The Burlingame Voice

To rent or not to rent, that may be the question.

I am just curious as to whether B Voice readers have an opinion about this. Seems a handful of renters, no doubt rallied by the letter writer, appeared at the last Burlingame City Council meeting to tell the council that the housing plan should cater more to renters in Burlingame. Below is the letter as it appeared in the SMDaily Journal.

Should the housing plan cater more to renters or should we let market forces dictate what Burlingame looks like? Keep in mind that statistically Burlingame has approximately 52% rentals vs. owners.

Editor,

The topic of whether or not ABAG numbers are realistic is moot, as both Mayor Michael Brownrigg and Vice Mayor Terry Nagel implied (“Faulty population numbers may influence housing” in the Aug. 20 edition of the Daily Journal). The real story not even mentioned in your article is the growing clamor for affordable housing. Over 20 renters from Burlingame attended the council meeting, some of them courageously telling personal stories of impossible rental increases and impending displacement. We also heard from highly knowledgeable speakers from Peninsula Interfaith Action (now PIA/SFOP), the Housing Leadership Council and Urban Habitat.  

Renters in Burlingame and other Bay Area cities are under assault and they are starting to fight back. Homeowners enjoy the protections of mortgage interest deductions, Proposition 13 tax breaks, and many other financial benefits. Renters, on the other hand, pay their landlord’s mortgage interest, property taxes, sewer and water bond assessments and maintenance costs; yet they are regarded as second-class citizens, with absolutely no protections from egregious rent increases. Low-income seniors and disabled people are suffering the most. Something has got to happen now to stop the bleeding.  

I urge all renters to come together to work toward solutions in their communities, and demand acknowledgment, respect and action from their elected leaders.  

Cynthia Cornell

Burlingame

Entertainment Drought in B'game

Let's face it.  B'game is a daytime town.  Once you get past the dinner hour, it's basically dead out there.  Various establishments have tried to liven up our downtowns--Tavern Grill was awesome for about six months, B'way Grill fights the trend and Towle's Seafood (not breakfast) was even better with fun bands four nights a week.  But right now, we are at a low point--well below sea level.

I was out on Saturday night on the Avenew.  I had a great time, good meal, saw a bunch of friends, made a couple of new ones and was really looking forward to seeing live music on the "backside" of the Avenew at Rue du The.  Kudos to those guys for trying to make something musical happen.  One thing led to another and I didn't get to Rue du The until after 9:30.  That meant I heard two songs from Kristen Jones and her pick-up band made up of members of Sea Trade who were all down from EssEff.

Kristen came by the table to say hello and told us they had to finish by 10pm due to the rules about outside music.  Now that is just sad on a Saturday night on Donnelly Ln.  We were surrounded by parking lots and empty retail, not to mention the poor burned-out historic houses.  We have to do something about these arcane rules that cause musicians to shut down the amps when any self-respecting musician is still warming up.  C'mon B'game.  Let's not roll up the sidewalks at 10pm!  Here's the band on the back patio at Rue du The.

Streetscape Kudos

Coming back to town at one commenter's request, here is a very complete review of our soon-to-be-completed Avenew streetscape project.  I don't know Planner Dan and never heard of him before, but from some of his technical terminology and analysis it is apparent that he is in the urban planning business.  And overall, he is impressed with what is happening on B'game Ave.  You should read through the whole blog entry.  My favorite bit is

At about 10 feet, the walkway is wide enough to accommodate leisurely strolling and more purposeful pedestrians. Conversations among pairs or groups can be had while allowing plenty of room for others to pass. The walkway hugs the buildings, as it should. While a few narrow tables with chairs occasionally sit against the buildings, the main furniture zone is out toward the curb where it belongs. 

That also means there is plenty of room for the newly-legal canine dinner companions which have been common on the Ave for a long time.  His commentary on the crosswalks is also insightful

The crosswalks use the same pavers as the sidewalks. It looks good, but I prefer to keep crosswalks simple. Continental striping on asphalt, made famous on the cover of the album Abbey Road by the Beatles, is very easy for motorists to see and is universally understood to denote pedestrian crossings. They are also inexpensive to build and easy to maintain. And, what could be cooler than looking like a Beatles album?

It also gives me a chance to post a picture of myself and two friends in that famous crosswalk on Abbey Road!  Just another day in the life.

 

 

"Power Tower" Solar: Green or Not?

Here's another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences from ABC News.

Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays — "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair.

Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one "streamer" every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator's application to build a still-bigger version.

The investigators want the halt until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now range from a low of about a thousand by BrightSource to 28,000 by an expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group.

If something kills a bird every two minutes in perpetuity is it "green"?  I'm thinking the small, residential systems like those from Solar City in San Mateo are a better alternative than big, Jerry Brown-sponsored and subsidized systems that kill birds and chase off tortoises.  It's just like the high-cost rail fiction that it will be good for the environment when the pollution it creates in construction is greater than the pollution is displaces over the useful life of the tracks and train cars.

Design Tech @Mills

I haven't made a post on this topic to date because I didn't feel like I had much info, but I ran into two different local parents I know at B'game on B'game Avenue yesterday whose kids are enrolled in this first Design Tech class.  They are very excited about it and a bit confused/concerned about the controversy.  The DJ gives us a nice synopsis here

The district dealt with a lot of issues it didn’t anticipate, he noted. Parents learned at the end of March the district was offering the new charter space at Mills. Safety and traffic issues were also of concern. Mills and Millbrae community members complained about the lack of public input in the process and some commented on how board meeting minutes had yet to be posted on the district website and that the public wasn’t informed about Mills being considered as the location for the school before it was up for a board vote.

For now, the school has $1.109 million in general block grants, $275,000 in federal school startup funds and $26,531 in other state revenue. Total expenses, between compensation and benefits, book and supplies, services and operating expenses and capital outlay, total $1.65 million. The budget will expand each year as the number of students expands to its expected final size of 600 students. Design Tech’s Executive Director Ken Montgomery insists the $150,000 is one-time seed money.

I can also verify (from these two parents) that so far the controversy is from the parents.  The two sets of students on campus are getting along fine and as one of the parents noted "it's the same kids they have been in class with since kindergarten".   That's true of the 80 B'game students at a minimum.  I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the funding issue.

Part 2 Affordable Housing Myth

Here is a repost from Next Door Burlingame that can't go without some real-life response.  I have added my comments in line in bold italics

I am urging renters and homeowners who are concerned about the lack of affordable housing in Burlingame to attend the City Council meeting on Monday night, August 18th, at 7:00 p.m. The City Council is scheduled to review and authorize approval (um, no.  Not "authorize" unless she knows how the vote will go) of the Housing Element to the Master Plan for submission to the State of California, in effect mapping out the possible future of housing in the City. 

Renters comprise the majority of residents in the City, and need protections like those enjoyed by homeowners (and exactly what "protections" are those?). Neighbors who have established lives in our community are facing increased impoverishment and displacement because of egregious (define "egregious" or is she just being inflammatory?  Are our rents any higher than the rest of the Peninsula?) rent increases. 

We need to unify now to make a difference. If you are not a registered voter, let me know and I'll make sure to get a registration form to you. (I look forward to this vote by the people if it ever comes about.  And I will be watching the Council vote with that future vote in mind).

Cynthia Cornell

It can be complicated to explain to someone with very little economic understanding that there are consequences to every sort of "government control" and that those consequences often hurt the exact constituency that the control was meant to help.  The absolute WORST THING that could happen to current and future renters in B'game is to have rent control.  Just look at EssEff or New York City.

B'game on B'game Avenue

This weekend was the "Burlingame on Burlingame Ave." event and a chance to get out, mingle with some locals and see a lot of visitors getting exposed to the new Avenue streetscape.  The whining about how the new streetscape would be too narrow to host the event and it would have to stay on Howard like last year turned out to be just that--whining.  There was more than enough room and the restaurants appreciated the event's return.

The general impression was the there was more actual arts & crafts this year which is ironic since it is no longer called ArtzFest.  I had a chance to chat with one of the guys who started the original Art in the Park back in 1967.  Local Neil Dobson was relaying how he and Carter Church were BHS students when they had the original idea to do the event as a BHS art exhibit.  They enlisted their art teacher, Mr. Van, to get permission from the City Council to hold the event.  Apparently, after much back and forth on the dais, Mr. Van had to berate the council--including Vic Mangini and Bud Harrison (both of whom had deep BHS ties) to approve the event.  Once approved, Neil and Carter set it up and slept in front of BHS overnight between day one and two to guard the art.  Just another fun B'game story.  Here are some shots from today including the Living Statue guy who was popular and the band Group Therapy from B'game that played both days.  If you missed it, you missed out.

Cool Visitors

Sometime I think I take for granted how cool B'game can be.  We make jokes about Boringame and it's true--there are plenty of weekend nights when the coolest thing you can do in town is get an fro-yo.  But we also have to remember we are a destination for a lot of people who live in even more boring places.

That thought occurred to me on Friday when I went to the California Audio Show at the Westin.  (Acknowledge that the Westin is in Millbrae, but the theme is still valid--maybe more so for Millbrae).  The Audio Show is a bit of a geek-fest for audiophiles.  They filled 3 floors of the Westin with ridiculously high-end audio gear.  I got to wander around and listen to speakers the size of Mini-Coopers, $50K turntables, reference recordings of classic vinyl. You get the picture--big boy toys.

And all of these people paid ToT (to Millbrae, in this case), ate at the Elephant Bar or on B'way and generally added to the local economy.  Here is a very nice lady named Cookie who was a sound engineer for Windham Hill and OTR and is now with Blue Coast Music giving a hands-on seminar with the guy playing guitar in the front and showing the various ways to enhance the recording---in a meeting room at the Westin.....

 

Election Tea Leaves: Health Care District

Yesterday's Daily Post had a helpful guide to the upcoming elections in the Fall.  There are only a couple of races of interest here in B'game.  They are the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, the Harbor District (which is always entertaining if not all that visible to non-boatowners) and the Peninsula Health Care District Board which has five members listed here.

Three members are up for election in the Fall:  the Chair, Lawrence Cappel, and two B'gamers Helen Galligan and Dennis Zell.  They are being challenged by Douglas Radtke.  I'm acquainted with Helen Galligan and Dennis Zell since they have been active in B'game affairs for some time, but I do not know Douglas Radtke.  His website is found here.  One aspect of his platform is

Peninsula Healthcare District has in the past, rejected a potential consolidation with Sequoia Healthcare District. I support investigation into the possibility of instead forming a Countywide Healthcare District which would supplant both SHCD and PHCD – this would truly serve the actual needs of the entire county.

I would have to give that some thought since my natural reaction is that bigger is not always better.  I'll keep an eye out for the incumbents' position statements and any forthcoming debates.  In the meantime, here is an interesting YouTube clip from when Mr. Radtke ran for Millbrae City Council last year.

Sunrising on Trousdale

It appears there is good progress at the Sunrise site on Trousdale.  We heard back in February, that there might be progress but no specific committments were made.  I drove by yesterday and, lo and behold, work was happening!  The new construction next door may finish first, but at least there were workmen there and things appear to be progressing!

It's listed as "coming soon 2015" on the Sunrise site.