My Council Endorsements: Colson and Beach

We have an important City Council election in November.  The overall tenure of the council has been dropping in the last few years and will drop to the lowest in memory come November.  In a "throw the bastards out" environment that might not be a worry, but I know from watching the council for 20-plus years that knowing where we have been helps one decide where we should go.  The recent affordable housing-rent control fiasco orchestrated by outgoing councilwoman Terry Nagel is a perfect example.  We have an ordinance on the books that precludes rent control, so why did the council waste so much of their time and staff time on the issue?  Lack of knowledge and poor judgement on Nagel's part.  Result: a 4-1 vote to say "go away".  So here is who I think should replace Nagel and Jerry Deal placeholder John Root:

Donna Colson, for sure, and Emily Beach with my fingers-crossed.

I've known Donna Colson for some time and have seen her in action getting things done.  We've talked about many of the issues in town and I know she has a grip on a variety of issues along with the professional experience to handle some of the more detailed financial issues and questions as they arise.  She is a no-brainer vote.

Russ Cohen and I sat down with Emily Beach for an introductory conversation about a week ago.  I think we heard and reacted similarly, but here I am speaking for myself.  He can weigh in at his leisure.  Emily Beach comes across as having a good range of life experiences and some local experience mostly with school issues.  She and her family have lived in B'game for eight years, so it is impossible to have that "institutional memory" I spoke of above if you were not here.  So she has a lot of learn about the various issues, but I liked the clarifying questions she asked and her awareness that there are consequences to be considered that are not always obvious.  That is especially true if someone brings them to her attention!

Lastly, I like that she lives on Cambridge Rd. just south of Village Park and just in from California Ave.  She is not in one of the sheltered corners of west-side B'game.  She has a front row seat for high-speed rail and congestion from over-development and sees the ill effects on the local schools from it. 

One could say the same for Nirmala who is on a nearby street, but I have seen Nirmala in action the last few years and have been singularly unimpressed.  One has to do more than show up for meetings and events.  Everything I heard, wrote and agreed with in the press is still true and I do not believe she is prepared for hard decisions.

In a short field of four candidates for two open seats Donna Colson and Emily Beach get my vote.  I believe they should get yours, too.  If, like me, you had not heard of Emily Beach before she threw her hat in the ring, this is her.

 

Comments

[Resident]

So it is written, so it shall be done...I mean voted. I had come to the same conclusion on my own.

[Burlingame supporter]

I know Emily Beach through her leadership in BCE, and she is a born leader... And a GOOD one. Charismatic, open, passionate, decisive, and gets things done. I do not know Donna Colson. I do know Nirmala Bandrapalli through her involvement as one of the Planning Commissioners, and I totally agree with the assessment...she just shows up and sits in a meeting, but I have not seen her take any sort of stand, conventional or controversial. We need someone who will take action and bring passion to advocate our voices. Not someone warming the seat.
I know where my vote is not going...

[Laura]

In total agreement with you Joe. We need Council that is going to stand on their two feet and not be afraid to make tough decisions. Donna and Emily have my vote.

[The best voice in and OF Burlingame - Emily Beach.]

Joe, I totally agree with you as I stack ranked the candidates a few weeks ago on The Voice. I don't know Donna, but I've known Emily for several years and she certainly has the best singing voice and guitar playing abilities out of the four. Plus, she's risen as a natural leader in the community, and I like her core values.

Like I said, "Emily Beach is going to crush it!"

Joe you've been looking for more, better live music...perhaps at the close of each Council meeting?

[hillsider]

Finally two things we agree on, Alex. Emily and Donna. But no singing in chambers please

[pat giorni]

As in the Cohen/Ortiz election, I fear Nirmala will again be the spoiler. For the sake of the community and to demonstrate that she truly is committed to serve and protect our fair city her greatest act of civic engagement would be to withdraw from the race.

[Run, Pat, Run.]

Run, Pat, Run.

[just saying]

Pat I believe you have it wrong regarding Nirmala being a spoiler. Her support was among the schools and those with children and probably took away votes from Ortiz and not from Cohen for the most part. Ortiz would have won by many more votes and therefore Nirmala only spoiled a greater amount of votes for Ortiz. I do agree with Beach and Colson for council.

[fred]

What about the fourth candidate, the guy? No one has even mentioned him. Is he a leper or something?

[Doug Radtke]

Joe, I do not live in Burlingame but from reading the candidate statements alone these two stood out to me. Reading this post affirmed that hunch. Nice work.

[Joe]

@Fred, sorry, the no-trick pony gets no mention. Paul Prendiville had a stronger platform.

[fred]

Yeah, I don't know anything about the three new candidates and after reading his candidate statement I see the point. Living only three years in town might be premature to run for office. Sir Paul seemed like a nice guy.

[Account Deleted]

League of Women Voters hosting upcoming candidates forum/debate (I confirmed with the City Clerk it will also be streamed live as well as archived on the city's website via Granicus):

Thursday, September 24, 2015
6:30 pm Burlingame Council Chambers
501 Primrose Road
Burlingame, CA 94010 Candidate Forum: Burlingame City Council. Sponsored by the Burlingame City Council

[Paul Prendiville]

Thankyou Joe for for remembering me.

[Joe]

Remembering you with a certain amount of affection, Paul!

[Cathy Baylock]

Welcome back, Sir Paul!

[Rotary Candidates' Forum > Monday 9/21]

In addition, the Rotary Club of Burlingame will be hosting a Candidates' Forum.

If you are friends with a Rotarian, please contact them and let them know that you'd like to attend.

Monday, September 21, 2015

12:15 pm to 1:30pm
Burlingame Hilton Ballroom
600 Airport Boulevard
Burlingame, CA 94010

Sponsored by The Rotary Club of Burlingame. You must be an invited guest of a member to attend, in order to ensure sufficient seating and lunch service.

About Rotary: The Rotary Club of Burlingame, chartered in 1925, is a group of local business and community leaders that enriches the Burlingame community by providing scholarships and extensive volunteer resources to our local students in Burlingame Intermediate School and Burlingame High School for two-year community college and traditional four-year universities.

In addition, we serve our community's less fortunate residents by underwriting and supporting many of our local non-profit organizations from $1,000 grants and volunteers for Burlingame Community Education Foundation to $100,000 for Apple Tree Dental, Star Vista, Burlingame High School’s Camp Everytown program, Palcare and CALL Primrose.

Our club is full of influential folks in the Burlingame Community like the City Manager - Lisa Goldman, City Councilman - Ricardo Ortiz, auto dealer - Mike Harvey, CEO of Peninsula Health Care District - Cheryl Fama, former City Council member - Joe Galligan, leader of Our Lady of Angels - Father Michael Mahoney, Developers - Scott Williams and Ted Kruttschnitt, Superintendent of Burlingame Elementary School District -Dr. Maggie MacIsaac, and Principal of BHS - Principal Di, and San Mateo Union High School District Board Chair - Marc Friedman, CEO Emeritus Community Gatepath, Sheryl Young and many others.

The Club is a part of Rotary International, which was founded in 1903 and includes more than 1.2 million men and women, in more than 140 countries around the world, who are members of more than 32,000 active Rotary clubs.

Rotary also provides extensive international humanitarian projects in many underdeveloped and underserved regions of the world, which we contribute to with donations and volunteers.

https://www.rotary.org/

[Bruce Dickinson]

Listen, fellas, Burlingame has got what appears, first and foremost, above all else, a deficit problem. Not a financial deficit mind you, but a TALENT deficit! Trust me, Bruce Dickinson can sniff out success and efficacy just by talking to a person for 5 minutes and after reading countless articles, having my guys compile “best of” videos from the Burlingame City Council and Planning Commission meetings, taking a keen interest in the last election (I moved to Burlingame in 2008), talking to my guys who handle my local business, and of course, reading the BV, and my conclusion is this: The Burlingame City Council, as a group and governing body is completely impotent! I just read Joe’s other post, and on all these critically important issues, whether it be HSR, traffic problems, electrified Cal-trains, diarrhea development, the Millbrae-ization of Burlingame, regional governing bodies (e.g. ABAG), Cal-trans, housing quotas, etc etc etc. Whatever is important and is worthwhile taking a strong stance on, as a city, seems to be completely absent! It’s like Calvin Coolidge is running Burlingame, ya know what I mean?

Instead, we are graced with spats between council members arguing over the “crowdsourcing” of an overly-ambitious community center, with Brownrigg getting into the whining-fests that even put my 6 year old granddaughter to shame. C’mon guys, if this is how you are spending your energy these days, I gotta tell ya, you have FAILED as representatives and it’s time to move on. Maybe Burlingame residents don’t care, but reading this blog they sure seem to, and while I have wealth beyond riches and can live anywhere in the world, you bet 3 of my Ferraris that I care about this community and its residents. And folks, while it’s great to show some pretty faces of candidates and all, let’s see some discussion by the candidates of all the issues that the present Council has gone AWOL on.

Joe and Russ, if you can do anything in your power to let these candidates know the issues that they are really facing and how to go about tackling them, head-on, with aggressiveness. The selected Council “mentors”/“boosters" of the candidates that are alluded to in another post are doing some great lawn-sign and meet & greet door-knock mentoring, but are utterly lacking in the kind of mentoring that needs to be done in the two most important areas, namely representation and governance.

I think it’s time for Dr. Joe and Dr. Russ to have a community teach-in, and teach ‘em all how to tango, the right way, ya know what I mean?

[Cathy Baylock]

In response to Bruce's excellent request, I'd urge all members of this community to show up tomorrow for the only main Candidate's Debate moderated by the League of Women Voters. Come pose your questions and see where candidates stand on controversial issues…September 24, City Council Chambers, 501 Primrose Rd at 6:30 p.m. Bruce, I will see you there!

[Joe]

The Daily Journal reached the same conclusion I did regarding our upcoming city council election:

Both Emily Beach and Donna Colson have a tremendous amount of community experience and know-how, along with the proper temperament and understanding of what works best for Burlingame. Both have a keen grasp on the city’s overall infrastructure needs and how best to tackle them while keeping Burlingame financially strong. Both have strong ties to the city’s schools with both volunteering and fundraising. They are immersed in the community and offer strong leadership and ability to collaborate to achieve the goals they set out to accomplish. Both have business experience and Colson founded a indoor fitness facility that helps youth and others stay active. Beach has military experience that has built leadership and provided a worldly point of view.

Both have a deep understanding of what makes Burlingame Burlingame — its strong emphasis on quality of life, modest but smart growth, support of its businesses and its schools. Infrastructure and capital improvements are their primary focuses and both have the ability to lead the city forward in an inclusive way on this front. And both have a firm grasp on the city’s finances, which will only benefit the council, city staff and its residents.

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The rest of it is here:

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/opinions/2015-09-30/editorial-beach-and-colson-for-burlingame-city-council/1776425150986.html

[Don't forget > "Senator Jerry Hill blasts school officials!"]

“This attitude is unacceptable,” Hill told four of the five school board members, as board Vice President Stephen Rogers was absent. “It is clear that you do not recognize in yourselves the offensive, divisive and unfitting behavior you have exhibited. Our constituents must be served in a better way. And our schools must be responsive to our citizens. Therefore, I will be asking the grand jury to institute an investigation into your conduct and actions.”

Hill, however, referenced how Burlingame Councilman Michael Brownrigg told the board at a Dec. 11 meeting that the board and district might be out of step with the public.

Please VOTE OUT the very arrogant entrenched San Mateo Union High School District Board Members.

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2015-01-17/senator-blasts-school-officials-jerry-hill-wants-civil-grand-jury-to-look-into-district-actions-conduct/1776425136836.html

[Joe]

Sue Lempert has a column in today's DJ about Emily Beach and her background. Nothing like being 15+ months behind the curve:

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/opinions/2017-02-06/meet-emily-beach/1776425175385.html