The Daily Journal gave an update to the on-going "affordable" housing saga in B'game late last week. We've discussed how B'game has been expensive since its very founding here and I'm more convinced than ever that nothing the City tries will make much of a dent in that. I've had several conversations with SF refugees and Silicon Valley people hoping to move north to follow the companies moving north that cause me to believe we will always be a prime destination. And if we do something big enough (i.e. more than the 132 units being discussed now) it will have even more of a deleterious effect on the quality of life and education in B'game.
The Burlingame City Council discussed a joint effort with San Mateo County’s Home for All initiative aiming to kick-start community conversations this year regarding ways to make the city more affordable.
The pilot program is slated to launch Saturday, Feb. 10, with an initial discussion regarding affordable housing plans and policies standing to impact Burlingame.
“We will be getting a pulse of the community and seeing what people are thinking about,” Planning Director Kevin Gardiner said of the event to be coordinated by community engagement consulting firm Common Knowledge Plus and Home for All, which is a county program aiming to close the local imbalance of available jobs and homes.
Central to the initial talks will be the city’s vision to build the Village at Burlingame affordable development, slated to include 78 workforce housing units and 54 units set aside for seniors on a surface parking lot at Park Road and Lorton Avenue, south of Howard Avenue.
I'm reminded a bit of the old Boutique & Villager when I hear the working name for this "village", but I'll bet the ethos that existed when the B&V existed would not have looked kindly on this sort of thing. Those were days when the small scale feel of the town was embedded in the press' mindset. The results of the rent control vote would seem to say the general public still has some of that ethos, so I hope the Council really does listen to more than the squeaky wheels. You would think with the building boom that is already going, the Peninsula Ave. overpass and B'way underpass concerns, the drive-in and PAMF projects under full steam and no new Rec Center in sight, there would be enough things to worry about without reducing downtown parking......
Who will be the lucky winners in this housing Powerball lottery? Where do I buy a ticket or three? Do I have to show ID? Can I stay forever? My, my, such a deal.
Posted by: Anne | January 08, 2018 at 10:02 PM
If they aren't listening, then they have ear plugs in as I rarely go anywhere lately that I don't hear residents talking about the monstrosities being built in town already and the lack of infrastructure to support this growth. How they are destroying Burlingame and its small time feel and making it another overgrown San Mateo or Millbrae. Unfortunately, the projects you see being built now, are just the beginning. By the time they are done, you won't recognize Burlingame anymore.
Posted by: Laura | January 09, 2018 at 04:57 AM
Every time I take a right on California Drive from Howard I cringe!!
The huge project being built does not blend in with the surrounding buildings one bit!
Only the beginning!
Posted by: Joanne | January 09, 2018 at 10:57 AM
Monstrosities on the left of us, subsidies on the right of us. And what of us in the middle?
Posted by: Anne | January 09, 2018 at 09:47 PM