The Burlingame Voice

Housing Bond: A billion here, a billion there.....

While attributed to Everett Dirksen, the think tank dedicated to his career in Congress cannot verify that he actually said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."  No matter, it's still a great Twain-sian take on government spending.  There is so much money sloshing around that people, especially elected officials, can't really comprehend it.  The latest example is right here in the Bay Area where ABAG has approved putting a $10 $20 billion bond measure on the ballot for "affordable housing".

Mind you, our governor just spent unchallenged millions to barely pass a $6 billion bond measure for "affordable housing" across the state.  The tally took a long time and garnered a 0.5% winning margin.  So now we are to consider a 67% 333% bigger bond just for the nine counties in the Bay Area?  The Daily Journal notes

The Association of Bay Area Governments approved the ballot measure Thursday, April 18, which would produce and maintain about 72,000 affordable units, according to documents from the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority.

San Mateo County would receive about $1 billion to $2 billion, depending on the final bond amount, with a minimum of 52% allocated for affordable housing production and 15% for preservation, per the Regional Housing Finance Act.  The measure would effectively create a regional public lending institution bolstered by Bay Area property owners, who would pay roughly $19 per $100,000 of assessed property toward the fund.

One eagle-eyed Voice reader sent me an email stating

If this bond issue were to pass It would raise my property taxes. $500. No thank you, I'm voting no.  Where will the water come from and how much will the water cost?  And how much extra traffic on the streets and freeways will this cause?  No thank you. And please don't tell me everyone's gonna take public transportation.

If you read through the rest of the DJ article all you see are politicians nibbling around the edges of the proposal.  No one has the big picture in mind like our emailer.  We are almost at the two-year anniversary of my post titled "State Auditor: Housing "requirement" numbers way off".  Is anyone doing anything about fixing the illusory numbers?  Not that I can see.  They just go along like sheep thinking we need to build our way out of a manufactured "crisis".

Maybe we should just let a few billionaires build their California Forever city on ranch land out in Solano County and call it a day.  As Calmatters.org notes, they can pay for the infrastructure, the housing and be the master developer.  That would free up ABAG to, you know, worry about fixing the roads, the water system, the grid, the schools, etc.  All that boring stuff.

Was Shiffty underdressed on Broadway?

The Voice is hearing that the luggage-deficit Adam Schiff made his local fundraising appearance right here in our B'game burg.  After having his luggage stolen, the Schiffster is reported to have attended his fundraiser in short sleeves and the "puffy vest" so loved by the cognoscenti of fashion.  But in the true tradition of the Earl of Ess Eff reporting, Herb Caen, the Voice is hearing that the affair in question was at Rocca on B'way.

The Shadow's Nose is hearing from an eyewitness that the soon-to-be US Senator was a shivering Schiffty on B'way.  Details are emerging as we speak that reinforce the less-than-stellar vehicular burglary stats in our environs, but let's hope the suitcase shift was at an SFO parking garage of perhaps in Millbrae.  More to follow.

 

New Category: Sacramento Stupidity....on story poles

I have been meaning to add a "Sacramento Stupidity" category for some time.  One could argue that it is overlap with what goes into a few other existing categories like "State level issues", "High Speed Rail", etc.  But somethings are just so stupid they need a category of their own and I have finally found the one to take the proverbial cake.  The Merc is reporting:

Los Gatos eases story pole restrictions for new developments

Story poles may help Los Gatos residents get a sense of how much space new developments will occupy, but the state told town officials that requiring the poles may keep new housing from being built in town.

After receiving word from the state’s department of Housing and Community Development that the town’s story pole policy “poses a constraint to the construction of new housing” and could therefore impede approval of its Housing Element, the Los Gatos Town Council in a split vote approved easing the requirements.  Poles won’t be required for projects over 55 feet tall, and signage will be allowed in lieu of story poles for certain residential projects.

Outcry from residents who saw story poles go up on the North 40 property led to the developers filing a lawsuit in 2016 after council rejected plans for the first phase of the development in East Los Gatos.

This could easily be an April Fool's Day post, but it isn't.  In a recent email, the GovernforCalifornia.org team discussed the mind-boggling budget deficit the state has just one year after having a massive surplus, by noting the state should:

Reduce the number of Executive Branch employees, which has risen under Mr. Newsom to 252,000, or 6.47 employees per 1000 population, from 212,000, or 5.37 employees per 1000 population, in Governor Brown's last year of office. Matching Mr. Brown's number of employees per 1000 population would eliminate 43,000 positions.

If you are wondering how the state has time to chase after towns about their story-pole policies, there is your answer.  Welcome to the new Sacramento Stupidity category--I fear it will be a busy one.

Earth Day Special: When "green" isn't

Happy Earth Day, everyone.  Per Wikipedia

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.  The official theme for 2024 is "Planet vs. Plastics."

That's a meritorious goal that is harder to accomplish than it seems.  The unspoken recycling scam I profiled four years ago of very little stuff that goes into the system getting recycled (9%!) should get a lot more attention than it does.

The whole process gets even more complex when packagers mistakenly make it even harder to recycle in the name of going green.  I won't call this local example "greenwashing" because I'm guessing they really think they are helping.  They just misjudge human behavior and don't understand what happens as a result.  I'm no expert either, but I know whom to ask--the team at Ridwell as profiled here.  I recall from interviewing them that "film" plastic--the thin stuff--isn't recyclable by the Recologies of the world--hence Ridwell.  So, when I saw the new package tops of salads and spinach at Safeway, I smelled a rat in the recycling.  "34% Less Plastic Than Previous Plastic Lid".  Yeah, but.  People have to know to peel the new lid and the strip it sticks to off the container before they recycle it.  I'm guessing next to nobody knows or does it because the font on the message to remove it is tiny and printed in white ink. 

Net result from the experts:  My guess is the most common occurrence is the entire package is included in PET bales as contamination.  PET is what the base of it is.  The worst fate would be if this pushes the contamination rate to such a high level that nothing can be done with the bales.  PET is usually very recyclable so that would be a shame.

Once again, the Law of Unintended Consequences strikes.  How long before we see the hard plastic lids return?  Soon I hope.  Happy Earth Day.........

 

A different sort of Spring tree hugger post

The annual Spring tree hugger posts are full of blossoms like you see here for example.  This year I'm taking a more pensive approach--a "for dust you are and to dust you will return." view.  It has been a rough year for B'game trees, especially the doomed 9 out of 10 Eucs on El Camino.

By highlighting the pinecones on my Cedrus Atlantica as a sign of new life for the ones that escape the squirrels' appetites, I get opposite, hopeful feeling from seeing one of our fallen brethren on ECR.  His tag, CT-243, still adorns his stump as it awaits the stump grinder in the big El Camino project.  Dust to dust.

Working at the Burlingame Library is a Special Privilege

We are one year removed from the post about the piece of toilet paper the library installed over the motto on the Living in Burlingame is a Special Privilege tapestry.  Refresh your memory with this post last April here:

People have earned the special privilege of living here.  Some few may have inherited the privilege, but that just means their parents or grandparents earned it.  If we have city employees (employees we pay!) who think differently, we need some new employees.  Any library trustee who went along with this needs to rethink their responsibilities and priorities.

As usual, the SF Comicle has unintentionally highlighted how right I was last year.  I'm thinking our B'game snowflakes need to take a rotational training program up to an EssEff library.  Six months should be sufficient.  OK, maybe we ship 'em up for a full year.  B'game can pay for their self-defense training if they complete a full year.  Sort of like the Peace Corps.

What say you Council and Trustees?  Is it time to "woke up" and remove the toilet paper ribbon?

4/16 Update:  When I saw this meme today, I immediately thought about this post.  For the "Burlingame is for everyone" and the "Burlingame for all" people who were pushing for rent control, and for the YIMBY's with law degrees but who don't actually have backyards, this one's for y'all.

Connecting the Density Dots

Sometimes connecting the dots is hard--other times it's pretty easy.  Last week's connection was pretty easy.  The Chronicle ran two pieces on density, but no one there connected the dots so let's do it here.  The front page piece was "Density" cited in canceled policies".  It noted property insurers consider two flavors of density--how closely packed together houses are and how many policies any one insurer has in an area.  Both are causing the insurance crisis in California to spiral up.  Insurers don't like the risk of a fire in one house jumping to its neighbors.  And they realize multi-family means multi-kitchen, etc.  So "you're canceled".

Two pages later there was a headline "Court rules lawmakers can override local housing limits"--to force more, you got it, density.

Limits on housing density approved by local voters can be overridden by lawmakers, a California appeals court ruled, upholding legislation that was intended to encourage construction of small apartment buildings.  The law, SB10 by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, allows city and county governments to authorize new housing with up to 10 units in some urban areas, including those near transit, without conducting environmental studies.

“The housing shortage is a matter of statewide concern,” and SB10 is “reasonably related to addressing that concern,” Justice Brian Hoffstadt said in Thursday’ 3-0 ruling, which upheld a judge’s decision.Hoffstadt cited previous legislation aimed at addressing the shortage of affordable housing, starting with a 1965 law that required local governments to adopt long-term plans to promote adequate housing.

You read that right.  This has been an issue since 1965.  Why?  Because it's always going to be an issue.  You cannot outbuild the global demand to live in the Bay Area--unless you make it notably less livable vis a vis water, traffic, grid stability, crime, street parking, et al.  Those are symptoms of density.  Some stupid judge can't change that, and neither can the legislature.  If you live next to a project that is building three, four or five units on a 5,000 square foot lot and you lose your insurance coverage, will you have a cause of action?  Against whom?  The state?  Good luck with that.

And if you are thinking insurers can't or won't cancel you, think again.  No explanation required.  They could easily use housing density as the deciding factor in where to reduce their policy density.  The Law of Unintended Consequences will not be denied.

Jazz at the Grill

Broadway Grill continues to be a beacon of live jazz in B'game.  The Monday night jam at Max's Opera on the Bayfront hosted by KCSM DJ Chris Cortes is good too, but the Grill has much better food and ambiance.  Wednesday night saw recent Grammy winner Jamie Davis bring a swinging quartet to the restaurant.  That swelled to a sextet after another tenor sax player and trumpeter sat in for the second set and other notable guests took a turns at bass and guitar.

Davis is the vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra which just won a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Grammy last month for their latest album.  Great stuff and you can't complain about the (non-existent) cover charge.  Check out the Grill's music calendar here.  Music is generally happening three nights a week or more.

Squatter zoning restrictions being studied for B'game

In a proactive effort to get ahead of the burgeoning trend of squatters taking over uninhabited residences, the Burlingame City Council has asked staff to quickly assess which sections of town should be zoned for squatting.  Staff has been asked to assess whether the zones should be patterned after the new city council districts, the elementary school districts or the zones for legal leaf blowing on a particular day of the week.  There are legal guidelines for squatters to follow as shown here:

Squatters’ rights, also known as “adverse possession”, refers to laws that allow a person to gain legal ownership of a property they have occupied without permission from the legal owner. In California, squatters can make a legal claim to own the property they are occupying after residing there continuously for 5 years. 

Squatters differ from trespassers, in that trespassers occupy a property illegally but make no claim of ownership or legal right to live there. Squatters, on the other hand, occupy the property without permission but may be able to gain legal rights if they meet the criteria for adverse possession.

With the recent arrest of a squatter at the Burlingame train station master's quarters after flying below the radar for several years, the city council felt some urgency to codify which sections of town should and should not welcome squatters.  Enhanced surveillance of the no-squat zones would preclude the 5-year window from opening.

State Senator Scott Weiner immediately attacked the proposed ordinance as "knee jerk NIMBYism of the first degree" and promised to introduce legislation in Sacramento to prevent local governments from reducing the squat-friendly housing supply in the name of fairness and equity.  Weiner did not rule out including affordable squatting requirements based on income and reduced gas and electric rates for young, first-time squatters.