80% Voter Suppression in Burlingame

The slimy little lawyer from Malibu who has no friggin' clue about anything in Burlingame has finally gotten his scummy little way.  Yesterday was the deadline for filing for the B'game city council election and we will have 1/5 of the election we would have had, thanks to someone who has probably never even graced our lovely avenues, roads or courts.  Our prior post covered the background of this travesty with our new five little districts here.   Further back you can read here.  As a B'game resident, you used to have five votes for the five seats on the city council.  They were all your council members and had to answer your phone calls.  No more.  40 percent of you (including me) get NO VOTE this year for city council even though three seats are up.  Another 40 percent of you can vote, but there is only one candidate running in your tiny little postage stamp district, so if you dislike them and their policies you are stuck writing in Ronald McDonald--and your fries will be cold.  Nice work scummy lawyer.

20 percent of the town has an election.  This is real voter suppression to the tune of 80%.  Not the BS you read about in the paper where showing an ID to vote is somehow an insurmountable challenge.  It's right here in the vote YOU DON"T GET TO CAST.

Ricardo Ortiz and Michael Brownrigg, formerly known as "Mike", are now unopposed in their north end districts.  The little lawyer from Malibu must be so proud.  No need for two incumbents to go to debates (although they probably will out of respect for the process), knock on doors, ask for endorsements, answer pointed e-mails about why they did this-or-that...or DIDN'T do this-or-that.  Congrats on the win, gents.

The formerly ignored southeast end--the "Lyon-Hoag" section of town in the Old Days, has three newcomers vying for the newly created, open seat.  I applaud them.  The development and traffic windmill they are going to push against is massive, but they are willing to try.  Rachel Cyr, John Martos, and Peter Stevenson--welcome to the show.  The Daily Journal quick survey had this description of them:

Rachel Cyr, a mother and businesswoman, is running against businessperson Peter Stevenson and John Martos in District 5.

I find that a little odd and worthy of oversight.  I know Stevenson a bit and he has kids, so why is he a "businessperson" and not a "father and businessman".  I don't know Martos, but he must deserve some descriptor.  C'mon DJ, get it together.  Don't make me expose your bias before we even get started.

Update 8/15:  I just heard from the city clerk that John Martos did not finish the filing process (i.e. he effectively withdrew).  He was listed as "pending" mid-last week.  So District 5 is Cyr and Stevenson, head to head.

Comments

[Adam Smith]

The real problem is people like Mark Simon reporting that district elections are just a fact of life these days. Instead they should be pressing state representatives for a change in the law. What do we get? State senator Josh Becker and uncontested incumbent city councilman Michael Brownrigg working on this sort of nonsense. https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/guest_perspectives/how-california-workers-can-own-their-futures/article_e8702200-29ad-11ed-bc27-ebc18e5f44c1.html

Becker has been a huge failure so far. His priorities are terrible. Where is the invisible hand to tap them on the shoulder and say wake up?

[Lynn]

I read that Giselle Hale pulled the same move as Rachel Cyr except Hale kept another candidate from actually running. The #3 guy could be on the ballot, and we could have had a choice. What is it with this move? Would Martos have declined if it were just him and Stevenson? We'll never know.

[Cathy Baylock]

In answer to Jennifer's question about what happens if no one runs in a district: the City Council appoints.

[Peter Garrison]

I vote for Jennifer!

[Joe]

The Daily Journal is catching up -- 9 days later -- on the non-election we will not have:

This year’s Burlingame City Council race ended early.

This is the first time the city is conducting an election (Ed: actually NO ELECTION) with specific districts. His (Ed: meaning Stevenson's) is focused in the Lyon Hoag neighborhood, near Washington Park and just north of the San Mateo border. Once a working class neighborhood with cute craftsman style homes, it has seen changes in recent years with home prices rising, larger remodels and some arising parking and traffic issues the city has worked to address.

A top issue for all Peninsula cities is housing and planning for more of it as required by the state.

“I don’t necessarily have an opinion on whether the General Plan needs to adjust or not in terms of where the housing is forecasted but I also recognize that there are some mandates that are state driven, that we don’t have control over but we can influence, I advocate a holistic view about this,” Stevenson said.
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Time to try to outfox the state esp. in Lyon-Hoag. I sat through Josh Becker's "Water Security" webinar this week and it was the same old drivel. "Brown flush it down"--he really said that AGAIN. Same old story line "LA managed to grow its population but not its water usage"--probably one of the Big Lies in state government if one digs into the details.
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Read the rest including Rachel Cyr's take here. I met with her and she seems like a nice lady. We will see if she comes back as promised.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-s-city-council-race-ends/article_4decb6fe-30c3-11ed-8816-9b39ab2d283e.html?utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1662818404&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

[Joe]

Sigh. I guess there is at least one media person who doesn't read the Voice. I seldom read Sue Lempert's column, but the headline caught my attention. Here she is catching on 4 months later.....

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In the good ol’ days we used to be able to vote for five councilmembers (for city councils with five members). Not all at the same time. But two or three each election cycle. That right has been taken away by district elections. Now we can just vote for one. No one talks about those lost rights. It’s not the thing to do.

District elections in some cases have opened the door to those who would not have had a chance to wage a successful citywide campaign. Or that’s what people say in defense of district elections.

In any case, district elections have been a challenge for inept columnists like yours truly. I was reminded of this by a stern email from City Hall that in my last column, I erroneously put a candidate or two in the wrong district. I can only hope that forgiveness awaits me. In any event, your ballot will give you the correct choice or choices.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/opinion/columnists/district-elections-and-a-jojo-update/article_487f3d36-747a-11ed-8d1c-0ba295c05eea.html
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And what is up with the resigned mindset ("No one talks about those lost rights. It’s not the thing to do.") It's absolutely the "thing to do" and we do it here. Smaller cities need to band together and get the state legislature to close the loophole and go back to at-large elections. I wish she would use her column to push for that.

[Just Sayin']

Someone is being sold well after their sell-by date. Just sayin'