The Burlingame Voice

B'game Train Station ADU?

I guess deputy directors at Caltrain struggle to find affordable living quarters on the Peninsula even though the payroll at Caltrain is very bloated IMHO.  But who knew it would get this weird?  Former deputy director for operations Joe Navarro and a contractor friend named Seth Worden have been charged with skimming public funds to create living spaces in the B'game and Millbrae train stations!  In small increments, Navarro is alleged to have paid Worden $42,000 for the secret apartment in the B'game station and another $8K for the Millbrae hideaway.

As shown below, the B'game station has always had living space on the south side as that was the original station master's quarters (to the right of the arches).  Later on, it was the B'game Chamber of Commerce office and had a kitchenette and toilet already.  That was where an arsonist tried to burn the place down in 2016.  It must be tricked out pretty nicely for $42K.  According to the Merc

Worden was caught first, in 2020, after employees discovered the converted space, authorities said. But the transit agency was reportedly unaware of Navarro’s place in Burlingame until getting an anonymous tip in 2022.  Navarro was fired after being confronted with the tip, and reportedly admitted to “occasionally using the station as his residence,” prosecutors said, though they allege that he was using the small apartment as his primary residence.

I can't wait to find out why it took years to bring the felony embezzlement charges.

Postal Service upgrades to Dodge Rams

I'm going to miss the little putt-putt right-hand drive USPS vehicles that have been around forever.  You may have noticed the new Dodge Ram vans driving around town--so new that they don't have plates yet--or is the Postal Service immune from the DMV?  The Rams are not getting rave reviews from the carriers.  They are designed more for Amazon or UPS package delivery than regular mail and are harder to enter and exit.  I'm sure the tailpipe emissions are better, but I'll miss that little putt-putt noise that told me my mail has arrived.

Searching around for the background of the old trucks, I discovered the larger ones are known as Grumman LLVs.  LLV stands for long life vehicle.  They have a GM Iron Duke 4 cylinder.  They replaced some of the prior Jeep DJ's around 1987, but I have also seen some of the really old Jeeps around B'game recently.  If you want one the GSA auction site is here.

For nostalgic reasons five years from now, here is one of the "old" trucks spotted on ECR recently

No go on our H2O: Bay-Delta Plan proceeds

We've known the Water Management plans of many agencies, including our own here in B'game, are fictional representations of hope over reality.  Even the perilously hopeful have to wake up now that a Sacramento County Superior Court judge waved the Bay-Delta Plan through on Friday.  As we wrote back in 2021 here, the key chart in B'game's Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) doesn't meet the sniff test for multiple, consecutive dry years.  There is no way years 4 and 5 in row of drought can have the same water available over the next 20 years.  Have a look again at both the right-hand columns and now the footnote

But wait, Batman.  What about with the Bay-Delta Plan?  The SF Comicle notes

The long-awaited decision on what’s known as the Bay-Delta Plan denies 116 claims in a dozen separate lawsuits that seek to undo a 2018 update to the policy, most of which are from water agencies saying the limits on their water draws go too far.  The 160-page verdict, released Friday by Sacramento County Judge Stephen Acquisto, specifically notes that arguments made by San Francisco against the regulation fell short.  (We get our water via SF).

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages water supplies for the city as well as about two dozen other communities, has maintained that tighter limits on water draws could force the agency to find new sources of water at a much higher cost to customers. The agency also has expressed concerns about not being able to maintain reliable supplies to support the Bay Area’s robust economy.

“As a public water provider to 2.7 million residents and thousands of businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, we remain disappointed in the environmental review that informed the State Water Resources Control Board’s 2018 adoption of the Bay-Delta Plan amendments,” the statement read. “This 2018 decision could significantly impact our water supply with rationing of up to 50% in extended droughts.”

Appeals are expected, but a head-further-in-the-sand approach risks all sorts of painful moves that make prior rationing like this look modest.  You might think such signal events would form the basis for reigning in huge, dense growth in both commercial and industrial building, but you would be wrong.

Real Estate: "The death of the 6% commission"

There is big news in the real estate market after a legal settlement on Friday.  The Journal squib reads "Home buyers and sellers are experimenting with new models to compensate agents after the death of the 6% commission in a settlement with Realtors".  In much of the country this will be more like small-to-medium news because homes are cheaper elsewhere.

The state with the least expensive housing market had a median price of $229,000 in September 2023, according to Redfin’s monthly housing data. The priciest was almost 3.5 times as much at $787,000.

The $787,000 was for California, of course, but Redfin notes:  "In February 2024, San Mateo County home prices were down 1.8% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $1.5M."   Zooming into B'game, Redfin says "In February 2024, Burlingame home prices were up 35.0% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $2.2M."

Six percent of $229,000 in East Oshkosh is $13,740.  That's the 10% down payment in B'game where the old six percent commission on a $2.2M transaction is a cool $132 grand.  The Journal notes that in some regions:

Some buyers pay their agents directly through a flat fee or an hourly rate, instead of relying on the seller to set a rate. Some sellers offer a lower commission to a buyer’s agent than the currently typical 2% to 3%.  But these nontraditional approaches often mean buyers have to do more work themselves. And sellers who offer lower commissions could find it tougher to sell if buyers’ agents discourage buyers from bidding on their homes.

Starting in July, most home sellers won’t need to make an upfront offer for how much they will pay a home buyer’s agent. That means if home sellers won’t cover the cost of the buyer’s agent, buyers could have to pay their agents out of pocket. 

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out in B'game where Redfin notes the average sale this year took 14 days.  Anecdotally, I see even beat-up R-1 properties selling quickly for more than $2.2M.  Something that sells in two weeks with little or no contingencies doesn't need a lot of commission push behind it.

Kuma Nori: Something special in a Burlingame strip mall

An SF Comicle food critic has once again drifted south to B'game for a Sunday section restaurant review.  They seem to like the downscale "strip mall" view of B'game's scene.  Back in November 2021 it was Soleil Ho reviewing Kaiseki in our one-and-only strip mall.  She (I think) has moved on to much more important woke reporting at the Chron, but Cesar Hernandez visited Kuma Nori several times and has written a balanced review:

Chad and Monica Kaneshiro are some of the most singular chefs cooking on the Bay Area’s Peninsula. I constantly fantasize about the plump garlic shrimp and salty-sweet fried chicken plates from Diamond Head General Store, the restaurateurs’ casual Hawaiian spot in San Bruno. I was sad to see their Hawaii-inspired brunch restaurant Morning Wood close because it had one of the best loco mocos I’ve ever had.

The good news is that the Kaneshiros are back with an intimate Japanese restaurant called Kuma Nori, located in a Burlingame strip mall. Refined comfort fare is the specialty at Kuma, which is loosely defined as a shokudo-style restaurant, a genre of casual hole-in-the-wall spots in Japan. If the categorization seems open-ended, that’s intentional; the chefs don’t want to be put in a box.

Decadent comfort with massive portions is where Kuma dazzles. The piquant mentaiko crab pasta ($35) was a masterful remix that tasted like a spicy vodka sauce swirled with shiso oil and umami-rich fish eggs. Those little beads of roe clung onto the spaghetti like sequins. The secret to achieving such flavor is a concentrated dashi in the sauce. 

You can click through to read further details on multiple dishes.  Kuma Nori doesn't take reservations and has 27 seats, so perhaps waiting a bit to let the Chron crowd visit would be wise.  Or pop up to San Bruno and check out the sister restaurant. 

Transit Poll Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

I doubt we will see a more honest news headline this year than the Merc's take on the latest poll about transit issues in the Bay Area:

     Bay Area voters in support of better transit, if rich people and companies pay

That's the OPM Syndrome that affects a lot of people (the majority?) in California.  57% of 600 people polled support taxing someone else to pay for "affordable and coordinated transit".  I'm surprised it's not eight out of ten.  The poll is gauging support for yet another Sen. Scott Wiener reach into other people's pockets (SB 925).  He wants to better connect the Bay Area's 27 transit agencies.  The problem here should be obvious, but not to "Throw more money at it" Wiener.  Here's the worst part:

Wiener's bill contains no details on how money would be raised, what improvements it would pay for, how a streamlined transit system would be managed, or how spending would be overseen.

Get ready to fill in the "No" box on your ballot.  Meanwhile the giant sucking sound from the Central Valley is unabated.  And give that headline writer a raise.

BIS: Still Distinguished

The 2024 California Distinguished Schools list is out with awards for 2023 and BIS has again made the list--one of only five in San Mateo County.  The state dashboard shows some details like English Language Arts declining 4.7 points while Math stayed the same and English learner progress was up 5.8%.  Here in town, BIS has not always had such a good reputation vis a vis the elementary schools and BHS as noted three years ago here and in the 64 comments on the post. In an era when elite colleges are realizing standardized tests like the SAT actually have value (big surprise!), getting the award is good news.

Chronic absenteeism is in the orange warning zone at BIS and is a widespread problem as noted here.  The dashboard notes BIS had 1,013 students of which 17.4% are socioeconomically disadvantaged.  That's 176 middle schoolers in town who "are eligible for free or reduced priced meals; or have parents/guardians who did not receive a high school diploma."

It's good to see we are keeping up with Belmont, Menlo Park, Portola Valley and San Carlos--the other four award winners.

PG&E: Open Your Wallet a Bit More...and Keep it Open

The story of past, steady increases in our electric bills is here.  One could see the next PG&E hand reaching into our pockets a mile away.  The CPUC's four commissioners rubber-stamped the latest request on Thursday (NBC notes a new board member, who until recently headed the consumer watchdog arm of the CPUC, recused himself from voting.)  The Merc is reporting this vote's effect will be:

This year’s January bills were roughly $53.77 higher than the bills in January 2023, when combined monthly charges for residential customers receiving combined services were averaging $240.73.  (Ed:  That is a 22.3% increase in a year).

Monthly electric bills for a typical residential customer monthly bill are slated to increase by an average of $3.65. The gas bill for a typical residential customer is expected to rise by $1.03 a month, PG&E estimated.

Starting in April, the average monthly PG&E bill for combined services is slated to be around $299.18 a month — just shy of the ominous milestone of $300 a month.

NBC also notes "There is another rate hike in the works. In that case the utility wants to charge $10 more per month, on average, to pay for PG&E’s repairs related to storm damage last year."

Keep that in mind as you run your numbers on a new induction stove, a heat pump, the electric leaf blower you must buy and that EV you have been thinking about.  Hoping to stem the rising tide with rooftop solar just got harder thanks to the very same CPUC.  Commercial customers aren't immune so these increases will ripple through to grocies, restaurant tabs, and pretty much everything else.  It turns out Bidenflation isn't the only source of the pain.

3/12:  Here's a little update from today's Comicle front page.  I'd call it Unintended Consequences, but it is totally foreseeable....

SFO: The neighbor who will never move away.....

A regular Voice reader and correspondent, Peter Garrison, has been on the case this week about Korean Air KAL 214 spewing 88-91 decibels over B'game and Hillsborough at 2:55 am.  It must be pretty important Korean freight for their 747 to wake up 100's (1000's?) of people.  One can only imagine.

I'm hoping whichever candidate takes over Dave Pine's County Supervisor seat in November will Do Something Serious about the runway backblast and late night overflight noise.  Jackie Speier put some effort into the problem with Congressional legislation that needed more of a push as noted here.  I've seen Ann Schneider address the noise issue at the Airport Roundtable Ground Noise subcommittee a couple times.  She's a bit of a scatter shot but understands the problem and with some good technical and legislative guidance might make progress.  Either one of them would be more focused than the Supe who thinks either the Gazan Palestinians or the Israelis give a rat's ass about what she or San Mateo County, CA thinks.  Looking at you Noelia Corzo--dullest knife in the drawer. 

Here's the latest bit of aggravating noise (decibel) data on KAL 214.  If you played your car speakers at the level on ECR at 2:55 am you would be arrested.

 

ลาก่อน Narin Thai: 30 years of excellence

ลาก่อน is Thai for "goodbye".  As of tomorrow, that is what we will be saying to Martin and Crystal, owners of Narin Thai on Park Rd.  After thirty-plus years of excellent food, excellent service and excellent prices, they are retiring.  Narin is the quintessential Mom & Pop business.  Martin cooks and Crystal handles the front.  That's it--just the two of them for lunch and dinner six days a week for more than thirty years.

I can try to tally the number of Spicy Basil Chicken and Yellow Curry Prawn dishes I have had.  Thirty years is 1,500+ weeks--with weekly ordering, it's probably about 2,000 Spicy Basil Chickens, since I ordered two at a time.  I generally called ahead to see if the fantastic brown rice was available that day and if not; Crystal would whip it up for me.

ขอบคุณ Crystal and Martin--Thank you.  Truly a "Best of Burlingame" business.