The Burlingame Voice

Easton Library Saved

There has been great progress on Easton Library fundraising since we wrote about the grass roots effort to save the branch back in August.  While the comments back then show that not everyone thinks it a good use of City money, I think they are in the small minority.  Last night Gretchen Cody, who spearheaded the effort, presented outgoing Mayor Cathy Baylock with the last installment of $75K in donations that will keep the library open.  Nice job.

 
As the Mercury Times notes here:

Still, library leaders cannot predict the branch's fate beyond next spring. Harding said officials will wait until the overall city budget process starts, likely in January, before evaluating whether -- and how -- it could stay open.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Wells Far-gone

The Claw was up early today and so was the Voice.  Here is a photo of the Claw chewing on the backside of the old Wells Fargo building at 6:15 am.  As I recall, the street side of the building will remain and be reconfigured into smaller spaces with Chipotle taking one of them.

 

Another Year. Another Little Big Game

The game is always a great smalltown American thrill, but so is the pomp and circumstance surronding the game. The pep rallies, the simple idea of a crosstown rivalry and my favorite, the parading of the marching bands from one school to the other.

This year, the game was held at Burlingame High, so marching down Deleware to Dwight to Burlingame Avenue on to the stadium was the S.M.High Marching Band. Good show.

The band marching down Burlingame Avenue from Dwight Rd.

 

High Cost Rail: Part 37: Food for thought

In the first of a series of videos  containing some questions and some answers regarding the planning of High Speed Rail in California.

 

High Cost rail: Part 36: Rally in Burlingame

Despite periodic downpours and showers, a crowd estimated between 400 and 600 from throughout The Peninsula and some as far away as Gilroy and Morgan Hill came together to voice their opposition and concern about how High Speed Rail has been planned for the state.

My guess is that there would have been even more attendees if it wasn't for the weather. During the rally, which was also attended by many elected officials, speakers who included Burlingame Mayor Cathy Baylock, San Mateo Councilman Robert Ross, Brisbane Councilwoman Sepi Richardson and Executive Director of Community Coalition on High Speed Rail's Gary Patton, expressed concern about HSR in a variety of ways from the financial impacts to the environmental impacts, to the impacts on our quality of life.

"Boondoggle" was the word of the day.

highspeedboondoggle.com is a website that has much more information and they also have a facebook page with even more information. Check them out and check out a few pics from today's rally.

And check out some video as well here.

Walgreens Requiem

Here's another cool picture.  The most common thing I am hearing from people is "I didn't realize how big the Safeway/Walgreens parcel was until the green construction fencing went up around it."  Followed by something like "I'm glad the City got this right even if it did take a long time."

 
 

$upervisor'$ Race

Today's Daily Post has a piece about the upcoming County supe's race.  It reads:

Ed McGovern, the man who ran Don Horsley's victorious and costly campaign for supervisor, said San Mateo County could see another hotly contested and costly race when it come time to replace Supervisor Mark Church...

A special election will happen because Measure U passed on Tuesday and that is a good thing.  The Post goes on to note that Dave Pine, Gina Papan, Rich Holober and Terry Nagel have announced they are running and that

McGovern, who's run several successful campaigns in the county (Ed note: and some unsuccessful ones) said he expects the candidates in that race to raise and spend as many campaign dollars as they can.

I hope that's a bit of a misquote because it's so obvious as to be ridiculous.  This quote is better

"I suspect if there's four pretty determined candidates, they are each going to try to raise and spend $200,000."

Papan has her father's connection$, Pine has some prior business connection$ in the Valley, Holober runs for pretty much everything as a back-of-the-pack candidate and Nagel will have serious trouble raising that kind of money due to how divi$ive she can be.  Should be interesting.

Sunday Rally. Rethink High Speed Rail

Respects for a Great B'gamer

I learned of Ruth Jacobs' passing yesterday and that deserves mention to all.  Ruth spent years on the Planning Commission and knew her way around the city and City Hall like few people do.  I loved her rule about really long Commission meetings:  "After midnight, I'll sit and listen to the proceedings, but I abstain from voting at that point."  She served at more than her fair share of long ones and knew when to withhold judgement.

Ruth was also an early and consistent supporter of the print version of the Burlingame Voice.  She walked her neighborhood with the new editions and engaged her neighbors on the issues.  My condolences to her husband Bob and her whole family.  She will be greatly missed as someone with an opinion who was never shy about sharing it.

Wasting Tax Money - The MTC

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is a group of 19 commissioners from the greater Bay Area counties and cities that is tasked with a variety of coordination efforts to improve transportation.  We definitely need such a group and we need them to be effective. 

What we don't need is their "Transactions" publication.  This quarterly piece is an 11' x 17", glossy, heavy stock, full-color advertisement for a public agency.  The Fall 2010 issue is nothing but awards to schoolkids and insiders with not a bit of enlightenment as to who is doing what to whom on the MTC.  We could use a less-flashy version with real content from these commissioners about issues, positions, votes, etc.  I'd like to see them treat their budget as if it were their own money. 

I know there are a couple of bloggers who follow the MTC closely and have opinions on the members and the issues being addressed.  Consider this your invitation to enlighten the rest of us--for free.