The Burlingame Voice

The Importance - or not - of Lawn Signs

The silly season is coming again (by Ron Cox, mayor of Foster City in the Daily Journal)

Well as you have probably seen the political signs are back again. We call this the silly season because most of the candidates will be putting up more and more signs. If a candidate finds a good place to put a sign up, soon you will see the rest of the candidates' signs appearing at the same location. Then you will notice that there is a jockeying for positions, whose sign will be in front and maybe block others signs or whose sign is higher and may catch an eye of the potential voter. There are candidates who would even put their signs in San Mateo where our city would not permit signs to be placed like bridges and medians. Foster City would remove those signs but are not permitted to do so since they are in the city of San Mateo. By the time the election is held all of our public properties (except city parks where they are prohibited) will be covered with these signs. I have nothing against the signs and actually get a laugh at the ingenious ways the candidates have to put the perfect sign up in the perfect place that will convince the voter to vote for them. The best candidate is not necessarily the one putting up the most signs everywhere.

The signs that I think are most important are the ones you see in your neighbors' yards.

Before you vote, please check out the candidates and find out who has been active and has served in our community for years and who understands what is going on in our city. Action speaks a lot more than just words.

Any ingenious lawn sign placements in Burlingame?

- Written by Fiona

Back2School Night at BHS

Tonight was Back to School night for Burlingame High parents. It is the first opportunity for parents to meet their kids' teachers for a quick introduction on the teachers' expectations, policies and a bit about the subject matter.

This was my third Back to School night and I found it to be the best yet. There have been plenty of issues at BHS and SMUHSD over the last year or two, but I found all of the teachers to be positive, prepared and dare I say even excited about the upcoming academic year.

Perhaps it is because I went to my junior's classes and the upper grades are different. I doubt that, but it's possible. Perhaps the completion of the remodel and the newness of the building contributed to the atmosphere. Whatever it is, it felt pretty good. Did any other parents have this impression?

- Written by Joe

Is there Logic to Burlingame?

Is there logic to Burlingame? (a "cute tidbit" from the Daily Journal)

Civic leaders getting a little training through the Coro Center for Civic Leadership will be scurrying around Burlingame next week trying to answer that question. The four-day survey will culminate with a one-hour presentation at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 at City Hall where the findings will be shared in a report called The Logic of Burlingame.?

Additional subsequent article:

Civic group seeks logic of B'game (by Heather in Daily Journal)

Twelve people are running around this week trying to understand The Logic of Burlingame? as part of a leadership training program to learn the culture of the Peninsula city.

The Coro Center for Civic Leadership let 12 participants of the Fellows Program in Public Affairs loose in Burlingame yesterday to examine the city's social, economic and political structures; and religious attitudes and activities. The four-day exploration project culminates with a public report called, The Logic of Burlingame,? which will be presented Friday. Coro, a 65-year-old training organization for public leaders, selects 68 fellows nationally annually. The nine-month, full-time post-graduate program gives participants training in public and civic affairs beginning with the exploration of a miniature model of American society in this case, Burlingame. A memo detailed the project on the first day for the participants, followed by a moment of silence, said fellow Kirstin Conti of Hayward. The Stanford-grad applied for the fellowship to learn more about public affairs and service. Research kicked off yesterday with meetings with City Manager Jim Nantell and Mayor Terry Nagel. Participants were also given contact information for the Citizens for a Better Burlingame, said Conti.

Nagel is a graduate of the Coro program's Community Fellows Program a part-time program for working professionals. Her group researched the Tenderloin area in San Francisco and Union Square. Nagel sees the Burlingame research as a chance to gain an unbiased view of the city. Sometimes you get so engrossed in an issue you lose perspective,? she said. She will be interested to hear any suggestions generated by the research.

Most of the researchers are new to Burlingame. Fellow Zach Blume of Berkeley had heard of the city but knew little else. Luckily one member of the group is from the city. For the fellows it's a chance to learn the inner-workings of a city, something on which even the first day shined light, said Blume. Now the group is trying to decide how to gather information, he said. A one-hour presentation will be 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7 at City Hall, 501 Primrose Road.

- Written by Fiona

Police Program to Discourage Teen Smokers

Burlingame police rally against teen smoking - Police launch program to snuff out teen smoking - Cops target businesses that sell tobacco to minors (Mark at San Mateo Times)

BURLINGAME Police are taking steps to get underage smokers to think twice about lighting up or dipping chewing tobacco. The department launched a program this week to educate teens and businesses that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products about the dangers of smoking.

Police are distributing information to roughly 50 businesses that sell tobacco products, or allow smoking, to enlighten them about tobacco laws and penalties for breaking those laws. Officers will talk to managers and owners of the businesses, which were selected randomly, police Sgt. Jim Ford said. The department also plans to give information booklets and educational materials to schools in the San Mateo Union High School District and to Burlingame Intermediate School. It will be up to the schools to decide how to deliver the information to students, Ford said.

Police are working with the San Mateo County Tobacco Prevention Program, the nonprofit Breathe California and the Youth Leadership Institute of San Mateo, a nonprofit that helps young people make positive changes in their communities. All of those organizations are part of the San Mateo County Tobacco Education Coalition. The costs of the program are minimal, since on-duty officers are being used, and the educational materials have been donated by the San Mateo County Tobacco Prevention Program, police said. "The goal is to educate people about the impacts smoking has on health," Ford said. "We will give (the businesses) about a week or two to digest the information, and then we will start doing the enforcement."

The enforcement effort will be aided by Youth Leadership, which will provide teens under 18 who will attempt to buy tobacco from businesses around Burlingame. The teens participating in the undercover effort are well-versed in tobacco laws, said Amanda Cue, a spokeswoman for Youth Leadership. "Despite state and federal laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors,90 percent of all current smokers began smoking by the time they reached age 18," police said in a statement. "The Police Department's and our goal is obviously to get merchants not to sell to minors," said Karen Licavoli, vice president of programs for Breathe California. "It's all about protecting our youth."

Breathe California has participated in other antismoking efforts, such as lobbying to get laws passed that prohibit smoking on county beaches and within 30 feet of county buildings. The organization has also met with Belmont officials about a proposed smoking ordinance in that city. Licavoli said her organization is helping Burlingame police by providing some technical help with the decoy operations. "The fact that they are doing this on their own is something we applaud the police department for," Licavoli said.

Further information and press release on city website.

- Written by Fiona

Partnership for Recreation Programs

A. Staff Reports (as included in August 16 Parks & Rec. minutes)

1. Commissioner Shanus asked staff the status of the surcharge for recreation programs held on Burlingame School District facilities. Schwartz responded that the Council approved a 10% surcharge and will continue to look for other options to assist the BSD in recovering the costs for the usage of their facilities. Commissioner Castner-Paine asked if the decision can be revisited if the surcharge negatively affects program registration. Schwartz said that issue was brought up by Council in its
deliberations and will be examined in the Fall.

Commission discussion included:

Parents are already taxed for the school facilities
Will the BSD need the surcharge if the BSD parcel tax passes
Will this create more of a need for program scholarships
The Parks & Recreation Dept budget has been reduced and is also in need of these revenues
The original partnership has been changed from one where the City was a lifesaver? (providing services and programs at City cost that the BSD was no longer able to provide for themselves) to one where the City is now being charged to use and maintain BSD facilities
Can the BSD request more funding from the City in future years
Can BSD provide volunteers to the programs (ex. Scorekeepers) to help lower the costs
Should a lower surcharge be placed on all recreation programs regardless of their location

Schwartz stated that the City-School Liaison Committee is continuing to work on each of the issues above and a long-term agreement for use and maintenance of the BSD facilities.

- Written by Fiona

Spam Reduction- Tell us what you think.

Dear Bloggers,

The Editorial Board has been considering what to do about the incessant spam on the Burlingame Voice blog. We are often asked if we can fix it? and would like to solicit your input on one possible solution to the problem.

We place a very high value on an open blog. Openness unfortunately brings with it distracting and often disturbing spam from automated spammers-on-blogs (known as sploggers?). Spam consumes a bit of effort since we can only delete it with a manual process generally one entry at a time. Our banned word list is constantly growing, but with the exception of the Italian spam (go figure!) we are not winning the battle against the automated sploggers.

One possible solution is to implement a requirement that everyone must register on the site and then enter their password in order to make a comment. We currently require registration for originating posts, but not to comment. It is an easy technical change to make but we would like to hear from the Voice blog community on what it thinks of this approach before we do anything. There are pros and cons to registration and we would like each of your views on this potential change. Please blog on about it!

The Editorial Board

- Written by admin

Monster House Squall

The SF Examiner has this piece by Brian Foley on the recent Council actions:

Burlingame housing squall heats up

(Photo Caption) Burlingame resident Delores Huajardo opposes a plan to expand a one-and-a-half-story home at 2212 Hillside Ave. to six square feet shy of the maximum.


A recent residential remodeling proposal has rekindled complaints from irked residents including a comparison to the Queen Mary cruise ship and brought new calls to revisit the city's design-review standards to keep homes from becoming mini-mansions? on regular-sized lots.

This is becoming an economically divisive town,? said resident Pat Giorni.

Giorni and monster-home critics are specifically outraged over a proposal to change a one-and-a-half-story home at 2212 Hillside Ave. into a four-bedroom, 3,242-square-foot home a mere six square feet shy of the city's legal maximum.

Other recent remodels include the home on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Hillside Drive, and a home on Bloomfield Road off of Bayswater Avenue. Linda Dyson-Weaver, who lives on the 1500 block of Burlingame Avenue, said of her neighbor's new house, The Queen Mary is now docked next to my home.?

Irate neighbors contend the Hillside Drive proposal is the latest in a series of oversized, disproportionate homes that intrude on neighbor's privacy, erode public infrastructure and alter the small-town character.

The result will be a giant house for at least $2.5 million that will preclude anyone who is middle class,? Giorni said.

City code allows for a home's square footage to equal up to 55 percent of the lot plus 1,500 square feet, a standard some say is too generous. In 1998, city officials tried to mitigate the monster-home trend by allowing construction of basements, meant to dissuade aboveground bulk? in new homes. That idea is not working, residents say.

They are building both to the max, and with huge basements,? said Delores Huajardo, a neighbor to the Hillside Drive house.

But advocates of larger homes point to the remodeling trend as a tax-base boost. Kendrick Li, the Hillside Drive project's applicant, said current design-review standards are sufficient. He also denied that the house will be a monster home.

It's not a 10-bedroom home. I don't think it's very extreme,? he said.

Others agree, saying Burlingame's remodeling process is considerate of neighbor input.

It's not changing the character, it's adding to the character,? said Tim Auran of the Planning Commission, who said the designs complement houses built in the 1930s.

It is unlikely the City Council will revisit design standards and city codes in the near future. Councilwoman Cathy Baylock said the council lacks the political will? to revisit design standards.

- Written by Joe

Museums Out the Wazoo

From John Horgan's column in the SM County Times comes word of another budding museum:

Museum eyes move

WITH a $1 million donation in hand, officials of the Peninsula Museum of Art are looking at Coyote Point as a potential new site for their facility.
If enough money can be raised that $1 million would be just the beginning the museum would probably be a good fit on that bayfront site.

The museum would become the third major cultural attraction at the scenic San Mateo location near the Burlingame border.

The Coyote Point Museum, which is scheduled for a significant upgrade, is already there.

Broadway by the Bay, currently presenting its musicals at the San Mateo High School auditorium, is raising funds to build a new, state-of-the-art theater on Coyote Point property where a closed and deteriorating restaurant sits today.

The art museum now operates out of a building at Twin Pines Park in Belmont.

The art museum would be the fourth new attraction when combined with the forthcoming Burlingame-Hillsborough Historical Museum at the Burlingame train station. Look out Yerba Buena and Golden Gate Park!

- Written by Joe

A Bugle Playing Taps for Mr. Tim Ber's Funeral?

A funeral for tree (Daily News)

Dear Editor: The city of Burlingame must sponsor a well-publicized funeral service for Tom the tree within the next several weeks. It's a major photo op for you and a fantastic opportunity for your reporter to win a prize. The service must include a bugler and the playing of taps and a city employee with a chain saw to cut several inches into the tree. Of course, the city council must be present. F. O. Hillsborough

- Written by Fiona

Rail Plan Workshop

Comprehensive rail plan could boost Caltrain - BART to remain backbone, but commuter train will be key spur (by Will, Daily News)

A $45 million plan to improve and integrate the Bay Area's myriad rail lines would affect the Peninsula mainly by expanding and upgrading Caltrain, transportation officials said Monday. About 100 people crammed into an auditorium in San Carlos Monday for a public workshop on the Bay Area Regional Rail Plan, which was released earlier this month and could be approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission next month.

While the plan envisions BART as the "backbone" of the region's transit system, it calls for Caltrain to remain the key spur connecting San Jose to San Francisco. Accordingly, it calls for Caltrain to go electric, build tunnels at major crossings, expand across the Dumbarton Bridge, and possibly add tracks to accommodate high-speed trains running from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Regionally, it calls for BART to link up with Caltrain in San Jose and to add a second transbay tube from San Francisco to Oakland.

The result, proponents say, would be a seamless ring of trains around the Bay, relieving clogged highways and reducing air pollution. While none of the ideas are brand-new, their inclusion in the rail plan gives them a regional backing that could help them become a reality. The obstacle, of course, is money.

The local officials and residents who spoke at Monday's workshop had mixed reviews of the plan. Many praised the basic concept but criticized certain aspects, such as the short amount of time available for public input and the lack of detail in the ridership and cost projections. Several focused on the plan's connection to a separate, statewide high-speed rail program aimed at zipping passengers between Southern California and the Bay Area in under three hours. That proposal adds uncertainty to the MTC's regional plan, because its advocates are still deciding between at least two route plans.

One would send trains through the Pacheco Pass and up through San Jose to San Francisco. The other has them going through the Altamont Pass and through the East Bay before splitting. The MTC's plan includes both options, and the commission has yet to decide whether to endorse one or the other.

Caltrain Chief Development Official Ian McAvoy on Monday gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the regional rail plan, saying that although the costs are high, the rewards would be higher. He also backed the high-speed rail program, saying Caltrain would welcome the express trains on its tracks. Doug Kimsey, planning director for the MTC, noted that the high-speed rail plan could bring a windfall of state money for Caltrain. That's because it would require the trains to be electrified and the tracks widened and separated from road crossings by over- and underpasses, which Caltrain wants to do anyway.

But some local residents fear that trains running up to 200 miles per hour through their towns would be disruptive. "I'm worried about how much more they're going to divide our towns," said Bobbi Benson of Burlingame. Her sentiment was echoed by Atherton Vice Mayor James Janz, who wondered how much Peninsula residents would benefit from the high-speed line. Burlingame Council Member Rosalie O'Mahoney wondered about the expense of the proposed grade separations at crossings, noting that they can cost $100 million each.

Dan Cruey, president of the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, argued the improvements and the high-speed rail are essential for the region's economic growth. He praised the MTC's plan for regional transit integration, saying, "We've got a number of transit systems in the Bay Area that don't currently work together."

The San Carlos workshop was the last of five around the Bay Area. The MTC will take comments under consideration and aims to approve a final regional rail plan by the end of September.

Additional article in Examiner

- Written by Fiona