Here are two uninformed San Mateo Times letter writers displaying crass sexism and lack of understanding of the issues. We probably shouldn't waste blog space on this garbage but they are interesting examples of the new propaganda - boys, we lost the game so lets blame the women!
My published letter this week informed Dewey or Dayley or whatever his name is that Safeway met with all the council members to sway their opinions just as the five councilors met with professionals/residents. The third letter is from moi who is probably a little more informed than the other two and, as yet, hasn't resorted to calling people "idiots"!
THE THREE COUNCILWOMEN who recently shot down the Burlingame Safeway proposal have done a great injustice to the local community.
I'm a commercial property owner myself and find it so ridiculous when individuals, such as these three, are able to wield unjustly so much power. I don't believe they truly represent the best interest of the entire community. Instead, I feel that they are protecting the interests of a minority who fear competition and who quietly and carefully campaign against positive and progressive development that would be beneficial to the entire community.
It would be interesting, if these three councilwomen were questioned in a court of law, to discover the extent of contact each may have had with such individuals or groups over the past year.
Dan Dayley - Belmont
ON TUESDAY Feb. 3 our City Council rejected the plan to build a new Safeway. The three women on this board are very ignorant. I have lived on the Peninsula for 20 years, and the past three in Burlingame. I live less than two blocks from Howard Ave and El Camino. The mayor should be ashamed of herself because she had the deciding vote.
E-mails were sent to the members with 75 percent of them wanting the new Safeway. We need a new Safeway, as do the employees. This particular Safeway has the best service I have ever seen. The managers work the lines to keep the people moving through the store if there is a staff member absent.
This has been an ongoing problem with the idiots on the Planning Commission and the councilmembers. They should all be fired. Do what the people of majority want, not the minority. This is an eyesore of an area with the vacant bank building and the rundown stores. They are too small.
I have urged my friends and now my neighbors to buy nothing in the city. Only shop at Safeway and nowhere else. Go out of your way to make a point. Go to Costco, Target and restaurants in neighboring cities. I am sure they will appreciate it more. Political bureaucracy stinks, especially in Burlingame.
Dee Dannewitz - Burlingame
(Could Dee really be a woman or could it be Dann? - editorial comment!)
I HOPE YOUR letter writer, Dave Dewey (Feb. 9), attended the five Burlingame Planning Commission meetings in the past 12 months, Monday's study session and Tuesday's Burlingame City Council meeting to have learned why the Planning Commission turned this project down 6-1 and the council 3-2.
Safeway wanted to build a 67,000-square-foot building, with less parking than they have now, take city land, have huge trucks drive down important "village" streets and build a vulgar store that has no regard for the rest of Burlingame and its residents.
I am sick of people blaming the merchants. I, for one, am not a merchant, never have been and never will be. Also, many of the councilmembers shop at Safeway -- well their wives do! Our family shops at Albertsons, not because Safeway has a skuzzy store but because we care where our dollars are spent.
We don't expect a new building to be as stunning and historic as the White House, but this store will sit on a 3.5-acre plot for the next 50 years. It is a huge part of Burlingame's downtown. If Safeway has been listening, it will build a store that will not only make money on wind chimes and garden furniture, but also will be a plus to our town.
Fiona Hamilton - Burlingame
My published letter this week informed Dewey or Dayley or whatever his name is that Safeway met with all the council members to sway their opinions just as the five councilors met with professionals/residents. The third letter is from moi who is probably a little more informed than the other two and, as yet, hasn't resorted to calling people "idiots"!
THE THREE COUNCILWOMEN who recently shot down the Burlingame Safeway proposal have done a great injustice to the local community.
I'm a commercial property owner myself and find it so ridiculous when individuals, such as these three, are able to wield unjustly so much power. I don't believe they truly represent the best interest of the entire community. Instead, I feel that they are protecting the interests of a minority who fear competition and who quietly and carefully campaign against positive and progressive development that would be beneficial to the entire community.
It would be interesting, if these three councilwomen were questioned in a court of law, to discover the extent of contact each may have had with such individuals or groups over the past year.
Dan Dayley - Belmont
ON TUESDAY Feb. 3 our City Council rejected the plan to build a new Safeway. The three women on this board are very ignorant. I have lived on the Peninsula for 20 years, and the past three in Burlingame. I live less than two blocks from Howard Ave and El Camino. The mayor should be ashamed of herself because she had the deciding vote.
E-mails were sent to the members with 75 percent of them wanting the new Safeway. We need a new Safeway, as do the employees. This particular Safeway has the best service I have ever seen. The managers work the lines to keep the people moving through the store if there is a staff member absent.
This has been an ongoing problem with the idiots on the Planning Commission and the councilmembers. They should all be fired. Do what the people of majority want, not the minority. This is an eyesore of an area with the vacant bank building and the rundown stores. They are too small.
I have urged my friends and now my neighbors to buy nothing in the city. Only shop at Safeway and nowhere else. Go out of your way to make a point. Go to Costco, Target and restaurants in neighboring cities. I am sure they will appreciate it more. Political bureaucracy stinks, especially in Burlingame.
Dee Dannewitz - Burlingame
(Could Dee really be a woman or could it be Dann? - editorial comment!)
I HOPE YOUR letter writer, Dave Dewey (Feb. 9), attended the five Burlingame Planning Commission meetings in the past 12 months, Monday's study session and Tuesday's Burlingame City Council meeting to have learned why the Planning Commission turned this project down 6-1 and the council 3-2.
Safeway wanted to build a 67,000-square-foot building, with less parking than they have now, take city land, have huge trucks drive down important "village" streets and build a vulgar store that has no regard for the rest of Burlingame and its residents.
I am sick of people blaming the merchants. I, for one, am not a merchant, never have been and never will be. Also, many of the councilmembers shop at Safeway -- well their wives do! Our family shops at Albertsons, not because Safeway has a skuzzy store but because we care where our dollars are spent.
We don't expect a new building to be as stunning and historic as the White House, but this store will sit on a 3.5-acre plot for the next 50 years. It is a huge part of Burlingame's downtown. If Safeway has been listening, it will build a store that will not only make money on wind chimes and garden furniture, but also will be a plus to our town.
Fiona Hamilton - Burlingame
- Written by Fiona
The most sure sign that your opinions reflect the truth is when an individual tries to discredit you with vicious accusations of sexism, and make paranoid sounding insinuations such as "I wonder if Dewey is Dann."
Just because an individual has never been a merchant and is admittedly not competent of ever being one in the future, they should not let that impair their vision of the potential positive impact of replacing a tired run down old building in Burlingame with a beautiful new one that would ad new life and provide an uplift to the community.
Unfortunately, now that this beautiful new building has been unjustly shot down, the ugly old one will be our constant reminder for possibly the next 50 years.
Posted by: Dan Dayley | March 05, 2004 at 07:59 AM
We will not have to look at this "ugly old building for 50 years" - that is just propoganda. Hudak (Safeway's attorney) called this a "blighted corner of Burlingame" and guess who are the owners of this blighted corner (Safeway). But rather than slamming our hardworking planning commissioners and our more enlightened city officials, Dan, perhaps we could be constructive and offer to clean up this blighted corner for Safeway!
Posted by: Fiona | March 07, 2004 at 04:57 PM