Are Neo-racists Attacking Burlingame?

I’m coming around to the idea that there may well be some racists in Burlingame and elsewhere on the Peninsula.  I know it’s hard to believe.  But when you see people judging other people’s motivations, actions or, in the case of city council members, their votes; based on the color of their skin it is hard to avoid the conclusion that they are racists.  This is not the commonly held view of what it is to be a racist.  But when one uses false charges of racism as a cudgel to get one’s way on things that have nothing to do with race one is, well…..a racist.  Let’s call them “neo-racists”.

Cue Daily Journal columnist Mark Simon who felt the need to take the B’game city council and particularly the mayor to task for reacting negatively to a comment at a county Asian Pacific Islander Caucus panel discussion:

One of the panelists, Nicole Fernandez, former chair of the county Democratic Party and now district director for state Sen. Josh Becker, noted that district elections had a significant impact on the election of nonwhites to local city councils. Fernandez eagerly anticipated the implementation of district elections in other cities, including Burlingame, which has begun that process, and which she described as one of the “NIMBYest cities” here in god’s country.

Blending charges of racism and NIMBYism is well…. neo-racist.   Hearing it from a staffer’s mouth for our own state senator (newly elected to replace Jerry Hill) is not a good sign at the start of Becker’s term.  I expect B’game should get an apology from his office for Fernandez' fact-free and neo-racist accusation.  Maybe it’s even time for a new district director that isn’t a neo-racist and doesn’t denigrate whole towns in her boss’ district.

In his Daily Journal column, Mark Simon goes on with this confused bit of rhetoric

Of course, the term NIMBY encompasses much more than housing and a lengthy and vigorous debate can be held on the topic of inclusiveness in Burlingame, or any other city in the county.

Really?  Do tell.  I though NIMBYism was about local development.  Regular readers know that I believe Burlingame, the mid-Peninsula and, in fact, the whole core of the Bay Area are already over-built for our current infrastructure.  Call me a NIMBY, I don’t care.  I haven't exactly been in the majority in town.  I am one although I consider the whole core Bay Area as “my backyard” and so should you.  With more than 1,000 units of housing in B’game approved and in the works over the last couple of years, I would like B’game to take a breather.  Let’s see how this much growth plays out.  There are a bunch of good reasons for a pause if anyone cares to look past the end of their nose.  But why bring race and “inclusiveness” into the discussion unless one is, well…. a neo-racist busy judging whole towns full of people one doesn’t know by their skin colors?

For the Glass House File:  It is easy to toss around the NIMBY label when one lives up in the winding backstreets of Emerald Hills or Farm Hills in Redwood City in a single-family zoned neighborhood on a 9,000 square foot lot like Mark Simon.  “NIMBY” comes easily to your keyboard when you live nowhere near where a spec builder is likely to buy the small house next door and jam in a four-plex or two.  The people on 5,000 square foot lots in Lyon-Hoag, Burlingame Terrace or Burlingame Village near commercial districts and transit feel very differently and it has nothing to do with race. 

Checklist:  How to tell if you are this new strain of NEO-RACIST:

--You think single-family residential zoning is racist.

--You think local parcel taxes to fund local schools are racist.

--You think voting for each of your city council members is racist.

--You think “leafy suburb” is a code word for a racist neighborhood.

--Heck, you think “suburb” is code for a racist neighborhood.

Look in the mirror.  “Crisis nearly of its own making” indeed.

Comments

[Gov. Gerry- Do unto... - Free Riding on the backs of others]

As noted by Mark Simon, go to 2:44:00 in the YouTube link below.

The public comments alone are worth your time.

Interesting point, the supporters of those who made the comment, "claim they didn't hear it" as negative (or not at all). -Note- Its OK to blast NIMBY's because that is who we are against!

They (public comment) then went on to DEFEND the NIMBY statement as VALID and continue to BASH the council members and Burlingame.

The CC members agreed to not send the letter "because the timing and optics were bad," but the letter should not need to be written or sent. The person who made the comment, employed by a public official should be held responsible to recant the statement as she works for our State Senator. Are these now HIS remarks?

Is there any NIMBY in his neck of the woods?

I find the phrase "Don't S%$T where you eat" to be relevant at this time.

It is relevant that the individuals who bashed the CC members are really looking to Free Ride on the backs of others who were targets of discrimination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A94rC-Z8WiE

[[email protected]]

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!

[JP]

Who scurried off to tell Simon about it?

Mayor Keighran was not a participant in the API Caucus discussion, but someone who was scurried off to inform her of this assault on Burlingame’s reputation. Who that was and why suggests a whole different political crosscurrent that we will not get into today.

[Handle Bard]

Has the new city attorney been hired yet. Job 1 might be to fire off a letter to Becker.

[Everything's Jake]

Another dopey pol labeling caring citizens as racists for his own political gain.
Remember: "No" on Becker.

[resident]

Becker was a blank-page. He never held any city or county position. He never was on any commission or council. He was never a supervisor. Nada. This is what you get.

[resident]

It is a fact that Becker has never held any office. What are you talking about?

[person]

dog whistling white supremacist terms "HH" should have no place in this forum or community:

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/88

*editors*, that comment should be removed for a breach of the terms of use.

[Editor]

Thank you, person. I had no idea so you have educated and thus helped. The comment in question has been removed and the commenter will be watched more closely as a repeat offender. Sad state of affairs when we have to do that.

[[email protected]]

Sorry Person.
It is very unfortunate that even the smallest Joke is interpreted as an attack on the BV Community.
The US-PC Community is "Strangling" the First Amendment. Thereby ignoring truly important World Wide Issues.
Wow.
I hope you are OK Person.

Oh Oh, someone should look up the "meaning" of Wow.

Sorry Person. I had NO intension on offending you. Or anyone else.
Could you please comment on your Complaint? I would like to make this a learning experience.

[Peter Garrison]

Only dogs respond to dog whistles.
Let the whistlers whistle.
Then we know who they are while preserving free speech.

[Phinancier]

Some joke, hollyroller. What is next? You need counseling.

[Libertarian]

Simon and Speier live in communities that will never be forced, by pols like themselves, to be over developed.
The immigrants fleeing to our border from Marxist Socialist $hitholes are not coming here in the hope that folks like Simon and Dunham will force the same disasters on their new land.

[person]

first amendment does not apply to private entities.

this site is governed by the terms of use. which clearly draws a line in the sand for this type of content. their house, their rules.

let whistlers whistle, let child predators predate, let terrorists incite violence? you reap what you sow.

[Peter Garrison]

I agree.
And I agree due to the cloaking ability of anonymous posters.

[Bruce Dickinson]

Wow, what a lightning-rod issue this "NIMBY"-ism is! Well let's have Bruce Dickinson adjudicate this whole brouhaha. First, while O'Brien's heart is in the right place, I don't think you should send out the letter. It's pretty amazing the collective hours spent by everyone discussing this letter! And yes, while Burlingame's reputation is "sullied" by NIMBY-ism comments, I really wonder how bad it really is.

Funny how some public comments in the City Council meeting discussing the letter were alleging there was somehow some massive segregation in Burlingame housing. Sorry to disappoint, but last time I checked, the multifamily units downtown and along El Camino are right next to single-family homes. Someone also brought up something about how Burlingame took so long to become diverse. Well for one, Burlingame has been a LEADER by actually having affordable housing for decades before it became the zeitgeist of woke white people born decades after the first apartments in Burlingame were built. The availability of housing is among the most plentiful among the Peninsula cities and some of these multifamily units are also among the cheapest on the Peninsula!

All you have to do is look at the relative statistics of the percentage of renters in each city. Burlingame is #2 in the County, behind East Palo Alto.

East Palo Alto 60%
Burlingame 52%
Redwood city 50%
San Mateo 46%
Daly City 42%
Menlo Park 42%
San Bruno 41%
Belmont 39%
Millbrae 36%
Half Moon Bay 28%
Woodside 11%
Hillsborough 7%
Atherton 7%

So yes, Burlingame was decades ahead of its time and really this NIMBYISM argument holds zero water...therefore responding to the criticism gives it some inkling of validity. If you got a beef with Burlingame then you should have even MORE of a beef with 10 other cities!

Also, some of the public comments were suggestive that Burlingame City Council will look so much different with district elections. Well sorry to be the killjoy, but guess what? It won't. Why is that? Because multi-family and single family are mixed into every district, except for the hills. So you will have a Council, Planning Commission, etc that will be reflective of the current population, that is majority White, with some Latinos and Asians. The one group that is under-represented in Burlingame are Blacks however, that is the case for most cities on the Peninsula in general. I would suggest many of the critics to spend some time in Marin County, and will make Burlingame look like a melting pot!

So yeah, much ado about nothing. Fact of the matter is in spite of having some of the most expensive real estate in the country, Burlingame has tremendous, socio-economic diversity, decent, racial diversity, a more than 50% rental population, and an excellent school system serving the diverse demographic. You show me a city of 30k people with homes containing affordable rental options next to homes going over $5 million dollars and having the same diverse characteristics mentioned above. I can assure you, the list is gonna be very very short.

If you're barking about NIMBY-ism in Burlingame, you're barking up the wrong City of Trees!

[Christopher Cooke]

I think people are getting thin skinned. Calling someone else a NIMBY does not make the speaker a neo-racist. Neither does pointing out that district elections often lead to more ethnically diverse representatives. The former term usually means that someone opposes a development or project in his or her neighborhood. The latter statement can be true when people live in highly segregated neighborhoods, but the issue is more nuanced than that.https://www.jstor.org/stable/25193833?seq=1

[Nick Pollard]

The word “racist” is a fake word created by cultural marxists attempting to nullify any opposition to their marxist agenda.

Good ole Hirschfeld and Trotsky created this one during the Bolshevik takeover of Russia.

Only marxist media maintains the suspension of disbelief that keeps the word relevant and significant.

[Phinancier]

I agree. Add to that when "racist" is directed to a whole city it is more disgusting. I appreciate the marxist update. I disagree with Christopher Cooke in instances when the speaker herself has tied the two accusations together. Fernandez did exactly that in the quote.