The Burlingame Voice

$chool Fundrai$ing Weekend

Burlingame came out with its checkbook this weekend.  The annual BHS fundrai$er, Ta$te of the Town, was held on Friday night at the Rec Center and it was a rip roarin' good time.  The BHS jazz band played and performers from the Spring play, She Loves Me, sang some of their parts.  Taste is a more casual affair with a great vibe, especially given that many of the parents had just been in the Rec center the previous week for a much more somber event.

Tonight's annual BCE Dinner Dance was a more formal affair--black tie, black evening gowns and the key fundrai$ing ladies wearing red.  Early indications are that it was a very successful night rai$ing about $250K from the auctions alone.

Kudos to all who put in a lot of hard work on both events.  Between Measure B voting which ends Tuesday night and this weekend's fundrai$ing, all of Burlingame benefits from the incremental funding of the schools that drives our property values.

Here's the pre-dinner crowd enjoying one anothers' company tonight

High-Cost Rail - Part 3

Burlingame resident Ted Crocker has done a wonderful job of correcting Quentin Kopp's wildeyed assertions on High-cost rail in today's SM Daily Journal.  You can read our last thread on Kopp here.

Ted summarizes with:

And so it always goes with Quentin Kopp referencing the “fair-minded” and “sober-minded and clear-headed” to appeal to the ignorant. He’s smooth and no dummy when it comes to getting what he wants. Look at the Millbrae BART station as a good example of lining the pockets of the few. That was also Mr. Kopp’s baby. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid. To quell the furor over potential land takes, Mr. Kopp has repeatedly stated HSR only requires a 50-foot-wide right of way. Even their latest 60-foot-high stacked configuration requires more than that, and a stacked solution precludes grade separation for Caltrain unless it is built another 21 feet in the air. Let’s talk reality, Quentin. I know he wants HSR to be his Siren Song, but the CHSRA has yet to make its case for why the legislators should continue to ignore the bond measure. If they didn’t before the vote, voters really need to educate themselves on this subject now and be able to identify when they are being sold a bundle of goods.

Well done, sir.  Bloggers, please take the time to read the whole piece linked above.  It is a good step forward in educating oneself as Ted suggests.

Got Allergies?

B'game is in bloom so the conversations at the grocery store, the library and on the street corner are about how everyone's sinuses are holding up.  Got allergies?

Downsize Your Ambitions - Part 2

Heather Murtugh from the San Mateo Daily Journal covers last night's budget session in today's edition:

Proposed cuts in Burlingame will impact everyone — employees, residents, children and even Santa Claus.

Looking at making $2.9 million in cuts to balance the budget this year and next, Burlingame’s staff created a reduction proposal with options from every department. Continuing hiring and salary freezes, closing the library two days a week and closing a fire station are all options on the $4.4 million list of possible reductions first discussed last night. One unknown is how the city plans to find approximately $200,000 to fight high-speed rail at the behest of all five councilmembers. Reserves appear to be the answer.

and goes on to note:

The conversation hit a snag when it came to setting aside money to later fund the Broadway overpass reconstruction. Brownrigg argued against having money sit in a bank account when it could be used for good now. In addition, he said the city could use a bond measure.

and finishes with a discussion about the approach to paying for sidewalk repair. 

Closed on Broadway

Another walk this morning down Broadway shows the very local thoroughfare to be in similar straights to its southern sister--B'game Ave.  There are seven empty retail spaces on Broadway today.  Let's assume that the Il Piccolo expansion next door takes that space as planned.  And let's assume the gift shop at the west end of the street has a new tenant coming as the sign indicates.  But we also have to account for US Bank moving down to the Pacific National Bank space on the Avenew as of May 15th, so that leaves six empty spaces on Broadway.

In general, Broadway felt a bit more vibrant perhaps because there are more smaller spaces and more services businesses where you can see people through the front windows.

 

High Cost Rail - Part 2

This news article from today's edition of the print-only Palo Alto Daily Post merits retyping:

Rail agency denies it has route maps

The California High-Speed Rail Authority now says it doesn't have any maps showing the homes it will need to seize to make way for train tracks.  Earlier, two agency officials promised to release the maps.

The Post filed a public records request on Jan. 18 asking for such documents.  The rail authority didn't respond until Feb. 11 -- well past the 10 business days required by law.  In his tardy response, deputy director Jeff Barker said he would track down the documents and provide them on Tuesday.

Agency admits it will need land

But on Wednesday, Rachel Weninger, staff services analyst for the rail authority, told the Post the railroad wouldn't start collecting information on property acquisitions until after it releases its alternative analysis report on March 4.

Weninger said most of the Caltrain corridor between San Francisco and San Jose is wide enough for high-speed rail's various design options.  "However, in areas where the Caltrain corridor is narrower, the use of some design options would likely require the acquisition of some property," Weninger said in an e-mail message.

Officials in Palo Alto are still waiting for maps that Dominic Spaethling, the regional manager for High-Speed Rail Authority, promised to provide during a community meeting Feb. 9 in response to a request by Mayor Pat Burton.  Spaethling responded, "If you need to see them tomorrow, let's make the request and see if we can get them."  Yet nothing has been provided.

Credibility hurt

Couincil member Larry Klein, who is chairing a council subcommittee on high-speed rail, said, "I don't know what the big deal is.  I think the maps and information should be readily available to us.  This delay hurts the credibility of the authority."

Kudos to the Daily Post for staying on the eminent domain issue.

Closed on the Avenew

A walk down B'game Avenue this morning shows that there are 12 empty retail spaces on the main thoroughfare.  Let's assume that Walgreen's is almost ready (I hear "a couple of weeks") and that Teacakes will move into the old Peet's Coffee location as announced.  There is also work going on where the stamp and coin shop was located for years, so that leaves nine locations empty.

Before my walk I thought it was a larger number, but I suppose the "tipping point" of perception is somewhere between 9 and 12.

Safeway - Part 56 Construction

I suppose it should be considered progress towards a new store when the first trade union protest appears in front of the old Safeway.  Today is that day as the Carpenters Local 152 has a man and a sign out front.  The flyer states:

Don't let Safeway become the ultimate price slasher at workers expense! Complain to the store Manager or reach out to Safeway Corporate.

Thinking Rail

I happened to reread an article from the Wall Street Journal of January 31, 2010 today along with the letters to the editor in response to the article.  Here are a couple of interesting excerpts

High-speed rail does little to unsnarl traffic jams because most highway congestion is within urban areas, not between them. It also has negligible impact on airport congestion. The world's strongest high-speed rail market, Tokyo to Osaka, is also one of the world's largest airline markets. Even with high-speed rail, there is still frequent air-shuttle service between Paris and Marseille.

Environmental claims are misleading. Using California High Speed Rail Authority's data, Joe Vranich and I estimated that the California system would reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, at a cost of $2,000 per ton. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that we should be able to meet its greenhouse gas targets by spending $50 or less per ton.

A letter writer from Scottsdale, AZ adds some further insight based on his understanding of the Japanese Shinkansen "bullet train":

You don't just lay rails, buy the Very Fast Train (VFT) equipment and then run it. Rails for any VFT must be kept perfect—perfectly aligned, perfectly level, perfectly clean, perfectly clear. In Japan there are two rail maintenance workers per mile on that dedicated right-of-way. I cannot really see Amtrak or the states of California or Florida trying to add that labor cost to their budgets.

The last comment is interesting because a lot of the focus has been on the cost to build the tracks and stations, but I haven't seen as much about the cost to maintain a precise set of tracks.

B'Game Supe?

With the San Mateo Daily Journal reporting that B'game resident

County Supervisor Mark Church will run for the elected position of chief elections officer and assessor-county-clerk-recorder and is expected to make a formal announcement today.

Church was not available for comment yesterday but it was confirmed through his office he was seriously interested in taking over for Warren Slocum, who announced Wednesday he would not seek re-election, and filling a job once held by his father.

The chess pieces are in motion in Redwood City, first with local Dave Pine indicating

Dave Pine, trustee on the San Mateo Union High School District Board is more definitive about his plans if Church runs and is elected to the seat now held by Slocum.

“I would say now that I will seek the seat if it is open,” Pine said.

and also, another possible hat-in-the-ring

Burlingame Councilwoman Ann Keighran said running might be a possibility.

“Many people have asked me to run so I can say that I would be considering it but I don’t know at this point,” Keighran said.

The time gap is one factor to consider but so is the rarity of an open seat.

“They don’t come around too often,” Keighran said. “When someone takes a position, they tend to be in there for the full time.”

My take is that B'gamers would rather have one of our own in RWC than not.  Please read the whole article to follow the details about appointments vs special elections.