According to Mr. Horgan the mayor will be discussing with his wife in August whether he will file his documents. "It is premature" that he may bow out. He picked up the papers, prepared a campaign statement but the fireside chat will happen in August.

When the strategic games have been laid and the orchestration in place, we look forward to hearing the mayor is filing his papers.

– Written by Fiona

From the Daily Journal today about our newest candidate:

Burlingame Historical Society President Russ Cohen said Tuesday he will run for the Burlingame City Council's two-year seat vacated by Mike Coffey. Cohen, the first candidate to aim for the two-year post, came up about 170 votes shy of Coffey in the last election, and said it was natural for him to try for Coffey's seat.

Cohen, 46, is helping build a historical museum in the Burlingame Train Depot and forming a museum foundation. He said he mulled the decision to run. I tell you it wasn't an easy decision,? he said. I've always thought of myself as a multi-tasker.? As chair of the Traffic, Safety and Parking Commission, Cohen helped develop a bike and pedestrian pathway master plan. He is also the vice president of the Burlingame Lions Club.

An advertising executive, Cohen worked with the Downtown Burlingame Improvement District, which was attacked by Burlingame Mayor Joe Galligan in April for being too close to its advertising and Web services contractors. After a review of its financial records, the district and its contractors were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Galligan has said he is running again but has not filed candidacy papers. The deadline is Aug. 12.

However, Cohen said in a statement, Maintaining the status quo is not an option.?

Great news – the race is now beginning to get interesting!

Interesting too that Galligan has not yet filed candidacy papers because noone has filed as yet but only picked up the papers. We wait to see if the city official who has been feeding us the line that Galligan will not run is correct. We just thought it was wishful thinking on his part. Come on, mayor, you can make this election an extraordinarily interesting race!

– Written by Fiona

According to the San Mateo Times:

Burlingame Councilwoman Rosalie O'Mahony picked up her nomination papers Monday morning. "I love Burlingame deeply," O'Mahony said. "I shall work with the council and the (Burlingame) Planning Commission to develop the best downtown-specific area plan that is now being launched. I want to do that so that the mixed-use (developments) advocated in the downtown area will enhance the community's quality of life without choking (the streets leading) in and out of town."

O'Mahony was first elected in 1989 and served as mayor in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2004. If re-elected, she wants to protect and enhance the city's reserve funds, strengthen school and community teamwork, keep the city at the top of Caltrain's list of highway projects and improve the city's Broadway interchange. O'Mahony said there's still some work to do in securing federal and state money for the project. "Every position (Caltrain) puts you in determines when funds will be available," O'Mahony said. O'Mahony is unfazed at the number of candidates running.

"It's important to talk to people, hear their points of view and to understand their needs and respond to them," she said. "The more candidates running, there's a better chance of the community getting interested in the electoral process. It's, in a way, a healthy development."

We too love Burlingame deeply and look forward to apres November when Burlingame will look healthy again!

– Written by Fiona