The Burlingame Voice

Support your favorite $4,500 parklets

The chickens have come home to roost on fees for parklets as we noted last month here.  The council went with a $250 per month cleaning fee in addition to the $1,500 annual rental fee.  Per the Daily Journal article there was some discussion along the lines of what we noted last month about Broadway perhaps being a lower fee than the Avenue, but that did not come to pass.  It was unanimous.  I was in contact with John Kevranian who heads the Broadway Business Improvement District ("the BID") and I asked if I could publish his whole letter to the Council since I believe it explains very well the state of small businesses on B'way and more generally.  Here's the full letter:

Dear Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Council members,

I have been asked by my Broadway BID members to convey our position in regards to the parklet owners sidewalk cleaning fee. We on Broadway are Not in support of the recommended city staff report on sidewalk cleaning fee of $250 per month.

Some of you may perceive and have the impression that our restaurants are doing very well. Well, the bottom line is, they are not doing the business they had pre-Covid. The staffing shortages, increased cost of products, and supply chain issues have taken a toll to their bottom-line profit. Also, I would like to remind all of you that the majority of the business landlords did not discount rent the past 22 months during the pandemic.

This year, the increase in minimum wage, sewer rate increases, extra cost of composting, new food-to-go container mandates in March 2022 and other cost increases in the food industry will take a chunk of profit away from our restaurants. Also, not to mention Covid issues and less indoor dining.

The cleaning fee of $250 has to come from somewhere such as reducing the hours of workers or increasing prices on customers. The cost of chicken has tripled and the cost of beef and other products have skyrocketed. How much can you increase on a customer? 

Over the past 2 years, I have convinced my Broadway BID board of directors to waive our assessments (2 years' worth $54,000) to help save our businesses. I approached San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine to have the county waive the Environmental Health Department fees county wide for 1 year totaling $5.8 million, and I was successful with my request. I have done everything possible to save these merchants expenses, so they can survive during the pandemic and after. 

Businesses who have Parklets and outside seating are being targeted with federal lawsuits for ADA noncompliance. So far, I have 3 Broadway BID members who have received the lawsuit. The plaintiff's attorney will not settle for less than $10.000 and also the cost to remediate the violation.

I respectfully ask the entire council Not to adopt this program.

Best Regards,

John Kevranian

President

Broadway Burlingame Business Improvement District

John also researched the Covid relief funding that the City has received and reports that it was $371,871 from the CARES Act and is estimated to be $5,814,178 from the American Rescue Plan allocation.  As I noted in the comments to the December post, my surveying of restauranteurs about the additional fees has yielded split views.  Some will pay thinking they have little choice and others will give up the parklet.  John asked that I also publish the joint email address for the Council in case you want to weigh in even after the vote.  It is council@burlingame.org.

Bay Area Pavement: Who's Minding the Store?

Everyone knows that the road surface and drainage on El Camino Real is abysmal.  The monstrous project Caltrans is proposing to "fix" it is overkill as we noted here in July.  But what about all the other streets in B'game?  OK, I know, B'game doesn't have any streets--so what about our avenues, roads, places, and courts?  It's hard to tell since the Metropolitan Transportation Commission report on pavement is two years out of date.  The MTC provides this definition

The Pavement Conditions Index (PCI) provides a snapshot of the pavement health of a road. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 (where 100 means a newly paved road), and many factors affect a city’s or county’s PCI score. These include pavement age, climate and precipitation, traffic loads and available maintenance funding.

A new housing development with new streets may have a high overall PCI, while an older, urbanized area may have a much lower PCI, even though both are practicing pavement preservation.  At 67 out of a possible 100 points, the region’s average PCI score is much closer to the 60-point threshold at which deterioration accelerates rapidly.

And a moving three year average makes sense as both wear and tear and repair are continuous.  "Good" is a PCI in the '70's and that is where we were--two years ago--77.  Since then it appears there has been radio silence from the MTC.  What's up with that?  It's not like monitoring road surfaces is a desk job in some closed-for-Covid office. 

                                           3 yr Moving Average PCI

                                Miles        2017    2018    2019

Burlingame             162.6         75         78         77

They are wallowing in cash and proclaim:

MTC directly distributes more than $1 billion a year to Bay Area transit agencies and other partners, and prioritizes requests from local agencies for millions more in limited state and federal funds.  Each year, the Commission allocates hundreds of millions of dollars for local streets and roads, highways, public transit, freight movement and bicycle/pedestrian facilities.

So how do they do it without the data?  Here is one of hundreds of sections of El Camino that must put it somewhere between Poor and At Risk PCI.  Just like your tires and rims.

Farewell to Sixto's

One of my favorite B'game restaurants is closing to be replaced by another local stalwart moving to bigger space.  I like to commemorate places that created memories so years from now we can easily remember.  Like La Pinata, Chicken Chicken! and Yanni's, Sixto's is one of those places--in fact, it is the second one at the same location; residing in the old Bit of England space.  After "The Bit", it went through changes as the Tavern Grill (with awesome music) and Paragon before it became Sixto's.  I spoke to Teresa Lindhartsen who is one of the Sixto's and Alana's co-owners along with Francesca about Sixto's closing sometime this month.  While they are tiptoeing towards retirement, Alana's will continue as it has for 29 years.  That's a heckuva run.

Stella Alpina Osteria will be moving over from Chapin Ave. after a remodel so the tradition will continue.  As I was taking the photo below, a friend walked by who had not heard the news.  He had his first date with his lady friend at Sixto's and they have been regulars for the margaritas ever since.  Those are the memories I'm talking about.  Personally, I will miss the shrimp fajitas the most.  The good news is that with the current staffing shortages, the Sixto's staff should have no problem finding work.  To everyone involved, I say gracias.  Fare thee well.

 

The year in Crime: 2021

Each New Year brings an opportunity to recap the year just ended.  It appears the City found my past posts on annual crime statistics here and here valuable because just as I was about to email the Chief to get the 2021 statistics, they came out in last week's e-newsletter.  So here is the update

Monthly Average                        2016    2017    2018    2019      2020    2021

Residential Burglaries                   5        2            3        3          2            2

Vehicle Burglaries                      23      25        21       39         20         25

     Thefts from Unlocked Vehicles                              -          14            8

Commercial Burglaries                  9      4            5        4            6            5

     Construction site theft                                             -           1            1

     Package thefts                                                        -            4            2

Other Thefts                               60      51        56        61          -             -

Robberies                                    1        1            1        2          2            2

Stolen Vehicles                            9        6          4         6           9            7

Vandalism                                  13    13          11       12          13           13

B'game crime appears pretty stable except for vehicle burglaries that increased by 60 last year.  2015 was a similar year.  I'm not sure if the statistic includes the catalytic converter thefts that seem to be increasing and probably not reported since there is virtually no chance of getting yours back.  I'm also pretty sure based on the Ring videos I see on-line that a lot of porch pirate thefts go unreported.  All in all, BPD is doing a good job showing presence around town and that may not be "half the battle" but it certainly contributes.

More than one way to get an ADU

It looks like Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are all the rage in town now that the rules have been relaxed.  I'm still of the opinion that most of them will end up as work-from-home offices or the traditional in-law units for family members to get them out of the house proper, but so be it.  You can build one from scratch, buy a manufactured one that needs to be assembled or you can go for the whole, complete enchilada--shrink-wrapped.  If you go with the enchilada and do not have backyard access, then another option is to lift it up and pop it down in the back where you want it.

I missed the money shot of this unit in the air since it took a day or more to position the crane on the street and whatever else was needed, but you can see the strap that held the ADU as it was hoisted over the main house into the backyard.  Quite an operation---coming to a lot near you.

 

New Year, New Green Reality for 2022

Let's start the New Year off with a bit of news on the climate change front.  2021 was a wild climate year finishing off with 212 inches of snow in December in the Tahoe Basin--breaking a 50 year record.  We may have gotten a modest respite from the megadrought although the press quotes from Water Board officials indicate a wait-and-see position.  It can be difficult to get real insight into what is happening around the world on climate as much of the press filters out "bad news".  The Wall Street Journal often has news that you will not read in the Comicle or our local press.  They did just that last week in a piece titled "Many Climate Ambitions Will End With 2021".    The journalist, Joseph C. Sternberg, had a look around Europe and found a few interesting moves that California officials would benefit from understanding.  Here are a few snippets:

It’s New Year’s resolution season, and don’t be surprised if politicians world-wide settle into the same informal pledge: Talk as little as possible about climate change in 2022.  The biggest, most entertaining and also most telling climb-downs are happening in the U.K.  Prime Minister Boris Johnson in October unveiled an ambitious policy program to get Britain to net-zero carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050.

Sure enough, the backtracks and U-turns began before that document was written. The most controversial component of Mr. Johnson’s net-zero boondoggle concerns an attempt to steer households away from the gas boilers on which 86% of them rely for hot water and central heating.

Mr. Johnson said in October he hopes that by 2035 the government will be able to phase out installation of new natural-gas heating units. That represents a step back from earlier plans to require carbon-efficient heat pumps in new homes as early as 2025, and the extended deadline still faces stiff opposition stemming from the high cost of heat pumps.

Among the smaller reversals, the U.K. Transport Department in November backtracked from a plan to require small businesses with parking lots on their premises to install electric-vehicle charging points. The proposed rules governing other structures such as new housing, residential conversions, and new mixed-use developments are so porous as to resemble a well-aerated Swiss cheese, with cost limitation emerging as the primary concern. This difficulty installing charging stations augurs the collapse, sooner or later, of Mr. Johnson’s announced plan to ban new internal-combustion cars by 2030.

French President Emmanuel Macron faces a campaign for re-election in 2022, and he learned the hard way in 2018 how higher fuel prices can trigger debilitating popular protests.  At Mr. Macron’s behest, the European Commission in Brussels may be on the verge of including both nuclear and natural gas on a list of environmentally friendly energy sources eligible for “green investment” from governments and private investors. 

Even in Germany politicians are starting to change course.  A coal phase-out will happen ideally by 2030—with the newly inserted word “ideally” blunting Green ambitions by marking the whole project as tentative.

We are often asked to emulate our European partners in their efforts, but it appears if we do now then Californians would have to backtrack as well.  Happy 2022.

I enjoy getting input and ideas from readers on the side.  Here's one that came in overnight.

 

Nice House: I'm gonna miss this one

I was taken by surprise on my dog walk this week.  I usually go a bit further than Costa Rica Ave., but with the rain and all we cut it short.  I saw the dumpster first and thought it might be a clean up.  But alas, this delightful house got scraped.  I'm gonna miss this one.  Luckily Google Maps still had a street view photo of it, but it will live on here at the Voice much, much longer than on Google..............

 

 

Planning for a Rollicking Rollins Rd.

I’m very excited by the impending housing growth in North Burlingame that will end up bringing “thousands of new homes” to the Rollins Rd. industrial section of town.  The amount of planning that went into this decision by state and county officials, the City Council, the Planning Commission and city staff is impressive.  Here are the details:

Water:   I know the decision makers have a grasp on our dire water situation because they said so back in May  calling it “alarming”.  They also know the SFPUC cannot be trusted to keep the Peninsula’s water interests front-of-mind regardless of whatever “contract” we have with them, so the negotiations with the state to gain access to Bayfront land for our new desalinization plant (instead of a park) are to be complemented.  Desalinized drinking water is about ten times as expensive as water agencies buy now due to the energy costs.  Then there is the cost of getting rid of the brine, but the free land access will help the economics.  The new water tank on Rollins will ensure reliable water for the new neighborhood.

Outflow:  In the spirit of “what goes in, must come out”, the city study on sewage treatment capacity at the Bayfront plant will probably find a need for additional capacity, but we can be sure that raising the sewer rates to pay for it will be easy as we just saw this year.  Burlingame is a welcoming community, so higher rates will be fine with the public.

Power:  The decision makers’ extensive negotiations with PG&E to get it to strengthen the Burlingame grid are to be complemented.  Not only will the grid improvements supply the new desalinization plant’s load, but it will also ensure grid stability for the rest of the city.  Generous state and federal funding for new solar panels on the new construction and some existing Rollins Rd. buildings will help; as will a brand new grid-based battery facility.  Whoever got that big grant should get a promotion.  The natural gas pipes should be fine since there won’t be any natural gas allowed.

Schools:  Given the thousands of new homes coming, it was prescient of the city council to snap up a large parcel on Rollins Rd. and sign a long-term, low-cost lease with the Burlingame School District.  This will enable BSD to build a new school serving North Burlingame Eastside students.  The parcel may be large enough to also build a BIS Annex to cut down on car traffic to BIS.  I expect that the next school bond measure to pay for it all will pass easily as Burlingame is a welcoming community.

Traffic:  As we consider the extensive traffic study conducted as part of the General Plan update, it is gratifying to see that the Broadway grade separation project is now fully funded and we are ready to start The Big B'game Dig in 2022.  As today's SF Comicle notes:

The intersection of Caltrain and Broadway in Burlingame has the ignominious distinction of being the street-level train crossing most in need of fixing in the state, based on a calculation that factors in number of accidents, disruptions to local traffic and other overall safety concerns.  The busy crossing serves demand from trains, vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, a hectic mix that has resulted in 11 car-train collisions in the past five years, a number of near misses and some fatal accidents. It has also caused considerable traffic backups: The crossing gate is currently down about an hour per day, and the city estimates that will rise to nearly three hours per day by 2040.

The project should go fast as most of them do; and be completed in time to help ease the load on Millbrae Ave. and Rollins Rd. for the new North Burlingame residents.  Luckily, the city’s negotiations with Caltrain were also successful in getting the Broadway station to reopen.  That will make a big difference for local traffic through the B'way intersection over the next 10 years.

Of course, Rollins Rd. isn't the only part of town with strong growth so all of these impending improvements will benefit the whole town.  That's why Burlingame is a welcoming community.

I admit I was initially skeptical about a huge new residential section at the north end of town.  It seemed like many of the growing pains would be intractable problems, but with a lot of diligent work everything appears to be on track.  Many people are to be complemented.

EssEff: London is Calling BS

This Examiner front page is just too good not to post.  You would be forgiven if your immediate reaction is "What took you so long?"  We have to keep an eye on SF since "when they sneeze, we get a cold" from the derivative impact.  You may have seen a bit of that in town and I don't just mean the Apple store smash and grabs.  We are far from a crime-free city and I will be updating the B'game statistics for this year when they come available.  In the meantime, Ms. Breed seems to have gotten that Old Time Religion and the Gavinor sounds like he thinks the California rep for crime might hinder his presidential aspirations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom confronted the national media furor over mass retail theft in California on Friday, unveiling a more than $300 million proposal to help law enforcement fight organized criminal rings.  The Democratic governor said his plan will include $255 million for a grant program to give police more tools to arrest and investigate thieves who participate in such smash-and-grab crimes, increasingly brazen heists that have drawn widespread attention in recent months.

Again, you would be forgiven if your immediate reaction is "What took you so long?" followed by "Wait, shouldn't these priorities already be in the $1.8 billion budget?"  Here in B'game, we spent a lot of time on policing last year (remember the big Townhall that showed nothing?)  No matter, if Gavin wants to pass out money, we should stick out our hand.  The net effect of the Defund the Police movement is to increase police funding.....the Law of Unintended Consequences will not be denied.

EV Charging: Still Slow Uptake at Lot Y

It has been a year since we checked in on the usage of the eight EV charging spaces in Lot Y south of Broadway on Chula Vista.  I use Lot Y often and have noticed some uptick in usage which has been extremely low in the past as noted here.  Last October/November 2020 usage was running a half of a charge per day, per space during Covid limitations.  Things have opened up a lot since then--just look at the traffic in town these days.  So one would expect some uptick in EV charging as well.  Here's the numbers from the city:

                   2020 minutes    2020 sessions          2021 minutes    2021 sessions

October            2650                121                        12,287                366

November         3571                137                        13,386                360

So the spaces are being used 2.8 times as frequently and providing 4.1 times as many minutes of juice.  That tallies to one and a half charging sessions per space per day.  That is still very light usage although I once saw four EVs charging at the same time.  I was at the lot on Wednesday afternoon when the regular spaces were very close to full and the eight EV spaces were empty.

There has been plenty written about the increasing load on the California grid from EVs, but not as much about the environmental effects of all the new batteries for EVs.  NBC News jumped on that last week

A nickel mine stretching nearly 4 square miles scars the forest above farmland (in the Philippines). The mine, Rio Tuba, plays a vital role in satisfying the global demand for a mineral more coveted than ever due in part to the explosion of the electric car industry.  The raw nickel dug out of the ground here ends up in the lithium batteries of plug-in vehicles manufactured by Tesla, Toyota and other automakers, according to an NBC News review of company filings and shipping records.

With the demand for nickel skyrocketing, the Rio Tuba mine is now on the brink of expanding deeper into the rainforest, adding almost 10 square miles to its current footprint. Local environmentalists fear that it will wipe out the forest’s fragile ecosystem and increase toxic runoff into the rivers that flow past the farmland down below, jeopardizing the crops.

I'm sure there are other mining areas seeing the same growth.  There's no free lunch, somewhere, somehow someone pays.  

Parklets are here to stay, if restaurants can afford them. Safety first.

By now our parklet lifelines to local restaurants have the feel of permanence on the streets of B'game.  Back in August 2020, I noted that parklets are far superior to closing the whole darn street and that has played out as expected.  Now comes the question of permanence and payment.  The Daily Journal is reporting that

While businesses thus far have not been charged for use of the public space, the City Council this week voiced favor for establishing cleaning and rental fees likely to cost upwards of $5,100 yearly.  The charges would likely begin at some point next year for a one-year pilot period, after which the city would reassess and make changes as needed. The bulk of the cost, a $300 per month cleaning fee, could be reduced if the city’s expenses for the service were less than expected.

The remaining rental cost was determined based on Mountain View’s permanent parklet program that charges 9% of going rental rates. Given Burlingame commercial rents and the typical 300-square-foot size of parklets, a $1,500 yearly charge was decided on. Additionally, a $769 new application fee and $205 permit renewal fee would be levied.

If that is the algorithm, and I'm not sure it should be, then B'way parklets should be a little cheaper than on the Avenew.  Burlingame is currently home to 43 parklets occupying 88 parking spaces, according to the city.  So we are talking about $220K per year added to the restaurant bills in town.  I'm not fluent in restaurants' P&L's but I will ask a few owners to find out.  They are probably in "what choice do I have?" mode which might explain this:

Councilmember Mike Brownrigg, part of the economic subcommittee tasked with determining appropriate fees and guidelines, noted input from businesses in the process had been limited, though “not for want of trying.”

And then there is the street parking issue for non-restaurants which may come to a head when "permanence" starts filtering out

Also, in some instances where parklets extend into the frontage of a neighboring storefront, the neighboring business could request the parklet be moved or shrunk. Councilmember Donna Colson suggested the neighboring business could be required to pay for part of the rebuilding, or a timeframe could be established in which parklets would not be required to be moved or rebuilt. 

“You have to have some fairness, you can’t build a $40,000 parklet and then your neighbor says ‘you know what, you have to take it down now,’” she said.

Left unsaid was the hubbub from San Francisco where a 60 page rulebook landed on restaurants' doorsteps causing havoc according to the Comicle.

The notices from multiple city agencies cited rules that she’d never seen: The walls needed to be lowered. The roof needed to be removed. It could occupy only one parking space. And if it wasn’t all fixed in 14 days, she’d be fined $100, then $200, then $500 on the third day onward.

Sidewalks less than 10' wide mean Fire Department access to the building would be impeded by having a roof on the parklet and they need to have 3' of buffer (meaning an opening) on each side also for emergency access.  I'm reminded of the Chicken Chicken! fire in 2005.  And SF wants a 20' clearance from any intersection which seems too small to me.  I also worry about being able to see through the parklets to see on-coming traffic.  When I drive north on Laguna at B'way, the Rocca parklet has a takeout sign on the side of the parklet that blocks the visibility of eastbound traffic.  It's very tricky to get through that intersection in any direction.

Bottom Line:  There are some refinements to be made and money to be collected, but parklets are here to stay at least until some climate warrior outlaws propane heaters.  And there are some really nice ones in town.  Maybe Beautification should start a new category-- Best Parklet.

Caltrain: Electrification Costs Spiral

I revisit the electrification story about once a year and the situation never seems to change--it is taking longer than expected, costing more than expected and the duration and total costs are still unknown; as is the money source.  Here are some snippets from the DJ article:

Following the Friday announcement of additional cost overruns for Caltrain’s electrification modernization project, its board has authorized spending increases to ensure its completion, despite concerns over where funding will materialize.  Caltrain’s electrification project faces $462 million in additional costs following its settlement agreement with contractor Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, higher than its initial June estimate of $333 million.  COVID-19 related delays, utility issues and real estate have also played a role in increasing costs, Caltrain staff said.

Board Member Steve Heminger supported the additional funding for the project. However, he cautioned the board to prepare for the worst when it comes to a funding strategy. Heminger noted only slightly more than half of the extra costs are known and covered through federal grants and Measure RR funds, with the rest still to be found.  It has received around $52.4 million from the federal government... Credit financing will cover another $150 million, with Measure RR capital reserve funding accounting for $60 million.

That last bit, using Measure RR funds, is controversial because the alternative is "relying on member agency funding".  "$100 million here, $100 million there, pretty soon you are talking about real money" to paraphrase C. Everett Dirksen.  You can guess what that means.  At least the catenary wires have arrived in B'game as seen here near B'way.  And the bulk of the work on this is above ground.  Keep that in mind at the El Camino Real project gets discussed.