Month: June 2012

  • High-Cost Rail – Part 76 No Fed Money

    Buried in the news about the bipartisan agreement reached on the federal transportation bill that just passed both houses in D.C. was this report

    Separately, the House approved an amendment to an annual spending bill that would prevent federal transportation funds from being spent in the next fiscal year for California’s controversial high-speed rail project.

    The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater), who cited the project’s ballooning costs. Three California Democrats – Jim Costa of Fresno, Zoe Lofgren of San Jose and Laura Richardson of Long Beach – issued a statement calling the amendment an "example of how thoughtless partisanship would hurt all of California.’’

    Reps Costa, Lofgren and Richardson get the "idiots of the week" award which comes with a special stand called the "pot calling the partisan kettle black" award.  "Hurt all of California"–yeah, right.  At least in D.C. the adults have the purse strings on High-cost Rail.

  • Remembering A Really Nice Guy

    They don't come any nicer than longtime B'gamer John Benson who passed away last Friday.  As his obit notes, he and his wife Martha

    purchased The Studio Shop in 1955 – Burlingame's oldest retail business since 1915; very active in the community joining the Burlingame Presbyterian Church in 1955; a member of the Burlingame Lions Club; Trustee of the Burlingame Library Board; a member of E Clampus Vitas; awarded Burlingame Citizen of the year in 1989.

    The amazing thing was John was able to attend an honorary event at the Lion's Club two days before he passed away!  Not many people get to be surrounded by dozens of their friends gathered in their honor right at the end.  Here's a photo from that night of John (on the right) with Lions singing in his honor after dinner and speechmaking.

    John Benson memorial

    RIP.

     

  • Friends with Benefits – Part 18 New Accounting Standards

    We've been following the underfunded public pension issue for awhile now.  Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported in a piece titled "States to Face New Pressure Over Pensions" and said

    New accounting rules are likely to show that public pensions plans are underfunded by hundreds of billions of dollars more than previously thought, putting new pressure on state and local governments to act.  The revamped rules expected to be approved Monday by an accounting-standards group will force governments to record pension costs sooner than they did before and disclose shortfalls more prominently.

    Here's an insightful passage in the piece

    Some pension officials said they don't plan to make drastic changes based on GASB's decision.  For example, many pension officials plan on using two sets of numbers when calculating pension obligations:  one for official reporting purposes and another to determine taxpayers' pension bills.  GASB's new rules would allow that.

    This is a ticking package that won't go away.

  • Has the sun set on Sunrise Living?

    My thanks to blogger Anne for the following update on the abandoned building at Trousdale and Ogden.  I stopped by to take a photo of it last week for a follow-up post, but Anne has done some of the legwork for us as follows

    In spite of the inconvenience of also having a day job (sorry, Joe, but you were a bit whiny…), I have some information on the Sunrise Assisted Living Facility at 1818 Trousdale Drive: Initial responsible parties: Sunrise Development (925-743-9035) Trousdale Properties (415-771-5246) Michael Kutsin, Mithun Properties (206-971-5575) Construction was initiated in 2004 and halted in 2008. The Burlingame Planning Department contact is Ruben Hurin (650-558-7250; rhurin@burlingame.org). I'll provide more information once I have spoken with him. In the meantime, if any of you have been involved in similar endeavors, I'd be grateful for any suggestions for possible next steps.

    Then I realized I had a photo already–taken in August of 2009!  Ouch.  It looks the same as today!

    Trousdale abandoned project

  • Restaurant S.F. Migration Speeds Up

    There are lots of upcoming changes to the B'game Avenew restaurant scene–but when isn't there?  Coconut Bay is moving to the old Archipeligo space on Howard Ave and hopefully they will have more luck than the last three occupants.  They have the client base already, so moving two blocks shouldn't be too tough.

    I ate at The Plant  on the Embarcadero in the city last week and the server confirmed rumors that they are coming to B'game.  The Burger Joint is a rapidly fading memory with The Melt also moving down from the city and going into that space.

    A couple of the new restaurant permits that have just been added by the council were snapped up right away–one by Pizzeria Delfina which will join Blue Line Pizza on the Avenew–both from…..EssEff.  And there is apparently a Vietnamese place going into the north side of Primrose Ave.  Don't forget the old favorites though as the shiny new arrivals open!

  • Safeway – Part 72 Public Garden Open

    There isn't a lot left to say about the Safeway project, but the retail shops on Primrose are filling up and the rooftop public garden has been open for awhile.  I've been communicating with the property manager since I noticed it was accessible quite some time ago, but it's been pretty quiet and not always obvious that it's open.  There were some delays with the tables, but they are now in.  The hours and such per the manager are:

    The hours are 9 AM until a half hour before dusk 7 days per week.  There is a camera system installed and a security patrol comes by and closes it each night.

    You may not always realize it's open because the gates aren't held open, but if walk up any of the three sets of stairs, you can get in.  Seems like a good break spot for the employees who know about it.  There will be a more formal grand opening next month.

    Rooftop Garden w tables

  • Welcome Fiat

    Here's a Father's Day post, for all the car guys in B'game.  I like Rosalie O'Mahony's description of the B'game car dealers as "The Golden Geese" because of the tax revenues they contribute to our fair burg.  It's a good thing because it is derived from the long history of auto dealerships in B'game that goes back to the origins of horseless carriages.  One of the best auto journalists around is Dan Neil of the Wall Street Journal.  His column this weekend reminded me of the arrival of Fiat on Auto Row in B'game.

    Fiat2

    Dan Neil reviewed the new Fiat 500 Abarth.  The 500 is Fiat's re-entry vehicle to the U.S. relying on the premise that Americans are ready for a small, sporty, fuel-efficient Italian ride to compete with the Mini-Cooper.  Per Neil, "Abarth" is "Fiat's in-house speed shop, prepping rally cars and souping up the road cars."  When I see a 500 on the streets of B'game, I'll post the photo, but in the meantime, I am just enjoying the idea that this dealership is "open during construction."  My Italian relatives would say "well, of course it's open if your wallet is open.".  Welcome, Oca d"Oro.

    UPDATE:  I've seen a surprising number of Fiat 500s on the streets of B'game, but it was easier to snap a photo of one on the dealer's lot.  Here it is

    Fiat 500

  • North Park Apartment Fire

    This major fire probably happened too late to make tomorrow's papers so you are getting my first hand account of it here on the Voice.

    The North Park Apartments are the large complex between Carolan Ave and Rollins Rd just south of B'way.  As I drove past the complex at 11:30 pm, the fire was just hitting the critical phase.  BPD had blocked off Cadillac Way and at least one fire engine was on the scene.  As I doubled back up Carolan from the south, an engine crew had determined that it should head over to Rollins from Carolan.  When I got out to take the photo below, I discovered why:  there is a pond in the middle of the complex that appeared to be large enough to prevent any firefighting from happening on the Carolan (i.e. the west) side of the complex's eastern buildings.  It's not a very clear photo, but I can tell you this one apartment was fully consumed.

    I just hope everyone got out in time and Central County Fire can figure out how to keep the neighboring upper floor units from being consumed as well.  As you can sort of see, it was roaring and some residents appeared to be just figuring out that something serious was happening.  There are going to be some tired firefighters making pancakes at the annual breakfast tomorrow morning at the California Dr. fire house.

    North Park fire

    Here is an update with the photo of the "morning after" which is surprising for how restrained it all seems.  This is the same perspective and all you can see is some charring

    North Park next morn

    And how often so you see the Red Cross in B'game delivering services–one thinks of Haiti or Japan after the tsunami, but here they are

    Red Cross at North Park

  • School Traffic – Fighting the Frenzy

    Vehicle traffic around B'game schools has been an issue for years and prompted the big controversy over funding the crossing guards a couple years ago.  The Daily Journal is highlighting the latest petition and forthcoming study

    Seventy-two people have signed an online petition asking for staggered start and end times noting traffic problems near Franklin Elementary and Burlingame Intermediate schools. Superintendent Maggie MacIsaac said the process isn’t that simple but that the Burlingame Elementary School District will be studying options in the coming weeks.

    As the piece goes on to note, there are a bunch of interconnected parts to this.  Good luck getting all of the gears to mesh.

  • B’game Grocery History

    Nearly 75 people turned out (in?) for the quarterly Burlingame-Hillsborough Historical Society quarterly meeting today at the Lane Room.  Even though it was gorgeous outside, everyone was enthralled by the photos of the numerous small local grocery stores that dated back to the teens.  Funny how the "then and now" photos draw memories out of people.

    These meetings often have guest speakers and today was no exception.  Local grocers Don Stanaway and Mark Lucchesi were the special guests and the highlight for me was hearing Mark talk about his father (Roy Robert) and mom (Bruna, hope I spelled that right) and their stores on B'way and later near the Avenew.  Don Stanaway paid Mark's dad the highest tribute when he called him a great competitor (their stores were just a couple blocks apart) and a true gentleman.  Here's Mark talking about his early days working for his dad at Jim's Super.

    Historical Soc_Mark Lucchessi_Jim's Super

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