The Burlingame Voice

Crime numbers in review: 2022

BPD rolls up the prior year in local crime each January and we dutifully report it to you.  All in all, it appears that 2022 was pretty much the same as the last couple of years with the exception of catalytic converter thefts which are on a steep trajectory upwards.  We touched on the topic in March here.  In the comments on that post, you can read about CATGUARD.  I'll check on whether B'game is thinking about it like San Mateo and update this.

My guess is porch pirate thefts are seriously underreported to BPD.  Just looking at the Ring camera footage from nearby neighborhoods, two per month seems low.  Remember that all of these numbers are monthly - so we had 36 residential burglaries reported in 2022, 288 stolen vehicles, and so on down the list.

Monthly Average                        2016    2017    2018    2019      2020    2021    2022

Residential Burglaries                   5        2            3        3          2            2        3

Vehicle Burglaries                      23      25        21       39         20         25       24

     Thefts from Unlocked Vehicles                              -          14            8        5

Commercial Burglaries                  9      4            5        4            6            5        5

     Construction site theft                                             -           1            1        1

     Package thefts                                                        -            4            2        2

Other Thefts                               60      51        56        61          -             -        -

Catalytic Converter Theft                                                          6            9        11

Robberies                                    1        1          1         2           2             2        1       

Stolen Vehicles                            9         6        4            6         9             7        8

Vandalism                                  13    13          11       12          13           13        13

 

Not reported in these statistics is the traffic enforcement trends.  Purely anecdotally, as noted here, we need more traffic enforcement.  Watching people speed up 40 yards from a yellow light and blast through the red is a daily occurrence.  I would love to see BPD be funded to add at least two more officers dedicated to this.  

What civic leadership on SB9 looks like

I was struck by the Daily Post headline shown below.  The Post columnists have been talking about the various cities in SoCal that are standing up to Sacramento on SB9--and standing up for their residents, but this is the first "news" piece I have seen from them or any other paper.  Good on 'em.  Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance and Whittier--none of which I could find on a map if asked--filed a lawsuit against the state and AG Rob Bonta in March.  Deeper into the article we learn that

In June, the cities of Lakewood and Rancho Palos Verdes announced they had filed their own SB9 lawsuit which is similar to that filed by Redondo Beach.  The difference is that Lakewood and Redondo Beach are general law rather than charter cities, leading to slightly different legal arguments.

Double good on them.  B'game is also a general law city as noted on the city website:

The City of Burlingame was incorporated in 1908. As a General Law city, Burlingame is subject to the general laws of the State of California. The State Government code is the fundamental law of the City, specifying the powers and the form of government that will put these powers into service. This is different from a Charter City, which has more control over local municipal affairs. Charter provisions covering municipal affairs prevail over the State laws when the two are in conflict.

I would love to see B'game link up with Lakewood and RPV (which I can find on a map).  We may be at a slight disadvantage being a general law city, but there is Strength in Numbers.  It seems like a lot more important issue than some of what passes for a city council agenda.  That's what leadership looks like.

Natural Gas: Follow the science?

We must take note of the national kerfuffle about gas stoves that has been boiling over this week.  It's totally pertinent to B'game because our last city council bought into the climate hype and instituted a "reach code" such that new construction can't have any natural gas--not just stoves, but water heaters, furnaces, and barbeques.  No gas for you!  Now the Feds are making similar noises and then backtracking as the WSJ notes

A Biden appointee on the Consumer Product Safety Commission explicitly threatened to ban gas stoves based on dubious evidence of public-health harm. “This is a hidden hazard,” said commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”  After withering public criticism, including by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the CPSC Chairman denied any plan to ban, and the White House said President Biden also doesn’t want to ban gas stoves. But that’s cold comfort given that the climate left does want to ban them, and progressive cities and states are doing it.

One might ask what is the science behind gas phobia?  Well, today the SF Chronicle actually let a letter to the editor slip through that is pretty clear on the science:

There has lately been a lot of concern about gas ranges and how they can harm indoor air quality, but some of this is too fast and too furious.  As an active researcher in indoor air quality, there can be no doubt that gas cooking produces nitrogen dioxide and that this is bad for respiratory health but the level of concern is far higher than the data show the situation actually warrants. 

Cooking is likely the most polluting thing done in homes. It produces lots of contaminants, regardless of the heat source. Switching to electric may not make the sum total significantly better.  The solution that works regardless of the type of cooking is using your range hood when cooking. Range hoods have been required in California for a long time. Studies have not shown that there would be any significant difference in net harm between gas and electric cooking if you actually use range hoods when cooking.

Max Sherman, retired senior scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

I'll bet if you were one of the 2.4 million PG&E customers that lost power over the last two weeks you were thankful you had a gas stove and some matches even if your range hood or downdraft vent didn't work.  Open a window and enjoy a cup of tea or a bowl of soup.

PG&E: Holding the line so far

I really hope that I am not jinxing things by posting this a couple days before the last of this round of storms plays out.  I have four sump pumps going so I am really hoping....

So far PG&E in south B'game has been solid.  If you told me two weeks ago that we would get the weather and wind we got and the power would stay on the whole time, I would have bet you a C-note that it would not.  In my neighborhood, I would have lost that bet.  This little squib in today's Chron reminded mm how lucky we have been:

All-Pro tight end George Kittle tweeted Thursday night that he had been without power “going on 4 days” — making him one of tens of thousands of Californians still without power due to the recent storms.  “A lil help would be appreciated thanks. Just trying to prepare for something this weekend,” Kittle tweeted at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., alluding to Saturday’s game.

PG&E responded gamely but unspecifically, saying: “We’ve got our offense, defense and special teams on this, George! We’ve got the power back for 2.4M people through the past two weeks’ storms, and we’re gonna get you (and everyone else still out) back as soon as we can!”

The bolded bit is mine.  We had a big tree go down and take out some wires right near St. Paul's Church and I'm sure PG&E had to hustle.  But so far, they are pulling it off.  That correlates with a couple of other good experiences I have had with PG&E over the last year.  Blown transformer, frayed drop wire, etc all fixed in a reasonable amount of time.  EssEff may want to buy PG&E out of their distribution network in the city and run it themselves--which is just hilarious.  Not me, not in B'game.  If you have ever had a job in "operations" where things have to get done regardless of the circumstances, I think you will agree.

Fingers still crossed.

Update:  Jan 19.   Last night's storm which seemed to deliver more rain than predicted appears to be the last one for awhile.  Here's a photo to commemorate the deluge on the Ave.

Water, water everywhere: Except in a bigger reservoir

We must save this missive from the County, the City of San Mateo, the Town of Hillsborough and the SFPUC for posterity.  The obvious question is how far into posterity will we get before this gem comes back to haunt us, our lawns, our gardens, our trees, etc.  The bolded text is my addition

Local agencies are working closely with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on monitoring the impacts of the storm on the San Mateo Creek and preparing for the incoming rains next week. On Friday and Saturday of this weekend, residents along the creek may notice increased flow as the SFPUC conducts controlled releases of the Crystal Springs Reservoir to prepare for the next series of storms. Flooding is not expected this weekend and we are tracking the incoming storm.

The SFPUC owns and operates the Crystal Springs Reservoir system on the Peninsula, which includes Lower Crystal Springs Dam on San Mateo Creek. This reservoir is a key source of drinking water for the San Francisco Peninsula and not a flood control facility. As part of SFPUC’s prudent reservoir operations, operators will need to conduct controlled releases of water out of Lower Crystal Springs Dam into San Mateo Creek to create space for expected rain inflow. These releases are planned with consideration of current rain and high tides to minimize impacts to San Mateo Creek. The goal of these releases is to reduce the potential for reservoir spillover during periods of extreme storms. 

Through the weekend of January 7, water levels in Crystal Springs Reservoir are not expected to reach the dam spillway. However, during the week of January 9, there is currently an approximately 25% chance that water may reach the dam’s spillway during one of the succeeding storm events. In such cases of extreme weather that is outside of our control, water flowing into the reservoir would flow out of the reservoir via the dam’s spillway, which would increase flows in San Mateo Creek. Visit SFPUC’s web page at www.sfpuc.org/PeninsulaReservoirWetWeather for more information and updates.

Remember back in June when we went to Stage 2 water restrictions?  Now the water is headed out to the Bay.  Recall also when Dr. Newsha Ajami, Director of Urban Water Policy, Stanford's Water in the West Program noted the state "has already built reservoirs where they work best" and that we should be transitioning to groundwater storage going forward?  Can't come one water year too soon, but is anyone actually working on it or are we just focused on "sea-level rise" and the parcel taxes needed to pay for the walls?

Update 1/16:  I seldom watch TV news but this came on right after the football game and I had been hoping to find a photo of the Hwy 92 sink hole.  Here it is

A Small Man in a Big Office

The political hack at the SF Comicle sucked me in with the on-line teaser about Newsom talking about "small men in big offices".  I had higher aspirations for a New Year's Voice post, but I got sucked in by Joe Garofoli's hyperbole.  Joe G. is the epitome of a In-the-tank Chronicle columnist.  He has no shame insight.  Boy, do I miss Willie Brown.  So here are just a few of Gavin's misses courtesy of Joe G.:

Newsom:  “I’ve been thinking a lot about time,” Newsom said to open his 21-minute speech. “Maybe it’s my age. Maybe it’s being a parent. But time is now on my mind.”

Did he not see the 50,000 jokes about Kamala Harris and "the passage of time"?  The dude is 55.  His speech writer must be 30.  Garofoli calls him "the guy in charge of the world’s fourth-largest economy — a place he calls the “nation-state” of California."  This year the only thing he might be "in charge of" is the nation's largest deficit.  Want to make a name for yourself?  Go find the $30 billion dollars of taxpayer money that you let the EDD send to fraudsters.  THAT would be like "being in charge" and might balance the budget.

Challenges?  Garofoli notes

And there’s a lot to do in a state where 161,000 people are unhoused, wealth inequality is vast, the poverty rate is high, housing is unaffordable and less than half of students are proficient in reading.

Newsom couldn't "house" the "unhoused" when he was the mayor of EssEff.  What makes anyone thing he can do anything productive across the whole state except threaten local governments' payments?  And "wealth inequality"?  Really Joe G.?--Newsom better hope the wealth inequality holds firm for the rest of his term since that is what is payin' the bills.  Here's the kicker:

“In our finest hours, California has been freedom’s force multiplier, protecting liberty from a rising tide of oppression taking root in statehouses — weakness, masquerading as strength. Small men in big offices.”

I take it back.  His speechwriter must be 23.  California lost 343,000 people to net out domestic migration in the last year and the states he is trying fruitlessly to demonize accepted most of them.  Not that I think that is a problem.  I'd be happy to see California "lose" another million or two so maybe our second-rate politicians could get a handle on the problems we have now.  Not holding my breath.  Happy New Year.  Stay dry and save some of the rainwater because we are gonna need it.

NYE Deluge: Floating down the Avenew

The Pineapple Express arrived right on time to make a mess of New Year's Eve.  I only ventured onto El Camino once yesterday and it was before the stuff really hit the fan.  My mother-in-law drove on it later and a splash from an adjacent car knocked her windshield wiper right off the car!  But we know ECR is a drainage disaster.  What about the Ave?  It seems the deluge combined with a king tide that was expected, per the Chron

The tides will be at their most extreme on Friday when the high tide of 7.12 feet will arrive at 10:24 a.m. and the low tide will dip to -1.74 feet at 5:26 p.m. — a sea change of nearly 9 feet in about seven hours. Saturday’s high tide rolls in at 11:14 a.m. at 7.09 feet with a low tide of -1.77 feet at 6:15 p.m. A high tide of 6.88 feet will appear at 12:06 p.m. on Sunday.

The king tide combined with the National Weather Service measurements shows the magnitude and also that this isn't a 100-year flood--more like a 30-year flood.

Our San Francisco Downtown site hit 5.46” in the 24 hours of December 31st. This makes it the second wettest day in the 170+ years of records at that site, just 0.08” less than 1st place (11/5/1994) with 5.54”.

It also highlights a design challenge with the seawall that is being proposed for sea-level rise.  Keeping Bay waters out is one thing.  Letting rainfall out is quite another.  Friday's king tide was a shade bigger, but not until the deluge came on Saturday did we have this problem:

I hope this video plays for everyone.

Download Flood vid 123122

Update Jan 5th.  Here is the downed Euc on the Caltrain tracks that PSA noted in the comments.  Thanks to the intrepid photog who captured it for me.

Favorite Post of 2022....and 2021

Let's close out the year with a quick look back at my favorite post of the year.  I was thinking it would be Planning for a Rollicking Rollins Rd.  We heard a lot this year about how proud the city council is of the "new neighborhood" going up in the East-East side--not to be confused with the regular East side that is demarcated by the railroad tracks and the North Park apartments.  The East-East side is also demarcated by the tracks but is north of Broadway and is newly residential.  The Rollicking post was a fantasy of mine that imagined all the things that need to be done for it to really be a "new neighborhood" actually had been done.  But it can't be my favorite for 2022 since it is dated December 26, 2021.  Let's call it my defered favorite of '21.  Check it out.

That leaves State Auditor: Housing "requirement" numbers way off from May 6th as my 2022 favorite.  It is the post that I find myself bringing up in conversations with all sorts of people.  The three paragraphs I excerpted in the post are damning of the whole process of assigning crazy high numbers of you-must-build-units from the state.  Tom Elias as the Daily Post is on a similar page as me.  His column on Wednesday noted that

Several cities have begun to fight parts of today's state domination of land use.  Four Los Angeles County cities -- Redondo Beach, Torrance, Carson and Whittier -- are seeking a court order negating the 2021 Senate Bill 9, which allows single family homes to be replaced by as many as six units, with cities unable to nix any such projects....No one can predict whether or not courts will find the state Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have vastly overreached in their power grab, which is all for the sake of increased density and based on unfounded predictions by bureaucrats who answer to no one.

Bingo.  Wouldn't it be nice if those four cities got some help?  And in other news, California led the nation in net domestic out migration from July 2021 to July 2022 at -343,230.  That's about like all of Stockton getting up and moving out of state.  New York came in second but is the highest per capita.  Either way, the State Auditor is onto something and should get more airtime in 2023.  Happy New Year.

 

BSD: Where's Johnny today?

Things are a mess in our education system nationwide.  Today's WSJ has a Stanfoo economist estimating that missed learning in K-12 from lockdowns will cost the typical kid $70K in lifetime earnings.  Yikes.  Closer to home the story is not much better.  The Daily Journal has a piece that compares absenteeism rates around the County and while Burlingame is "better than average", things are still not good.

A higher number of San Mateo County students were chronically absent from school in the 2021-22 school year compared to years prior, according to newly released state data, revealing the sustained effects of the pandemic on public education.  At the state level, about 30% of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of the school year. Students from most ethnic and challenging socioeconomic backgrounds experienced even higher rates of absenteeism.

The new interim B'game superintendent, on the job for two weeks as noted here, has some comments

Burlingame and San Carlos school districts fell into the medium category, San Carlos with an absentee rate of 5.7% and Burlingame with a rate of 9.2%.  Recognizing the challenges of providing a robust education to students who are under more pressure to stay home when sick, Marla Silversmith, Burlingame School District interim superintendent, said her staff worked hard to connect students with their classwork while remote, whether through paper packages or online platforms.

Students who did complete the work were given attendance credit, helping to reduce the district’s absentee rate. Just more than 9% of students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year, about 4% greater than the 2018-2019 figures.

I put "better than average" in quotes because having about 10% of all kids miss 10+% of school seems like a dire situation to me.  In a 180-school-day year, that's missing three and a half weeks or more!  San Mateo-Foster City, San Bruno Park, South San Francisco Unified and Redwood City were all above 20% -- or missing at least seven weeks of school!  Maybe instead of 87,000 new IRS agents, we should hire 87,000 new truant officers?

City Council: Another year, another rotation

The city council returned to chambers in City Hall Monday night for the first time in almost three years.  The occasion was the annual rotation of the mayor and vice mayor roles.  Thankfully, B'game stuck to established procedure unlike San Mateo and Millbrae this year.  Chaos ensued in both places.  Some things were different in chambers.  For one, the heat seemed like it needed some maintenance work from a master technician.  Each chair on the dais and in the staff area was equipped with a screen and two large screens have been installed on the sidewalls to accommodate hybrid live/Zoom meetings.  Zoomers' voices are now piped into the PA system giving a bit of an eerie feel to comments.  I may have to comment remotely sometime just to hear the effect!

The big event of the evening was Ann O'Brien Keighran's retirement after 17 years on the council and 7 years on the Planning Commission.  The DJ piece with some quotes is here. Plenty of regular locals turned out for the event as resolutions were read and plaques presented.  Diane Papan read her own resolution and Dave Pine's staff member, Linda Wolin, stood in for Pine.  Ann's council peers and some members of the public recounted some of the big events of her tenure; with the Safeway project bringing up many memories.  David Bowlby, a Safeway consultant back in the day, recounted meetings with Ann and my wife who were the Safeway sub-committee members. He also recalled meeting with the Citizens for a Better Burlingame.  Just hearing the CBB name mentioned reminded me of all those morning meetings to strategize and commiserate over the original monster Safeway design.  Historical Society president Jen Pfaff and my wife dug deep into the Society archives to construct a scrapbook for Ann that captured many of the early events in her 24-year service including the time that Joe Galligan tried to get her and dearly missed Stan Vistica replaced on Planning.  Ah, the Old Days.

Ann concluded her time on the dais with remarks that brought tears to her eyes near the end--even as she said she wouldn't let that happen.  I had a nice view sitting behind her parents, Denis and Katie O'Brien, as mom and daughter reached for tissues at the same time.

Following Ann's closing remarks, Ricardo Ortiz was sworn in by Diane Papan.  Michael Brownrigg was sworn in by Library Trustee Kris Cannon and her husband Jim while thanking long-time advisor Jeff Londer.  Finally, new councilman Peter Stevenson was sworn in by city manager Lisa Goldman.  Many locals showed up for this renewed annual event especially from Peter's new district 5 including local DJ and disaster preparedness expert Jeff Tateosian and commercial realtor Jim Sobel.  I chatted with Burlingame Neighborhood Network board members David Harris and Ann Hinckle, local realtor Erik Winkler and our local waste wizard Joe La Mariana of ReThink Waste.

As witnessed by the night's events and attendees, B'game still has a small-town feel.  I have no idea how long it will last given the notion that we must comply-or-else with Sacramento's demands for growth even as the state population shrinks.  But for one night it still felt small.  Here is the new dais set-up and Ann Keighran's appearance on the new big screen.  Happy retirement--she's gonna love it.

Stanfoolery and "bad words"

Herb Caen used to refer to Stanford as Stanfoo, but the university is looking more like Stanfools lately.  In the interest of free speech which we value here at the Voice, I'll post a recent WSJ editorial that is so ridiculous that it merits keeping around for when the next bit of tomfoolery pops up in the language arena:

Parodists have it rough these days, since so much of modern life and culture resembles the Babylon Bee. The latest evidence is that Stanford University administrators in May published an index of forbidden words to be eliminated from the school’s websites and computer code, and provided inclusive replacements to help re-educate the benighted.

Call yourself an “American”? Please don’t. Better to say “U.S. citizen,” per the bias hunters, lest you slight the rest of the Americas. “Immigrant” is also out, with “person who has immigrated” as the approved alternative. It’s the iron law of academic writing: Why use one word when four will do?

You can’t “master” your subject at Stanford any longer; in case you hadn’t heard, the school instructs that “historically, masters enslaved people.” And don’t dare design a “blind study,” which “unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture.” Blind studies are good and useful, but never mind; “masked study” is to be preferred. Follow the science.

“Gangbusters” is banned because the index says it “invokes the notion of police action against ‘gangs’ in a positive light, which may have racial undertones.” Not to beat a dead horse (a phrase that the index says “normalizes violence against animals”), but you used to have to get a graduate degree in the humanities to write something that stupid.

The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative is a “multi-phase” project of Stanford’s IT leaders. The list took “18 months of collaboration with stakeholder groups” to produce, the university tells us. We can’t imagine what’s next, except that it will surely involve more make-work for more administrators, whose proliferation has driven much of the rise in college tuition and student debt. For 16,937 students, Stanford lists 2,288 faculty and 15,750 administrative staff.

The list was prefaced with (to use another forbidden word) a trigger warning: “This website contains language that is offensive or harmful. Please engage with this website at your own pace.”

Evidently it was all too much for some at the school to handle. On Monday, after the index came to light on social media, Stanford hid it from public view. Without a password, you wouldn’t know that “stupid” made the list.

One can only imagine the reaction if you told a Chief Master Sergeant in the Army or Air Force that his or her rank needs to be edited for political correctness.  Then you would hear some forbidden words for sure!

Solar hypocrisy is expensive

Watching the gyrations of the intertwined energy and transportation sectors of our economy is frustrating at best.  Anyone with a modicum of critical thinking skills has to wonder what our politicians and bureaucrats are thinking?  Last week the CPUC kneecapped the rooftop solar market.  The Comicle writes

For new customers, reduce the amount utilities’ pay them for excess power by at least 75% compared with current rates. The change would not apply to residents with existing solar systems.

Because residents and businesses with solar panels generally have smaller energy bills, they contribute less to a utility company’s fixed costs, such as transmission and distribution networks, which are passed on to ratepayers. As a result, non-solar residents, including low-income residents and renters, carry more of the cost burden.

The solar rules increased bills for customers who do not have rooftop solar by $3.37 billion in 2021, growing to $4.5 billion so far this year, according to the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office.

See what they did there?  People with panels "contribute less to transmission and distribution" costs.  But what about generation costs?  They pour private capital--lots of it-- into helping the utilities avoid those costs.  Another case of lies, damned lies and statistics.  The other push is to get people to add batteries when they put in the panels, so the load is spread better throughout the day and night.  Good idea for a lot of reasons, but crazy expensive and getting more so as the metals that go into batteries get more expensive.  I'll bet the CPUC Public Advocates Office isn't spending any time on looking at where those metals come from (hint:  Russia, China, the Congo with little environmental protections and some slave labor).

Speaking of grid stability, how does the all-out push to force people to buy EVs (by 2035 in California) fit?  The president of Toyota had this to say this week

President Akio Toyoda said he is among the auto industry’s silent majority in questioning whether electric vehicles should be pursued exclusively, comments that reflect a growing uneasiness about how quickly car companies can transition.  “That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly.”

Toyota is still pursuing plug-in hybrids and hydrogen and they have their eye on the cost of all of this

Sticker prices for electric vehicles have also jumped this year because of the rising cost of battery materials, limiting the pool of buyers who can afford one.

In a debate between the "silent majority" that designs, builds and has to sell cars at a profit and the CPUC and Newsom, I'm more comfortable with people who look at all angles of the question--it's good that they aren't staying totally silent.  Newsom in particular has his focus elsewhere, but his ex-wife weighed in on him this week.

Kimberly Guilfoyle made a rare public comment about her ex-husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, on Sunday.  “In California, they have vowed to get rid of gas-powered cars. A bunch of winners over there. Ask me how I know. I got news for him. He ain’t making it to the White House!”

In the meantime, rooftop solar got more expensive, EVs got more expensive, and electricity got more expensive.  But at least there is more "equity".