The Burlingame Voice

In Memoriam - 2016

My Memorial Day weekend started early as I was walking my dog on Thursday afternoon.  It was about 5:30 pm and I heard the deep, brooding rumble that I recognized as coming from a warplane.  No commercial airliner sounds like a warplane regardless of how big it might be.  You can hear that sound from a P-51 Mustang if you go to the Dream Machines show in Half Moon Bay, but nothing--and I mean nothing-- sounds like a WWII bomber's engines revved up.

I looked up just to the south of my house and a B-24 Liberator was pulling a long, slow, loud U-turn at about 2,000 feet of altitude.  The B-24 is part of the Wings of War tour put on every year by the Collings Foundation and it was heading back to Moffett Field.  Its distinctive bright red rear rudders were clear as day.  I lost my Dad just about two years ago.  He was a C-47 pilot in Europe.  WWII vets have been dying at a rate of about 1,000 per day for the last decade--and those are the lucky ones!

I'm really tempted to get into our current politics, but I won't.  Not on Memorial Day.  Let's just take a moment to remember those who have answered the call.  Dad was always a bit amazed that he learned to fly before he learned to drive a car.  That's just how it was.  As I stood there on Occidental Ave. with my mouth hanging open, cursing the fact that I had been caught without my camera or phone, I took my moment.  Here is that very same Liberator up close.  I hope you saw it sometime this weekend, too.

 

B'way Trials and Tribulations

I feel for the merchants on Broadway since they seem to have challenges that surpass those on the Avenew or elsewhere in town.  The Avenew merchants have to deal with a lot of snatch and grab theft.  But on B'way there is the "Birdman" who feels the need to feed the pigeons who then feel the need to excrete.  And now, from the Daily Post Police Blotter we read this

Saturday

1:40 pm - Citizen reports that a homeless person pooped near the business and walked away, Broadway.

That cannot be good for business.  Are we approaching the point where it is time to add a JC Decaux public toilet a la EssEff?  That is possibly the smartest thing SF has done in the last decade.

County "Fee" Grab

The Daily Post had a piece this week that I have not seen elsewhere.  Yesterday the County Supes were set to vote on a new "fee" for development on County land--meaning the unincorporated parts of the county.  I believe that would include a good sized chunk of the hills that we call B'game.  The rates proposed are:

-- $15 per square foot for houses  (that's $60K on a 4,000 sf house)

-- $10 per square foot for hotels

-- $25 per square foot for offices

These "housing impact fees" would supposedly go to "low-income housing".  The $15 per sf housing fee was particularly asked about.  County manager John Maltbie is quoted in the piece saying, "Yes, market rate homes address some of the housing need, but they create a need for new workers in the community:  house cleaners, painters, landscapers, maintenance workers, service workers, teachers, mechanics....these workers are typically at wage levels too low to afford market-rate housing".    Ugh.  Econ 101 grade:  F.  Summer school reading recommendation: Adam Smith.

H20: Wisdom of the Crowd

I captured this photo off of the Daily Journal's daily poll on its website.  It would appear the masses have a better grip on water reality than many governmental leaders.  60% (158 of 264 people) believe like I do that the drought will never actually be over.  That would imply that "we" ought to be doing something about it!

Laguna Loss

Neighbors on Laguna Ave. a block south of B'way are mourning the loss of four very old friends.  The street trees where doing a number on the sidewalks (see second photo) so the City had to do a number on the trees.

This photo doesn't quite capture the degree of sidewalk lifting.  Even a tree hugger like me would agree it was substantial.

The tough part is losing four in a row of this size and canopy........

School District as Landlord

One of the things we do here at the Voice is ask questions.  Sometimes lots of questions.  Russ and I have a strong appreciation for the Law of Unintended Consequences.  That law popped right into mind when I read about the SMUSHD trustees going out for a study of so-called affordable housing for teachers on existing high school property (Crestmoor and Mills are under consideration).  The DJ discussed it here.  I think Peter Hanley has identified the tip of the iceberg:

Not all trustees were on board with the proposal though, as Peter Hanley said he harbored deep reservations regarding whether the project was in the district’s best interest.  “I’m really skeptical about this,” he said.

Hanley said he struggled to support the school system entering the housing industry, and envisioned the potential for conflict of interest should the district serve as an employer and landlord simultaneously.

There are many other questions to ask like:

--How does the District do income verification of teachers' significant others?  Or do they?  If it's supposed to be "affordable" what is the combined income level?

--School districts are pretty insulated from zoning ordinances normally, but when they get into high-density residential development that would appear to be unfair to the neighborhoods.  Do they intend to comply?  If they get sued (a high probability ref: Hoover School), who foots the legal bills?

--Can a district do a bond measure to build houses?  It's not an education function, so do the same limits apply for passing a bond measure?

--Does the district then pay residential property taxes including parcel taxes?

--And the perennial favorite:  Where is the water coming from?

Any bloggers care to add to the list?

Compact Spot Fiction

The next chapter in my fascination with parking around the city deals with the fiction of so-called "Compact" slots.  You see them all over the place.  If there are enough of them in a line, they equate to one more spot for the developer of the project.  But it's fiction.  Here is a Ford Explorer parked at Safeway--one of four SUVs that day in the line of "Compact" spots that face Howard Ave.

The woman who owns the Explorer was a little concerned as I snapped the photo, but once I told her how I feed my blogging hobby with them, she looked me in the eye and said "You are one interesting guy".  Hey Cat, I hope you visit the Voice often.

If you want to revisit past parking posts look here, here and here for more entertaining shots.  Oh, and I still have not seen more than one motorcycle in the 8 slots on the Avenue since that last post.  95% of the time all 8 slots are empty.

Minimum State Wage

Buried deep in the Mercury News article about Jerry Brown's chatter on the next state budget is this little gem

And the state's new $15-an-hour minimum wage will be phased in for many on the state payroll over the next few years. So the administration anticipates a shortfall of $4 billion by 2019 -- or worse if the economy slides back into recession.

Did our legislators know that there would be a lot of state workers getting the bump to 15 bucks an hour?  Of course they did.  Does the public know how many?  Nope.  So the budget is smaller because there is less OPM (Other Peoples' Money) to go around yet expenses are going up like

One spending increase touted by Brown on Friday was his administration's investment in K-12 schools and community colleges.  The revised spending plan increases state funding per student to more than $10,500 -- an increase of $3,600 compared with 2011-12.

If you do the math (correctly) that is a 52-plus percent increase in five years for schools and community colleges.  Wow!

Shooting Range Closure (Temporary?)

Yesterday was a nice day for a bike ride along the Bayfront including Coyote Point, wind and kite surfers, fisherman, the horrible shack that is still standing and plenty of people jogging, strollering and walking their dogs.  I stopped by the shooting range and noticed this sign.

I know that the range is not particularly popular with some residents in the south end of town, but I like the idea that law enforcement can get their practice rounds in without travelling too far.  I'm hoping that this is just a temporary closure for maintenance or improvements.  I would love to see easier public access as well.  We need a diverse set of activities and marksmanship is a legit addition to the county's portfolio.

Caltrain Conundrum

The third Webster's definition of conundrum is "an intricate and difficult problem".  To me, Caltrain is an intricate problem because of all of the parties involved starting with the actual railroad that owns the right of way (Union Pacific) and is often quiet on high-cost rail using said right of way all the way to the Joint Powers Board, Caltrain's organization itself, etc, etc, etc.  The Daily Journal did two nice pieces on Friday that note

Caltrain’s Board of Directors is on a tight schedule to secure funds if it wants to stay on track to award design and construction contracts in the comings months that will enable its growing commuter base to ride electric trains by 2020.  The board met Thursday morning to approve an updated agreement with its various local, regional, state and federal funding partners after staff realized the project cost had grown considerably from just $1.5 billion a few years ago.

The board members didn’t comment publicly during the meeting on the increased expense or discuss the project’s reliance on $713 million from high-speed rail and $647 million in not-yet-awarded federal grant money.

and the piece noted at least one guy who is paying attention

During Thursday’s meeting, some members of the public expressed skepticism whether relying on high-speed rail was wise.  “There’s a $600 million hole in this budget currently,” said San Jose resident Roland Lebrun, noting high-speed rail’s legal troubles. “It’s blocked in the court, it’s not going anywhere.”

High-cost rail may eventually "go somewhere" but it won't be up the Peninsula by 2020!  The second article goes to the design of the new cars themselves

The board and public gathered Thursday to discuss several key aspects of the new electric trains such as whether to include restrooms, how much space to leave for bicyclists and height of the doors.

The “discussion generally is centered around how to strike the balance between seats and standees, and bathrooms and general competition for onboard space in light of the growth we’ve experienced,” (COO Michelle) Bouchard said, later noting “one bathroom in essence equals 12 seats or 24 standees. And that’s quite significant if you look at it per car.”

So the conundrum continues as do the crowded trains, stranded cyclists and our closed B'way station.  A conundrum indeed, but with the salaries Caltrain is paying one would hope for some good resolutions!