The Burlingame Voice

Podcast: Hear About the Voice in Our Own Words

This is one of the most exciting posts in the history of the Burlingame Voice because it is about the history of the Voice.  Man-about-town and now podcaster-about-town, Mark Lucchesi, who we wrote about two years ago when he "retired" from Mollie Stone's, has trained his microphone on Russ and me.  You can listen to a number of "Mark at the Mic" podcasts that he has gone for the Burlingame Historical Society by searching that moniker on YouTube.

Russ and I were happy to be asked and had a blast talking about the Voice past and present for about 45 minutes.  The direct link to our podcast is HERE.  You will hear about how we started, who was involved early on, what each of us thinks about some local issues (hint:  we don't always agree and that is half the fun).  I describe some of the "Principles of the Voice" but I didn't get to all of them during our conversation, so here's the list as it sits currently:

• Respect the Law of Unintended Consequences
• There are Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics (popularized by Mark Twain, maybe Benjamin Disraeli)
•               Corollary:  A numerator without the denominator is useless
• There is no Free Lunch, somebody is paying.
• Always do cost/benefit assessments
• Does it pass the “Shoe on the other foot” test?
• People get interested when the pothole is in front of their house.
• A cat seldom changes its stripes.
•               Corollary: “When someone shows you who they are believe them” Maya Angelou

The session was also video recorded, so you may get to see our mugs in the future if and when that version is posted to YouTube.  In the meantime, enjoy the podcast. 

B'game Traffic Enforcement - No clear trend

I'm sticking by my assertion from last November made in the post titled "Does the whole County need remedial driving class?" because things do not appear to have improved.  As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus said on Hill Street Blues at the start of every shift "Let's be careful out there".  He was talking to the officers; I refer to the officers and drivers and pedestrians and cyclists.

Back in January we did the annual round-up of crime in town here.  Now BPD has made available the annual traffic enforcement numbers, so here they are:

                                                         2017      2018      2019      2020       2021      2022 

Reported Vehicle Accidents                  317        324        300        200       199        252

Traffic Stops                                      5,003      4,620      5.981    3,413    4,548      3,567 

Moving Citations Issued                      2,615      2,448      3,234    1,421     2,264     1,856

Following one of the principles of the Voice (i.e.  "A numerator without a denominator is useless"), I confirmed with the Chief that officer hours-on-the-street are essentially the same over the seven years.  The only real conclusion I can make from the stats is the Covid lockdown years led to a 30-50% decrease in accidents, stops and citations.  The rebound last year was fairly slow as well.

It would be easy to attribute the numbers to more working-from-home, crazy gas prices, kids postponing getting their licenses, or whatever else you can think of, but they show stability--at least in B'game.  The denominator we don't have is miles-driven in town.  Update:  A reader requested some further breakdown of the types of citations in the total, so BPD has been able to peel the onion a bit.  Here are some key categories:

• Distracted driving (cellphones): 31%
• Speed:  19%
• Stop signs:  13%
• Failure to obey a sign other than a stop sign (i.e. no left turn sign, no right on red sign, etc.):  9%
• Failure to yield to a pedestrian:  2%
• Vehicles driving in bike lanes:  2%
• Failure to yield while turning:  1%

              

High-Cost Rail - Part 159 Costs spiral out of control...again

Dan Walters and Ralph Vartabedian, both of Calmatters.org, are on the watch over the high-cost rail boondoggle as it claims to "create" tons of jobs (Walters) and as the costs just continue to boggle the mind and veer even further from budget reality (Vartabedian).  Here's some of the numbers from the latter piece

The headline reads: New cost estimate for high-speed rail puts California bullet train $100 billion in the red.  That's "in the red" which heretofore has been my working number for the whole budget.  Now it's just the missing billions!

The latest report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority projects costs for the initial segment at $35 billion, which exceeds secured funding by $10 billion. Other segments of the system are likely to have their projected costs increase, too. The state hopes it will get more federal aid.

New cost figures issued in an update report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority show that the plan to build the 171-mile initial segment has shot up to a high of $35 billion, exceeding secured funding by $10 billion.  The cost of that partial system is now higher than the $33 billion estimate for the entire 500-mile Los Angeles to San Francisco system when voters approved a bond in 2008.  What’s worse, that full system cost is set at up to $128 billion in the update, leaving a total funding gap of more than $100 billion for politicians to ponder....The $128 billion price tag does not include cost updates for two separate segments between Palmdale and Anaheim

This nightmare is apparently lost on one UC Berkeley law professor

Ethan Elkind, who watches California transportation issues as director of the climate change program at UC Berkeley’s law school, said the mounting problems cloud the project’s future.  “It is in jeopardy,” Elkind said. “It is dicey. There is no path forward for the full Los Angeles to San Francisco system. It is important that they get something done.”

The only thing that must get done is to kill this turkey before we blow through enough money to solve tens of serious infrastructure issues.  A smarter UC Berkeley guy piles on the tale of woe

Bill Ibbs, a retired UC Berkeley civil engineer who serves on the group and has consulted on international high speed rail projects, said he is concerned about the lack of attention to engineering risks.  “They don’t directly address the hard core engineering issues,” Ibbs said, particularly the 38 miles of mountain tunnels that are planned for Southern California alone. “What are the major engineering challenges that lie in front of you and why aren’t you talking about them in this report?”

The piece goes on to question the ridership forecasts and lays out the funding morass in more detail.  Click through if you can stand it. 

Paying Thrice for the Same Road

With the arrival of the express toll lanes on 101 through B'game, gas powered vehicle drivers now get to pay three times for the same road- regular taxes that are supposed to pay for infrastructure, gas taxes of $0.539 per gallon that are supposed to pay for roads and toll charges.  Who knows where that money is going.  The Merc reports

San Francisco Bay Area motorists on Friday saw a new span of toll-based express lanes open on Highway 101, the latest move to ease congestion on one of the region’s most frustrating commutes.

The opening — from Whipple Avenue in Redwood City to Interstate 380 in South San Francisco — means one of California’s busiest corridors now has 22 miles of express lanes that are free to use for carpoolers carrying at least three people and give other drivers the option to pay for faster freeway speeds.

And of course, there is this "hack"

Q: Why aren’t the lanes reducing congestion for most drivers?

A: One of the central benefits of express lanes is that they incentivize carpoolers, thereby taking vehicles off the roads and freeing up traffic for everybody. Cars with at least three people ride for free, and vehicles carrying two people get a 50% discount. But as express lanes roll out around the region, it’s unclear if the system has encouraged more carpooling, while it is clear that it has encouraged drivers to cheat the system.

An early study from the MTC found that on I-880 in August 2020, the vast majority of drivers claiming to have three people in the car were lying. About 28% of drivers set their Fastrak responder to indicate three occupants, while only 2% of cars were carrying three people, the study found.  “It’s really expensive to do enforcement,” said Goodwin. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to still close the gaps.”

And also of course there is the obligatory "equity" bow

Q: These lanes sound expensive. Are there any options for low-income people?

A: Yes, for San Mateo County adults who are making $78,300 or less a year, there is a one-time $100 stipend for express lanes or public transit rides.

You can bet this program costs huge bundles of cash to design, operate, monitor and dispense a C-note.  MTC admits it barely works and is hard to enforce, but they need to expand it.

Snowy Memories

After reading about the incredible snow levels in California, a regular Voice reader forwarded a photo of the famous 1962 Burlingame snowfall.  Here she is with her sister and an awesome snowman!  She notes that the houses shown are still there (another wonder) and challenges readers to identify the street.

Update:  This photo arrived from the Burlingame Historical Society after the initial post.  It is credited to Sister Marilyn Gouailhardou

In case you haven't been following the snow news, it's crazy out here.  I'm standing on the walkway to my Tahoe place yesterday--and I'm 5'8".  It's snowing now with another 2' expected.

New Recycling Company Comes to Town

The consumer recycling effort is complicated and fraught with problems from slim markets for certain materials (see the percentages from two years ago here) to consumer education and discipline about sorting and contamination.  I worry that a lot of what I put in the blue bin doesn't get recycled in the end--and I'm paying for it on the front-end (CRV) and the back end (to Recology).  I'm not alone and that has presented an opportunity for a new company to come to B'game.  I started seeing Ridwell boxes and lawn signs a couple of months ago--they look like the milkman drop boxes of old--white with red letters.

Ridwell found the Voice and offered up a call with the CEO, Ryan Metzger, to explain what the company is up to.  Organized as a Social Purpose Corporation, it offers a subscription service for scheduled pick-up of otherwise less-recyclable materials like light bulbs and "plastic film"--which is the myriad plastics that you can scrunch up in your hand.  In addition to the recurring items, Ridwell runs "specials" --featured categories of materials that are scheduled out six months in advance, e.g. CDs/DVDs are coming up soon.

For about $15 a month a subscriber gets the box, separate bags that go in the box for different materials, an IOS app and a dashboard to see how you are doing and what is coming up.  I haven't tried it myself so I'm hoping some Voice reader is among the ~125 customers in B'game and can weigh in.  The company notes:

We provide lots of education on what can / can't be recycled, have a staff of employees who answer questions, give people material to pre-sort rather than mixing it altogether, and then publish data on how much of it came in the way it was supposed to so that it can improve over time.  As a result, we have very high-quality bales of plastic. Our members are showing that the 9% number (Ed: from my earlier post) on how much plastic is recycled is not fixed and can actually go up!

On their end, Ridwell works directly with a number of organizations that take their better-conditioned recyclables, e.g. the composite lumber manufacturers like Trex.  Clothes and shoes ("threads" in Ridwell parlance) go to Goodwill or other similar organizations.  I'll be curious to check in with them after the first year of local operation and see how it's going.  In the meantime, welcome to B'game.

High Winds, Downed Trees

The windstorm that blew through two days ago took down a lot of trees in the County.  Per the DJ article

More than 50 trees and 62 power structures fell or were damaged and 42,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers were still without power midday Wednesday from high winds that swept through the Bay on Tuesday.

None were more dramatic than the redwoods that went down at BHS.  I was able to get a short video from a friend (not sure of the original videographer) that caught the action as one tumbling redwood took down another.  In total, four went down at BHS and Washington Park.  One Euc apparently went down on Easton and the city is worried enough about three more that they are coming down proactively.  Oddly enough, so far the 390 on El Camino Real held up under the crazy wind loads above 60 mph!  They must not be that unhealthy.  Check out the video and you may have to play around with your sound settings, but the audio is there.

Download BHS tree falling

And check out the size of the trunk and roots

Update 2/28:  PG&E reportedly repaired 200 downed power poles in San Mateo County and among the businesses that had their signs uprooted was this local landmark.

Five Units on a Five Thousand Foot Lot

As I type this, the city council is going into closed session for two issues:

4. CLOSED SESSION

1. Conference with Labor Negotiators Government Code Section 54957.6
   City Designated Representatives: Human Resources Director Maria Saguisag-Sid, City Manager Lisa K. Goldman, City Attorney Michael Guina, Chief of Police Michael Matteucci, Timothy L. Davis Attorney, Finance Director Helen Yu-Scott
   Employee Organizations: AFSCME and Teamsters
2. Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing LItigation (Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(1))

Yes In My Backyard v. City of Burlingame, San Mateo County Superior Court Case No. 23-CIV-00519

The YIMBYs are filing lawsuits all over the Bay Area and the state because, well, the state has handed them a cudgel and why not use it?  The Sunday Chronicle added some color that you can read about here.  I'll just grab the start and then some B'game specific bits:

Los Altos Hills resident Sasha Zbrozek is the first to admit that he is not a real estate developer.  “I’m just some random homeowner dude,” he said. “I’m not qualified to develop much.”  Yet, over the past few days, Zbrozek has become the face of the “builder’s remedy,” a fledgling movement that over the next year could transform the way housing development is approved across the Bay Area.

The builder’s remedy allows property owners to bypass most local planning and zoning rules if that city or county has failed to complete certification of a state-mandated eight-year housing plan known as a “housing element.” So far, the Bay Area is not doing too well: Only five of 109 jurisdictions had their housing plans approved by the state by the Jan. 31 deadline.

Currently, the property has a house and a pool on it, but Zbrozek has submitted two alternatives for redevelopment. One would add five townhomes and retain his current house and swimming pool. The other would require razing his house and pool and putting a 15-unit apartment building along with the five townhomes. If the larger project is approved, he will sell to an experienced builder and move.

It's nice that Mr. Zbrozek knows he's not a builder but is pretty confident he can find one to buy him out once he sets it all up.  Now onto the local comments

So far there are dozens of property owners looking at invoking the builder’s remedy, but only a few have pulled the trigger, according to Sonja Trauss, executive director of YIMBY Law, which has sued several cities for not having compliant housing elements.

Trauss said she knows of property owners in Burlingame, Fairfax, Oakland, Sausalito and Palo Alto who are likely to file applications, but that many are hesitant given that the builder’s remedy has been in effect for only two weeks.  Trauss predicted that the “sweet spot” for builder’s remedy projects will be five units on a 5,000-square-foot lot, which is the most common lot size in California. That is the scale of the projects in Burlingame and Sausalito that she expects to be filed in the coming days.

More than a year ago I suggested that the City start building a legal reserve to counter all of this destruction of R1 zoning.  It was excellent advice since it appears we are a juicier target than say Palo Alto

Meanwhile, wealthy towns such as Belvedere, in Marin, or Palo Alto have the financial resources to fight developments in court.  “The places that are most legally vulnerable are also the places where you are likely to face the longest slog in getting the project approved,” he said. “Maybe you are likely to prevail in Palo Alto, but Palo Alto is going to give you hell for a half dozen years along the way.”

I'd love to be a fly on the wall of that closed session.  There was also a piece in the DJ recently that quoted a different YIMBY attorney as saying he was living on an air mattress in an attic because he couldn't afford anything else.  Don't the YIMBY's want to pay a living wage?  If that claim is accurate, it's hard to see how he was talking about His Backyard.

New Vet in Town: Dr. Treats

With all of the pandemic puppies and kittens that we adopted over the last couple of years, I've heard some vets are very tightly booked out and short-staffed.  So, it's good to see a new vet with a new business model take on space at the old Anthropologie space.  The photo is a bit shadowy because it was near sunset and the tree we fought so hard to save during the Safeway project is still casting its shadow on Primrose.

I'll be interested to see how this $149 per year membership service from Dr. Treat works out.  I burn through more than $150 over the course of a year pretty regularly at my vet (which I love).  It's good to see this space occupied and without having to resort to the tactics EssEff has embraced.  The SF Examiner piece about a cafe on Cole St. that could not come to terms on a lease renewal has the numbers:

The City adopted a commercial vacancy tax in 2020. Its aim, in part, was to incentivize landlords to keep their storefronts occupied, thus providing more negotiating power to small businesses.  Like most taxes, it’s complicated and contains a number of exceptions. In designated business districts, the vacancy tax amounts to $250 per linear foot of storefront that faces the public right of way — if that storefront has been left empty for six months or more that year. The tax escalates to $500 per foot in the second year and $1,000 per foot in the third year and beyond.

Storefronts on Cole Street are about 25 feet wide, meaning the tax would amount to roughly $6,250 in the first year — less than what the Reverie was paying in rent per month.

Yet another bad idea that I hope doesn't work its way down the Peninsula.

The History and Innerworkings of Local Newspapers

The Burlingame Historical Society drew a good crowd to its quarterly meeting especially considering it was right before the Super Bowl.  This quarter's topic was the How the News is Made with guest speaker Jon Mays from the Daily Journal.  Society president Jennifer Pfaff provided an overview of the various early newspapers that existed in the area before Jon spent almost an hour on the innerworkings of the news business.  I had already watched local podcaster Mark Lucchesi's episode with Jon that you can find on YouTube here.

There was some overlap between the two presentations so the podcast will give you some of what you missed by not being at the meeting.  I'll just add three observations.  Jon described how the business model has changed, mostly for the worse, because of the changing advertising and classified ad business.  The subsequent reduction in staffing levels precludes covering events like the local crab feed the way they were done back in the day.  In a sense, that is what I am doing as a citizen journalist with this post.  Noting something that wouldn't otherwise be covered.

Jon also described a recent instance of the Law of Unintended Consequences when he noted the impact of AB5 (the controversial gig worker bill) on his delivery team.  The people who deliver local newspapers don't just deliver one paper; they deliver most--maybe all-- of the papers in the area simultaneously.  My SF Comical comes bundled with my Wall Street Journal everyday which I find amusing.  AB5 disrupts the ability of the drivers to work four jobs at once--literally at once as they make their rounds.  Jon noted that the forces behind AB5 don't understand his business.  That's an understatement since I don't think they understand many businesses at all.

Lastly, Jon described the student journalist program that the DJ operates after school with a kid from each of the local high schools.  This is the classic internship model with hands-on-overseen by professionals work experience.  It's good stuff and has been the origin of a few careers in the news business.  As the grandson of a newspaper editor, Jon gets it naturally.  Notice the Advance Star office on the screen.

91% of 390 Trees is a Lot of Trees

Last night's big confab with Caltrans and city officials regarding the El Camino Real renewal project was eye-opening for a lot of people.  Probably not regular Voice readers since we have discussed it in 2021 here and here.  The most eye-opening statement made last night was during the Q&A when Caltrans was asked how many of the giant Eucs were scheduled to be cut down.  The answer was "about 9% will remain".  There are about 390 of the historic ones in the 3-mile stretch.

The other way to phrase that is 91% of 390 Eucs will be taken out.  That's 355 giant trees.  Buried in the details of compacted soil, broken sidewalks, retaining walls, sight triangles, sulfur fungus, poor trimming around the power lines, etc is the lead:  355 eucalyptus trees are history--well, we thought they were historic since the grove is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but really they're just history.  There will be 35 survivors who will stand in testament to their fallen brethren and to the ECR that once was.

There were a number of long-time B'gamers there and one that I had not seen in at least 6 or 7 years came over after the Q&A and asked the Big Questions.  He asked "how many people know about this?  And what are they gonna do when they find out?"  I've been asking myself the same question.  Another knowledgeable long-time local has asked 30 people if they are aware of the tree situation over the last few days.  General awareness is close to nil. 

This project has been in the works for years.  Maybe Caltrans and the city hasn't had a good idea of how many trees would have to go, but they do now.  In the interest of transparency, shouldn't the city send out the short, to-the-point notice that this is coming?  You bet.  Then wait for the outrage to arrive.

I'll double back with more on the proceedings soon.  There were numerous displays and a tabletop exercise looking at the Hillside and Bayswater intersections with measurements, planning tools and tree options.  In the meantime, here is Mayor Brownrigg introducing the B'gamers who are on the ECR task force with some Caltrans people seated behind.

B'game Dining: Some of the 100 Best?

What to make of the latest Yelp restaurant scores?  In Yelp's opinion we are rocking the free world with two of the top restaurants in......America?  You might ask "Where are they?"  I did.  SFGate is reporting on them: 

The best restaurants in the Bay Area are in Burlingame, according to Yelp. The business review platform released its 10th annual Top 100 Places to Eat in America list, which featured Burlingame businesses Gigi's Cafe and Curry Hyuga as the only Bay Area restaurants mentioned in the ranking.

Gigi's Cafe, which snagged No. 14 on the list, features a selection of specialty items from the Sriracha hot chicken sandwich to a classic BLT. The 6-year-old shop is known for its generously packed sandwiches but also offers soups and salads for those with a smaller appetite.

Back on Broadway--not the esteemed Avenue-- we learn

Less than 2 miles from Gigi's Cafe is Curry Hyuga, a Japanese curry restaurant that ranked 55th on Yelp’s list.

I wanted to try Curry Hyuga early in its existence, but that was Covid-time and they were only doing take-out on a night when I wanted to dine-in.  Looks like a retry is in order.  Who knew?  B'game is a dining destination. My reviews to follow.