Dedicated to Empowering and Informing the Burlingame Community

  • Parking: On the clock or not?

    A guy pulls into a parking space on Broadway. It’s at one end of a block with an odd number of spaces so it has one of the new meters that does not have a A and B side like the one shown below. He hops out with some change but first checks the time remaining. It’s a little difficult to see because it’s a sunny day, but he gets lucky– there’s 1:35 left on the meter which should be enough. He sets the alarm on his phone to 1:30 for a five-minute buffer and goes about his business. Business takes about an hour. Returning to his car, he checks his phone, cancels the alarm and decides to check the time on the meter. The meter shows an hour left, not 35 minutes! Guys scratches head, wonders if a) some Good Samaritan walked by and kicked in a quarter or two or b) it’s all messed up and he will get a ticket in the mail…..

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    Joe

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  • Crime: This burns me up

    For a while I have been meaning to create a post to record the on-going sad state of affairs in our judicial system. Between the DJ and mainly the Daily Post, we get a weekly barrage of news pieces that cause one to ask, “what the heck was the judge thinking?” This one finally lit my fuse enough to create it.

    The Daily Post is reporting a 50-year-old guy from Berkeley was arrested in Palo Alto for setting fire to St. Frank Coffee Shop’s awning at 1:45 am. A review of security footage spotted him and then he returned to the scene about 40 minutes later chanting “burn, burn let it burn”. Here’s the kicker:

    He as a recent arson conviction in Contra Costa County according to the DA. He remains in jail on felony arson with bail at $2,500!

    Why was he out in the first place? What was that first judge thinking? And what is the second judge thinking setting bail at $2,500? What’s next? He pleads poverty and they go to “no cash bail”? We have had crazies like this in B’game. Ten years ago, we almost lost our historic train station to one as you can read here. That was before the Caltrain employee decided to turn that space into his own personal apartment on our nickel.

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    Joe

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  • BSD: $100 million ask goes to voters

    I’m not sure the best way to sell a new bond measure to the B’game taxpayers is highlighting the Big Number, but that was the approach taken in official comments for the DJ article. Back in April, the decision to jump from $89M to $100M was seen as not having any red or yellow flags as we noted here. Phrasing it as $16 per $100K of assessed property value makes it seem small, but these days of “affordability” concerns and whatever else lands on the November ballot create uncertainty. Recent buyers in particular can do the math since assessed value equals purchase price, e.g. a recent $2.5M purchase would come with a $400/year school tax–small compared to the $25K property tax but it all adds up. The DJ notes

    The Burlingame School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved placing a $100 million bond measure on Nov. 3 ballots at its board meeting June 9. Some of the school sites in the district are over 100 years old, Superintendent Marla Silversmith said, and one trustee coined a pitch for the bond as the “$100 million bond for the 100-year-old schools,” Silversmith said.

    Improvements included on a project list further detail the modernization that would take place, the replacement of antiquated portable classrooms with permanent facilities, the installment of energy efficient systems and infrastructure, improving school site parking and traffic circulation, and more.

    This as-yet-unnamed General Obligation bond for CapEx is separate from Measure GG passed in November 2024. That is an 8-year parcel tax that provides approximately $3.6 million annually exclusively for academic programs, smaller class sizes, and teacher retention.

    You probably already got the mail piece and should expect at least a couple more in the next five and a half months. The primary we just had did not bode well for new taxes and it’s hard to see how that will change in a couple of months.

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    Joe

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  • High-Cost Rail – Part 169 Peak hubris?

    We may be approaching the point of peak hubris at the High-Speed Rail Authority. They are more than $100 billion short of what they need so their latest gambit is to lease out land on “their right of way” that they took by eminent domain to AI data center operators. Talk about “mission creep” from people who can’t even get the most basic part of their mission off the ground. The SF Comicle has a couple good quips on this from Central Valley politicians whose constituents are appalled at the idea:

    To pave the way for potential leases of land, fiber or electric transmission along the corridor, the rail authority has signed a co-development agreement with a consortium of infrastructure investors. They would act as a kind of intermediary for the rail line, helping match assets in the rail right-of-way with companies that would pay to use them. Within a few months CEO Ian Choudri expects to finalize a second agreement with another group of investors, this one focused on generating revenue from the solar arrays, wind farms, substations or batteries that will power the trains.

    That is called “spreading it around” in some circles. But not everyone is buying the idea:

    “Ian’s got big ideas,” Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto said, referring to Choudri. “He’s very plugged in with the Silicon Valley types. He’s a move-fast, visionary kind of guy, and he wants this project to pay for itself.” Serratto managed a dry laugh. “But really,” he said, “just build the train, dude.”

    Questions abound, at least in my mind. How can an agency take private property by eminent domain for one purpose and then start adding other, ostensibly profitable, uses without going back and compensating the original owner? If anyone is going to get a cut it should be the ranchers and farmer in the Central Valley who have had their lives disrupted. How much land would have to be leased to even put a small dent in the $100+ billion shortfall? Are the telecom carriers and electric utilities going to sit silently while some new competitor gets handed a sweetheart deal to undercut their decades of investment? Or the ratepayers? And there is the perennial question of where the water will come from? The Comicle notes all this needs to come together pronto if Newsom is going to try to claim some sort of successful exit from this disaster on the presidential campaign trail. Peak hubris.

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    Joe

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  • Newsom: At least pay for your own lawyers

    We won’t get too far into the nitty gritty of the possible things that the FBI is investigating regarding the governor. The SF Comicle did its usual surface level piece when covering one of their favorites, but at least it landed on the front page and not A8. The words “behested payments” do not even make an appearance in the piece. Same goes for the Associated Press piece that the DJ ran above the fold yesterday. When a journalist spends five time more column inches on the denial and deflection than on the possible charges or what is publicly known about past dealings, it’s easy to invoke the “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” rule.

    What should get fellow California taxpayers’ goat is using government staff to handle personal legal issues. Here is one David Sapp, Legal Affairs Secretary in the governor’s office, shooting off a FOIA request on government letterhead and posted on a government website here.

    This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552). I request all documents and records including but not limited to memoranda, emails, text messages, and Signal messages, from, to, or copying (“cc’ing”) any member of the executive leadership of the U.S. Department of Justice, including but not limited to former Attorney General Pam Bondi, former acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, and former Deputy Attorney General and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, that use the terms: “Gavin Newsom” or “Jennifer Siebel Newsom” or “Newsom” between January 20, 2025 and the present.

    Perhaps the “first partner” is a bit too much of a “first business partner”, but she’s not a government employee so she has even less claim to government staff time than the guv. Gemini provides some insight into who should be looking at this (besides the FBI).

    The California State Auditor investigates whistleblower allegations regarding the misuse of state resources, including employee time theft and the waste of state funds.

    For criminal matters involving public corruption, bribery, or misappropriation of public funds, the California Department of Justice (DOJ)—specifically its Special Investigations Team (SIT) and White Collar Investigation Teams—serves as the primary law enforcement investigative body.

    The whole thing reeks of backroom dealing and special treatment. We will tag this to the “Friends with benefits” and “Sacramento Stupidity” category, but it really should go to “Sacramento Shrewdness”.

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    Joe

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  • History Lesson: The origins of Flag Day

    Here at the Voice, we have long noted the presence or absence of the Stars and Stripes around town. Whether it be when the Boy Scouts plant dozens on B’way or someone forgets to raise a flag on an important day. But where did the date of June 14th come from? That is today’s history lesson courtesy of ChatGPT:

    On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to establish the Continental Army. This occurred nearly a year before the Declaration of Independence. The decision came in response to the battles of Battles of Lexington and Concord, where colonial militia forces had already begun fighting British troops. The next day, June 15, 1775, Congress selected George Washington as commander-in-chief.

    The 1775 date is why the big 250th anniversary military parade happened last year. It commemorated the founding of the Continental Army. But that’s not the whole story:

    On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the first official Flag Resolution:

    “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

    Notably, the resolution did not specify the arrangement of the stars. The familiar “Betsy Ross circle” design became popular later, but there is little contemporary evidence proving that Betsy Ross designed the first national flag.

    So that 250th anniversary will happen next June 14th. The day was formalized over the years:

    • In the late 1800s, schools and patriotic organizations began celebrating June 14 as Flag Day.
    • Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1916 establishing June 14 as Flag Day nationally.
    • In 1949, Harry S. Truman signed legislation officially designating June 14 as National Flag Day.

    This year’s Flag Day will be at least as high profile as last year and as Paul Harvey used to say “”and now you know the rest of the story”.

    Until recently, the Old Post Office flagpole had been barren, but things are looking up lately.

    Posted by:

    Joe

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  • Jazz on the Hill 2026: 20th Anniversary

    KCSM Jazz 91.1 celebrated its summer concert festival on campus on Saturday. It was the 20th year of filling the area in front of the library with great jazz, blues, samba et al on the first Saturday of June. I always put it on my calendar right away. We had some wind and a chilly cloud cover for about an hour in the mid-afternoon, but otherwise bright sunny and fun.

    Young Nathan Tokanaga from Belmont is back from his freshman year in NYC and has formed a new quartet for the summer. He’s a rising star– not just in Bay Area jazz– and has added the tenor sax to his talents. Long-timers Tuck & Patti followed. They’ve been playing for more than 40 years, and it showed. The Latin session followed with Roger Glenn’s Ensemble with Ray Obiedo sitting in. Roger claimed Ray taught Carlos Santana everything he knows and the guitar tone was familiar.

    Things picked up steam with a tribute to Miles Davis on his 100th birthday from a group assembled for this show from top shelf musicians called “Miles Smiles” featuring Essiet Essiet, David Sanchez, Edward Simon, Eddie Henderson, and KCSM DJ and drummer Akira Tana. It doesn’t get much better than that, but the closer more than held her own. 35-year-old saxophonist Vanessa Collier is now out on her own after touring with Joe Louis Walker for years and she brought the event to a rousing, blues-driven close. Here she is.

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    Joe

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  • Citizen of the Year 2026: Elio D’Urzo

    As they do every year since the ’30s, the Lion’s Club selected their Citizen of the Year this week. At a fun-filled luncheon at the joint Lion’s and Rotary get together at the historic Lion’s Club Hall, Sapore’s very own Elio D’Urzo received the honor. He also catered his own event! The list of thoughtful and charitable efforts Elio provides to local churches, schools, seniors and others is long and distinguished. In November, Sapore will be celebrating its 25th year in B’game. During his typically modest short acceptance speech, Elio described Sapore as a “home”, not a “restaurant”. That’s how I feel when I walk in.

    He also noted that he has now spent half of his life here and half in Italy but is finding English comes to him easier here than Italian does there! He’s working with previous CoY Mark Lucchesi on his accent. Good luck with that. Everyone has seen him talk with his hands like the picture below. Congrats, Elio.

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    Joe

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  • Parking Ah-ha: It’s a necessity

    The Merc is highlighting a 23-story apartment building with less than one parking space for every three units. Guess what? It’s a problem

    The Fay apartment tower in downtown San Jose was built to draw residents back to the city, a sleek high-rise with rooftop views and luxury amenities. But two years later, the building is 60% vacant, and city officials say one key reason stands out: not enough parking. Two years after it opened with fewer than one parking spot for every three apartments, The Fay has plunged into foreclosure.

    The Fay’s parking problems provide an early test of a 2022 statewide law that erased parking requirements on housing developments within a half mile of a major public transit stop. But those policies are colliding with California’s deep-rooted car culture — and in pockets around the Bay Area, the signs of pushback are starting to show.

    I love it when they talk about our “car culture” like it’s some Happy Days muscle car cruise night memory or a low-rider meet up. Or drag racing up at Ocean Beach before they closed the formerly Great Highway. But cars are intrinsic to everyday life if you need things like groceries, trips to the vet, Home Depot, etc etc etc.

    Across the Bay Area, tenants living in housing projects with limited parking are finding themselves running up parking fines and doing battle with neighbors over street parking. At some affordable housing projects, where parking requirements were eased as early as 2015, the frustration is mounting. “I have 20 parking violations,” said Candy Sandoval, a custodian and single mother of four who lives at Quetzal Gardens low-income housing in East San Jose, “plus my car was vandalized because of parking on the street.”

    Her fellow tenants are so exasperated without enough parking — there are 42 spots to accommodate 70 apartments — some of them park in silent protest directly in front of the building, smack in the middle of a designated bus stop.

    I’ll bet you would stump Google and ChatGPT is you asked, “how does a single mother of four manage without a car?” This little charade is creeping into B’game as well. The latest example is a proposal at 2 Park Rd. where Crosby N Gray is located. While not nearly as bad as The Fay or Quetzal Gardens, it’s proposed to have 140 spaces for 144 “units”. One really needs to consider the number of bedrooms and the number of units to understand real parking needs. Will we have to rename it No Park Rd.?

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    Joe

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  • Shrinking Meta: Maybe a drive-in could fit?

    B’game has been in the news about Bay Area layoffs lately. Both the Comicle and the Merc have reported on our shrinking Bayfront employee count:

    Meta’s sweeping layoffs will affect nearly 700 Bay Area workers, adding to years of cuts in the face of massive artificial intelligence investment and overhiring during the pandemic. The social media giant said in state filings that layoffs would affect 338 workers in Burlingame, 252 in San Francisco and 81 in Fremont — for a total of 671. In April, Meta also cut nearly 200 jobs in Burlingame and Sunnyvale.

    Perhaps Meta could redeploy some of that excess virtual reality talent to redesign a large auditorium or conference room to be a movie theater on campus. Or wait. A nice drive-in, drive-up theater on top of the massive parking structure would be nice. I would even wear my Metaview glasses instead of hooking a big metal speaker to my car window.

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    Joe

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