The Burlingame Voice

Memorial Day - 2017

You may recall last year's Memorial Day post about the B-24 flying over B'game, my lack of a camera to catch it and veterans in general and my Dad in particular.  With everything that has gone on since last Memorial Day, I decided this was the year to not just view the WWII planes at Moffett Field, but go for a ride in one.  The Collings Foundation was more than happy to accommodate me with a B-17 flight yesterday and I was thrilled to see an Army Air Corps pilot show up in full uniform.  He was at least 90 years old and the uni still fit.  Impressive.  Here's the Flying Fortress and the view out of the bombardier's seat in the nose.

From the Collings website:

Over Sixty years ago they flew from bases far from home, over occupied and enemy territory in an attempt to weaken the forces of evil so that freedom could once again return to the people who it was stolen from. Their endurance was tested on missions of ten or more hours, day after day; their strength was proven as they returned countless crews safely back to their bases. Crews counted on them and a bond was made between man and machine…

Indeed.  Please take some time to remember what Memorial Day is all about.

Panthers Come So Close

The Daily Journal's Terry Bernal has a great write-up on the CCS Division II final game that the Panthers lost to Menlo by a score of 1-0.

But both team ultimately left their best baseball on the diamond as McGarry settled in with Burlingame right-hander Gray Goodman for an epic pitching duel, competing into a scoreless fifth until Menlo manufactured a run in the top of the inning.  Menlo executed a double-steal with Kasser swiping second, then Kevin Alarcon racing home when the catcher’s throw went through to second base.

The double-steal was one of the situations (Panther coach Shaun) Scott addressed during the mound conference. The play called for Burlingame catcher Robbie Harrigan to throw through to second base, but with shortstop Mitch DeMartini cutting in front of the bag to take a short throw and fire back to the plate. Harrigan’s throw was offline, however, forcing DeMartini to dive back across his body merely to glove it, allowing Kevin Alarcon to score uncontested.

There was plenty of other drama associated with the game, some of which hit very close to home for me, so I encourage you to click through and read the whole piece.  Kudo's to both Menlo and B'game.  This brings back great memories of the Panthers winning it all in 2010.

Rash of Auto Burglaries

Last Monday was a tough day for a lot of B'game car owners.  Eleven auto burglaries between 6 and 11 am!  Dwight, B'game Ave. twice, Paloma twice, Lexington thrice, Channing, Willow, and Bancroft.  And we are not talking about the hotel section of town either! Point those cameras outward for a few weeks!

Another photo from the July 6 Post Police Blotter

 

Art Deco in B'game and Beyond

The Burlingame Historical Society meeting drew about 75 people to the library last night.  They came to hear local architect and Planning Commissioner Richard Terrones talk about the history and characteristics of the Art Deco style.  Richard delivered a solid hour on the origins of the style punctuated with a zillion photos of buildings' exteriors and interiors, posters, furniture and planes, trains and automobiles!  I found the differentiation between "Hard Deco" and "Soft Deco" particularly enlightening.

As always the Burlingame-specific examples drew a lot of interest.  The Wells Fargo building on the Avenue, Sterling Cleaners, Adeline Market, and early views of Washington School got the crowd fired up about Moderne.  Using his professional knowledge, Richard took Q&A on a variety of related topics like the current "Dwell" movement, Eichlers, the old Post Office and Deco buildings elsewhere in the Bay Area.  If you aren't a member of the Historical Society, getting the newsletter and attending the quarterly meetings, you are missing out.

High Cost Rail - Part 133 Environmental Hypocrisy

Luckily we have the Wall Street Journal watching out for Gov. Brown's maneuvers on high-speed rail since none of the local papers seem to be paying much attention.  The Journal has uncovered a bit of environmental sleight-of-hand by our guv as his administration and the Authority try to ram through the high-speed boondoggle.  The Journal notes

The state high-speed rail authority has complained that construction is being delayed in part due to revisions by the Federal Railroad Administration to its environmental documents. The FRA has provided $3.2 billion in seed funding for the 500-mile train, and an internal FRA analysis last November found that the first 118-mile stretch through the Central Valley was running 50% over budget and seven years behind schedule. Federal bureaucrats make nice scapegoats. But according to the FRA report, the biggest delays have been caused by the California rail authority’s late paperwork.

Environmental litigation has also snarled construction, and the rail authority claims it need not comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). In 2014 the federal Surface Transportation Board exempted the bullet train from CEQA, but a California appellate court subsequently held otherwise. The authority is now arguing before the California Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that federal environmental review pre-empts CEQA.

But wait—this appears to contradict Jerry’s request that the feds cede authority over environmental reviews to the state. This would allow the rail authority to essentially grade its own homework. Everything is perfect, trust us.

It is disappointing enough that the latest $647 million has been released by the Feds, but do we also have to short circuit CEQA too?  The UC Berkeley study would suggest skipping CEQA review is a bad idea:

Thus California high speed rail warrants ridership evaluation for both high- and low-ridership scenarios. We consider high ridership as strong adoption of high speed rail at the expense of auto and air travel, mid-level ridership as moderate adoption of high speed rail, and low ridership as poor adoption of high speed rail where travelers favor auto and air. For high ridership scenarios, the energy payback period on the initial investment is eight years, for mid-level ridership 30 years, and never for low ridership (when under-used high speed rail is coupled with increased utilization of auto and air travel). For greenhouse gas emissions the payback period for rail is six years for high ridership, 70 years for mid-level ridership, and never for low ridership. Sulfur dioxide emissions, primarily from electricity production throughout the life-cycle, show a surprising payback result; there is no reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions for any rail ridership scenario if electricity continues to be generated and supplied as it is currently.

Thus the California high speed rail system can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but may do so only over a very long period, and will do so in exchange for other air emissions.

So hypocritical.

SFO Woes

Here's wishing Voice readers an early happy Memorial Day.  Many of you will be travelling so this warning may be useful

Major flight delays and numerous cancellations are expected at San Francisco International Airport this Memorial Day weekend because of maintenance work that needs to be completed on the tarmac before the summer rush, officials said Monday.  

A $35 million repaving project scheduled for weekends this spring was supposed to be put on hold this Saturday and Sunday to accommodate holiday travel. But after the work fell behind, officials decided they couldn’t afford to take the weekend off.

I got back from a trip last night and got a surprise at SFO (which isn't easy given how much I have traveled in and out of SFO over the last 30+ years).  The surprise was a 50 minute wait for a gate to become available to park the plane.  We were about 10 minutes early and then sat on the tarmac...and sat...and sat.  We eventually had to taxi to another bit of tarmac to get out of other planes' way.  The United pilot said he had never seen anything like it.

Apple Wakes Up Too Late

This story in yesterday's SF Chronicle made me really, really sad;

Steve Jobs made Apple into a top American retailer by designing crisp, modern stores with features reminiscent of the company’s products. Glass boxes and aluminum panels abounded.  But as Apple moves to turn its stores into experiences — places for concerts, art exhibitions and photography classes — the tech giant has begun to pursue distinctive yet familiar buildings that its customers might admire as well. 

In Washington, Apple has set its sights squarely on the Carnegie Library in Mount Vernon Square. One of thousands of libraries built nationwide with funds donated by steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it opened in 1903 as the first desegregated public building in the city.  Apple officials say they plan to restore the building to its original grandeur and outfit Carnegie as a place to hold free concerts, art exhibitions, workshops for teachers and coding classes for children.

Finding historic buildings with stories rooted in their communities are part and parcel to the experience Apple is trying to create, Siegel said. The company has opened stores in a former restaurant bay in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, in a Depression-era brick storefront in Brooklyn, and in a 130-year-old former bank in Paris.

Rather than plastering the buildings with the familiar logo, Apple’s designers say they will focus on restoring the building’s historic character. It can take a little work to find the store’s signs and logo — which is the point.

Gee.  Some of us tried to get Apple to just that in B'game.  We had a gorgeous, original Bank of Italy -- later BoA-- building and Apple insisted on tearing it down for a glass and stone box even though they had some of the right instincts elsewhere like South Pasadena where the council probably stuck to its guns more.  One might say "better late than never" but in poor Burlingame's case it's not better late than never.  Unless the plan is to recreate the Bank of Italy building.  Don't bet on it happening behind the wall.

Will we learn anything from this to apply to the old Post Office?

Friday Commute Snafu

Another Voice contributor has weighed in to alert us to the fact that Broadway was a bit of a mess Friday morning as the Caltrain crossing gates came down for some reason for 10 to 20 minutes with no train(s) passing by.  Traffic was backed up to El Camino eventually and there were lots of people bailing out to the side streets.  It does raise the question of how Caltrain and BPD can operate together very rapidly.  Here is a shot of the back up.

As the powers that be look at closing more and more Caltrain right of way crossings (e.g. Bayswater), the remaining ones become even more critical to smooth operation!

Lyon Hoag Emergency

The newest Voice correspondent, Laura, reports in with this recap of last night's community meeting about the proposed development at Bayswater & Mrytle:

Last night, the developer of a proposed apartment complex hosted a community meeting at the Burlingame Recreation Center to present to the neighbors his vision for the corner of Myrtle and Bayswater. The complex proposed is four stories, with a fifth story roof-top garden.  The total complex is over 221,901 thousand square feet with two levels of sub terrain parking.  It proposes to have the following:

40- Studio's - starting at $2200.00 per month (only given when pushed)
68- 1 bedrooms - was not willing to share cost
36 -2 bedrooms - was not willing to share cost
183 parking stalls which is 1.2 stalls per unit

Around 70 residents from the Lyon Hoag/Victoria Park neighborhoods showed up to listen to the presentation last night and to voice their concerns to the developer--namely that his project was not appropriate for their neighborhood.  The developer soon learned that his vision for the corner was not the residents' vision and that the residents have had enough of being the neighborhood that is taking one of the biggest hits in Burlingame's development plans.  The residents' anger was real and it was clear that they had had enough of watching their neighborhoods being turned into a traffic thoroughfare for Burlingame's development.  It was interesting to note, that not one Council member or Planning Commissioner, who claim they care about this neighborhood's concerns, bothered to show up at this meeting.

Today we also learned that the monster development on Carolan will start a little later than planned because--guess what?  The current tenants leases are still in effect.  The rent control socialists are upset about the delay, but don't seem to care about OPLs--other people's leases.  The huge majority of people in town are asking when someone will look at the big picture and decide that enough is enough?  I also have to wonder what the Washington School parents are thinking?  Maybe we will see tent classrooms on the playground in 3 years?

The Grand Plan. Part 3. This is what it will look like

I managed to give you a sense of the many projects that are in the pipeline here in Burlingame. Some of which are quite large in scale—a few hundred housing units here and few hundred more there. Totaling an addition of over 10,000 more residents.

To give you a better sense, there is nothing like a picture to tell the story. Here are just a few...(taken from the city's own website.)

And an announcement of an upcoming meeting regarding a large residential development on Myrtle Rd. A meeting many of you may want to attend.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Note: These are just a few projects being discussed or approved. I could not find images of the proposal on the former Post Office Site

Above: 920 Lorton

Above: 225 California Dr at Highland

Above: 556 El Camino Real

Above: 1600 Trousdale

Above: Ariel view: Former Hyatt Cinema site, Bayshore Blvd.

Above: 1491-93 Oak Grove

Above: 988 Howard Ave.

Above: 1433 Floribunda

Above: Douglas Ave.

Above: Next to current Peninsula Hospital

Above and left: High density housing on Lot F with associated 5 story parking garage. Note: This project not yet approved.

Below: Upcoming meeting regarding project on Myrtle Rd and Bayswater