The Burlingame Voice

City Council: Brownrigg floats term limits

I'm not sure how widely Mayor Brownrigg sent out the e-mail below.  It's probably fairly widespread, but I spoke to a couple people who are "active" and they have not seen it, so I will go ahead and share it with Voice readers as Michael suggests at the bottom.  My comments below.

Dear friends of Burlingame civic life:

I am writing a heads up note to you about an item I put on the agenda for next Monday, December 4, which happens to be my last substantive meeting as mayor.

And before I explain more, I want to preemptively say that I FULLY understand the irony of my study item!

So my study item is whether Burlingame City Council and/or its commissions ought to have term limits going forward. Here is why I think it merits a conversation now.

When I got on Council I asked about the idea of term limits and I was told that, because the elections are at-large, all the voters get to pick who they think are the best 5 people to lead the city, and often that might be someone with a lot of experience and solid track record. After seeing how hard it was to run for re-election, I completely agreed with this point of view. It is hard to run and each election (until the most recent one), I felt I really had to earn my seat against worthy opponents.

My views changed during the last election, which was our first set of district elections (which I resisted but knew we would have to accept due to state law). In 2022 there were three Burlingame council races without a single competitor; I cannot recall any Burlingame election ever when there was not at least one credible competitor and very often several or even many competitors, creating active debates, giving the voters real choices, and making candidates earn their spot on Council.

I conclude that district elections -- which effectively cut Burlingame down from a city of 30,000 to one of 6,000 for each candidate -- significantly diminish voter choice. In the pre-District days, it usually took at least 2,500 votes to win a seat (depending on the number of candidates) and often 3,000 or more; with districts the top vote getter got 2,000 and the others around 1500 each. Had there been competitors, that number would have been much smaller, perhaps in the hundreds.

So I raise these questions now -- yes, yes, after 4 terms -- do we collectively worry about a candidate sort of "owning" a district such that opponents do not want to take the field? Are we concerned that there might not always being two people in each district who even want to run, let alone two capable people to choose between? 

I do not come into this conversation with a point of view -- I simply wanted to raise the question while I could. And while I was at it, I decided to also put on the table the question of term limits for commissioners because I can see how very hard it is for Council to vote off incumbents and yet I also see how many more applications we get when there is an actual open seat on a commission. The commissions create our city's bench strength, I think, and therefore also worthy of a conversation about term limits.

If you want to weigh in, PLEASE DO. You can send a comment to the City Clerk, you can write to the whole Council, or you can show up; sadly, you cannot call in "live" any more because of the zoom-jerks. And feel free to share with anyone else who cares about how we elect our leaders going forward. Again, I am looking forward to the conversation, I am not advocating an outcome.

If there is sufficient consensus to do something, then staff would be sent away to develop options. If the status quo emerges as the preferred alternative, well, at least I asked!

Very best,

Michael

---------------------------

It strikes me that term limits would confuse cause and effect.  The cause of the scarcity of candidates is the lousy election law Michael refers to and we covered here, here and here creating five tiny districts.  It's voter suppression pure and simple and should have caused a consortium of other small cities (<100,000) throughout the state to beg, plead, cajole or sue for exemptions.  Have Diane Papan and Josh Becker scour the halls of Sacramento for support.  It's actually not too late since we are starting to have early data on the deleterious impact.

Having said that, I go back to my suggestion when this all started.  Instead of five little districts, we could have created two (East side, West side anyone?)  And left 3 seats "at large".  Or cut the city in thirds and leave two "at large".  It's also not too late.  If the SoCal lawyer behind all of this wants to sue, let him.  We wouldn't know how it would play out unless we try.  If someone was put off by a strong district incumbent, they could run at large.  It would be more time consuming and expensive but perhaps easier to actually win.

The main problem with term limits is the loss of institutional knowledge on council.  Even ten years gone from office now, my wife still has insights from her three terms on council that I believe would take a newly elected council member years to acquire.  The de facto term limit we have now is the often-thankless nature of the job.  My sense is the number of people willing to step up to 12, 16 or 20 year stints is diminishing.  Just a guess.  Thoughts, dear readers?

Hookah Hullabaloo on B'way

In the local version of the national trend of avowed lefties becoming ever more authoritarian, smoking stuff on Broadway has come under the microscope at city council.  The Daily Journal headline notes

Burlingame moves to allow hookah

City OKs outdoor smoking ban, moves forward with water pipe exemptions

You would be excused if you thought the sub-head had something to do with our aging water infrastructure, but it doesn't.  Instead, in a state with legalized weed that you can smell all over town, we are treated to council members and high school students opining about hookahs and shisha...sheesh

The Burlingame City Council is prepared to allow hookah in two Burlingame locations, despite some concerns about its nicotine use, and also expanded an outdoor smoking ban for its Burlingame Avenue and Broadway retail districts.  Allowing hookah, however, would mean the city could not participate in San Mateo County’s tobacco regulation program, which covers cities’ costs if an ordinance is adopted. Advocates of the exemption say hookah can be a culturally and socially significant practice that legal adults should not be prohibited from utilizing.

Councilmember Emily Beach said she wished the City Council would remain strong in its decision to ban all flavored tobacco products and thought that participating in the county’s regulation plan would have saved Burlingame taxpayer’s money.  “When I look at flavored tobacco, the big picture is [that] flavored tobacco makes it tastier, more enticing and more fun to smoke. That’s why it was invented, it makes it better,” she said. “Whether that’s adults or kids, is that a good idea? In my opinion, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to go backwards on this.”

The ordinance will also clarify that the ban applies only to the public right of way, like streets, parklets and public parking lots, and not private property like outdoor patios of bars and restaurants, Assistant City Attorney Scott Spansail previously said during the council’s Nov. 6 meeting.

It looks like a 3-2 vote to allow hookahs -- Ortiz, Stevenson and Colson for, Brownrigg and Beach opposed to shisha.  The "cultural and societal value" of lighting up was invoked by some commenters.  I can hear the cries of racism off in the distance if this vote had gone the other way.  If you are thinking of jumping into the hookah business be aware that only one more spot is allowed, and it cannot be too close to the Society Lounge on B'way.

The real question, completely ignored, is how is BPD going to enforce this?  Aside from the area around the Apple store and the occasional parking enforcement officer roaming the streets (who probably cannot issue this sort of ticket anyway) are people supposed to call 911?   Shall we hire a few new foot cops to patrol B'way and the Avenew?

What's up with California school administration?

Thankfully this post is not about Burlingame but given what we read on some of our longest running School posts like this one from October 2022 there may be some learning to be gained by looking at recent events at Pittsburg High School.  The Chronicle had a piece about the PE teacher and football coach at Pittsburg High School that left me with many questions.  First, some details with extra bolding:

When school officials in the East Bay city of Pittsburg were told that a high school football coach had been accused of groping female students, they reprimanded him repeatedly for at least a decade — but allowed him to keep his job after each instance, then to quietly retire. In an agreement on the terms of his departure, the district made a major concession: It promised not to tell prospective employers about the coach’s history.

The complaints about former Pittsburg High School coach Phillip Webb finally surfaced Wednesday after a lawsuit was filed by two of his alleged victims, young women who said he had touched them inappropriately when they were students in 2015 and 2016. Documents obtained by the women’s lawyers show that officials told Webb at least a half dozen times to change his behavior but never punished him.

The state Commission on Teacher Credentialing issued a reproval against Webb this May, but did not revoke the teaching credential he had been issued in 1985. He had taught physical education in addition to coaching football.  That means Webb could still apply to other California school districts to work with youngsters.  The agreement was provided to the Chronicle by Lauren Cerri, an attorney for the two women, who obtained it under the California Public Records Act.

Webb did not address any of the claims in the lawsuit, and said any further questions should be directed to his attorney. He has not been charged with any crimes.

You can read through many of the details on-line as it is a long piece.  But it begs so many questions.  Many incidents were reported by students and other teachers (e.g. 2007, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2022!). That last one was on a security camera.  How many warnings do principals and superintendents hand out before they do something more?  How transparent with the school community are they--and should they be when it's a "personnel issue"?  Where's the school board oversight?  One of the girls' fathers is quoted and is angry and confused by the apparent inaction, but at what point does a parent call their local police?  We've read a bit about the Commission on Teacher Credentialing here on the Voice.  What exactly does the CTC do?  What sort of investigative resources do they have?  How high is their hurdle?

What's up with the agreement about retirement in three months and the secrecy?  Some of that is certainly personnel record law.  That's where the Chronicle ends the piece

A 2014 law signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown made it easier for schools to fire educators who commit misconduct, but many still choose to allow them to resign or retire in order to avoid potential legal battles. Bills that would forbid schools from entering into secret agreements that keep misconduct hidden from prospective employers have hit a dead end in the California Legislature.

More questions.  How easy is it to fire someone under the nine-year old law?  All sorts of crazy stuff sails through the California Legislature and gets signed by governors, but this hits a dead end?  What's up with that, supermajority?

Fall 2023 Treehugger Post

Last Fall's treehugger post came from the historic Baywood district of San Mateo.  This year we get right back to the historic Burlingame Park district--home of the Voice!  I'm told this is a Chinese Fringe tree and it's awesome.  It turns out it is really a flowering shrub with the official name Chionanthus retusus according to Wikipedia.

I love how the leaves turn in phases and the phases don't always seem to align with more (or less) sun exposure.  The backside is still shades of green, but others I see in the 'hood are green on the sunny side.  The blood red tree behind the Chinese fringe makes a gorgeous pairing.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Baywood: Chronicle "skirts" the truth

There are a number of reasons why I call the SF Chronicle the "Comicle".  I might have plagiarized it from Herb Caen decades ago.  There is so much slanted "news" some days that it seems like the whole edition is a comic strip.  Last Thursday, some "reporter" named J.K. Dineen provided the latest example when he/she waded into the San Mateo Baywood happenings around getting historic district certification.  The headline screamed "Effort could skirt state housing laws".  Um, no.  The law (SB9) includes exceptions for historic districts and resources.  You aren't "skirting" a law by complying with what it says.

Dineen kicks the piece off with "A stealth effort to have the state legislature designate one of San Mateo's wealthiest neighborhoods as a historic district could create a playbook for other Bay Area enclaves looking to avoid complying".....blah, blah, blah.  It's only a "stealth effort" if one hasn't been paying attention to our local news.  The DJ must have run a dozen articles on the effort and published a couple of dozen LTTEs.  If one's world view generally stops around McLaren Park then it's "stealth".

Note the coded language--"wealthiest neighborhood" and an "enclave" and "genteel subdivision".  Can "leafy suburb" be far behind?  For some reason, searching the Comicle site for a link does not bring up the piece, but here is the front page.  Can B'game be next?  How will they ratchet up the angst when it's H'borough's turn?

No space, no worry...just park it.

We haven't had a bad parking post since July 2022 - not because there hasn't been any bad parking behavior.  Sometimes I see it but don't get the photo and other times it slips my mind due to other more pressing matters.  This bad parking example was noted by the guy who was parked next to me at Safeway.  He was just shaking his head and packing up his groceries.

But hey, if your handicapped space is already taken, just create your own space!  Ignore the cross striping and the No Parking marking.  If it fits, park it.

Downtown: Swing a cat, hit a salon

Just the other day I was thinking what downtown needs is more salons.  Right on schedule, Sola appears to be ready for business on Primrose.  The new Dr. Treats veterinarian next door is still papered over but I have seen work taking place there--and there is certainly demand for more vets in town.  As far as salons go, I do like the name of the one across the street from Sola.  I had not noticed it before, but it's called Skin Laundry.

94010: H'borough/B'game #22 in the country

The Merc did a better job of writing up the recent PropertyShark national rankings of median home prices than the Comicle did, so I will link to it here.  It notes

The Bay Area maintains its status as the most expensive metropolitan area in the U.S.  Bay Area ZIP codes made up 37 of the top 100 most expensive ZIP codes in the country, according to a new 2023 ranking by real estate data firm PropertyShark that looked at median sales prices.

In a quantification of the Doom Loop in EssEff, it notes

San Francisco only had three ZIP codes in the top 100 in 2023, a drop from the 13 it recorded in 2019.

Overall the realtor data shows

Across the nine-county Bay Area, median home prices are up 6.6% from last year, reaching $1.3 million in September, according to data from the California Association of Realtors.

Using median sales prices can be deceiving especially when there is the wider spread of prices from our combined zip code with H'borough than some others like Atherton.  And rising interest rates have locked some people into homes that they would otherwise have sold to move.  Nonetheless, numbers are numbers and ours are:

22   94010   Hillsborough/Burlingame   San Mateo County   CA     $3,200,000

Our neighbor to the south was down the list aways:

62    94402    San Mateo        San Mateo County    CA        $2,203,000

The most interesting real estate development in years happened in court a couple of weeks ago when:

A federal jury ruled on Tuesday that the powerful National Association of Realtors and several large brokerages had conspired to artificially inflate the commissions paid to real estate agents, a decision that could radically alter the home-buying process in the United States.

The realtors’ group and brokerages were ordered to pay damages of nearly $1.8 billion. The verdict allows the court to issue treble damages, which means they could swell to more than $5 billion.

It’s a decision that has the potential to rewrite the entire structure of the real estate industry in the United States, lowering the cost of moving homes by reducing commissions. Under a N.A.R. rule, a home seller is required to pay commissions to the agent representing the buyer, which sellers claimed forced them to pay excessive fees to the agents. The home sellers said the brokerages collaborated with N.A.R. to enforce what is called the “cooperative compensation rule.”

But under the verdict, the sellers would no longer be required to pay their buyers’ agents, and agents would be free to set their own commission rates, which could be slashed in half or less.

For the record, 6% of our median $3.2M sales price is a cool $192,000.  Now that is likely to change over the next few years and after the heavy realtor support for Proposition 19 (the "Death Tax") a lot of people will not be the least upset when it does.  

Dine B'game: The old, the new and the future

It was a big week for Burlingame dining news starting with a nice piece in the Daily Journal about CJ's Deli celebrating 25 years of local sandwich making.  

CJ’s came under new management in 2017 when Gus Kiniris — a longtime restaurateur and manager at community staple Westlake Original Joe’s — purchased the shop from its original owners, the Winters family.  After purchasing the establishment, Kiniris slimmed the menu down to streamline the ordering process — but retained the well-loved staples.

“There were 60 items. Guests would walk in, first-timers … and [get] kind of overwhelmed by the menu,” he said. “So I changed the menu a little while back, dropped it down to about 15 signature items, the top items that have sold over the last 20 years.

And CJ's has been holding the line on prices--$9.99 and $10.99.  That's rare and gratifying to see.  Next up was the opening of Backhaus--not to be confused with someone's ADU.  The first location in San Mateo has been getting rave reviews for some time, and this piece in the DJ describes the addition of the new B'game location last Tuesday.  In addition to baked goods, breakfast will be served on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  CEO Anne Moser noted

“When we found this space, we decided if we move our pastry team over here, we then have space still for a kitchen to do the sit-down food for people that we want to do, and then our bread team can take over the other location,” Moser said. “So we still bake everything and make everything within our two locations.”

The new storefront building has a long history in the community, originally as Burlingame’s first movie theater, and the Backhaus team is excited to “bring new life to the space” for the Bay Area community.

I have heard the "first movie theater" claim before, but I think it needs more research.  Neither my 1928 nor 1941 city directories list the address, but by 1952 it was The Tropics cocktail lounge.  The Peninsula (later Fox) Theater on the Avenew opened in 1926.  Early in my time in the Bay Area (which started in 1981) the Backhaus building was Route 66 which I really miss.  Here is a fun blast-from-the-past out of the DJ archives.  I'm glad to see it put to good use now.

Continuing on into the future, the talk of a new, upscale restaurant in the partially preserved Old Post Office was confirmed by a press release from the developers, Dostart and Sares Regis, this week. Bacchus Management Group have signed a lease for the historic space that was the classic PO lobby.  Bacchus operates Spruce, Selby's and the Village Pub so expectations are running high for the yet-to-be-named B'game operation.  We are just past two years into construction as noted here.  The lease is for 8,000 square feet, but I was unable to get an estimate of how many indoor and outdoor seats that will translate into.  Rendering are getting better every year--check out how realistic this one is from Dostart!  The marble walls are accurate and notice the outdoor seating!

Water: Newsom pushing uphill finally

Gavin Newsom appears to have finally gotten serious about a bit more reservoir capacity in California.  As we noted back in wet January, some "experts" claim we have already built reservoirs in the most useful spots, but Newsom seems to disagree and is "accelerating" the Sites Reservoir whose Project Authority has been in existence for some time.  Per the Comicle piece

Gov. Gavin Newsom exercised his new power under state law Monday to help get a giant reservoir planned for Northern California on the fast track for approval.  The proposed $4.5 billion Sites Reservoir, envisioned 70 miles north of Sacramento, would be the first major reservoir built in California in nearly half a century.

The reservoir, planned for a swath of ranchlands in rural Colusa and Glenn counties, has long been promoted as a way to significantly boost water storage amid an increasingly uncertain climate.  The reservoir is designed to capture water from the Sacramento River during wet years like this past one and hold up to 1.5 million acre-feet in reserve for dry times — enough for at least 3 million households for a year. The supply would be piped to cities and farms from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. The reservoir would be the state’s eighth largest.

That note about NorCal water going to SoCal is always concerning, but that is the political price to be paid.  The other interesting design feature is

While the water would come from the Sacramento River, the proposed facility is different than most because it would not sit on a waterway. Instead, water from the river would be piped to the “off-stream” site.

So the fish get water first and the reservoir only diverts some when the Sacramento River is flowing well.  It's a plan--lets see if it really starts holding water in 2032.