The Burlingame Voice

Drive-in Update: More jobs, more expensive housing and water

If you have not been out to the Bayfront lately here is a photo of the big 301 Airport Blvd. project's progress.  Suffice it to say it is rolling along.  With B'game real estate prices up more than 25% year-over-year and rents up about 14% (see the post directly below this one) it would appear that forces are in place to keep us on that trajectory.  Here is the next big demand driver.

Of course there are no new water sources for any of this and, in fact, the Chronicle just reported

Water bills in San Francisco are set to rise steadily over the next four years, after the approval of a rate schedule by the city’s Public Utilities Commission.  The city’s combined bill for water and sewer services will climb by an average of 8.4 percent, or around $10, each year through 2022, according to the commission.

So you know we are not far behind since we all feed off of Hetch Hetchy which they control.  Build it into your family budget now.

Housing by the Numbers

In preparation for the Housing Forum on Saturday, here are a couple of statistics about housing costs in the Bay Area and B'game.  Today's Chronicle piece addresses real estate prices by noting

The median Bay Area home price surged to an all-time high of $820,000 in March, up 9.3 percent from February and up 14.7 percent from March of last year, research firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday.  For the fourth consecutive month, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties showed the steepest year over year gains: 33.6 and 25.7 percent, respectively.

People “are trying to desperately buy something before it becomes completely unaffordable,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist with Bank of the West. “Six months, a year from now, you will see more of the downside from rising rates.”

While Zumper has provided this B'game-specific information to the Voice

-Burlingame ranked as the 7th most expensive city in the Bay Area to rent this month.

-The price of one bedroom units grew 4.4% to a median of $2,620, while two bedrooms jumped 5% to $3,390.

If you click through to the Zumper blog post and view the Yearly 1 Bedroom Rent Evolution chart you will see they find a 14% YoY increase--which is more than 45% less than the real estate price increase noted above for San Mateo County.  I'm guessing B'game is at the upper end of the County increases, so rents are increasing much slower than residential prices.  Food for thought before there is another run at rent control.

BHS Drug Article

We think this comment by PO'ed Mom that was entered on another BHS thread merits its own post because it is an important topic and should not be buried three pages down in the comment section.

Why is the BHS student newspaper allowed to print an article about drug use ON the campus?  I'm all for freedom of speech but this is a high school newspaper that is doing the advertisement work for the drug dealer.

"According to the aforementioned student seller, people that buy Adderall from him are typically “either stressed out with exams or [people] who need to pass a class to play sports. All types of people buy, even gamers who want to play better.”

Is the student reporter required to "give up" the on campus dealers since student reporters don't have the ability to "protect a source" These are public tax dollars at work.

Who allowed this to get published and have the BPD interviewed this reporter or the Newspaper advisor? At least make the dealer pay for an advertisement.

https://theburlingameb.org/feature/2017/11/26/adderall-dealing-on-campus-reflects-increasing-academic-pressures

The paper even states "became one of many teen Adderall dealers in the Burlingame community".  "One student, who asked to remain anonymous, became one of many teen Adderall dealers in the Burlingame community shortly after he was prescribed the medication for Attention Deficit Disorder.

“I was super happy but I felt I was cheating a bit, so I started giving to people I know who were not doing so well when they had tests,” he said, emphasizing the academic pressure involved in buying the medication from peers. “I don’t turn a profit, I just do it to help the people around me.”

Thank you POM for the pointer.  We know the Voice readers will find this important.

Bayfront Restoration of Wetlands

Our very own Dave Pine has a piece in the Chronicle today about upcoming restoration of local wetlands.  Dave is our County supe and the chair of the S.F. Bay Restoration Authority.  He writes

Thanks to the wisdom and generosity of Bay Area voters, the restoration of San Francisco Bay for people and wildlife is about to accelerate. Earlier this week, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority committed $17.9 million to restore tidal marshes along the shoreline from funds approved by Bay Area voters in 2016 under Measure AA, which is expected to raise $500 million over 20 years.

This month’s Restoration Authority grants will fund a diverse mix of restoration projects around the bay (see full list at www.SFBayRestore.org). Many of these projects will also provide trails and other public recreation amenities.  Proposition 68 on the June ballot is the next opportunity to increase resources for the bay, with another $20 million dedicated to matching Measure AA funds.

 

Years of effort prevented urban development on former salt evaporation ponds and hay fields diked off from the bay so that they could be reconnected to the tides, grow marsh plants, and become functioning marshes again. That renewal, which began over the past decade at sites near Novato, Vallejo, Oakland, Hayward, Alviso and Redwood City, is already showing spectacular results. With Measure AA funds now available, we will see new restoration projects for years to come.

 

Prop. 68 is a $4 billion bond measure.  The Chron notes "Nearly $3 billion goes for parks and outdoor work, badly needed as buildings dating back to the 1930s show their age and growing communities clamor for recreation spots. The balance will focus on flood protection, improved delta levees and clean water projects where groundwater is tainted by pollution and local budgets can’t afford upgrades."   I would definitely prefer to kill the high-speed rail boondoggle and recapture 4 of the 100 billion dollars we are going to waste on the train for wetlands restoration and parks.  But you knew that already. 

Recycling on Steroids?

The second of our two environmental posts today has to do with what the City requires, or in B'game's case, what the City doesn't require of the scrapers who teardown houses in town.  Some cities have requirements that a certain percentage of the demolished material from a major remodel or a teardown gets recycled, preferably by another direct user.  I recently got a set of French doors off of Craigslist.  They were in Palo Alto and while picking them up from a homeowner doing a major remodel, I also signed a city form stating that I was taking the doors (that weighed about x pounds) for my project.  Other cities require salvage companies to be alerted and offered first crack before the claw arrives.  Seems like a great idea and likely to have more positive impact than many of the so-called green initiatives that are so popular today.  Here is a local teardown that is just happening and a shot of some very cool windows that don't appear to be headed for reuse (not the broken panes).  This would seem to be simple and effective.

Street Clean-up, Daily Compost

I know it's a small thing, but we do small things too here at the Voice.  I miss the Daily Post.  As far as I can tell, the furthest north that one can reliably find a copy is 25th Ave in San Mateo.  It has stopped printing the police blotter for any towns north of San Carlos.  So I get it, the Post has abandoned B'game.  But the blue boxes are still all over town.  What's up with that?  It's time the Post picked up all of these perennially empty boxes.  Please?

Honoring a Mentor: Charles Voltz

This post is originally from April 5, 2018.  Updated January 7, 2023:  Our dear friend Charles Voltz passed on Christmas Day.  RIP, my friend.

The City Council honored local activist and frequent mentor to other activists, Charles Voltz, last Monday night at the council meeting.  The list of Charles' notable contributions in the Proclamation are long and deep--from co-founding the Washington Park Society with Dan Anderson to the Citizens for a Better Burlingame (CBB of Safeway fame--read the 74 posts here) to High-speed Boondoggle and several groups in between.  As an active Rotarian and man-about-town, Charles has epitomized the type of civic engagement that helped Burlingame through some very tough issues--and he will continue to do so because that is the kind of guy he is.  Several people, including several council members, noted that Charles is generous with his time and knowledge when mentoring people.  It was great to see him and his significant other Mary Hunt honored at a council meeting.  You can watch the accolades on the City website here.  And here is Charles with Mayor Michael Brownrigg who put the ceremony together and ran it with panache.

Charles Voltz and Michael Brownrigg

Spring Treehugger Pic

Here is the 2018 Spring treehugger post with an awesome flowering tree-- I think it is a cherry, but not totally sure.  Hopefully the inbound atmospheric river won't decimate all of the flowering trees around town.

Propping up Prop. 13

Washington State is not that far away from California, but they do not seem to be able to learn from California when it comes to taxation.  The Seattle Times is running this fearful story about people being forced out of their long-time homes and has hundreds more stories according to the piece.

Dennis Hall imagined living his whole life in the country-style home he and his wife built in Kirkland for $55,000 in 1980.

But the couple, now retirees on a fixed income, say the latest tax bill for their property — valued at $1.2 million — is forcing them to rethink their golden years, sell the beloved home and move.  “This year was the breaking point. Enough is enough,” said Hall, 65, thinking about the big tax increase, a reflection of skyrocketing home values, voter-approved levies and a plan by state lawmakers to fully fund public schools. “We were hoping on dying here.”

With this round of property-tax notices, the couple are not alone in their worries. As the effects of the higher rates spread statewide, some homeowners are calling the tax increase a tipping point in a period of financial stress that’s forcing too-soon goodbyes to longtime homes.

Back here in CA, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, our watchdog on all things Prop. 13, notes that a group called "Make It Fair" has built a statewide anti-Prop. 13 movement that aims to go back to a "market value" basis for property taxes.  One can only imagine what that would do in a market where 2 BD/2 BA condos are going for $1.4 million and scrapers are going for $2.5 million to be replaced by $4 million dollar single-family homes.  Click through the link at the top of this post to see a picture of the possibilities.