The Burlingame Voice

Can Someone Turn Down the Train?

The daily newspapers up and down the Peninsula are reporting on how loud the Caltrain horns have gotten.  You don't have to be too close to the tracks to know the horns are much louder than before, but if you are close to the train you know that it's loud enough to be painful.  And I say that as a veteran of concerts by the Stones, the Doobie Brothers and the loudest band I ever heard--the Kinks.  Here's part of the Daily Journal article explaining horn placement on trains

Federal regulations require the horns to produce distinct, separate and sequential blasts and a recent safety inspection revealed the horns were not making the unique “toot” and “tweet.”

Caltrain received numerous calls to its customer service center with complaints about the horns, said spokeswoman Christine Dunn.  “I even received a personal call from a mother who said her son was awakened by the horn in the night,” Dunn said.

Caltrain moved the horns to the underside of locomotives and cab cars in response to previous complaints from the community.  But since the powerful air horns weren’t making the distinctive “toots” and “tweets” the horns have returned to their original location on top of the trains.

Burlingame resident Lynn Hawthorne said her entire neighborhood has noticed the louder horns.

“It’s just terrible. The horns got much louder. I live two blocks from the track but it feels like I’m living on the tracks when the train passes,” Hawthorne said. “I’ve got double-pane windows but I might as well not have windows at all.”

Moving the horns to the top of the locomotives and cab cars has increased the volume and the range of the sound. 

“We are working diligently to reduce the problem,” Dunn said. “There is no knob to turn the volume down on these air horns.”

I guess we will all need earplugs while they work out some compromise between the Federal Railroad Administration rules and a liveable sound level.

Safeway Project - Part 53

Safeway is back five weeks after the Planning Commission last looked at the new store plans with a revised plan.  Just posted today on the City's web site at http://www.burlingame.org/Index.aspx?page=1366 is this summary:

On July 29, 2009, the applicant submitted revised plans for the Safeway Project to address the comments made by the Planning Commission and the public at the June 22nd Study Session.  The primary changes to the project include: redesign of the retail/office building at the corner of Howard Avenue and Primrose Road, pedestrian connections throughout the site including a new pedestrian walkway through City Parking Lot L, a wider walkway in front of the Safeway store, an enclosed returnables area behind the loading dock, and an entry feature at the corner of El Camino Real and Howard Avenue.

The environmental study work is in progress and we may see another Study session around October.  Here's the rendering:

School Improvements

This news article from the New York Post reminded me of the Burlingame Measure A bond flyer that arrived in the mail over the weekend:

WASHINGTON-- The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded "potty pork."

From humble sylvan outhouses to "historic" restrooms, cash from the $787 billion stimulus is going to spruce up or completely replace aging toilets, government releases show.  In New Mexico alone, the feds are spending $2.8 million for toilets in national forests.

The bathroom bonanza runs across myriad federal agencies, from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Veterans Affairs Administration and the Army.   "You could definitely say this is potty pork," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste. "This puts a whole different swirl on money going down the drain."

 

Here we take care of our own.  The flyer noted that this summer's construction projects include staff and student toilets at BIS and Franklin and student toilets at McKinley, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Washington.  We are ahead of the curve in the plumbing here in B'game.

 

Having used some of those facilities over the years, this is a good move, but the funds are not all about the bathrooms.  New Voice over IP and WiFi upgrades are happening as well--plumbing of a different kind.  Thanks for the update, BSD.

Music in the Park Rocks

One music lover put the great attendance at B'game's Music in the Park concert yesterday down to better bands playing this year.  Another listener attributed it to "Free" being more attractive this year than last.  I'm guessing they're both right.

The Sun Kings had the crowd estimated at more than 500 people up and dancing in the sun.  "Birthday" was a big hit with those celebrating their special day yesterday and "Back in the USSR" had the former hippies shaking their ponytails at the season finale.  Movies in the Park and on Broadway are your next free events.

Award-winning winelists

Whether you love it for its insight or hate it for its undue influence on the wine industry, the Wine Spectator magazine is a force to be reckoned with.  One local wag, who in my opinion knows more than most of the magazine's writers about the subject, calls it the "Wine Dictator".  Its influence cannot be denied regardless of whether you agree or disagree with its ratings.

So when the Spectator chooses its annual restaurant awards, people listen.  This month's edition lists two B'game establishments as Award of Excellence winners.  There are slightly less than 3,000 such winners worldwide.  That means our little town has the same number of award-winning restaurants as have Belgium, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, the Phillipines, Poland, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam or Wales.

The winners are about a block apart.............Il Fornaio and Nectar.  I can vouch for Nectar's Monday night winemakers' series as serious fun.  Congrats to both winners!

Enron-style Gimmicks

City governments are banding together to start playing hardball with the State.  Here is an excerpt from the message that went out on B'game's listserve today demonstrating the tougher tone:

The Legislature is expected to vote on a budget package on July 23 that will put cities at grave risk. The plan, put together by the Governor and legislative leadership earlier this week, attempts to close California's $26.3 billion deficit with what can only be described as Enron-style accounting gimmicks.

The budget provisions include unconstitutional grabs of local gas tax and redevelopment funds as well as a Proposition 1A loan of property taxes to give the appearance of a balanced budget.. The League has not seen actual budget language yet. However, all indications suggest that the current budget proposal:

Recklessly borrows $1.9 billion of local property taxes

Illegally takes $2 billion of local gas tax (HUTA) funds

Illegally takes $1.7 billion of local redevelopment funds

These "budget solutions" are nothing more than illegal and reckless Enron style accounting gimmickry that threatens vital city services to the tune of $5.4 billion.

California is at a crossroads. The Legislature needs to enact an honest, balanced state budget that respects the will of the people, not a budget full of bad debt and illegal gimmicks.

For Burlingame specifically, the impact is about $1.8 million of property taxes being "borrowed" and perhaps repaid on 2011.  The second impact is about $800,000 of gas taxes taken over the next two years.  In a city budget where $60,000 for crossing guards raised holy hell, the reason for the hardball tactics is clear.  The gas taxes go to pay for road improvements.  You can scroll down to see where new asphalt is (was?) planned for B'game.  I'm not sure all improvements are worthwhile like these kinds:

 

but most are clearly good for the community and our cars' axles.  The city asks you to call Leland Yee (916) 651-4008 and Jerry Hill (916) 319-2019.

New On the Avenew

Sources tell me that a parking deal has been worked out for BevMo! to move onto the Avenue.  With all of the For Lease signs one sees on the Avenue, the bright green awning might be a welcome sight near the west end of the street.

 

Or the alternative is this

Taking Local Action on the Climate - Part 2

Taking my cue from the letter I received today from the City about water usage, let's revisit a piece of the Burlingame Climate Action Plan.  If you didn't see Part 1, scroll down to the June 17th post below.

One of the early recommendations in the plan includes adopting a water efficient landscape ordinance.  The footnote in the Executive Summary to our Plan points readers to the Dept. of Water Resources Office of Water Use Efficiency and Transfers website where one can read up on AB 1881 from 2006.  This bill directs the Dept. to update the water efficient landscape ordinance, report statewide compliance and recommend a new ET adjustment factor.

Stay with me now since this might eventually affect how long your shower can be.  As soon as I figure out what an "ET adjustment factor" is I'll let you know.  Or not.

It appears that the pressure Burlingame is feeling comes from this part:

January 1, 2010 --Local agencies shall adopt the Model Ordinance or one that is "at least as effective as."

January 31, 2011 -- DWR shall submit a report to legislature on the status of adopted ordinances by local agencies.

Today's letter is asking for us all to continue our voluntary 10% water reductions so that San Francisco doesn't put in mandatory reductions.  At the bottom of the letter is a mention about rebates for low flush toilets and high efficiency clothes washers.  Pardon me, I need to go check my files for a receipt.....

History for Sale

Many Burlingame residents know that there is no official historic property list for our city.  The Burlingame train station is a listed historic property, but that's the only one in town.  This is due to the reluctance of all past city councils to vote for any of the draft lists that have been compiled.  Nonetheless, there are properties in town that have rich histories.

I recently noticed one that is for sale.  The long-time residence of Colonel Ernest Norberg has gone on the market and the brochure available in front hints at the Colonel's contribution to B'game.  Here are some more high points from his 1979 obituary.

After surviving the '06 quake, the Colonel moved to Burlingame with his family.  His father was a carpenter who built many homes in B'game.  Norberg attended Berkeley, fought in WW I and established an architectural practice in S.F. and later in B'game.

He designed the Levy Bros. building on the Avenue, the Howard Ave. Elementary School (now Washingtone School), San Mateo High School, the Casa Baywood apartments and Hacienda Garden Apartments (in San Carlos) and the Christian Science Church (in San Mateo).  He was a 20 year B'game planning commissioner, Rotarian, Legionaire, Elk, and AIA member.  The only think not mentioned is whether he designed his own house.  It can be yours for about $1.8 million.

RePeet Performance

As the temps climbed and the tempo of the town slowed, I was overjoyed to see the new Peet's Coffee begin pouring its elixir.  There's not a lot of news--only the three incumbents picked up nomination papers on Opening Day for the City Council election and the CBB caught up to the impending high-speed rail debacle with a great e-mail blast laying out the concerns.  Here's the new java house: