The Burlingame Voice

Welcoming Anson Back to B'game

The unveiling of the new bust of Anson Burlingame in the downtown library Friday night was quite the affair.  More than 100 people attended to hear an excellent recap of Anson's career (delivered by Dr. George Koo and David Chai), some words about his family from family member and recently arrived Burlingame resident Lisa Lillelund along with a few politicians.  Sculptor Zhou Limin spoke about his inspiration for creating the bust and we heard a few words about the Burlingame Foundation from its president, Dr. Walter Christman.  All in all great event and a wonderful way to welcome Anson (and his descendants) back to B'game.  Here are Lisa, Dr. Koo and the unveiled bust with the US and Chinese flags of the period.  The program was also streamed to China for added viewers.

Fall Treehugger Foliage 2018

With all of the smoke and dry weather, it has not been easy finding a suitable Fall foliage picture.  The Spring picture was pretty easy (here), but the Fall one had very few great options.  Even the normally brilliant Ginkos are subdued and uneven this year.  So here is an old standby that is looking as good as ever--a Japanese Maple shot at around sunset last night.

Higher-Cost Rail - Part 145 Newsom's Dilemma

The Chron is covering yet another audit report on the ballooning costs of Jerry Brown's train to nowhere.

Pushing to break ground on California’s high-speed rail project before critical planning for the Central Valley line was in place drove up its cost by $600 million, with that “flawed decision” potentially increasing the price tag by another $1 billion, state Auditor Elaine Howle said Thursday.

And more financial problems are looming for high-speed rail. The state could lose $3.5 billion in federal grant money if the first segment of the line is not completed by December 2022 as planned, Howle warned in a report. The auditor’s office said to meet that deadline, the pace of construction must double over the next four years.

Incoming Gov. Newsom will have an early decision to make come January as he has a number of other big ticket items on his plate of promises.  And his dilemma is how to split this baby

Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom has been less enthusiastic about high-speed rail than Brown, saying he would focus on completing the portion from the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area before deciding whether to make a push to Los Angeles.

Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, a critic of the rail project, said the report shows that high-speed rail is “dead in the water.”  “There will never be a completed track from the Bay Area to Los Angeles,” Patterson said. “This project cannot be revived in its current state, and this audit is further proof that the best we can hope for is a rump railroad running from Bakersfield to Madera.”

The problem is a "rump railroad" - great term which I will adopt-- is not what the original Proposition promised and thus likely illegal.  It's really time to stop pouring good money after bad and dump the rump.  Will Gavin have the guts to do it?

SF: The Perils of Letting Planners do the Planning

Here is another tale of future woe from EssEff via today's Chronicle:

A portion of downtown San Francisco will change dramatically with thousands of housing units, jobs — and even a public swimming pool — under a plan finally approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors after eight years of hearings, amendments and negotiations.

The Central SoMa plan will revamp a part of South of Market that runs from near Market Street south to Townsend Street, and from Second Street to Sixth Street. The approved plan proposes 8,800 housing units and will create a projected 31,000 jobs.

Sounds good, right?  Except for this one little bug in the ointment

Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer was the only one to express concern about the Central SoMa plan, as it does not include a public school. But, she said, the Planning Department and the San Francisco Unified School District will hold a meeting later this month to determine how to create enough public schools to accommodate the growing population.

8,800 housing units in one neighborhood, but no plans for any incremental school capacity except to "hold a meeting".  Nice work.  But please bear in mind we are not immune from the same sort of short-term thinking.  Our school capacities are not infinite as noted here three years ago and with the various projects on-going around town, parents should be wary.

Veterans Day 2018

Today is the centennial Veterans Day when major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. That is when the Armistice with Germany went into effect.  Then in 1954, at the urging of major veteran organizations, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day.  It's a day of remembrance as it is called in Europe, so let's do that.

I finally got down to the County Historical museum in Redwood City to see the WWII exhibit and it is highly recommended.  The theme is the war's impact on the Peninsula and there are several mentions of Burlingame residents and local places like Coyote Point.  It has been on display for about two years and is very worthwhile; you have until January or so to see it.  Here is one local airman (Allan Brown's) uniform that is on display.  Remember we shall.

The Un-American Way

I appreciate that the person who lives at the corner of Dwight and Peninsula Ave decided to leave this sign up after Tuesday's election for all to see.  Now that Prop. 10 which meant to gut long-standing landlord protections has taken a beating at the polls - 62% to 38% - we are left with this reminder of the types of people who are in favor.  This isn't the first time they have vandalized campaign signs in B'game and it probably won't be the last.  Remember this the next time it comes around, because what comes around will go around too.

It might be the same spray paint as in October of 2016.  With all of the Ring video floating around town they better be careful.

Rec Center: $58.3 Million

After the design preference was settled back in July, the costing out of the Rec Center project has been able to proceed with more certainty.  As eagle-eyed observer Lorne has noted on that July post, the new numbers going to Council are sizable--more sizable than expected just a couple of years ago.  The parameters from the Staff Report are:

The project hard costs include local prevailing wage construction costs based on a design-bid-build procurement process with competitive bidding for all sub-trades of the construction work, general contractor’s job site management costs, general contractor’s insurance and bonding costs, and general contractor’s profit. The project soft costs include allowances for engineering and design fees, construction management, permit fees, inspections, and testing. The project contingency allowance is calculated at 10% of the project hard cost and 5% of the project soft cost, and the escalation allowance is calculated at 5% per annum on the project hard cost estimated to the midpoint of construction. Construction is anticipated to be January 2020 to December 2022.

I'm having trouble copying and pasting the chart from the Staff Report, so here are the totals by line item using the parameters above, i.e. all in with contingencies and escalations and rounded off to the nearest $100K:

Playground, Multi-court, Picnic Area            $2.4 million

Building, Associated Sitework, Parking        $49.9 million

Furniture, Equipment, Technology                $2 million

Everything Else                                            $4 million

                                                                   -------------

Total                                                            $58.3 million

Many thanks to Lorne for spotting this in a timely fashion.  We'll have to wait and see if there is any value engineering to be done.  In the meantime, here is the financing plan

In November 2017, the voters of Burlingame approved Measure I, a ¼ cent sales tax measure that will generate an estimated $1.75 million to $2 million annually. At the January 27, 2018 goal- setting session, the City Council discussed the City Manager’s recommended expenditure plan for the Measure I funds, which included an annual pledge of $1 million toward debt service on the issuance of lease revenue bonds. The City Council approved the recommendation on February 20, 2018. An additional $1 million annual General Fund transfer was approved in the 2018-19 fiscal year budget, also intended to fund the debt service, to allow for a lease revenue bond issuance of approximately $30 million for the Community Center project.

B'game Rating: #38

The wizards at the San Francisco magazine have rated all 101 cities and towns in the Bay Area and we came out at number 38.  By combining scores for Education, Diversity, Health, Transit, Affordability, Public Safety, Culture and their own fudge factor "Editors' Rank", they arrive at Albany being the best place to live in the Bay Area.  Six years ago we were labelled as a sort of Utopia by the same magazine, so let's dig in a bit deeper.  Here are the scores

I get the good scores for Education and Transit.  Our public schools are quite good in spite of occasional issues with administrators at BIS and BHS and there are a lot of residents with bachelor's degrees or higher.  I also get how we land near the bottom in Affordability since we have always been an expensive place to live--it is more a result of the other criteria than an input on its own.  But how is B'game in the bottom half on Health?  They use physicians per capita, air quality scores and percentage of residents without health insurance.  With a major hospital in town and doctor's offices surrounding it, we must rate pretty high on the first one.  I hear at the meetings on the SFO runway noise that some residents also smell jet fuel fumes, but I doubt our air quality is below the median.

The real head-scratchers are Public Safety on the downside and Culture on the upside.  B'game has recently returned to "full strength" with 40 sworn officers and crime rates (aside from car break-ins mostly at Bayfront hotels) are pretty low.  Oakland ranked just ahead of us at 57!  And they do mean Oakland, California!!  There must be some spreadsheet error somewhere at the magazine.

I also cannot fathom how we got to number 15 in the whole Bay Area on Culture when the critieria are artistic venues per capita (we've got none other than the tiny art museum on the north end), the number of residents who list their occupation as "artist" (on Open Studio weekends we have a couple), and liquor licenses per capita.  I guess if one considers drinking with muzak playing "culture" we do OK.  While #38 isn't bad, I can't take much heart in the overall subjective nature of it all.  You won't catch many B'gamers moving to Colma (#18) or Pacifica (#22) or Belmont (#24).  I bet we just stay put.   
 

SFO Runway Noise: Speier Townhall Update

Jackie Speier hosted a two-hour Townhall meeting at Skyline College on Tuesday night to address the issue of SFO airport noise.  It was very well-attended by about 500 people from around her district with a variety of concerns.  Panelists included a former United 747 captain currently on Speier's staff, airport director Ivar Satero and Peter Kirsch, an attorney known for successfully suing airports over noise issues.  For those of us who are embroiled in this issue, much of the agenda was review except for Kirsch's bit that gave a great 20 minute tutorial on the laws about noise.

One challenge with such meetings is one's concerns vary based on where one sits.  Pacifica residents have issues with overhead noise being more concentrated due to NextGen flight paths.  My assessment of their prospects for change/improvement is not hopeful.  Kirsch's legal review and insight left me with the impression that they just have to deal with it.  Similarly, the San Carlos and Menlo Park residents' issues with the San Carlos airport and Surf Air were a little out of scope for the meeting and shunted off to San Mateo County officials.

Finally, after about 90 minutes, during the Q&A, B'gamer Lynn Israelit from SFORunwayNoise.com was able to ask the burning question on behalf of the large Burlingame/Hillsborough contingent present-- "What about the noise from engine run-up and take-off?"  This should have been the main focus of the meeting since on-the-ground noise is solely the responsibility of the airport--not the FAA who were not present and have total authority over airborne noise.  We got some insight from Satero about two kinds of ground noise:  initial start-up noise and "start of roll" reflected noise.  Noise from the maintenance bays was not mentioned.  He also mentioned a study of ground noise from 2000 that was done.  The big news was that a new study has been commissioned to update the 18 year old study, but no timing was given.

The most encouraging part of the evening was the impression Jackie Speier left of being engaged on the runway noise concerns.  She was home (in Hillsborough) recovering from surgery over the summer and that meant she finally felt our pain.  Windows rattling, low frequency noise, loud noise, 3 am departures--the whole panoply of problems.  Now it remains to be seen if mustering her political pressure and legal pressure can result in some improvements in our quality of life and sleep.

Pipe Bomb at Rollins Rd. USPS

In the spirit of covering all things Burlingame, I'll just note that we made the national news yesterday when the Postal Service located a pipe bomb in the mail addressed to activist Tom Steyer.  The mail sorting facility on Rollins Rd. went into shutdown and this message went out at 11:50 am

Burlingame Police responded to assist the FBI on a report of a suspicious package located at our mail facility on Rollins Rd. The package is consistent with the mailings throughout the nation. The package has been removed from that facility and the area has been rendered safe. This incident poses no danger to the community of Burlingame.

Later in the day, a guy with a long criminal record was arrested in Florida and accused of being the perp who mailed about a dozen such packages.  If you want the full details, the Daily Journal has it here.

 

Election 2018 - Some Thoughts

I'm not sure anyone but commenter J. Mir cares what I think about the items on the ballot this time around and those who read the Voice regularly probably already know where I stand, but because I promised J. Mir I would post my thoughts, here they are:

Governor:  If you want to save $100 billion or more of taxpayer money just on HSR (see post directly below), Cox is your guy.  The most hopeful thing to say is perhaps Newsome will kill HSR as well, but he will spend all of that and more elsewhere.

Superintendent of Public Education:  Marshall Tuck all the way.  See here.

Prop. 1 - "Affordable Housing":  Nope.  $4 billion down the drain to build unaffordable housing that we have no school capacity, infrastructure or water to service anyway.

Prop. 2 - Housing for those with Mental Illness:  Nope.  Takes from the left pocket (existing services) to put in the right pocket (housing).

Prop. 3 -  If you thought I was going to recommend against all the bond measures, you were wrong.  We are in Big Trouble up and down the state with regards to water security.  There hasn't been any additional storage capacity in generations.  Existing dams like Oroville are aging.  Rules for protecting fish (which I support) mean the water needs to come from somewhere, so while the goals of this Prop. should be met with existing revenues, they ain't.  Read the tale of woe here and vote Yes.

Prop. 6 -  The Gas Tax repeal:  Yes.  This is like giving heroin to an addict in a dirty needle.  Road quality stinks and is getting worse, but we already are #2 in gas taxes (behind Hawaii who at least has an excuse and hardly any roads to begin with).  Force the Legislature and the new Gov to Do Their Job without more taxes.

Prop. 10 -  Rent Control:  Not only No, but heck No.  This Prop is even worse than the one we defeated two years ago in B'game.  That one went after some landlords--this one goes after everyone who may ever decide to rent out anything and removes some pretty fundamental limits on rent control.  Besides rent control is a failure anywhere it is tried, so why enable more of it?

Measure W - 30 year 1/2 cent sales tax in San Mateo County ostensibly for roads:  Nope.  We just did Measure K which raised sales taxes a 1/2 cent and that money could and should go to the roads, but that ain't where our Supes' priorities are.  More heroin in a dirty needle.  This measure shows the hypocrisy of people who decry the cost of living in the county.

The rest of the ballot is left to the reader to decide over the next two weeks.  Have at it.

High-Cost Rail - Part 144 Revolving Door, Reduced Expectations

The revolving door at the High Speed Rail Authority continues to spin.  As a member of the Community Working Group (courtesy of the city of B'game), I got an update from the Northern California HSR Authority team last night.  There were a lot of new faces from a year ago including a new Regional Director (Boris Lipkin) and a new Project Manager (James Tung).  But the working group attendance was sparse to say the least.  I am using the term "update" loosely, since there is not a lot of news and very little of it is good for the Peninsula, taxpayers or people looking to go somewhere at high speed.  There were some other attendees who appeared interested in handouts for of all things, "affordable housing" from the HSR money train.

Decisions that are still pending include whether to have passing tracks from 9th Ave in San Mateo south to Whipple with all that implies for taking property and whether to build a viaduct in the South Bay to get to Diridon Station more easily.  The big kicker was an apparent lack of progress on how to get through Pacheco Pass via tunnel.  It's estimated to cost from $6-9 billion, but the engineering studies have yet to start.  And the extension to the Transbay Terminal is totally in limbo as SF Supe Aaron Peskin considers withholding funds until project management improves.  And anything south of the metropolis of Bakersfield just doesn't get mentioned.  But the gravy train continues to ladle out money at least until the election in two weeks.  Even if Newsome wins the governor ship as expected, he may have to flip-flip a third (or is it fourth?) time and kill HSR in hopes of paying for even 10% of what else he says he wants to do.  Here is the new team for Norcal.

And here is the timeline that still shows "Valley to Valley", i.e. Silicon Valley to the Central Valley up and running by 2029.

The only good news of late is that the Western U.S. earthquake warning system is plodding along so that by 2029 when a high-speed train goes off the tracks it will do so at a slower speed.