My global travels often set me to thinking about B'game. Call it homesickness perhaps. I made the latest post about noise at SFO while I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. Tonight I am wrapping up a week in San Diego which is my second visit in six weeks. I found a great restaurant in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego during the last visit and I just took a party of 25 back there tonight (sounding a bit like Bruce Dickinson, I know).
What struck me about the evening was not the restaurant, good as it was. Ocean Beach ( "OB" ) is every bit as desirable as B'game. Arguably it is more desirable since it is on the beach, but it is also 20 minutes out of downtown San Diego (like B'game), filled with cute bungalows that cost $1.4M+ (like B'game) and in a region that is growing via the 3rd wave Internet boom, biotech and the like (like B'game).
So why are there no ugly, Hong Kong-style glass block offices, chain stores, or McMansions encroaching on the ambiance of OB? Why are there local restaurants, clubs that actually host live bands, and antique stores and other local businesses apparently surviving just fine? Do they have smarter City Council members who take the "long view" as espoused by Linda Lees Dwyer on this post? Are their citizens and voters more engaged than B'game voters? Do they have higher IQs? Better General Plans? I'm puzzled. OB feels like Old Burlingame, yet it survives in 2015. Why is that and what can we do about it?
Joe, Joe, Joe, do not worry my friend. Unless you flew a NetJet down to San Diego, dined at a 3-Star Michelin restaurant, and were popping corks on $20,000 Bordeauxs, you won't sound like yours truly, *the* Bruce Dickinson. I kid, I kid. Yes, while our balance sheets may be comparatively "imbalanced" as it were, you are, in my book, considered one of the "hitters" of Burlingame, ya know what I mean? And coming from me, that means a lot!
Ok guys, Julie, my famous transcribing secretary, is giving me a hard time for even responding to another post, so I will get straight to business. You pose an extremely interesting question and great parallel to Burlingame. Yet, "top it off" Bruce Dickinson presents you with an even more interesting parallel. Behold, the Burlingame neighborhood of San Diego!
http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/historical/pdf/2010burlingamefinalcomplete.pdf
Yes, same name, same era of homes, but very different stewards of the community. And that's what I believe is the differentiating factor. Note how EVERY home is historically archived and described in detail. And part of a historical preservation program! By one of the largest metropolises in the nation! Folks, our own City, Planning Department, Planning Commission, City Council make it look like amateur hour in comparison to the pros in the City of San Diego. Also, that's not all. Think the Mission Hills neighborhood, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar, and Ocean Beach as you mentioned to name a few. Yes, all distinct neighborhood with fierce preservation programs that would take a look at the poop architecture being erected in Burlingame and put it where it belongs, namely, throw it down the toilet!
Part of it is land: San Diego has less density, so can afford commercial areas to focus only on that and also they have a growing population, economies of scale, stewards of the community, and a top-notch city. Don't forget, the Spanish Colonial architectural vernacular was practically invented for the Panama-California Expo in San Diego! Finally they don't have a city that is extremely worried about their own jobs, pensions, etc as all this can be funded, so they are not approving everything just for tax dollars sake.
Even look at San Francisco. Every major project approval extracts meaningful concessions for the public good from developers and guess what? they still develop, because they are still making a ton of dough. That wart of a proposed building on California in Burlingame has no such public good concessions, because this city is run for developers and for the city employees self-interest, in my humble opinion.
Bruce Dickinson is really hoping for some City Council candidates with zero ties to the real estate market, with true independence so that the best decisions can be rendered for the public good. If this doesn't happen soon, Bruce Dickinson may throw in the towel and move to Hillsborough instead.
Now, who says that even after seven decades, that Bruce Dickinson is no longer in the content business!??
Posted by: Bruce Dickinson | July 24, 2015 at 05:24 PM
"Construction hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday thru Saturday. No construction is permitted on Sunday." These are the hours for construction in Carmel. Another sign I saw noted that there was to be no radio playing and the site was to be cleaned each day.
In Burlingame, construction can begin weekdays as early as 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. and is allowed on Sunday.
Don't get me started on leaf-blowers...
Posted by: Peter Garrison | July 24, 2015 at 09:21 PM
San Diego has a lot of community involvement and it seems like that is necessary to keep development at sane levels. The community groups have also kept a close eye on development agreements for proposed projects to make sure there are provisions for public good, such as community centers, senior centers, child-care facilities, etc. This could happen in Burlingame on a scale appropriate to the proposed project. As Bruce states above, even with public goods tied in with contracts, developers will still make money.
Posted by: Jane | July 26, 2015 at 05:58 PM
San Diego, the bastion of financial responsibility:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_pension_scandal
Posted by: fred | July 27, 2015 at 10:13 AM
Irrelevant non sequitur.
Posted by: hillsider | July 27, 2015 at 02:09 PM
Look out folks! We have residents armed with weapons of the slacking 5th grader, namely: Wikipedia!
You come to the house of Dickinson, you better be armed with primary source information. I shot of a quick email to my investment guy. Yes, there was a scandal in SD, yes the pension is under-funded like most other cities but the past is the past. And guess what? San Diego City Pension is 82% funded, county is higher; they outsourced the pension management to an outside advisor and several new investment managers. And Burlingame? 75% funded status for general employees, 77% for public safety and San Mateo county pensions are around the same level (a tad lower actually). San Diego's funded status has been increasing while Burlingame's has been going down.
So there you have it. BTW, for anyone on the BV who suspects facts pulled out of a dark smelly place that poop calls a home, ya now what I mean? just give a holler to Bruce Dickinson, and if my staff has time, we can track down primary source info pretty quickly. I'm tired of the intellectual laziness that Wikipedia has spawned and transcended school aged slackers, middle-aged wing-nuts, and grumpy old curmudgeons from San Mateo alike. Guys, if you can spell and type wikipedia, you can let google be your friend and track this stuff down with a few more keystrokes and mouse clicks. It's worth it, especially if your opportunity cost of time is as low as it actually appears.
Posted by: Bruce Dickinson | July 27, 2015 at 07:16 PM
Slightly better non sequitur. Funded. Underfunded. The OB still has a better ambiance than Burlingame will have in 5 years.
Posted by: hillsider | July 28, 2015 at 12:28 AM