The Burlingame Voice

Clean-up Time

We've had some discussion on other threads about the long-running vacancy next to David's Tea.  Yesterday, it wasn't looking any better as you can see here.

It seems like those garbage and recycling bins are a permanent fixture on the corner.  That doesn't happen anywhere else on the Avenue.  (Why is that?).

We have been doing pretty well on graffiti abatement lately.  The big one I noted here is gone--painted over, so thanks to whomever did that.  The walkway next to the Walgreen's is very convenient and abatement is doing pretty well there too.  Our camera discussion below might apply there since it absorbs frequent tags.  This one intrigued me--anyone know what it signifies?

Sharing Camera Footage

I was intrigued by this little blurb at the end of a Daily Journal article about the latest residential burglary spree in San Mateo.

With security camera footage having the potential to crack a case, the San Mateo Police Department is working with businesses and residents to compile a voluntary list of privately owned systems to enhance public safety called the Neighborhood Eyes Security Team, or NEST. If a crime occurs nearby, but not necessarily next door, security camera owners may not be aware they’ve potentially captured helpful information, according to police.

Camera use is always controversial.  I dislike the red light cameras that B'game took out, but Millbrae still uses at the intersection of the BART entrance.  I have advocated for a couple of non-traffic cameras in key spots in B'game (like the B'game Avenue-California Ave intersection) and this NEST idea seems like a good extension of that approach.

Housing Manipulation: Local Edition

Here is a link to the City website that describes the latest fad - "affordable housing" and notes

AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPPORTUNITY - PARKING LOTS F & N

An RFP was distributed in December, 2014 seeking qualified developers interested in partnering with the City to develop City-owned Parking Lots F & N (south of Howard Avenue, between Park Road and Highland Avenue) with affordable housing.

I don't recall this topic even coming up in the last election and I certainly have not run into a single person who thinks we should be building on city-owned parking lots to create "affordable housing".  Of course, what really happens with affordable housing is that the next tier up of people in the income ladder find that their housing becomes more expensive.  So government manipulation of the housing market is really just a blind effort to choose winners and losers among those whose circumstances aren't all that different.

Let's just leave the "what about the parking?" issue aside even though that HAS been a topic of the last few Council elections.  We can also leave aside the "what about the new water hook-ups?" (see first comment below). The Mercury News did a somewhat balanced article on the topic last weekend here.

A great quote from that piece is

Mayor Tom Butt, pointing to the housing issues that plaque Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, is against the (rent control) proposal.  "If you want to do something for renters, why would you emulate the places that have the highest rents in the Bay Area?" he said.

Housing manipulation is a prime case of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Drought Fines: Coming to a $pout Near You

We've been following the drought by the numbers for more than a year here and here. Some of the historical and political nuances of how water is allocated are here and the last round of restrictions proposed by Gov. Brown are here. Now courtesy of this Daily Journal article, we start to get to the meat of the issue -- fines --and we read of yet another bureaucracy that is involved; sort of

Gov. Jerry Brown’s landmark mandatory orders requiring the biggest users to conserve more will impact communities differently. Yet many San Mateo County residents must brace for water rate increases as the area’s main supplier, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, announced a 28 percent rate increase slated for July.

On Friday, the State Water Resources Control Board is poised to release more details on how it plans to implement Brown’s orders to cut statewide consumption 25 percent through tiered conservation standards ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent.

While some water officials expressed concern with the preliminary framework that bases a residents’ reduction target on September 2014 consumption — a time of year where people typically use more water — all utilities and cities will be required to cut back further or potentially face fines of up to $10,000 a day.

“I think now the issue is going to be there’s fines, this is real. What we’ve been in is a voluntary situation, we all have no choice, we’re in a mandatory situation now,” said Nicole Sandkulla, CEO of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. “Everybody has to get serious about it to a level that’s different from where we were last year. I think as residents, we all have to take a look again and say ‘OK, what’s the next thing I can do? I can’t just do what I did last year.’ Because for most of us, that’s not going to cut it.”

Based on the preliminary framework and September data, most San Mateo County residents consume between 55 gallons and 110 gallons of water each day and would be ordered to conserve 20 percent compared to their 2013 usage.

Sandkulla said BAWSCA, which represents the interests of local suppliers who purchase wholesale water from the SFPUC, submitted comments and concerns it hopes will be incorporated in the state’s draft regulations anticipated for release on Friday, a vote in May and adoption in June.

I had never heard of BAWSCA, but their website notes that back in 2003:

BAWSCA was enabled by AB 2058 (Authors: Assembly members Louis Papan, John Dutra and Joe Simitian). The Legislature’s overwhelming support for the bill demonstrated the state’s recognition of the need for local government to protect the health, safety and economic well being of 1.7 million people, businesses and community organizations in the three counties.

You have to wonder if their website is up to date or if their mission and oversight are out of date because the B'game member of their Board of Directors is listed as Rosalie O'Mahony who has been out of office for almost five and a half years!  And I hate to think of how well run any board with 26 members can possibly be.  Even the Policy Committee has ten members.   Are any of them calling ABAG and Planning Departments to see how many new water hook-ups are in queue in the Bay Area?

April 15: Workin' For The Man

It's Tax Day and it never seems to get any easier.  The Wall Street Journal has a piece about collectors of tax memorabilia that notes

The government began collecting federal income taxes during the Civil War. The tax disappeared and reappeared a few times in the late 19th century, but the modern income-tax system as we know it didn’t emerge until 1913, with the introduction of the first 1040.  In 1913, the 1040 form had a single page of instructions, compared with the 104 pages for the 2014 form.  Most IRS memorabilia isn’t worth much: Blank tax forms from 1913 on can be found free on the IRS’s website.

Even better was the piece in yesterday's Daily Post noting that the stress associated with taxes is unhealthy and makes driving more dangerous today.

So here's to your health and to workin' for the man.  As the state with the second highest tax burden in the country, we need all the help we can get.

"There Are Like 150 Restaurants"

This month's edition of San Francisco magazine is focused on the rise of the Chinese-American establishment in EssEff and the rest of the Bay Area.  The closing of the grand dame of Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, The Empress of China, generated this sentiment

What's more, the restaurants most favored by Chinese customers aren't located in Chinatown anymore.  "You go to Millbrae, and there are, like, 150 restaurants," says realtor Anton Qiu.  "And, frankly speaking, the restaurants there are far better." ...According to Betty Louie, a prominent landlord on Grant Avenue "Chinatown is the last place to go for food."

So our neighbor to the north is making great culinary headway.  What are the Voice readers' favorite Chinese restaurants in Millbrae?  I may want to try something new besides the awesome standby Hot Wok Bistro just over the border into San Mateo.

Drive-in Site Goes to H&Q Asia Pacific

I had heard from a most reliable source that the 301 Airport property that last housed the B'game Drive-in changed hands again with H&Q Asia Pacific taking control of that major bay front parcel that last had plans approved in 2012.  But I forgot to blog it until I read the latest edition of SV magazine that comes free to B'gamers with Gentry magazine.  SV interviewed six local realtors about the future of Silicon Valley real estate in a piece titled "Sky's the Limit".  Most of the article is a rehash of things anyone who lives here knows:  prices are up due to job growth, proximity to an (operating) Caltrain station is a plus, infrastructure improvement trails property development as an after thought, and some companies are looking outside of California for their next space.

Here is one interesting excerpt

SV:  What's the next Redwood City?

Moran:  San Mateo is the next biggest city that has the capability of changing, but they've got a height limit and a cap on square footage and they need a downtown plan.  if they can do that and get some critical mass into the downtown, both residential and commercial, they have an opportunity to create a Redwood City-type environment.

I think Mr. Moran views that as a good thing!  It reminds me of my Killing the Golden Goose post.

The article ran this conceptual drawing with the caption "H&Q Asia Pacific, and Asia-focused private equity/venture capital firm, recently teemed (sic) up with Chinese development company Genzon to acquire Millenium Partners' 18-acre Burlingame Point property development site for $48 million in March.  The project could include up to 767,800 square feet of office space".

The earlier estimate that this size of development could mean 3,000+ jobs on the site probably is still valid.  The only difference from 2012 from a Planning Commission standpoint is now one wonders where the water will come from?  And if B'game consumption jumps with 3,000 new people each work day, what does that do to our 84 gallon per capita level (since that is per resident) that is down 27%?  Will the state crack down even harder on B'gamers domestic use or is there some loop hole for new commercial usages?  And if there is a loophole, why is it there?

Commenters' Names

The Voice has never demanded that people use their own names and isn't about to start.  But as of now, we will start demanding that the names not exceed 30 or 35 characters (one line in the comment box) so that they do not take up screen space unnecessarily.  The design of the Voice pages has always been important to us and this requirement will keep it looking sleek.  Thank you.

SF Overlords Deign to Let B'gamers In?

Admit it.  When you are driving down 280 looking at the gorgeous foothills off to the right, you have wondered "can I actually hike through those woods?".  The answer is moving towards "maybe" as the News-Times is reporting here

A proposal to open the 23,000-acre Peninsula Watershed to greater public access is gaining broad support, with the notable exception of environmental groups, who criticize the plan for its potential to damage sensitive animal and plant species. 

Elected officials in San Francisco and San Mateo County, government agencies, hikers and mountain bikers have lined up behind the project, unveiled in February by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns and manages the vast refuge that runs from San Bruno to Woodside above the Crystal Springs reservoirs.

The watershed has been mostly off-limits since the SFPUC bought the property in 1930. The agency long claimed that allowing more people onto the land could threaten wildlife, such as the endangered marbled murrelet, and risk contaminating reservoirs that are key elements of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves 2.4 million people in the Bay Area.

Walking on our side along Sawyer Camp Trail is fun and healthy, but the other side looks totally cool.  For once it appears the political animals in EssEff are in line with our local wild life variety pols!

Drought Math: Who's Who, What's What

The San Jose Mercury-Times is really trying to follow the story of the drought.  They can't quite get to the ultimate perspective that trimming around the edges (of people's lawns) won't suffice, but they are trying.

This article has a nice Water Resources Control Board chart that shows the per capita water use and the reduction from the prior year.  H'borough leads the pack

                            Per Capita Use '14-'15 (gal)       Reduction Since '13

Hillsborough                   250                                      -25%

Burlingame                     84                                        -27%

Millbrae                          81                                        -10%

I'm not sure how San Mateo wriggled out of view of the microscope, but I would bet they are in the 80-85 gal/resident range of B'game and Millbrae.  The Mercury-Times failed to get the number of approved but not-yet-hooked-up connections for each town.  Time for a follow-up article.