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April 15, 2017

Comments

Burlingamer

Don't forget about the proposed Pennisula overpass also. Concerned? Very.

response

I'm very concerned. NIMBYs afraid of change are going to make the bay area unlivable.

irresponsible response

Anybody who thinks building tons of rack em stack em housing is the way to keep the Bay Area livable is a dangerous fool.

Jennifer

Early in the presentation, the discussion included dwellings known as "micro -units"-I think these are probably less than 700 sq. ft., and frequently much smaller). BTW, this was brilliantly showcased by K. Gardener in Planning, using a photo of an "interior" taken inside IKEA comprised of approx. 350 sq. ft. total, just for discussion sake.

A criticism was made during comment period, (if I'm not mistaken, from Ms. Cornell) that if such units were built, they'd be "filled with seniors". I couldn't help but wonder, is that so bad?? Both my kids and one spouse live in 550 sq. ft. units in SoCal, and they are really pretty cool. I couldn't help but think of Ms. Hatch, who quite possibly would have been happy to have a micro-unit option).

Cynthia further commented that these were otherwise not appropriate because they'd create work-week housing where people would be separated from their families for several days, only to return (presumably to the outer regions like Tracy, Gilroy, etc.) during the weekends, or off days.

Welcome to the life of a trucker or construction worker, firefighter, etc. And that has been so, for decades. This is the Bay Area. To force the notion that every family, or individual, regardless of income, can live in Burlingame is not based in reality, OR, it takes the form of subsidized housing, from property owners, and/or from a government entity.

Finally, if the jobs created here are a big part of the problem, then maybe wages need to go up to compensate. Yes, prices will be passed on to the consumer in restaurants, on car repairs, etc., That's how the free market works. People still may not be able to afford Burlingame, but may have an opportunity to rent elsewhere on the Peninsula that can be reached within a half hour or so on a bus route, etc.

That's a long way of saying, yes, I am and have been quite concerned. What little local control remains in the hands of this city needs to be very deftly handled with realistic solutions that are manageable. Otherwise, I see Burlingame's quality of life, including any modicum of "charm" we have left, vanishing in short order.

Joe

It's time to face up to reality. Never mind drought or flooding, neither the water or sewer infrastructure (i.e. the pipes themselves) is set up to handle this kind of density in B'game. And the schools cannot handle the additional kids that come with the mass of new housing. Getting approval piecemeal for each project doesn't capture the overall view the way Russ has in the original post.

Bruce Dickinson

Listen, Bruce Dickinson isn't going repeat some of the dynamite thoughts in most of the posts above.

But guys, I gotta tell ya, Burlingame has become, in effect, Hillsborough's lap dog! All these state incentives/coercive powers seem to affect all the Bay area cities, except for Hillsborough. While we Burlingame residents bear all the externalities of higher density housing including more traffic, more people, stressing the roads/water/infrastructure/parking, etc. Where does Hillsborough sit in all this? Are they going to erect a bunch of nanny housing on existing properties? Count garage spaces as "housing" for cars? No, in the ABAG horse-trading game where cities negotiate housing absorption, basically Burlingame and San Mateo step right up to the plate and take on Hillsborough's "allocation". Sorry, but exactly what do Burlingame residents get in return?

The city council needs to be far more aggressive in not only fighting the state, but also making sure Hillsborough engages in "fair trade". It's gotten so bad that I may even buy a copy of the "Art of the Deal" for all the council members, which sadly would probably have better suggestions than what they are doing now.

Looking forward to this election season!

dtn

Don't forget the sad electric grid in town. Nagel got a huge amount of press purporting to force PG&E to fix it but it's NOT FIXED. We just had another major outage two weeks ago for no reason. Hey Terry, how is retirement?

hollyroller@gmail.com

I was enlightened by a contributor stating there are no Jobs are available in Burlingame that create for a consumer/renter the ability to afford to live in Burlingame.
In order to create a Community that understands the needs and wants of the place they choose to live-not settle for, is the only way to move forward to get the "End" we so desperately crave.

"Big Unions" rule California

If you want to understand "Why?" our State and Local Government behaves the way it does, you must understand who's really in charge...certainly not "The People"...and not even "The Voters".

"Big Unions" rule California plain and simple. Nearly 100% of the politicians from Jerry Brown down to the local city councils are all Heiling Big Unions and their supermajority political party. All of the other causes that the party supports are just like flowers on the big union and tradesman cake.

Good time to buy CA heavy housing REITs too.

https://www.facebook.com/prageru/videos/893001624076028/

Handle Bard

Ms. Cornell is an expert at telling other people how they should spend their hard earned money.

Bruce Dickinson

Pretty obvious to this old cat (Bruce Dickinson) that Ms. Cornell only cares about one thing: that her rent-controlled apartment stays rent-controlled with her in it until she becomes the very senior citizen that she currently wants to exclude from affordable housing. Everything else uttered by her seems extremely disingenuous, including criticizing the micro-housing idea (quite through provoking I must admit) and senior citizens, while purportedly championing the cause of "discriminated" renters?!?

Seriously, those type of comments together with that torpedoed rent control measure she led the charge on, pretty much guarantee that rent control will be dead on arrival for 20-30 years.

Come to think of it, maybe we should be thanking her!!??

JF

What is the threshold of affordable housing? And why do public workers warrant more attention than other working folks? Go live in SSF or San Bruno if you can't afford B-game like I did. The city council has let me down. I actually thought they had B-game residents best interests at heart when they campaigned.
Ha-rumph

hollyroller@gmail.com

The figure 10,000 is deceptive.
10,000 "units" does not represent the facts that go with it.
-10,000 units
-Lets say 3 humans per unit. Now we have 30,000 cars with ZERO Place to store.
-Lets "guesstimate" two Public School children per 10,000 units.
That equals 20,000 new students in an already over "Taxed" School System.
-A needed increase of Personal in all City of Burlingame Public Service.
Police, Fire, Public Works.
There has to be some City of Burlingame Elder that has the ethics, and foresight to tell every all that enough is enough.
Even a Major Corporation-Safeway Inc. is not able to keep up with the demand for services.
The drive to "shoehorn" in more housing is driven by investors that live in Hillsborough/China part time.
WAKE UP all you who want to keep Burlingame a place to raise families, walk down a sidewalk, and be able to have "some sort" of relationship with the Educators who will have a huge impact on all of our Futures.
PS Hillsider...
Happy 4/20
We have a great community with the population we have-barely.

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