The Burlingame Voice

High Cost Rail - Part 163 The DOGE commeth

There are multiple news reports that relay and expand on Vivek Ramaswamy's tweet about our very own high-cost rail boondoggle.  As co-head of the DOGE, he's got some pull to make things happen--or in this case, hopefully to make things not happen.  Regular Voice readers who are familiar with the first 162 posts on our boondoggle, know the ugly truth.  The project is mired in an expensive quagmire.  It's original questionable value just keeps sinking.  Here is a three-and-a-half-year-old reminder.  The DOGE tweet notes

Late last month Ramaswamy pointed out on X that “This is a wasteful vanity project, burning billions in taxpayer cash, with little prospect for completion in the next decade. President Trump correctly rescinded ~$1BN in federal funds for this boondoggle in 2019, but Biden reversed that & doubled down. Time to end the waste.”

The California Globe digs a bit deeper on the numbers

This led to Thursday when proposed DOGE co-Commissioners Ramaswamy and Elon Musk were in Washington talking to GOP leadership about the proposed DOGE. Potential targets were discussed, with California High Speed rail being one of them, along with Medicare, Social Security and electric vehicle subsidies.

While California lawmakers have yet to publicly respond to a possible cut of all federal funds for the high speed rail project as of Friday afternoon, critics of the high speed rail plan have said that federal cuts of that magnitude would put the project in a real bind, perhaps even delaying opening of it further into the 2030s.

“If DOGE does become reality and they deliver on their promise on getting rid of all federal funding for the project, then the state will have to deal with that shortfall,” transportation industry accountant Derrick Clark told the Globe Friday. “Right now, the project is trying to get $4.7 billion in federal grants to stay at their current spending levels. Biden is likely to get them $200 million of that before leaving office, leaving it up to Trump to approve the other $4.5 billion in grants. And that he is likely not going to do, especially if DOGE highlights that.

High-cost rail is such low-hanging fruit for a early DOGE win that I cannot see any way that another $4.5B gets released.  The next question is how does Newsom react?  He's termed out in 2026, so reputational protection is pretty much his 24-hour raison d'etre at this point.  One lame duck should kill the other.

EV Chargers: On the blink in Lot Y

The bloom is off the EV market for a variety of reasons.  Unit growth is slowing dramatically.  Now that early adopters have made their purchases, the mainstream buyers' reluctance to go all-electric is hitting home hard with car companies, parts suppliers, battery factories and infrastructure players.  A number of EV start-ups will likely go bankrupt by summer according to the WSJ analysis and the big manufacturers are losing their rear bumpers on every sale.  Some to the tune of more than a $100,000 loss per sale!  Ironically, sales of high-end gas pickups and SUVs are propping up companies' EV divisions!

Range anxiety is one of the key causes of EV reluctance--and it is helping the hybrid market accordingly.  My only experience with a Tesla rental drove that anxiety home as I got about half of what the range gauge estimated.  Paying the supercharger rate wasn't dramatically cheaper than gas in the state I rented in.  Heightening range anxiety is charger malfunctions and vandalism (stealing the copper filler wire for scrap value).  Malfunctions are a national problem (estimated to be one in five) and very much a local issue as reported by the DJ this weekend:

In Burlingame’s Broadway District, continued issues with its electric vehicle charging stations are inconveniencing businesses and residents alike, Broadway Burlingame Business Improvement District president John Kevranian said.   A representative for EVgo, which owns and operates the six fast-charging electric vehicle stations located at 1133 Chula Vista Ave., confirmed that five of the six stations have likely been out of operation at times for a couple of months. One has been out of operation for weeks, she said.

Now, however, eight parking spots in the tightly packed Broadway District have become largely nonfunctional.   “This is the holiday season, too. It’s crucial these work during the holiday season. If EVgo is not going to repair them, maybe they can cover the stations, and use them as public parking,” Kevranian said.

John is on-the-money with the idea of covering a charger if it is broken so everyone could see that they can use the space.  Given they don't have meters, it would be a freebie, too. The sad part is that EVgo cannot keep chargers working that only went live in 2019, as we noted here.  The DJ piece notes that EVgo may not be complying with the city contract.  I'd say that is a safe bet, but did we negotiate any performance penalties?  Usage in Lot Y ramped up pretty slowly as we noted here, but random outages are likely to stunt future usage.  Anxiety is bad for business.

The Tsunami that wasn't: Lessons learned

It was an exciting morning.  I just happened to be outside talking to a buddy whose tsunami knowledge was unknown to me when his phone went off about 10:45 am.  I got nothing on my phone, but he started making a plan since he knew a "warning" is the highest level of four notices that are issued.  Listening to him, I was concerned for the coastal areas covered in the warning; from the area of the 7.0 undersea earthquake off Ferndale down to Davenport on the PCH.  I was skeptical that it would be an issue here on the west side of B'game.  Nonetheless it was time to turn on the local TV news station that was in Breaking News mode.  There was a second quake north of Sacramento that registered a 6.0, the BART tube was shut down and SFO was landing flights as normal while noting the runways are only 13 feet above sea level.

The warning was in effect until 11:49 am-- an hour after the quake hit.  My knowledgeable buddy took off--I didn't ask where, but he mumbled something about "uphill".  The TV experts from SFFD, National Weather Service and some quake center were talking Go-Bag and getting up to 100 feet of elevation.  Traffic on eastbound 92 was bumper to bumper.  I was still skeptical of any tsunami squeezing through the Golden Gate, wrapping around the Bay and pushing water past maybe our Bayfront.  There's a reason Laguna Ave. is named Laguna Ave.  After watching the YouTube documentary on the Japan tsunami of 2011 my friend recommended, a second thought or two has crept in.

I have to wonder why the SMC Alert didn't hit my phone until 11:49 am, an hour after the quake and then was deemed not a danger at 12:10 pm?  It turns out that a 7.0 quake, while big in town, isn't considered to be big enough to cause a major tsunami.  Is there such a thing as a minor tsunami?  Let's hope SMC alert and the quake shake apps are working as designed.  

BPD shooting: First in a long time

Oddly enough I was talking to a retired BPD chief last month about the last time a BPD officer had to draw their gun, never mind discharge it.  We seemed to recall it had been much more than a decade.  Even the Wells Fargo robbery and murder on the Ave. may not have caused a weapon to be drawn as the robbers were quick.  That streak came to an end on Saturday as the Comicle is reporting: 

Around 2:53 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call reporting possible gunshots on the 800 block of North San Mateo Drive, according to the San Mateo Police Department. Officers found a man walking near the intersection of Jefferson Court and State Street. He pointed a firearm at the officers, causing them to move out of the line of fire, and then ran north on Jefferson Court, police said. 

The officers, “fearing for their lives,” requested additional police units before chasing after the man, but they lost sight of him, police said. A Burlingame police officer located him a quarter-mile away, near the intersection of Bayswater Avenue and Myrtle Road, where he was holding a gun and standing in the middle of the roadway, police said.  Officers said they tried to deescalate the situation by giving the man verbal commands and discharged a rubber projectile to prompt him to drop his firearm, but he did not comply. At 4 a.m., one San Mateo officer and one Burlingame officer shot and struck the man, causing him to fall to the ground, police said.

The man was reported to be in stable condition after the hour-long engagement.  The usual follow-up:  administrative leave for the two officers and investigations by BPD, SMPB and the DA will eventually tell us the rest of the story including the part that gets glossed over--the original "possible gunshots".

Fall Tree hugger Post: Early rains fill our creeks

The Japanese maples in town have been spectacular, but we have to mix up our tree hugger species a bit each year.  The early rains have the seven creeks of B'game flowing nicely and the cloudy, rainy days this past week made our gingkoes stand out even more.  Here's a couple on Bayswater and the daylight portion of the creek at Heritage Park that runs through downtown.  We're lucky the rains cleared for Thanksgiving.  Hope you all have a good one.

Sloppy floppy signage

It's one thing to have cheesy plastic signs and bollards all over town; it's another thing to not maintain them.  I particularly dislike these floppy signs that sit in the middle of the street and have a little red Yield sign on them that drivers constantly confuse with an actual stop sign.  They stop for no reason even with no pedestrian around and I watch to see if they get rear-ended.  Here's one on Howard Ave. that broke several months ago and just sits tilted and missing one side.  It's a sad little sight.  At least there is a nice gingko or two on the block to distract tree huggers.

Badges! Badges! We need stinkin' badges!

The sheriff Corpus soap opera continues apace with near daily updates since the last post 10 days ago.  Much of the drip, drip is due to reporters, editors and columnists sifting through the 400-page report from the retired judge than led to the county Supes moves against the sheriff.  The Daily Post is on the case again today with a photo of Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle wearing a badge that looks just like a deputy's badge.  The article states that he is "likely committing a crime by impersonating a police officer".  But wait, there's more.  Aenlle had other badges made up and was passing them out to friends and colleagues at a local non-profit.  Hence the Daily Post headline "Anyone want a sheriff's badge".  Blazing Saddles and The Treasure of Sierra Madre had it right after all.

I had heard from a couple sources that Aenlle is a Burlingamer, but had not made any effort to verify it.  The Post just did the legwork for me by citing his B'gamer status in today's piece.  The second article on changing the code on a rifle storage locker continues the drip, drip as does editor Dave Price's column about trusting sheriff's departments.  I don't see this drip dripping until a March special election.

Free Lunch: CSM pushes "free college"

It was three and a half years ago that the community college Board of Trustees set aside $6.75 million to make college "free".  Of course, very little in life is "free" and unless we are talking about a scenic view or a walk on the beach, being "free" can often diminish the self-perceived value of something as well as one's commitment to apply oneself.  And then there are the perceptions of "fairness".  "You don't have to pay the $50 per credit?"  Here is a look back to 2021 for the origin of "free college".

One also wonders how much advertising is needed for something that is "free"?  Just in the last week, my X feed is absolutely overwhelmed by "CSM is free" ads.  There must be at least a dozen different ones, and they just keep coming.  I'm sure they are not expensive to produce, and the X cost is probably not huge to run them.  The same cannot be said for the glossy mailer that arrived in mailboxes yesterday.  I wonder how much taxpayer money went to print it and mail it?  In the really fine print one reads "Enrollment fee waiver for qualifying San Mateo County residents pursuing a degree certification."  One wonders if the advertising costs exceed the waiver costs?

Gasoline prices: Get ready for more pain

After reading about our Air Resources Board move this month to tighten gasoline "standards" even more I was reminded of this post from 2015.  The California average was $3.22 back then and in February 2017, I noted the price of regular at the Peninsula Ave. Shell was $3.05.  With apologies to composer Mary Hopkin

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and drive forever and a day
We'd buy the fuel we choose
We'd fight and always cruise
For we were young and sure to have our way

Today regular at that Shell station is $4.99, 64% higher than 2017.  And we need to get ready for more pain at the pump as Calmatters writes about the November 8th CARB vote

The new rule’s potential effects on California fuel prices are largely unknown. The air board said today that oil companies typically already pass 8 to 10 cents per gallon of costs on to consumers because of the state’s fuel standard.  Environmentalists and consumer advocates opposed the new rules, warning the changes will boost alternative fuels — such as biofuels made from cow manure or soy beans — that may have limited environmental upsides, and will allow oil companies to stay in business because they can buy credits or switch to producing those fuels.

In an initial assessment released last year, the air board projected that the proposed new standard could potentially raise the per-gallon price of diesel by 59 cents and for gasoline, 47 cents, in 2025. Air board officials have since disavowed that estimate, writing last month that the analysis “should not be misconstrued as a prediction of the future credit price nor as a direct impact on prices at the pump.”

Oh, let's not "misconstrue" anything.  We just won't make any forecast.  Other estimates put the gas increase at 65 cents per gallon or higher.  Meanwhile over in EV world, where CARB would like to push all of us, the WSJ has a piece titled "The Withering Dream of a Cheap American Electric Car".  Tesla has backed-off building a $25,000 car and all the other, non-profitable car companies see no way to succeed making a cost-competitive version either.  The Lucid CEO notes

“That market is notorious because you get into mass manufacture—terrible, low margins,” he said of the low-price EVs. “To install the manufacturing base for millions of these units makes little sense to me.”

Abandoning the idea of a $25,000 car comes as a blow to those who were betting that the electrification of the automobile was on track to happen seemingly overnight—with EVs for every pocketbook replacing the tens of millions of vehicles on the roadways.

Get ready to pay more--probably a lot more--because 12 unelected, activist bureaucrats say so.  By the way, it pays well too for a part-time gig.  CARB Chair Liane Randolph is pulling down $278,876 in pay and benefits.  She's probably buying premium.

Soap Opera at the Sheriff's Office

Some soap operas air weekly, but the one down at the Sheriff's office is running daily at this point and is it ever well-written--if you like soap operas.  Personally, I don't.  Especially when it involves the operation of the largest and perhaps most critical department in the County.  I have had reservations about Sheriff Corpus' management skills from the get-go--two and a half years ago as noted here.  The Daily Post has led the way tracking Corpus' leadership as noted here and in the subsequent comments.  The Daily Journal has focused in on the "chaos" lately here and here as has the SF Chronicle on the front page here.

As various reporters dig into the 400-page investigative report by the retired judge the Supes hired, more details are revealed that caused the Supes to unanimously ask for Corpus' resignation and to abolish her chief of staff's position; right before she showed up at the meeting and promoted him to Assistant Sheriff live during public comment.  As Mark Simon noted in his DJ column opener in the print edition: "It appears that getting rid of a sheriff is going to be a lot more difficult than electing one."  The on-line version relies on poet Dylan Thomas' verse.  There is plenty of nitty-gritty in the column for a civics lesson on the legal wranglings ahead.

One thing that hasn't been noted in the reporting is Corpus' compensation.  Per transparentcalifornia.com, her total pay is $466K per year plus benefits that take total comp to $701K per year.  That is a 42% bump from getting elected sheriff (verses her captain's comp running the Millbrae force that the sheriff's office contracts).  The step up in responsibility and visibility was much higher--as she is now finding out.  With one senior person who was vocal about some of the problems under arrest and two, or is it three, recent resignations, one could question how the ship is being steered at the moment.  It all goes to a key point that a very smart B'game city councilor made years ago when we were considering merging BPD with the San Mateo PD to save money.  She was vehemently opposed to giving up local control and managed to convince the other councilors---a big win for B'game.  It also avoids this mess.

 

"Stove grabbers" get singed in Washington and Berkeley

The natural gas "stove grabbers" had a bad day on Election Day as Washington State passed Initiative 2066 by 3% and Berkeley gave a gas tax a big thumbs down.  Californian politicians like to say we lead the nation in implementing change, but perhaps Washington is leading this time around.  About the initiative, the WSJ noted before the election

Anthony Anton, CEO of the (Washington state) hospitality association, says 84% of the restaurateurs he represents rely on natural gas. Remodeling to go electric is a “massive cost at a time where operators just can’t afford it,” he says. Some say the quality of their product would suffer, as some cooking methods, such as stir-frying, are difficult to perform on lower-heat electrical stoves. Most of the association’s members are very small businesses with substantial debt from Covid lockdowns.

The building association worries the new energy code will raise the state’s already high housing costs, locking out potential buyers. The code requires that new buildings meet a certain environmental “score.” Without the points from an electric heat pump, a builder will have to make up the difference with other green measures that run between $15,000 and $20,000 in a single-family home. “Every time they raise the price $1,000, it prices out another 500 Washington families,” says Greg Lane, the association’s executive vice president.

The Washington State Tree Fruit Association is concerned about rising costs of refrigeration to keep produce fresh. A sudden power outage could be catastrophic for the state’s apple industry. Trade regulations for its top two export markets require that fruit be constantly refrigerated at a specific temperature for as long as 90 days.

The state’s cheapest energy plan would almost double electricity demand in Washington by 2050, putting an unprecedented strain on the grid.

The Seattle Times writes "Initiative 2066 adds provisions to state law that explicitly protect access to natural gas and ensure that local governments and the state’s energy code cannot “prohibit, penalize or discourage the use of gas.”"

And over in Berkeley, they had their own Measure GG which the Comicle notes is going down bigly at 70/30 opposed.  Per the Comicle:

Measure GG would assess a special tax on buildings of 15,000 square feet or more that use gas for heating or other purposes, with exceptions for single-family homes, residential buildings with at least 50% affordable units and government buildings.  The measure required a simple majority to pass, but as of Friday the opposition was winning 68% of votes, with 32% in favor.  The tax would amount to nearly $3 per therm, which is more than double typical natural gas retail prices from Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

There are so many Unintended Consequences and unseen-by-politicians costs to these poorly thought-out initiatives, but voters appear to be figuring some of them out and sending them down in flames.  Hopefully the new B'game city council will leave this issue in the off position.

Attempted abduction-- license plate readers prove out

It's been two and a half years since the B'game city council voted 3-2 to install license plate readers in town.  You can read about Michael Brownrigg's and Emily Beach's opposed votes here.  Now we have stunning evidence of the wisdom of applying this technology in town.  As issued by BPD and repeated here in its entirety:

On Saturday, November 2, 2024, at approximately 3:33 PM, officers from the Burlingame Police Department responded to a report of an attempted kidnapping involving an adult female near the intersection of Burlingame Avenue and Occidental Avenue. It was reported that a male suspect driving a dark-colored SUV approached the victim as she was walking. The suspect exited his vehicle, brandishing a black handgun, and ordered her to get into the SUV.

The victim screamed for help as another vehicle passed which startled the suspect, causing him to flee the scene. A nearby witness heard the commotion and observed the suspect’s vehicle speeding away. This witness was able to provide a partial license plate number. Further investigation utilizing local Automated License Plate Reader cameras yielded photographs of the suspect vehicle and a complete license plate.

At approximately 7:40 PM, with assistance from the Belmont Police Department, the suspect vehicle was located in the 500 block of O'Neill Ave in Belmont. An 18-year-old resident of San Mateo, found in possession of a black BB gun, was arrested and subsequently booked into the San Mateo County Jail for attempted kidnapping.

The Burlingame Police Department urges anyone with additional information regarding this incident to contact the lead investigator, Sergeant Mike Bolanos, at 650-777-4142.

That's four hours from incident to arrest.  What is not mentioned is that this attempt was apparently the second in a week or so by what is believed to be the same perpetrator.  The majority of Californian's have reached the breaking point on crime--small, medium and crazy dangerous like this one.  Prop. 36 is cruising to a win with a 70%+ margin even as our Gavinor claims it doesn't reflect our "California values".  Time for a gut check there.  But the craziness goes on.  Just last month this lawsuit was filed over Flock ALPR use in Virginia:

A federal lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice against the Virginia city of Norfolk, challenging the city’s widespread deployment of Flock Safety Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras.  The lawsuit argues that the city’s installation of more than 170 cameras on public roads constitutes an unconstitutional, warrantless surveillance program that monitors every motorist, raising questions about digital privacy and government overreach.

Some people have a very weird idea of what constitutes justice.