Lyon Hoag and beyond

The City of Burlingame called a meeting last night to talk about the Lyon Hoag neighborhood. Roughly translated that's the hood bounded by Peninsula Avenue, Burlingame Avenue, Anita Avenue and Rollins Rd. By the size of the crowd, more than just Lyon Hoag residents showed to discuss the hood's issues.

I don't like to bash anyone for anything, but there were two flaws in the meeting. The first was that it appeared that the city was coming to the neighborhood with solutions without defining the problem. The second was that they did not anticipate the size of the audience so when the audience was asked to break up into working groups, it was chaotic.

Many in the audience cornered me to express there discontent with how the meeting was organized and that they felt that this was typical government dog and pony.

Clearly things could have been handled better, but the good news is that the city decided to be proactive and at least try to engage the neighborhood. Kudos for that. The other outcome, at least in my little corner, was the recognition that the East side has no representation on the council. Some in the crowd confided that they wanted to find a strong candidate from the East side of Burlingame that could be its representitive. I hope they find someone because in the whole of my existence in Burlingame, some 25 years now, the West side has sen virtually no impacts of growth, except for new McMansion construction. Now is the time for someone to step forward and address the traffic, growth, parking, school capacity, FAR and other issues that plague the east and always will as more and more housing and offices spring up.

We have written here before about the hundreds of units in the pipeline--none are located to the West.

Some suggested solutions included traffic calming measures,i.e. bulb outs, speed bumps, signage, one way streets, etc as well as a Residential Parking Permit Program with residential permits costing on average of $54 each for a two car household per year.

The Peninsula Ave. interchange project still looms and San Mateo will be having even more meetings to discuss--We have been discussing the demise of this project since 2006 and it is still not dead.

Caltrain was not really discussed, but electrification and the advent of High Speed Rail will contribute to gridlock along the trcks if there are no grade separations. And we know there is no $ for that.

The new Rec Center was simply grazed over, but even with adequate parking will bring more congestion to an already congested neighborhood.

Two traffic studies are i the works: one of the Lyon Hoag hood at a cost of $200K and another from San Mateo analyx=zing traffic in regards to the overpass project.

More meetings, more studies. In my opinion, there needs to be more listening to the hood and more analysis of what the root of the problems are...not just throwing some solutions at the wall an seeing what sticks.

 

 

Comments

[Cathy Baylock]

Thanks, Russ. Glad to see Lyon Hoag being put on the radar. This neighborhood is surely in the crosshairs of overdevelopment and deserves proactive triage (oxymoron ?)

Le vigilance est eternale

[Becca]

Russ, thank you, we need to elect you again to represent us.

[Christopher Cooke]

Russ

Thanks for the write up. I agree Lyon Hoag bears the traffic burdens caused by new development disproportionately. I did appreciate the efforts by the 5 council members to show up and hear these concerns, so the meeting was a good beginning. To me, an immediate solution to the unsafe conditions that exist on Howard, Bayswater and Dwight are more 4 way stops with painted pedestrian crossings and more police enforcement of speed limits. Elementary school children cross these unsafe streets every morning, it is only a matter of time before a tragedy ensues.

[Jennifer]

'Agree, and very glad all five of the Councilmembers were present, along with Public Works and the BPD. If they didn't anticipate that so many would show up, that is certainly a better outcome than the opposite, and the turnout itself is evidence that the problems are very real.

If it is hard to encapsulate and define the "problem", it is because (in my mind) there are nuances of the eastside that can change depending on block, block length, and geographic location, and even time of day. That is what hopefully will come out in the studies that they've committed funds to undertake-- a huge and positive step.

And though it is unfortunate that none of the current Council live where impacts are most felt, at least a couple of traffic commissioners live here, and they do "get it" because they live it. Their help and input will be crucial for any eventual plans.

On our street, the same problems existed over 30 years ago when we moved in, but have been exasperated absolutely by growth and development.

Yet the topic of development is the one that was probably too much to deal with for this particular meeting, but an easy target.

It is its own complex topic that alone deserves its own meeting. But it sure would to see some of those upset people take the time to attend normal Planning Commission meetings now and then, where some of these projects can (and do) get yanked back in. The Planning Commissioners are generally very responsive-- but if nobody says or writes anything to them, and they don't live in the immediate area, then how can they be expected to fully understand.

Most importantly, that also includes reviewing the General Plan details, too. Help them do their best work, it can't happen on auto pilot.

[Laura]

Jennifer, yes, that would be ideal if people showed up to Planning commission meetings but the average person, does not know when they meeting or what is going on. I feel that I am somewhat informed with what is going on in the City, but am always surprised and shocked to hear about another massive project that has already worked it's way through the system and is ready to break ground. The notification being what, 100 or 500 feet from the project, does not get to those of us that will be severely impacted by these decisions. If not for you, I would not know when they were coming up for review and when to send my comments in.

Yes, it was great that all five council members were there and listening and was happy that so many neighbors showed up to voice their concerns. Unfortunately, what we are all angry about now, is only going to get worse as more and more projects come to completion. I got the feeling that Council thought the Peninsula overpass was a foregone conclusion and that we would be feeling the impacts of that in the very near future. It is getting dangerous to walk our streets and with the schools and parks in our neighborhoods, the speeding traffic is endangering all of us. I hope they can get something done quickly so we see some results. Unfortunately, with City government, it takes years of studies to get anything done!

[Jennifer]

Yes, you are right about that, Laura-- it's tough to know everything that is going on, because the larger projects are typically just outside of or on the edge of the single family residential zones, and generally well beyond the 300 or 500 ft. range (I've forgotten what the requirement is), even though the effects are felt cumulatively throughout an area. It is a problem and I'm not sure what the answer is.

Another issue is that even the Planning Commissioners get agendas and materials pretty late in the week for meetings the following Monday--I typically see items posted on the city website late Thursdays and so the time to digest the material for everyone is typically very brief- To their credit, the planning staff, however, is very responsive if there is interest in particular projects, even outside the normal range of "noticing", and keep interested parties in the loop as to items coming up., but I know what you mean.

Related to the crazy driving, one other (newer) item that is part of the equation are all the unofficial delivery trucks and vehicles, in particular there are the big white ones that seem to be private runners. Many of them drive really, really fast, and very poorly, and seem unaware of all the pedestrians here.

[BMW]

The complement to any good traffic calming or neighborhood plan is to make sure the arterial streets where the traffic belongs is working as best as possible. That means making sure the signal at Peninsula & Humboldt is working correctly and doesn’t falsely detect left turning cars when there aren’t any and forces all traffic to wait and idle needlessly. That means making sure the signal at Peninsula& Dwight has a long green to keep traffic on Peninsula rather than peeling off a side street. Also means putting in a left turn signal from California to Peninsula to encourage drivers to stick to the big streets.

It’s great that council, TSPC and/or Planning commissioners live here. How about the people tasked with coming up with technical solutions and the power to frame what gets proposed or not and who controls the timeframe of what gets implemented?

[Connie]

It would be great if the council reached out and had more neighborhood meetings - listening sessions.

Yes, we know that we can go to council meetings and have a 3 minute time period to voice concerns but sometimes that doesn't work.

Council- please again reach out to the residents and be more proactive. Thanks for arranging the special meeting at the rec center last month for people who live "on the other side of the tracks." We are very impacted by issues (parking/development/train) that do not effect the residents on the other side of ECR.

[Fred]

Russ, thanks for the post.

As for the Residential Parking Permit Program is it just for the Lyon Hoag neighborhood or the entire city? Is there anything drafted up for what might be on the table? Is what is being considered for just parking at night / early morning or parking anytime of the day? Will the city be required to post signs on every segment of the street to notify people like SF does for Street Cleaning?

Have they talked to San Mateo about this? Humboldt is split, one side of the street is San Mateo the other is Burlingame. If Burlingame goes through with such a program the Humboldt folks may forgo getting a permit and park on the San Mateo side of the street creating problems in San Mateo. I believe this program will only work if San Mateo does it as well.

I recall a residential parking program was in effect about 10+ years ago. I remember when they eliminated it. I recall the traffic police officer stating that the program costs the city more $ then it brings in as the need to hire and pay (and benefits) a number of people to run / enforce the program. He also mentioned that the police department only had 2-3 cars out at night for the entire city and enforcing the program wouldn't be a priority. So they eliminated it.

[Cassandra]

Residents would have to pay to park in front of their home!?

Put up signs that say, “Parking Permit Required.” Ticket the cars parked overnight which don’t have the stickers.

Don’t make the residents pay.

(I’m the same person who suggested a $150 “No U or Left Turn” sign at Floribunda to save lives and the heritage trees. Worked great.)

[J. Mir]

I am sure the residents are fed up with parking issues, but someone is going around posting signs on telephone poles that the neighbors need to get together to get rid of "outsiders" in our neighborhood. This seems to be NOT a good development to me and reeks of the "yellow peril" and similar alarmism. Look, your neighbors are all working from home now, they're ordering necessities online rather than running over to the store, they're ordering food delivery (not just pizza but everything else under the sun, every day)... all these amenities require cars to deliver them, do you expect the delivery people to park overnight? No, but they still gotta park somewhere for a few minutes. Then there's the constant tree/development/construction work happening in the neighborhood, those workers have to park somewhere too. Now if you've got SFO parkers, yes that's a problem but there's already a process for dealing with 72-hours violators, correct? And there's already school zones in place, which just need more enforcement, correct? BTW San Carlos already does the parking zones and limited hours / permit thing for residents, and its very effective there because they spend a lot of money on that - the parking cart officers are constantly on the move in those neighborhoods next to their downtown and they are always chalking cars. It costs $ ! But wait... i thought we didn't want to be San Carlos after all ??

[resident]

The 72 hour rule is insufficient to deal with the problem. By the time 72 hours have gone by the SFO travellers are on their way home.

[Joe]

@Fred (with a capital F). I may be able to answer some of your questions based on our street going to 2 hour residential parking with permits a couple of years ago.

A majority of the property owners on the street had to sign agreement to the plan. Each gets 2 permits to hang on their mirrors for $50 per year. (I'm sure that doesn't cover the cost of enforcement, but I also don't think enforcement is a huge amount of additional cost). The 2-3 cruisers at night is slightly different since the permits are monitored by Parking Enforcement Officers ("PEO's"). You can pick up the SFO poachers and people parking all day easily with minimal random chalking and ticketing. It has worked really well on my street.

--Great point about streets that are on the city boundary.

[Bruce Dickinson]

Listen folks, Bruce Dickinson thinks there are several separate but interrelated issues here, but let’s define the overall problem, which is multi-facited, as it were. The problem concerns effective representation, conducting the best outreach possible, and the reasons for low political participation and how that can be altered with basic, common sense steps.

First, while City Council and the powers at be did this specific Lyon-Hoag outreach program, it is becoming increasingly clear that these Council members have comparatively little “skin in the game” compared to years past. When three Council spots come up for re-election, and the same three incumbents seek re-elecion basically unopposed, it’s pretty much a one way ticket to perpetual incumbency. And when there is no threat to unseat you, the proclivity to represent and act on the views of the entire populace will decline, simply because that’s the easy thing to do (especially for what is effectively a volunteer job).

The other big (or bigger) issue is that local representatives’ power has been usurped by supra-regional agencies and the State who loves to dictate what is “right” for every City and has passed laws to coerce local governments to behave in a way that is completely aligned with the State’s (Guv Brown and the supermajority legislative) vision. And guess what? These bodies love to wave the carrots of transportation dollars, incentives for more housing/development, or wave the stick of threatening to sue cities for not adhering to housing needs allocation goals set by the State. Does one think that most volunteer Commissioners and Council want to deal with this? No, because it’s hard, it’s a fight, and you have the City’s staff that is highly incentivized to keep development going strong (taxes, pay and pensions) and to mitigate risk (not to get sued by the State of CA so as to threaten jobs/pay/pensions, etc if the City loses in Court). The most powerful people in the City are most likely those you don’t elect, namely the City Manager and the City Attorney.

Secondly, while this event was a proper outreach, it is very clear the standard notification process of decisions that affect residents, including the time allowed for commissioners/Council or the public to respond is extremely flawed and antiquated. There should be one link on the City website that includes all issues of the various Commissions and Council and one email sent out if people want weekly delivery. The way it is now, you have to find the department page and sign up for updates on agendas. Then the agenda is sent the Friday before the Monday or Tuesday meeting via email. Sorry, but any big decisions should require at least 7 days notice. It probably isn’t the law, but seriously, why settle for the absolute bare minimum? Burlingame deserves better!

There is no reason why staff can’t produce an agenda and staff report document one week prior to the meeting. By the time mailer cards are sent out, that alone takes two days, and of course the definition of 500 feet or whatever is far too narrow for the kind of big capital projects that the City treasures (tax dollars) so much. One link on the City of Burlingame front page you can click on or enter your email address for a mailer on all development actions for building/planning, ordinances, traffic, parking, beautification, etc. The page will have the various Commissions/Council meeting agendas updated each week or you can opt to get an email every week that organizes the agendas by Commission/Council. Also, the City should consider posting on Nextdoorcom.. Bruce Dickinson understands there could be reluctance to do so, because it is a “private" network, but seriously, pass an ordinance that will allow updates from public officials on Next-door.com. If people get up in arms about dog poop on lawns or nanny-snitching, you bet they’re gonna start caring when you put up 100,000 square feet of office and commercial space right down the street from your home or school. Doing these few things will likely cause community and public engagement to skyrocket!

If engagement increases, then guess what? The assumptions of automatic status quo and and incumbency are turned on their head, and Commissioner/Council outreach and desire to listen to their citizens increases.

This is supposed to be a democratic process. Everything that aims at getting more information out in formats that are actually used by the public will only help this process. The City of Burlingame could do a LOT better.

Don’t say that Bruce Dickinson doesn’t share my pearls of wisdom enough!

[Fred]

@Joe Thanks for the post.

Is your street currently 2 hour residential parking? If so I find this very hard to image. I would expect whatever is put in place is city wide?

Let's forget the labels (poachers, etc.). The bottom line is that if someone is parked in the daytime for more than two hours a resident will need to call the city and wait for someone to come out and caulk the tires. Then the city needs to come back after 2 hours to see if the cars are still there.

I would love to see the statistics on this and see if it is effective.

I was told the city doesn't have the manpower and $ to support this. If they currently had 2-3 PEOs I am sure their hours are 8am - 4pm and they are off on weekends. Who would manage the issues in the evening / night. I was told its not cost effective and that is why they stopped the program in the mid 2000's. Each PEO's costs $100k + after salary and benefits, how many $50 parking permits would they have to sell to support 3 PEO's? Answer is 3 x $100k, $300k / $50 = 6000 permits

I recall police officers coming out in the late evening. And from what I recall they not only have to cite / ticket the vehicle in violation but also all the vehicles on the block that are in violation, this is so they are not discriminating.

Are signs posted on your street? How do people know not to park more than 2 hours?

Were the daytime PEO's instrumental on the success of the enforcement?

[Peter Garrison]

I like the idea of caulking the tires. Just be sure to use enough.

[Ian]

The residential parking program operates on a block-by-block basis. I think the signs are a sufficient deterrent - I haven't noticed much enforcement activity on our street, but the number of cars parked there went way down as soon as the signs went up.

[Fred]

Could someone share some streets that has signs, I want to drive by and take a look!

[Laura]

The current street parking program is inadequate. Since the rise of uber and lift, the Lyon Hoag area has become a secondary, San Francisco airport parking lot. I have had several cars in front of my home that the person parked and took off in an uber to the airport (and before someone comes back with why didn't I stop them, I tried running downstairs and out the door, but too late) By waiting the required 72 hours to call, they then come out and issue a warning. After the warning, they need to wait another 48 hours prior to issuing a ticket to get it towed. By that time, the person has had a week of free parking in front of our homes. When I discussed this with some on Council, was told to start the parking permit process and get my neighbors on board to pay $54 dollars for two parking permits for the privilege to park in front of our homes. When I discussed this with the police department, they said that if you know someone has left in an Uber, the 72 hour waiting period could be waived to get it a warning, but you then have to wait another 48 hours to get it towed or ticketed. If this happens toward the weekend on Wednesday or Thursday, they then get 4 to 5 days of free parking before anyone would even consider issuing a ticket and that is only if you know for sure, they left for the airport. I'm told the waiting periods are a State law and not a City law so not much anyone can really do about it unfortunately.

[Ian]

Fred - we have the res parking signs on Carol and Cypress Ave's.

Yes, it costs ~$50/yr - it's well worth it in my opinion.

[Joe]

8am to 6pm, except Sundays and Holidays and I agree with Ian. Working well on Newlands also.

[Laura]

It's gone up to $54 a year. At least that was what they quoted at the Lyon Hoag meeting.

[Christopher Cooke]

Well they have posted electronic signs warning about the 25 mph speed limit, on Bayswater. That is one of the calming measures discussed at the meeting

[jennifer Pfaff]

NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING-City of Burlingame
Lyon Hoag Neighborhood Study Session
Tuesday, February 26 at 6:00- 8:00p.m.
Burlingame Recreation Center, 850 Burlingame Ave

The City of Burlingame will be holding a community workshop for the Lyon Hoag and surrounding neighborhoods at 6:00 pm on February 26th at the Burlingame Recreational Center. Residents are invited to participate and share their experiences in the area.

This meeting looks to build on the previous effort that look place last May when city staff heard from many residents about traffic safety concerns on their neighborhood streets. The City remains committed to finding solutions and will be joined by Transportation experts from Bay Area consultant firm TJKM.

[Sign me up]

Poor Lyon Hoag. You guys have been thrown to the wolves and they won't stop until they have devoured it all.