The Burlingame Voice

All-electric hidden consequences

I find the forced march to an all-electric future interesting on a number of fronts as you can read in the Climate and Power categories.  Some days reading the general business news seems like a session of high school chemistry or geography class.  What flavor of lithium will be the most plentiful and cost effective, where is it mined and where refined?  Answer:  China refines the huge majority today.  What U.S. projects are stalled?  An Idaho cobalt project is 30+ years old and still has not produced an ounce of cobalt.  China also dominates the cobalt processing market.  And the price of cobalt is volatile---dropping now because of lack of Chinese domestic demand in a slow economy that stymies the mining.  As the Journal notes

Economists and executives warn similar challenges lie ahead in the race to build renewable-energy infrastructure. Many of the richest deposits of commodities required lie elsewhere, while firms extracting them in the U.S. or its allies face higher environmental standards, greater labor costs and limited interest from Wall Street.

It has created a puzzle as the Biden administration tries to accelerate electric-vehicle adoption that is key to curbing America’s appetite for fossil fuels. The president’s climate law will offer tax credits to buy models with fewer components and minerals from China, but some automakers warn that many cars won’t qualify.

Meanwhile the business news is also full of hidden consequences.  Ford reported earnings this week and raised its estimated losses on its EV product line this year from $3 billion to $4.5 billion while still reporting a good quarter overall.  How you ask?  Because the base gas-powered products, especially SUVs and F-150s, are funding the EV losses.  People are buying them left-and-right while the EV line runs at a negative 100%+ gross margin.  There's no word about how the Spin bike unit is doing, but Lyft is struggling to find a buyer for its e-bike division.

Daily Journal editor-in-chief Jon Mays stuck his toe in the debate about how far, how much and how fast to go all-electric

Transitioning to an all-electric future is a pretty big lift and I have gotten the feeling much of the energy behind the proponents is shoot first, ask questions later — especially when it comes to the cost and details for the individual. Talking about the cost of new appliances is one thing, talking about the cost of a new electrical panel or an electric service is quite another. It’s the latter that can add up to tens of thousands pretty quick.

There are even more unintended consequences than the direct costs.  Roofers, dry wall installers, painters are salivating.  And reliability is still an issue--just ask the merchants on B'way which absorbed the latest in a long string of power outages last week.  The moral of the story?  Get a generator and/or battery-backed up solar.  I am having my batteries installed next week and will let you know how it goes.  It ain't cheap, but it will be reliable.

The Voice: It was 20 years ago today......

Another year has flown by here at the Burlingame Voice blog.  That makes twenty years on-line after we transitioned from the printed, hand-delivered editions you can see on the table in the photo.  Thanks to Mark "at the Mic" Lucchesi's podcast about the Voice highlighted here, if you want to invest the time, you can hear all about the history and perspective that has evolved over the twenty years.  Here's the YouTube entry.

Anniversaries are a chance to reflect.  Our regular readers and commenters make the cathartic exercise of posting regularly worthwhile.  I get a charge out of running into someone I don't know, introducing myself and having them say, "Oh, I read the Voice".  The reaction isn't always the way the song goes:

They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile

But that's OK too.  As we noted in the podcast, even Russ and I don't always agree on every local issue.  District city council elections come right to mind.  In any case,

It's wonderful to be here
It's certainly a thrill
You're such a lovely audience
We'd like to take you home with us
We'd love to take you home

Here is a photo of the podcast session and one of my newest license plate.  If you see me out and about, give a honk or a wave!

Fighting with firefighters

As one of the two or three most critical public services in town, the Fire Department merits our attention when things aren't going well--or at least don't appear to be going well--internally.  The Daily Journal above-the-fold headline 'No confidence' in Central County Fire Chief Bruce Barron certainly caught my eye.  I had been thinking about the Fire Department before this piece since there was an earlier piece about the condition of several stations and the admin building on Rollins Rd.  If you recall my fantasy post about keeping the horses in front of the carts regarding East side development of "thousands of new homes" here, I meant to include the idea of a new fire station somewhere on that side of the railroad tracks in the fantasy.  The DJ noted a report about the need a couple weeks ago

A consultant for the Central County Fire Department Chief wants to reopen station 36 on the eastside of Burlingame as the city plans for commercial and residential development, and concerns are growing over a staffing shortage that could eventually affect service.

Both Millbrae and Burlingame have planned to redevelop Rollins Road and the eastside into a mixed-use neighborhood, providing thousands of homes and commercial development but the rapid growth concerns Fire Chief Bruce Barron, who told the City Council of the recommendation to reopen station 36, which is being used as an administration building, during a meeting Wednesday, July 5.

It's hard to argue with the conclusion when you see the amount of over-development going on.  Now in the midst of this comes the firefighter union's lopsided vote of 'no confidence' in the chief

In June, 85% of the Teamsters 856 Central County Firefighters Union members voted no confidence in Barron’s ability to lead, asking for his immediate removal. The notice was delivered to Lisa Goldman, Burlingame’s city manager and the Central County Fire Department’s chief administrative officer. Shortly after, Barron announced his retirement in October. He has been chief since 2019. But the union members are saying it’s not good enough and want him out immediately.

Aside from the personnel issues now being aired in public, some of this has to do with the move to three-on-a-truck that happened more than a decade ago.  I had a front row seat to that move since my wife was in office and on the contract negotiating team at the time.  Memory is a little foggy now, but I seem to recall it wasn't as cut-and-dry as this note postulates.

The department staffs only three firefighters per fire engine when the National Fire Protection Association recommends four person staffing per engine as the standard practice, according to a presentation facilitated by Barron to the Burlingame City Council in July.

If you spend any time around town, you have seen the impact of the dual roles CCFD have when it comes to emergency medical care for what are now called "mental health crises".  You see the truck, the three firefighters, typically a police car and eventually an ambulance.  That is the three-is-enough scenario, unlike the full-blown fires when four-is-way-better kicks in.

The issue is whether this is a temporary tempest-in-a-teapot that will be resolved either way by October?  In my managerial experience, some people get wound up when their "open and honest" input is met with similarly open and direct responses.  As you can read in the articles, the next chief will have a lot on their operational and strategic planning/financing plate so the sooner we get on with it the better.

Filling up at Twelvemonth

The makeover of the historic Steelhead Brewery space (once an early tire shop as part of B'game's Auto Row) has captivated locals' interest for more than a year.  We watched the patio take shape last June here.  I finally got around to checking out the new restaurant, Twelvemonth, with my regular dinner companion.  It's a huge space and has been very tastefully redone, especially the new bar with windows out to the patio and Lorton Ave.  The bar feels like an indoor/outdoor space even though it is not, and the mix of seating and soft drums and bass background makes for a very relaxing vibe.  There's a great cocktail list while the wine list is a work-in-progress with a Central Coast core.  Naturally, I went BYOB and corkage was a reasonable $20.

As a certified seafood lover and no stranger to beef, lamb, pork, etc I am pleased to report that my main concern about going to a vegan restaurant was resolved.  With the house salad, the mushrooms (the night's winner) and two other plates, the two of us were satisfied.  No doggie bag, but no regrets either.  On the plus side, restaurants with meat and seafood on the menu have had to deal with the effects of the Inflation Production Act and we are seeing entrees moving past $40 into the $50 range in town.  Not at Twelvemonth.  In an era when the term itself is confusing, I would call it "affordable".

The main dining space has been fully refreshed with a new ceiling, lights, etc.  The row of two-tops in front of the kitchen are a bit tight which is odd given how much space there is overall.  The hard surfaces make for a noisy meal and the staff is still settling in, but the restaurant looks like it will be around for a while and the bar/patio is likely to be a go-to spot for our long outdoor season.  Here's the bar.

 

Again: Weather is not climate

One of the biggest misnomers in Bay Area journalism is the Sunday SF Comicle section titled "Insights".  You would have to read for weeks and weeks to get any actual insight and you should be on guard for misinformation.  This past Sunday was no exception.  Some random podcaster named Adam Johnson was given 32 column inches of front-page space to proclaim something that even he eventually admits isn't true.  Here are a few excerpts from the piece

Each day they open a paper or turn on a TV and see increasingly extreme weather conditions that, more often than not, are presented as entirely random or an act of God — divorced from or incidental to the human political and economic decisions that are actually causing them.

Exaggerate much?  After four years of serious drought, we got massive amounts of atmospheric river rain and the reservoirs are full.  Opposite "extremes" make cause and effect cloudy.

But climate change and extreme weather are not separate and need to stop being treated as such by newsmakers. Given the existential stakes of catastrophic climate change and the extremely limited timetable humans have to reverse — or at least mitigate — its most extreme effects, the dearth of coverage that clearly connects the dots grows more conspicuous and, frankly, immoral by the day.

Then eight paragraphs later, Johnson notes

Ask any reputable scientist and they will tell you that it's virtually impossible, due to the inherent nonlinear dynamic of climate, to ever blame one specific weather event on climate change, as such.

It's not "virtually impossible".  It's just impossible.  And it's not impossible for any single weather event--you could bundle 25 together and it's still impossible.  As noted here, some scientists will use a 10-year average, but most run with a 30-year average to assess "climate".  One has to wonder how bad business is at the Comicle that they have to outsource major pieces to people who are data-deficient (there isn't any in the whole piece) and who burst their own premise right in the article.

Here's the misinformation headline and a fun photo of the SF Comicle box in front of Mollie Stone's.  And no, I am not the graffiti artist.

220 Park rises above downtown

We last documented the construction of the 220 Park Rd. (i.e. the old Post Office) building last August.  Even with a brutal rainy season, progress continued, and we now have an outline of what the final envelop will be.  As one of my buddies who followed the planning said before the ground-breaking, "people are going to be surprised at how big this will be."  He's right.  Here's the view of the backside--looking down Lorton Ave.  What was once open space with views of the mountains to the west from the restaurant row will now be glass and steel.  The third-floor terrace has taken shape as well, but will be in shadows most of the day.

  

County revenue: Slow down now or slow down later

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

         — Benjamin Frankline, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 1789

The art of taxation is to pluck the goose so as to obtain the most feathers with the least amount of hissing.

        --Jean Baptiste Colbert, comptroller general of finance to Louis XIV of France.

 

The SF Chronicle did a wrap-up of the effects of rising interest rates, the resulting slowing home sales and selective home price declines on County property tax collections.  July 1 was the assessors' reporting dates.   I will pluck out the San Mateo County bits:

As mortgage rates shot up last year from around 3.2% in January to as high as 7% in November, fewer people could buy homes. The rise in rates “increased mortgage payments by 30, 40, 50%,” said Oscar Wei, deputy chief economist with the California Association of Realtors.  Buyers who could afford a home found slim pickings, because people with mortgages in the 3% to 4% range were reluctant to sell.

Regionwide, the assessed value of all property subject to property tax grew at a lower rate last year than it did in 2022, mainly because of the sharp slowdown in home sales.  That means property taxes — which primarily fund public schools, community colleges and city and county governments — will also see less growth in fiscal 2023-24.

San Mateo County reduced assessments on 6,403 homes for 2023-24. That was way up from 294 last year, but far below the 34,700 properties that suffered a decline in 2011-12, the assessor’s office said in a news release.

In San Mateo County, the value of business and other personal property rose by 15.7%. It contributed $1.7 billion to the county’s roll, which increased by nearly $19 billion, or 6.9%, to $307.8 billion. Last year’s increase was 8.3%.

Since the Fed is very likely to do at least one or two more rate increases, the turnover on homes is likely to stay muted.  Inflation is finally trending downward, so the double whammy of business assets higher valuations (separate from the real estate) is likely to level off as well.  There are a lot of shovels in the ground on commercial and industrial property, but it has to be nerve wracking from these developers as tech lay-offs continue.  Our County supervisors will have to be careful with all the hand-outs, pay raises, property purchases for subsidized housing, transit giveaways and the like.  Even without a recession later this year, further plucking the goose is going to involve a lot of hissing.

Retro Cool Ice Cream in B'game

Mercury News reporters Linda Zavoral and Jessica Yadegaran put on some miles (and possibly some pounds) while building a list of the 10 beloved Bay Area ice cream shops, from the classic to the eclectic.  From Orinda and Pleasanton to San Jose to B'game where they noted Preston's celebrated its 75th anniversary last year:

RETRO COOL: Preston’s Candy & Ice Cream, Burlingame

The vintage signs outside and the checkerboard floor inside are reason enough to put Preston’s on any list of beloved ice cream parlors. It’s a look that transports you to yesteryear. New owner Javier Santiago, a career chocolatier, bought the iconic shop recently from longtime owner Irene Preston and vowed to keep making her customers’ nostalgic favorites — honeycomb, peanut brittle, pecan turtles — while making a name for himself with his contemporary chocolate bars under the Javier Confectionery brand.

Santiago is also keeping the ice cream tradition alive. The shop scoops 20 to 30 flavors of Loard’s ice cream ($4.95 for a small cone or cup, $5.95 medium), and he’s making the often-requested Presti Bars ($5.65), ice cream sandwiched between two freshly baked cookies and covered in chocolate. The bars come in several flavors, including vanilla, burgundy cherry and espresso.

The scoop: The top seller is the Mint Chip ice cream, and it’s easy to see why. Preston’s makes the mint chocolate candy, then Loard’s uses that to create this custom flavor for Preston’s.

My first paycheck job was at Friendly's where I was a short order cook, washed dishes, mowed the lawn and, yes, scooped a lot of ice cream.  Black raspberry was my favorite.  I'll have to stop into Preston's and see if they have some!  Kudos to Javier on a nice press hit.

Stylistic Gems of El Camino Real

Jennifer Pfaff, the president of the Burlingame Historical Society, has penned the front-page article for this quarter's society newsletter titled "Overlooked Gems of El Camino Real".  It's a real gem of a piece, too.  You all should be members and get your own hardcopy mailed to you, but for those who have not yet joined I am going to pluck out just the architectural styles mentioned as "gems".  As part of the ECR project, Caltrans engaged a team of architectural historians from AECOM.  That's the source of this list:

• Bungalow Style single -- family homes found all over B'game but not nearly as many as we originally had.
• 1920 Mission Revival commercial automotive architecture - the C & D auto shop tucked away on the south end of ECR (see below).
• European Eclectic Revival - apartment building with arched windows and Flemish parapet end walls.
• Stucco Box apartment buildings - the technical term for our post-WWII flat-roofed structures.
• Podium Style - like The Viking building by Danish architect Mogens Mogensen.
• International Style - like our 8-story Burlingame Towers
• New Formalism Style - like Arcamino West on Arc Way.

This is quite a list for a three-mile stretch of historic road. It seems AECOM might have missed the Art Deco Adeline Market on the list.  Wouldn't it be nice if some of these had some historical protection?

The next Historical Society walking tour is August 6th when the Willborough neighborhood gets the spotlight turned on it.  Learn about the 22 Tudor style homes by joining tour guide Joanne Garrison at 1pm where Palm Dr. meets Willborough Rd.  Here's our Mission Revival shop

California Drive bike lanes and...or parking?

I'm a bit behind the back wheel on this story about the kerfuffle over an new bike lane on California Drive. just south of Broadway.  I did address it three months ago here.  The good news is there is a regular Voice reader who has really thought about the Unintended Consequences and the law as it stands.  Here is his take on the plan:

Not all parking is the same. As currently designed by the city, this project will remove about 12 spaces – on just that one block alone.  But these are the most productive, highest quality parking spaces there are on California Dr. These are metered parking spaces. Which in addition to providing revenue to the city, also provides turnover for the businesses. These are 2-hr, 1-hr and half-hour parking spaces.  So one space can be used by 10-20 different customers.  They’re being replaced by unrestricted parking (on the east side of California).  So the new spaces will just end up just like the rest of the parking on that side of the street – RV’s, autobody shop storage and cars that don’t move for weeks at a time. In addition to being inaccessible and across the way, they truly will not benefit the impacted businesses.

There is even the outstanding question of the legality of parking on that side of street, according to the City code.  The city council has not acted to rescind the parking meter requirement on the block the City intends to remove (13.40.010).  It also has not acted on adding the parking where the City code says it is unlawful (13.36.010).

Lurking behind all of this is if and when the Broadway grade separation might happen.  We can think back four years to this post and ask are we any closer?  The intersection (really two intersections--California and Carolan) have been graded F and might be the worst in the Bay Area.  While Sacramento figures out how to pour billions into mass transit and will need many tens of billions to get High-Cost Rail just to run between two towns in the Central Valley, poor B'game idles away.

Here's the intersection as it looked yesterday and a nice marked-up aerial view to add details.