short side (the left side in the photo).  Unfortunately, I took the photo before I heard about the daring feat and the counterweights are perfectly hidden by the traffic light below.  Does anyone think this will be the last big crane we see downtown?

Solar variability: A tale of two days in B'game

I told you about my "going solar" a year ago here.  So far, the system has been trouble-free and good amounts of juice are flowing back to PG&E.  But here in B'game we are feeling the trailing effects of Tropical Storm Frank from down south and have had a few cloudy, muggy days this week.  That got me curious as to how my solar system was responding.  But first, let's look at Calmatters.org for the latest electricity news from Sacramento.  On June 27, Calmatters reported that

The expansive energy bill that so angered clean-energy advocates and local officials — for its capitulation to short-term reliance on fossil-fuel and its closed-door negotiations — won lukewarm passage in California’s Legislature late Wednesday and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom today.

Republican members railed about being shut out of brokering the details of the plan that would manage California’s fragile electricity grid during summer power drains. Democrats saw the bill’s reliance on dirty energy sources to prop up power generation as a backward step.  During prolonged and pointed debate, the legislation was characterized as “lousy” and “crappy” — and those were the legislators who supported it.

“This was a crappy trailer bill that was dumped on us Sunday night,” complained Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat. “This was a rushed, unvetted fossil-fuel heavy response.”  “It’s a lousy bill,” said Hayward Democratic Assemblymember Bill Quirk, “but it’s the best hope we have for keeping the lights on.”

You can click through to read the rest of the gnashing of teeth, but the bottom line for me was delivered by a Wall Street Journal piece titled "America's New Energy Crisis:  Fossil fuel plants are closing faster than green alternatives can replace them."  There is total (peak) capacity, baseload capacity, time of day needs, etc. but when push comes to shove, how do the rooftop panels right here in B'game behave?  The Enphase system app conveniently does a year-over-year comparison, so we now know that a monsoony, cloudy day will drop solar energy production by 44.7%.  Almost cut by half.  It's gonna be hard to "keep the lights on" with that kind of green variability.  Looks like Newsom did something right for a change. 

             THIS YEAR                                                          LAST YEAR

Calpers: Losses pile up and cities pay up

Watching the performance of the state's pension manager, CalPers, isn't quite like watching paint dry, but close.  It is the largest pension fund in the country--and it has to be given how poorly the state is run up in Sacramento.  While it may seem arcane and far away, here is the WSJ's take on why we should watch:

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System returned minus 6.1% for the year ended June 30, the fund said Wednesday.   A multiyear downturn could be costly for states, towns and school systems around the country and by extension their residents, leading them to squeeze money from workers, taxpayers or other government services.  Calpers’ stock portfolio returned minus 13.1%, while bonds returned minus 14.5%, the pension fund said.  (Ed:  Private equity made up some of the loss but relying on it is tricky as valuations are being written down left and right.)

The lackluster return will mean California towns, counties and school districts will face higher annual pension contributions during their 2024 or 2025 fiscal year.  U.S. state and local pension funds have accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars since the last financial crisis in 2008, thanks to blockbuster returns from an 11-year bull market. Last year, huge gains in public and private equity markets drove median returns to nearly 27%, a 30-year record.

Some states also topped up their pension coffers with tax revenues from the stimulus-fueled Covid-19 recovery.  But all of those gains have been outpaced by the growth in the cost of the benefits that state and local governments have promised.

We shall see what the impact on the city budget is going forward.  We have been holding on pretty well -- you can look here for the last update from March.  I'll get around to addressing the move to raise local business tax rates in a bit, but Calpers' performance this year highlights the variability and risk associated with being tied so closely to the state.

Bad parking in broad daylight

Let's kick-off our 19th year with an old favorite topic here at the Burlingame Voice--the crazy, illegal parking maneuvers people do all over town  There are plenty of examples like here, here and here.  Today's gem was right on Howard Ave. in front of the bank across from Park & Howard.  Facing the wrong way against traffic and parallel parked across a diagonal parking space with no money in the meter.  The good news was a Parking Enforcement Officer was on the scene as I walked by.  How many tickets is that?

Hey 19: The Voice turns nineteen

Another year has flown by since the Voice became legal.  While things in Burlingame are constantly changing, especially over the last three or four years, things here at Ye Olde Voice stay the same.  Same format sans advertising unlike the hodgepodge of unreadability that characterizes one of the neighboring blogs.  Same categories on the right-hand frame that help you find something from the past.  I think that feature and the backlinks in new posts mark the Voice as different and more useful than other sites.  It's like writing a history book a week at a time.  Commenters have the freedom to use their names or a pen name as old Ben Franklin approved of doing--or just read, which many do.  And there is the same low monthly subscriber fee :-)

If I had to point to any change, it would be the extension of the content a bit further afield than "all B'game all the time".  Much of that extension stems from the impact forces outside town have on us.  It's not just the County, CalTrans, CHSRA, SFO or the state jamming unwelcome laws, rules and regulations down cities' throats including ours.  Our direct neighbors, Millbrae and San Mateo and to a lesser extent Hillsborough, take actions (or fail to take actions) that impact the quality of life in B'game.  But the main focus is and will be right here--from Trousdale Dr. to Peninsula Ave.  We talk about events and impacts in town and out with a strong preference for data, facts, and a healthy respect for the Law of Unintended Consequences.

A regular reader told me about pointing one of his neighbors to the Voice based on their conversation; thinking he would enjoy it.  A few weeks later my friend said his neighbor told him he read "the whole thing for hours and this guy must be living in my head".  I hope to stay welcome in there, neighbor. 

RIP: Sea level rise parcel tax

Let's take a moment to reflect on the demise, at least for now, of the County parcel tax that was aimed at funding to protect from sea level rise.  As the Daily Journal reported:

A parcel tax measure meant to back San Mateo County’s climate initiatives won’t appear on the November ballot after officials realized economic uncertainty was causing low polling support for the measure.

“A lot of this is a reflection of where we are with the economy — rising gas prices, inflation, the possibility of a recession. I think people are really concerned,” County Manager Mike Callagy said. “We really hope that someday we’ll be able to bring this back around in better times because these are situations that are not going to get better and are only going to get worse.”

While the Daily Post dug a little deeper and stated it bluntly under the headline "County tax didn't stand a chance;  Poll data shows it would have failed by 11 points".  The Post noted

The tax would have cost property owners 5 cents per square foot annually.  For the owner of a 2,000 square-foot-home, the tax would have cost $100 per year.  Poll respondents did express interest in some of the ideas behind the tax--primarily around reducing the impacts of drought by recycling water and reducing flammable brush.

Translation:  Hey County, please worry about things that are right here, right now and not something that may or may not happen 50 years from now.  Oh, and do it within the huge budget you have now.

Today's Chron has a long piece on "graywater" that you can get from recycling what comes out of the washing machine and your shower.

The technology isn’t new — greywater systems have been around for decades. But experts note that California, a state long familiar with extreme drought, still doesn’t have statewide incentives for people to install systems that can save thousands of gallons of water each year for a family of four.  On a local level, incentives are not robust in the Bay Area either. Santa Clara County offers a $400 rebate through Valley Water, San Francisco offers $225, Contra Costa County and the East Bay Municipal District each offer up to $50, and other counties and water districts offer none at all.

Another benefit: Using greywater means people can continue to grow plants and trees in their yard — which can provide food and shade and support wildlife — rather than ripping them out in the face of water restrictions, advocates said.  But while greywater has been shown to save both water and money, advocates and experts note that it’s faced a number of challenges to more widespread adoption over the years.

It goes on to discuss the permit process and costs, the lack of experienced installers, whether the water utilities really want us to do it and a general lack of public awareness -- all things the County could actually work on within the bounds of its current budget and staff.  In the meantime, we have a little respite from yet another parcel tax.

Not all graffiti is all bad

Most of the graffiti around town is ugly and indecipherable.  Here was an example from last month that was both before it was painted over.  While it's all illegal, every once in a while, a real artist drops a bit in a less objectionable location.  This example is on the side of the raised roadbed over by the entrance to Coyote Point as you turn towards the Humane Society.  You can only see it if you are headed out of the park and look down.  It gave me a laugh.

Where have all the good stuff (and people) gone?

It all started with a column by John Horgan that pulled at my heart strings

Steve Squires is preparing to leave town. He has to make a clean break by the end of the month on orders from his landlord. The San Mateo rental property he utilizes east of the Caltrain rail line is scheduled for redevelopment.  Squires, a very sharp and spry 84, has been a quiet commercial fixture at the same location on South Claremont Street in San Mateo since 1977 when Jimmy Carter moved into the White House.

Squires’ chosen profession: Repairing, restoring, rebuilding, trading and selling antique slot machines. It’s a unique specialty.  A visit to his cluttered, cramped, 3,000-square-foot shop last week was instructional. The Squires & Corrie establishment is literally filled floor to ceiling with slot machines, hundreds of thousands of parts and an impressive array of tools and machines. 

That tribute was followed the next week by an SF Chronicle article about the impending demise of Great America now that the property has been sold.  I knew the journalist, Peter Hartlaub, had grown up in B'game and he verified it in the article.   But what really caught my attention was his Dead Pool list of other attractions

My first trips to Great America as a Burlingame resident were in elementary school, not long after it opened in 1976. The trifecta of roller coasters — Willard’s Whizzer, Tidal Wave and Turn of the Century — worked as sort of a progression ladder for conquering my young fears.  Soon, Great America will be just another memory from a very distant time. When you grow up in the place that started a technology revolution, there’s not a lot of square footage left for fun.

Will I be sad to see it go? Sure. Did I expect to take my grandchildren there? Definitely not.

Those of us who grew up on the Peninsula and in the South Bay are used to the disappointment. We lost Marine World Africa U.S.A., Frontier Village, Castle Golf & Games, the Circle Star Theatre and almost every local roller rink and cool old movie theater in the area. How the Winchester Mystery House is still operating is anyone’s guess.

I wasn't alone as a letter writer to the DJ noted

With the announcement that Great America has been sold, and eventually bulldozed, another one bites the dust. Heck Santa’s Village, Frontier Village, and of course Marine World are just memories (albeit fond) for many of us. Malibu Grand Prix, pee-wee golf. The list goes on. Lets not mention the drive in in Burlingame, or South San Francisco or ... The “Block 21” project in San Mateo is moving forward. The 11 current parcels and their tenants have to look elsewhere and relocate. I know Steve from Squires Slot machine is moving to Stockton. I believe he, as well as Las Palomas, Wing Fat, The head shop and Jaybirds, have been local for 40 plus years. So Long.

In today's paper we see all of the residents in Oyster Cove Marina are either already out, or are scrambling to find an affordable place to move. I worry about my grandkids and what sort of fond memories and activities they will have.  And please do not mention our water shortage or inability to increase our cities infrastructures i.e. more police and fire. Perhaps I’m just gloom and doom but maybe someone will build a bowling alley.

Peter C. Carey

San Bruno

In a truly crazy twist of fate, my decade-long search for a vintage slot machine yielded results last Saturday right here in B'game!  It is a 100 year old machine and it needed repair, so I knew I needed to get to Steve Squires ASAP.  Hauling the gorgeous hunk of machinery out to Stockton and then going back to pick it up months later wasn't appealing.  I stopped in, got a 10 minute tutorial on what might be the issue, viewed a half-dozen YouTube videos as an aid to Steve's description, but couldn't be sure.  Another visit brought Steve's offer to "just bring it in, I can show you in a couple minutes".  This from the guy who has to pack up 45 years of stuff and move in a couple weeks!  I was back in a flash and indeed he fixed it in short order after closing time.  The best part of all was I got to watch him do it.  We chatted about the lack of opportunity for kids to learn useful manual skills, the difficulty in finding staff with said skills, and the carving out of small businesses--especially in San Mateo where condos and offices are treated like saviors.

I started thinking of all the other things that are either gone or going.  Remember when there were three antique stores in B'game and several big ones in San Mateo.  Some old timers probably remember more.  Remember when you had choices on where you could get furniture stripped or an appliance repaired?  Independent gas stations and repair shops?  Markets not named Safeway?

Like Mr. Carey I worry about how sterile life with nothing but condos, offices and restaurants will be like here.  How many trips to Stockton will we be making to find real skills (with the tools and parts) like Steve Squires has?  What a gem---he gets an honorary Best of Burlingame designation.

Earthquake reminder from BNN

On June 29th the Burlingame Neighborhood Network (BNN) sponsored a webinar about the omnipresent threat of an earthquake here in B'game.  Tom Brocher, former Director of the Earthquake Science Center at USGS was the presenter and made many key points that serve as a reminder to Be Prepared.  You can find the whole pitch on the Burlingamenetwork.org website titled "It Can Happen Here".  I'll just give a couple of teasers:

Historically, we had the '06 quake of 7.8 that lasted 45 seconds, then Loma Prieta in '89 at 6.9 (which was only 10% of the '06--remember it's a logarithmic scale) and '14 at 6.0 centered in Napa.  Over the next 30 years we have a 22% chance of a big one on the San Andreas fault.

When, not if, we have a big one it could take at least 3 days for any sort of real help to arrive given roadbeds may subside differentially, landslides will happen on steeper slopes and over the following 3 to 4 days we could see many additional pipes breaking (i.e. gas, water and sewer) as movement settles.

There were only about 40 people on the webcast, so please go watch the video.

Busy Tuesday night for burglars

When we did the annual crime round-up here the vehicle burglaries (from locked vehicles) were running 25 per month.  It looks like June might be the month that sets a new record if this sort of thing keeps up.

El Camino is "fixed"; who knew?

I enjoyed getting submissions from Voice readers--keep 'em coming please.  This one was particularly entertaining (at first) and then triggered the usual who-are-they-kidding response.

Who knew?  The "concern has been addressed" so no one will lose anymore teeth on ECR.  I guess that also means we do not need to cut down all the trees along the state highway and eventually replace them with 24" box trees.  Good to know.