The Burlingame Voice

SFO: Quiet electric taxis coming

B'game is so close to SFO airport that almost everything that happens there affects us--for better and for worse.  We love the cheap cab fare or Lyft cost to get there.  But the runway backblast can interrupt sleep so much that it's bad for our health.  Some residents can smell the fumes.  Now, next up are electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) taxis ferrying passengers to and fro per the SF Comicle

United Airlines is partnering with an electric aircraft company with plans to introduce an all-electric air taxi service from San Francisco International for commuters coming to and from the airport starting in 2026.

The Florida-based company, Eve Air Mobility, announced Wednesday that both companies will be working with local and state officials as well as infrastructure, energy and technology providers to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is in place to introduce electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft flights.

“Our shared goal is to provide residents and visitors to the San Francisco Bay Area with efficient and cost-competitive transportation in one of the most densely populated urban areas in the U.S.,” said Andre Stein, co-CEO of Eve Air Mobility. “The Bay Area is perfect for eVTOL flights given its size, traffic, focus on sustainability, innovation and commitment to add other options for mobility.”

On the bright side, a piece in the Wall Street Journal described another eVTOL company that had trouble getting any attention at the Paris Air Show because the craft was so quiet that it blended into show hubbub.  That model is a two-seater, so only one passenger per flight.  The Eve taxi rendering looks a little bigger.  I will love to see how that pencils out for United and Eve.  I just hope they don't expect to take B'game parking spaces to recharge!

"Western White House" goes up for sale

Every Friday the Wall Street Journal has a separate section about high-end real estate around the world.  As soon as I turned to page M2 and saw the photo I knew we were looking at the Western White House in H'borough.  It has just been listed at $38.9 million.  Here are some fun aspects about the house

Newspaper heir George R. Hearst never held public office. But around 1930, the oldest son of William Randolph Hearst commissioned architect Julia Morgan to convert his Hillsborough, Calif., home into a replica of the White House.

Morgan, who designed Hearst Castle in San Simeon, added columns, wings, Palladian windows and a circular driveway, according to the book “Julia Morgan, Architect.” The resulting structure contains replicas of the Oval Office, East Room and White House Rose Garden.

The house was originally built around 1878 for businessman William H. Howard, who later sold it to railroad scion Charles Frederick Crocker, according to the San Mateo County Historical Association. The original design was a four-story Swiss chalet with 36 rooms, according to the book “Here Today: San Francisco’s Architectural Heritage.” In the 1900s, a local contractor jacked up the house and moved it with horse-drawn rollers about a half mile across San Mateo Creek to its current location, the book said.

My local historical sources, which are quite good, tell me that the horse-drawn move was featured in Popular Mechanics magazine back in the day.

Shortly after its arrival, however, the chalet caught fire and two of its four stories were destroyed. Hearst acquired the property around 1927, according to the historical association. 

(The current owners did extensive renovations and) said they tried not to deviate from Morgan’s vision. An oval-shaped library has the same dimensions as the Oval Office, he said. They even sourced period-specific furniture, he said, but didn’t end up buying it because they decided not to move in.

I've left out a lot of the owners' information, but if you are a prospective buyer Alex Buljan of Compass has the listing!

Jack London and more history on Eucs

I just read an interesting article in Eden magazine--the Journal of the California Garden & Landscape History Society--titled Jack London's Ranch of Good Intentions.  It is a lengthy retelling of London's life with an emphasis on his love of the land, his extensive and acquisitions in Glen Ellen and the trials and tribulations of building and losing to fire his "Wolf House".  It is available to members on their website at www.cglhs.org, but I want to highlight the bits about eucalyptus trees in California.  The piece notes:

To improve his bottom line London participated in the sweeping introduction of an Australian tree, the genus “Eucalyptus.” From the mid nineteenth century and well into the twentieth the planting of Eucalyptus was a near mania. President Theodore Roosevelt and his chief forester Gifford Pinchot declared a “hard wood famine” in America, issuing government bulletins on methods of cultivating select species for greater yield. The fast growing, aromatic tree became an urgent cause especially in California. Beginning with the La Motte property London planted tens of thousands of trees in waves. Ultimately, he planted a total of five groves, some 140,000 seedlings.

The impoverished old vineyard property along Graham Creek was destined (or as it turned out ill-fated) to become London’s future ‘cash crop. Jack planted the recommended species, E. globulus, E. viminalis, E. tereticornis. E. camaldulensis, E. rudis. However, it was found as early as the 1910s that the maturity of the wood—decades, if not centuries— was the key to financial success. Many of the Eucalyptus growers throughout California arrived at the same conclusion and many groves were abandoned thereafter.

The hundreds of thousands of trees planted from the gold rush era into the 1920s were abandoned up and down California, and left to acculturate themselves into a different soil, a different continent, and a different hemisphere. Several mature Eucalyptus trees remain in Jack London State Historic Park and can be seen on walking trails on the northside of the Ranch.

I'm told our Big Boys on ECR that were planted by McLaren are the E. globulus variety.  One wonders if they might not take centuries (plural) to truly reach maturity.  I guess that except for the Lucky 9%, we will never know.  Here's Jack at work at his outdoor desk in Glen Ellen from Eden magazine.

Civil Grand Jury bumps up against reality

It must be a slow session of the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury if they have time to commiserate about how cities cannot track the incomes of people who occupy ADUs jammed into neighborhoods by the state housing requirement numbers.  No kidding.  Here are some of the specifics from the DJ piece titled "Civil grand jury targets cities' focus on ADUs".

Hillsborough, Woodside, Portola Valley and Atherton are leaning heavily on accessory dwelling units to address the state’s affordable housing requirements and has no way of verifying tenants' income, according to a report by the San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury issued Monday.  “For every accessory dwelling unit that gets a permit and is counted as an affordable unit, equals one fewer deed restricted affordable unit,” civil grand juror Spector said.

Of course, neither does any other city or town without a heavy investment in tenant-snooping snitches.  Even with a snitch army, how do you do it?   Here's the source of the issue:

Each jurisdiction is assigned a number of units for varied incomes: very low, low, moderate and above moderate. Most cities follow a 30-30-30-10 format, meaning 30% each for the very low to moderate income categories and 10% for above moderate. The categories are based on the county’s average median income, around $116,000 for a one-person household, according to the county.

Seldom does one see an instance of social engineering spelled out with such engineer-like specificity.  One wonders if the snoopers will want the full income $xx,xxx.yy details down to the penny?  So instead of crying time-out on the whole principle and sending the CA Department of Housing and Community Development a message to cease-and-desist, the grand jury doubles down

HCD instructed the county jurisdictions to monitor and verify ADU production and affordability at least every two years but never specified what the process should look like, according to the report.  In the report, the grand jury suggests jurisdictions stop using ADUs unless it has an effective monitoring system that verifies how they will be used.

Click through to read more of this ridiculous social engineering fiasco.  As I said, it must be a slow session at the grand jury to get this far out of their lane. 

Cellblock 6 is almost done

I was driving down Rollins Rd. south of Broadway with a friend who remembers the Velvet Turtle days and the arrival and departure six years later of Fattoria e Mare restaurant after that.  As we approached the new building he said, "It looks like a prison".  And so it does.  I hope they didn't spend to much on architects for Cellblock 6.

This is the view from the bike trail along the channel at Bayside Park.  Doesn't feel like B'game does it.

Papan putting water in focus

Mr. Water here with a catch-up post on newly minted Assemblywoman Diane Papan's early attention to.....water.  She had a Guest Perspective in the DJ a week ago and it merits some additional coverage as we see how the proposed legislation progresses.  First and foremost, I give her kudos for focusing on something important and suitable for Sacramento to deal with.  I wish some of our other representatives had the same approach.  After the dutiful bow to climate change, we learn from her piece:

That’s why I have made water — the adequacy of supply, equitable distribution, cleanliness and availability — one of my top legislative priorities.

As such, one of my bills, Assembly Bill 753, will ensure that communities harmed by pollution receive state funding to clean up local waters. The bill reforms the State Water Board’s Cleanup and Abatement Fund to require half of these funds be dedicated to cleaning up the most polluted waterways, improving monitoring and developing community capacity so disadvantaged communities can participate fully in addressing water quality.

I'm left wondering what we have been doing with the other half all this time? 

I have also introduced two bills to help ensure reliable, affordable water supplies. Assembly Bill 754 would improve conservation planning by urban and agricultural water agencies by establishing localized conservation measures if water storage falls below specified levels. With the likelihood of more severe droughts, we need to ensure that we’re ready to conserve during times of scarcity.

I'd love to see part of these bills address the reasonableness of cities Urban Water Management Plans as I noted here back in 2021.  Some important data and forecasts just don't pass the smell test.  Having BAWSCA do a roll-up of all of the forecasts from all of its agencies would also be useful.  Next is the bow to some sort of equity

Finally, Assembly Bill 755 addresses rising water rates that are often driven by those who use the most. The bill requires urban water agencies to evaluate what new water supply investments could be avoided if the largest — often most affluent — residential users were to reduce water use. These thirsty users can require an agency to make expensive investments to develop additional water supply and infrastructure, driving up costs for all, including low-income residents and residents who already conserve. This bill can help ensure fairness, encourage conservation and tackle high water costs.

Notice the assumptions embedded.  Affluent people don't conserve, but low-income people do.  Fact-check, please.  Additionally, what expensive investments are being made to develop additional supply around here?  I guess I missed that.  There is of course the big investment to send more NorCal water to SoCal, but I doubt that is what she's talking about.  The maintenace work on the pipe from Hetch Hetchy is needed but doesn't add capacity.  I get worried when I see the word "fairness" creep into legislation.  In a lot of places, its meaning has become inverted such that unfair treatment is masquerading as fair.  Let's not have water flow down the same pipe as the unfair proposals to base electricity prices on users' income.

Trade: Leaf blowers for furnaces and stoves?

Leaf blowers are back on the council's radar and there is at least one regular Voice reader who will be thrilled to hear it.  The DJ reports

Burlingame officials are exploring how to ban gas leaf blowers in the next few years, and are looking into incentive and rebate programs to help commercial landscapers adjust.

The city passed an ordinance regulating when leaf blowers can be used, after receiving noise complaints from residents in 2012. The ordinance outlined that leaf blowers needed to be certified by the city’s Public Works Department and are capped at 65 decibels. The city later determined certifying leaf blowers wasn’t feasible and it stopped enforcing it. A state law will be in effect January 2024 to ban the sale of new leaf blowers, according to a staff report.

However, Mayor Michael Brownrigg said the law doesn’t consider the use of previously owned leaf blowers.  “They are not only highly polluting but highly robust and easily repaired, so they aren’t going anywhere unless we make them go away,” Brownrigg said.

I bold-faced the "wasn't feasible".  I'm not even sure it has proven feasible to restrict which day of the week gardeners can garden.  But that never stopped some from trying even more regulations.  Here's the wrinkly dollar bills

An electric backpack leaf blower costs about $2,500 and a gas leaf blower costs around $600, according to the report.

To do a full day's work, throw in a couple of extra batteries and perhaps an extra charger to get them replenished overnight and you're probably closer to $3,500 (and rising as battery materials go up).  Daily cycling of batteries comes with a lot of wear and tear too.  This is going to cost someone a good chunk of money, but it pales in comparison to what it would cost everyone to change out their natural gas stoves and furnaces.  At least the neighborhoods will be a little quieter.

KCSM: Great Jazz on the Hill

Saturday was the second post-Covid rendition of the long running Jazz on the Hill program put on by KCSM.  It was chilly, blustery day on campus but that didn't stop an estimated 3,000 people from coming by for at least part of the day.  I caught the first two student bands on the radio simulcast and they were great.  Arriving for the third set, Mimi Fox and her organ trio, I was met by a much mellower mood.  It can be tough to get a stylish jazz acoustic guitar sound across to an outdoor spread-out audience regardless of how talented she is.

The fourth set was Akira Tana's quartet with celebrity guest John Handy sitting in on sax.  Handy, who turned 90 in February, was presented with a lifetime achievement award by CSM.  He is spry and witty.  He relayed how Dizzy Gillespie had viewed a similar large crowd years ago and quipped "This must be a free show because I don't see all you people in the clubs" where there's a cover charge.  Akira Tana leans towards the harder side of jazz which I prefer.  Most impressively, John Handy traded licks with Mads Tolling on electric violin.  His ability to get his alto and tenor sax to sound like an electric violin was.....electrifying.

The fifth set was the Spanish Harlem Orchestra just off a plane from Mexico and returning from South Korea.  No jet lag here.  They had the crowd on their feet dancing and warming up.  Kudos to the Daily Journal for being an anchor sponsor of the concert.  Put it on your calendar for the second Saturday in June--gloom or not!  Here's Handy making the magic at 90.

Calling Canepa on the Carpet

Daily Journal columnist Mark Simon was on the scene at a campaign event for Supe-wannabe Emily Beach when U.S. Rep Anna Eshoo finally stepped up to take current Supe David Canepa to task for his personal attack on fellow Supe Ray Mueller.  Simon notes

In the first comments of their kind by any San Mateo County elected official, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo has sharply criticized the Board of Supervisors, in particular, Supervisor David Canepa, for the harsh and personal rhetoric that colored a debate six weeks ago over a proposal to end county cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

“It is really shameful,” Eshoo said, adding that the board suffered “a total meltdown” characterized by “ad hominem attacks” and “name-calling.  No citizen of San Mateo County should find that acceptable,” Eshoo said. “It was disgusting, and it was painful, and that has never happened before.”  Contacted later, Eshoo confirmed she was referring specifically to remarks by Canepa, who launched a personal attack on Supervisor Ray Mueller. He had proposed an amendment allowing county cooperation with ICE in instances of persons convicted of serious and violent felonies.

Good for Eshoo, as far as she went.  She also criticized the other three Supes for sitting it out.  Canepa's comments like

“Where you (meaning Mueller) live in Menlo Park, it’s the Latino communities, it’s all these other communities, that make your kale salad. When it comes to the white linen tablecloths where you eat, they’re preparing your food, or picking your produce.

“You come up here and you use your privilege and you use it for an amendment that never should have happened,” Canepa continued. “I’m disappointed in you as a person, I’ve lost respect for you. … You’re dividing the Latino community. ... You’ve misled people, you’ve lied to people. … I’m disappointed in you. I am disturbed by you that you would use communities by dividing them.”

What a steaming pile of BS Canepa is spouting.  The real issue, which no one wants to talk about, is whether the Sheriff's department should be working with ICE to deport convicted rapists and child molesters who are in the country illegally.  Does Canepa--and the other three head-in-the-sand Supes--think the Latino community supports rape and child molestation?  No way.  Who exactly are they representing?  There's definitely a racist in this spat but it's not Ray Mueller. 

San Mateo High: Averting violence

A reader posted this comment on three different SMUSHD posts all of which are lengthy so you would have to scroll and scroll and scroll to read it.  I'm reposting it here for easier reading and commenting.

Regarding the recent stabbing incident at San Mateo High School: I’d be interested to know if the students involved had any prior history or reports of violence and threats in their student records? The news reported there were knives and a gun on campus. This reminds me of the pregnant teacher who spoke at the board meeting last year, begging the Superintendent to remove violent students from her class. What are we waiting for? Are my kids going to be the next victims? The Administration needs to do a better job of protecting our students. What are we waiting for? Are my kids next?

I'm guessing no public disclosure of any students' records will happen, but the SMUSHD Board and/or Superintendent should certainly take that into account and issue some statement about their position--past and future.

P.S.  People can use the editor email link on the right frame to ask for something to get an original post.  No guarantees, but we will likely be agreeable.