The Burlingame Voice

Selling water rights - What could go wrong?

Once in a while another city's council shenanigans merit mention here at the Voice.  This time it's Palo Alto giving us a head-scratcher moment.  Check this out from the Daily Post:

Palo Alto City Council is considering selling 1 million gallons of its daily water allocation, but environmental advocate Peter Drekmeier fears the water rights will be sold to Brisbane so a developer can build offices — worsening the region’s issues with too many jobs and not enough housing.  The idea of selling some of Palo Alto’s water rights to another city was presented in a memo by Councilwoman Alison Cormack and Mayor Pat Burt.  Council will discuss the idea, and whether to have a city planner spend three weeks exploring it, on Monday, Jan. 31.

Palo Alto has used between 8 and 10 million gallons per day for the past seven years, yet has the rights to up to 16 million gallons per day.  Selling 1 million gallons per day in water rights could bring in tens of millions of dollars for city projects, Burt and Cormack said.

Drekmeier — a former council member, mayor and now policy director for the Tuolumne River Trust — said Palo Alto shouldn’t sell water to a project that doesn’t help the Bay Area. He pointed to Brisbane, where developer Universal Paragon Corp. is looking for 2 million gallons per day to move forward with a massive project on the shore just south of San Francisco. 

That proposal drew an impassioned and informed letter to the editor from a Palo Alto resident that hit on a several points:

Did they (Burt and Comack) forget about the two new housing bills linking jobs to housing?  Did they forget the Bay Area already has to accommodate almost 1 million more people, all of whom use water?  Unbelievable at a time when Palo Alto residents are told to conserve water, are threatened with $500 fines if we use too much, have already been overcharged by the city utilities department every year to fund the General Fund and are now paying to appeal the judge's ruling in the case?

Remind me why we need another massive office complex.  Where's the fiscal responsibility and common sense?

Answer:  Missing and in short supply respectively.  Let's go a bit deeper into the shallow end of water politics and recall this.  A city's "water rights" are more of a suggestion than a contract these days.  And when the wells run dry you can bet the SFPUC, emphasis on the SF, and the new director, Dennis Herrera, will look out for their own as the SF Chronicle posited back in November:

Demanding better water conservation from neighbors while partnering on sustainable projects will be a tough needle to thread. Thankfully, Herrera has signaled that he’s up to the challenge. San Francisco residents need him to mean it.

Smart city councils would be looking to buy water rights, not to sell them!

Support your favorite $4,500 parklets

The chickens have come home to roost on fees for parklets as we noted last month here.  The council went with a $250 per month cleaning fee in addition to the $1,500 annual rental fee.  Per the Daily Journal article there was some discussion along the lines of what we noted last month about Broadway perhaps being a lower fee than the Avenue, but that did not come to pass.  It was unanimous.  I was in contact with John Kevranian who heads the Broadway Business Improvement District ("the BID") and I asked if I could publish his whole letter to the Council since I believe it explains very well the state of small businesses on B'way and more generally.  Here's the full letter:

Dear Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Council members,

I have been asked by my Broadway BID members to convey our position in regards to the parklet owners sidewalk cleaning fee. We on Broadway are Not in support of the recommended city staff report on sidewalk cleaning fee of $250 per month.

Some of you may perceive and have the impression that our restaurants are doing very well. Well, the bottom line is, they are not doing the business they had pre-Covid. The staffing shortages, increased cost of products, and supply chain issues have taken a toll to their bottom-line profit. Also, I would like to remind all of you that the majority of the business landlords did not discount rent the past 22 months during the pandemic.

This year, the increase in minimum wage, sewer rate increases, extra cost of composting, new food-to-go container mandates in March 2022 and other cost increases in the food industry will take a chunk of profit away from our restaurants. Also, not to mention Covid issues and less indoor dining.

The cleaning fee of $250 has to come from somewhere such as reducing the hours of workers or increasing prices on customers. The cost of chicken has tripled and the cost of beef and other products have skyrocketed. How much can you increase on a customer? 

Over the past 2 years, I have convinced my Broadway BID board of directors to waive our assessments (2 years' worth $54,000) to help save our businesses. I approached San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine to have the county waive the Environmental Health Department fees county wide for 1 year totaling $5.8 million, and I was successful with my request. I have done everything possible to save these merchants expenses, so they can survive during the pandemic and after. 

Businesses who have Parklets and outside seating are being targeted with federal lawsuits for ADA noncompliance. So far, I have 3 Broadway BID members who have received the lawsuit. The plaintiff's attorney will not settle for less than $10.000 and also the cost to remediate the violation.

I respectfully ask the entire council Not to adopt this program.

Best Regards,

John Kevranian

President

Broadway Burlingame Business Improvement District

John also researched the Covid relief funding that the City has received and reports that it was $371,871 from the CARES Act and is estimated to be $5,814,178 from the American Rescue Plan allocation.  As I noted in the comments to the December post, my surveying of restauranteurs about the additional fees has yielded split views.  Some will pay thinking they have little choice and others will give up the parklet.  John asked that I also publish the joint email address for the Council in case you want to weigh in even after the vote.  It is council@burlingame.org.

Bay Area Pavement: Who's Minding the Store?

Everyone knows that the road surface and drainage on El Camino Real is abysmal.  The monstrous project Caltrans is proposing to "fix" it is overkill as we noted here in July.  But what about all the other streets in B'game?  OK, I know, B'game doesn't have any streets--so what about our avenues, roads, places, and courts?  It's hard to tell since the Metropolitan Transportation Commission report on pavement is two years out of date.  The MTC provides this definition

The Pavement Conditions Index (PCI) provides a snapshot of the pavement health of a road. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 (where 100 means a newly paved road), and many factors affect a city’s or county’s PCI score. These include pavement age, climate and precipitation, traffic loads and available maintenance funding.

A new housing development with new streets may have a high overall PCI, while an older, urbanized area may have a much lower PCI, even though both are practicing pavement preservation.  At 67 out of a possible 100 points, the region’s average PCI score is much closer to the 60-point threshold at which deterioration accelerates rapidly.

And a moving three year average makes sense as both wear and tear and repair are continuous.  "Good" is a PCI in the '70's and that is where we were--two years ago--77.  Since then it appears there has been radio silence from the MTC.  What's up with that?  It's not like monitoring road surfaces is a desk job in some closed-for-Covid office. 

                                           3 yr Moving Average PCI

                                Miles        2017    2018    2019

Burlingame             162.6         75         78         77

They are wallowing in cash and proclaim:

MTC directly distributes more than $1 billion a year to Bay Area transit agencies and other partners, and prioritizes requests from local agencies for millions more in limited state and federal funds.  Each year, the Commission allocates hundreds of millions of dollars for local streets and roads, highways, public transit, freight movement and bicycle/pedestrian facilities.

So how do they do it without the data?  Here is one of hundreds of sections of El Camino that must put it somewhere between Poor and At Risk PCI.  Just like your tires and rims.

Farewell to Sixto's

One of my favorite B'game restaurants is closing to be replaced by another local stalwart moving to bigger space.  I like to commemorate places that created memories so years from now we can easily remember.  Like La Pinata, Chicken Chicken! and Yanni's, Sixto's is one of those places--in fact, it is the second one at the same location; residing in the old Bit of England space.  After "The Bit", it went through changes as the Tavern Grill (with awesome music) and Paragon before it became Sixto's.  I spoke to Teresa Lindhartsen who is one of the Sixto's and Alana's co-owners along with Francesca about Sixto's closing sometime this month.  While they are tiptoeing towards retirement, Alana's will continue as it has for 29 years.  That's a heckuva run.

Stella Alpina Osteria will be moving over from Chapin Ave. after a remodel so the tradition will continue.  As I was taking the photo below, a friend walked by who had not heard the news.  He had his first date with his lady friend at Sixto's and they have been regulars for the margaritas ever since.  Those are the memories I'm talking about.  Personally, I will miss the shrimp fajitas the most.  The good news is that with the current staffing shortages, the Sixto's staff should have no problem finding work.  To everyone involved, I say gracias.  Fare thee well.

Feb. 19 update:  Yesterday was the last day for Sixto's.  I went on Thursday night and it was packed--lots of sentimental thoughts all around.  Here are the much beloved  shrimp fajitas!

 

The year in Crime: 2021

Each New Year brings an opportunity to recap the year just ended.  It appears the City found my past posts on annual crime statistics here and here valuable because just as I was about to email the Chief to get the 2021 statistics, they came out in last week's e-newsletter.  So here is the update

Monthly Average                        2016    2017    2018    2019      2020    2021

Residential Burglaries                   5        2            3        3          2            2

Vehicle Burglaries                      23      25        21       39         20         25

     Thefts from Unlocked Vehicles                              -          14            8

Commercial Burglaries                  9      4            5        4            6            5

     Construction site theft                                             -           1            1

     Package thefts                                                        -            4            2

Other Thefts                               60      51        56        61          -             -

Robberies                                    1        1            1        2          2            2

Stolen Vehicles                            9        6          4         6           9            7

Vandalism                                  13    13          11       12          13           13

B'game crime appears pretty stable except for vehicle burglaries that increased by 60 last year.  2015 was a similar year.  I'm not sure if the statistic includes the catalytic converter thefts that seem to be increasing and probably not reported since there is virtually no chance of getting yours back.  I'm also pretty sure based on the Ring videos I see on-line that a lot of porch pirate thefts go unreported.  All in all, BPD is doing a good job showing presence around town and that may not be "half the battle" but it certainly contributes.

More than one way to get an ADU

It looks like Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are all the rage in town now that the rules have been relaxed.  I'm still of the opinion that most of them will end up as work-from-home offices or the traditional in-law units for family members to get them out of the house proper, but so be it.  You can build one from scratch, buy a manufactured one that needs to be assembled or you can go for the whole, complete enchilada--shrink-wrapped.  If you go with the enchilada and do not have backyard access, then another option is to lift it up and pop it down in the back where you want it.

I missed the money shot of this unit in the air since it took a day or more to position the crane on the street and whatever else was needed, but you can see the strap that held the ADU as it was hoisted over the main house into the backyard.  Quite an operation---coming to a lot near you.

 

New Year, New Green Reality for 2022

Let's start the New Year off with a bit of news on the climate change front.  2021 was a wild climate year finishing off with 212 inches of snow in December in the Tahoe Basin--breaking a 50 year record.  We may have gotten a modest respite from the megadrought although the press quotes from Water Board officials indicate a wait-and-see position.  It can be difficult to get real insight into what is happening around the world on climate as much of the press filters out "bad news".  The Wall Street Journal often has news that you will not read in the Comicle or our local press.  They did just that last week in a piece titled "Many Climate Ambitions Will End With 2021".    The journalist, Joseph C. Sternberg, had a look around Europe and found a few interesting moves that California officials would benefit from understanding.  Here are a few snippets:

It’s New Year’s resolution season, and don’t be surprised if politicians world-wide settle into the same informal pledge: Talk as little as possible about climate change in 2022.  The biggest, most entertaining and also most telling climb-downs are happening in the U.K.  Prime Minister Boris Johnson in October unveiled an ambitious policy program to get Britain to net-zero carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050.

Sure enough, the backtracks and U-turns began before that document was written. The most controversial component of Mr. Johnson’s net-zero boondoggle concerns an attempt to steer households away from the gas boilers on which 86% of them rely for hot water and central heating.

Mr. Johnson said in October he hopes that by 2035 the government will be able to phase out installation of new natural-gas heating units. That represents a step back from earlier plans to require carbon-efficient heat pumps in new homes as early as 2025, and the extended deadline still faces stiff opposition stemming from the high cost of heat pumps.

Among the smaller reversals, the U.K. Transport Department in November backtracked from a plan to require small businesses with parking lots on their premises to install electric-vehicle charging points. The proposed rules governing other structures such as new housing, residential conversions, and new mixed-use developments are so porous as to resemble a well-aerated Swiss cheese, with cost limitation emerging as the primary concern. This difficulty installing charging stations augurs the collapse, sooner or later, of Mr. Johnson’s announced plan to ban new internal-combustion cars by 2030.

French President Emmanuel Macron faces a campaign for re-election in 2022, and he learned the hard way in 2018 how higher fuel prices can trigger debilitating popular protests.  At Mr. Macron’s behest, the European Commission in Brussels may be on the verge of including both nuclear and natural gas on a list of environmentally friendly energy sources eligible for “green investment” from governments and private investors. 

Even in Germany politicians are starting to change course.  A coal phase-out will happen ideally by 2030—with the newly inserted word “ideally” blunting Green ambitions by marking the whole project as tentative.

We are often asked to emulate our European partners in their efforts, but it appears if we do now then Californians would have to backtrack as well.  Happy 2022.

I enjoy getting input and ideas from readers on the side.  Here's one that came in overnight.