The Burlingame Voice

Roundabout Comes into Focus

I'm still waiting to talk to someone who isn't associated with the project that thinks the California Roundabout was a good use of $3 million - even if it was "grant money".  You can review the history of the project here, here and here.  I usually tell the naysayers that a good part of the money "went underground" where drainage work was needed, but that doesn't convince many people.  Here is one example of the local sentiment sent to the Voice

There are no less than 30 luminaires.  It's completely over-the-top and over-designed. There is such a thing as overlighting leading to light pollution and this is the textbook example.  This is what happens when consultants design things and city staff missed it or ok’d it anyway.  Who’s paying for the electric bill?  And couldn’t they have combined poles to cut down on the forest of streetlights, pedestrian poles and traffic sign poles?  There’ll be easily near a hundred new poles with this project.

Meanwhile we have streets that desperately need streetlights. Like Carolan where there have been pedestrian injuries rr California between Broadway and the Caltrain station.  I wish a crane could lift some of the roundabout lights and put them where they are really needed.

But there is no sense crying over spilt milk I suppose.  I just have to stop asking myself as I gingerly weave around the various obstacles "what problem were we trying to solve?" 

Photo credit:  Roving Voice correspondent

Segno dei Tempi

It is a sign of the times (segno dei tempi) that the Fiat dealership in town has moved across the street to a lesser location to make way for a Maserati dealership.  For those who prefer Ferrari, like Bruce Dickenson, this is no big deal, but it does bode well for B'game sales tax revenues to welcome another upper-end dealership to town.  For the second fiscal quarter of 2018, Autos and Transportation held its No. 1 position in B'game, topping $1 million for the quarter--double that of the Restaurants and Hotels sector per this city report.  I say benvenuto Maserati!

New Chief, New Mayor, New Vice Mayor

The third week of December always brings the standard City Council rotation of mayor and vice mayor--a B'game process that goes back to 1999.  As seen in the Foster City news this week, not every city is as formalized and that can bring conflict that we don't need.  With Mayor Brownrigg cycling out of the center seat, Donna Colson moves one seat to the right on the dais and is the new mayor for 2019.  Per the rotation, Emily Beach is now our vice mayor.  You can revisit a bit of history on them here.

The other news on Monday night was Chief Eric Wollman's retirement and the elevation of a long-time B'game officer as the new chief.  Here's the City announcement:

Effective December 29, 2018, Mike Matteucci will serve as the City's new Police Chief. Mike Matteucci was hired as a Police Officer in 1991, was promoted to Sergeant in 2000, and was promoted to Captain in 2004. During his time with Burlingame, he worked as a patrol officer, field training officer, inspector, and SWAT team member. He's also overseen every division within the department, including Patrol/Operations, Investigations, and Administrative Services. Captain Matteucci is replacing Chief Eric Wollman (pictured below), who is retiring on December 28 after a 36-year law enforcement career, including almost seven years with the City of Burlingame.

I have my own photo of the outgoing chief with the whole council below (our new mayor is in red).  Congrats all, especially Chief Eric!  I'll check with with Chief Mike in the New Year to revisit BPD priorities.

 

Dine Broadway

We have a category for "Dine Burlingame" that gets used fairly regularly, but I admit it is mostly about restaurants on or near the Avenew.  I can walk to the Ave and do so more often than driving to Broadway.  Two events will cause me to "get up there" more.  The first is the opening of Centro in the old hardware store space.  While losing another hardware store is unfortunate, at least the winning team of Elio and John who run Il Sapore on the Ave so beautifully now have a great B'way space for pizza.  Check it out.

The other B'way event comes courtesy of Opentable's Best Overall Restaurants of the Peninsula that arrived today.  There are a lot of good choices on the list that I have eaten at many times-  Pausa and All Spice in San Mateo as well as Evvia, Town and the Village Pub further south.  But one that caught me by surprise is Cafe Figaro on B'way.  I've eaten there a couple of times and this Opentable ranking reminds me that each time I thought "hey, this is quite good".  It only has 35 ratings compared to several thousand for some of the others, but the proof is also in the pudding or the pasta in this case.  Good for Cafe Figaro, good for B'way and good for B'game since we are not known as a fine dining mecca.  Mangia!

 

Lots F and N Bulking Up to 5 Stories

The Daily Journal is reporting on the Planning Commission's approval of the affordable housing plan

Burlingame officials are pushing ahead a proposal to transform downtown surface parking lots into a new affordable housing development and parking garage.

The Burlingame Planning Commission approved the bold vision for city land during a meeting Monday, Dec. 10, moving the initiative before the City Council for final approval.

Following years of deliberation, revision and examination, officials agreed they were finally comfortable with the design of the proposal from Pacific West Communities to redevelop parking lots F and N.

Under the commission’s unanimous approval, councilmembers will soon consider the proposal to build 132 units in a five-story building at parking lot F, on Lorton Avenue, between Howard and Bayswater avenues. Of the units, 78 will be set aside as workforce housing and the remaining 54 will be reserved for seniors.

So now the issue is "which comes first, parking or housing"?

Water Supply Wish List

I stumbled across a really well-researched piece at the California Political Review website that merits sharing with B'gamers.  The link is here, but I will give you the author's (Ed Ring) first wish list on how to increase our water supply with the millions of acre-feet (MAF) for each item. 

Projects to Increase Supplies of Water

(1) Build the Sites Reservoir (annual yield 0.5 MAF) – $5.0 billion.

(2) Build the Temperance Flat Reservoir (annual yield 0.25 MAF) – $3.0 billion.

(3) Raise the height of the Shasta Dam (increased annual yield 0.5 MAF) – $2.0 billion.

(4) So Cal water recycling plants to potable standards with 1.0 MAF capacity – $7.5 billion.

(5) So Cal desalination plants with 1.0 MAF capacity – $15.0 billion.

(6) Desalination plants on Central and North coasts with 0.5 MAF capacity – 7.5 billion

(7) Central and Northern California water recycling plants to potable standards with 1.0 MAF capacity – $7.5 billion.

(8) Facilities to capture runoff for aquifer recharge (annual yield 0.75 MAF) – $5.0 billion.

Total – $52.5 billion.

Please do click through to read at least part of it and I will excerpt some more soon.

More El Camino Observations

It seems like I revisit the sorry shape of El Camino about this time every year.  Last year's post here drew some insightful comments and general agreement on the sorry state of affairs for our peasant path--certainly no King's Road.  Perhaps the arrival of the rain that coincides with the arrival of the Caltrans FLOODING signage gets me thinking.  Or maybe it's the completely random light at Lincoln Ave. and El Camino that stops ECR traffic for no visible reason.  And now the "Grand Boulevard"-like sections in San Mateo and Millbrae have these inscrutable double flashing yellow/red lights for pedestrian crossings.  They appear to be set for walkers with walkers as most of the time the pedestrian is long gone and the flashing red lights are still flashing.  Most drivers can't decide if a double flashing red means wait or proceed-if-clear.  To tell you the truth, I'm not sure myself so I err on the side of caution.

Rather than just complain I got out my scooper and cleared my adopted drain.  It really needed it as you can see below.  The official page for city adoption services is here. It appears someone already adopted it, but I think of it as shared-custody since I have been clearing it for more than a decade.  I was able to adopt the one on the other corner which was "medium" priority--I would hate to see how bad "high" priority is.  84 Adopters have adopted 110 of our 1,400+ drains, so you are sure to have one nearby that needs your love.