The Burlingame Voice

City Budget: Good, just not great

The last time we delved into the city finances in detail was three plus year ago here.  What we saw back in 2022 was

A tentative budget proposal indicated the city could dip into its reserves by $2.5 million this year and again by $4.8 million, $5.3 million and $5.6 million (Ed:  that's $18.2M or 40% for those keeping track at home) over the following three years until a surplus is again achieved in 2025-26. But as (City manager Lisa) Goldman pointed out, the projections include considerable planned infrastructure spending that could be pulled back if needed.

Fast-forward to today and the Daily Journal did some summarizing as follows

The city’s revenue will likely sit at $92.5 million for the upcoming year (i.e. the 2025-26 year), more than enough to cover the city’s planned expenditures of $85.5 million.

However, a planned $9.9 million transfer to the capital improvement fund — which will focus on the city’s potable water system and sanitary sewers this year — plus more than $3 million for debt services, will leave Burlingame at a $3.6 million net operating deficit.

Our extensive water system will slurp up capital monies on an on-going basis due to the waves of investment made over time, and thus aging out over time, as detailed here.  Water isn't getting any cheaper.  The ECR repaving and "good roads" mentioned in the 2022 post are still elusive.  There are plenty of orphan hub caps on ECR to this day as we await The Little Big Dig.

Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg emphasized that the city was making an investment choice into long-term capital projects and that the operating budget for Burlingame’s essential services was still in a healthy place.

At a budget study session May 21, City Manager Lisa Goldman said the city might consider raising its transient occupancy tax from 12% to 14% in coming years.

Currently, Burlingame’s transient occupancy tax is its second-highest revenue source and will bring in a projected $22.8 million for the upcoming fiscal year. Its most fiscally beneficial revenue source is projected to be property taxes, at $35.8 million.

The TOT is an easy target as it is buried in the hotel bills paid by visitors.  The bigger question is how fast the "recovery" will happen.  It was $29 million from the tax in 2018-19, nearly 35% of the city’s revenue that year so still $6.2M short and there are more hotels in nearby cities siphoning off some travelers.  Thus the new budget is good, just not great.

Local real estate: High water marks set

Hot on the heels of the highest-priced B'game house to ever sell, the Bing Crosby estate has finally sold.  Alex Buljan is having a good year--selling both properties:

It took less than a day to sell an 8,200-square-foot Burlingame home for a record $17 million, at $3.5 million above the asking price.  Jennifer Colvin and Eric Klein sold their century-old home with a modern addition at 133 Pepper Avenue, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The buyer was undisclosed.  “We were on the market for less than 24 hours,” Compass’ Alex Buljan, who held the listing, told the newspaper.  The sale far surpassed Burlingame’s previous highest sale in February last year at 121 Pepper Avenue, two doors down the street, for just shy of $9 million.  They took a historically designated 1924 Tudor home and mated it with a modern addition, on a half acre.

The Comicle piece on the Crosby estate notes:

A historic Hillsborough estate once owned by Bing Crosby has sold for $25 million, more than a third below its original asking price but still one of the most expensive residential sales in the town’s history.

The property at 1200 Jackling Drive, a 14,000-square-foot French chateau-style mansion on 5 acres, was listed in January for $40 million following the death of Crosby’s widow, Kathryn Grant, in 2024. The deal closed Thursday, according to Compass agents Alex and Pierre Buljan, who represented the buyer.  “This property is one of Hillsborough’s legacy estates with an extremely storied background and impeccable vintage craftsmanship,” Alex Buljan said in a statement. “The buyer is a Hillsborough local with an appreciation for classic properties, adamant about maintaining the character and history into the next generation.”

That intent is a relief since H'borough has been looking around at big pieces of land in town to find ways to meet the ridiculous housing requirements from Sacramento.  Five acres would cause some developers to drool especially with all the new free-for-all rules if you can jam a bit of subsidized housing in there.  The bet is when H'borough finally has to come up with more units, they will be as close to ECR--and B'game--as possible.  And this won't be the end of 8-digit houses in B'game even without multiple acres of land to work with.

Historic ECR buildings: "Mogies" make the cut

As we wait for The LIttle Big Dig to start on El Camino it's worth delving into one of the useful things Caltrans did during the planning phase.  They had to commission an historic inventory report on the buildings along the historic thoroughfare--at least the ones that are left after the teardown trend of the last 20 -30 years.  All the way at the south end of town there are two distinctive buildings across from each other at the five-way, St. Catherine's intersection.  They are known as "Mogies" after architect Mogens Mogensen who did a number of projects on the Peninsula as described here:

Mogen Mogensen (1920-1997) Was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated in 1942 in Architecture from the Technical School of Copenhagen. Between 1942 and 1946 he worked in architectural offices in Denmark and Sweden.  Mogensen had early success, winning awards for designs for a school in Malmo, Sweden in 1945, and a City Hall in Ulricehamn, Sweden a year later. He arrived in the U.S. in 1946 with the help of a great uncle and aunt who ran a dairy near San Luis Obispo. He quickly found a job with Wurster, Bernardi, Emmons in San Francisco, leaving them in 1947 for a two-year position as a designer with the David D. Bohannon Organization in San Mateo.

During this time, he became a licensed architect in California. From 1950 to 1952 he worked in several architectural offices in San Francisco and on the peninsula. In 1952 he returned as chief architect for David Bohannon. He opened his own office in 1956. His Bay Area practice consisted primarily of apartment buildings and condominiums although he also built private homes. Mogensen was also involved in master planning, office buildings, and commercial projects.

If you click through on the link you can see he designed the Adeline Apartments in Burlingame, the Ambassador Apartments in San Mateo, the Belmont Executive Center, and for the Bohannon Corp, the Hillsdale housing development and shopping center in San Mateo.

Here on the South end, the Mogie at 90 El Camino has been deemed historic in the report which is timely since the building has also gone up for sale for the first time that I can remember in the 34 years I have lived a block away.  Disen Cai has the listing and it pops up on-line for $2.8M.  We will revisit the other "Mogie" across the street--an angular apartment building--at another time. Here's the little Mogie gem:

B'game Night: When trivia takes center stage

It was a standing room only crowd at the historic Burlingame Women's Club Wednesday night as newly minted 2024 Citizen of the Year Russ Cohen and past Citizen of the Year Mark "Mark at the Mic" Lucchesi led the crowd through more than an hour of entertainment and education.  The first ever Burlingame Trivia Night hosted by the Historical Society and some local partners saw attendees vacillate between nailing trivia answers and flailing away until Russ gave mercy answers.

It's one thing to know there are seven creeks in B'game.  It's quite another to know all seven names.  Same goes for the decorative sculpture above the door of the Old Post office that lives on in the new building--it's called "The Letters".  Nobody got that one!  Russ has a true skill with the microphone, a la Phil Donahue, that kept everyone engaged and entertained.  It's just one example of the many contributions to community spirit he has made and continues to make.  The Citizen of the Year nomination noted his work leading the Historical Society Museum refresh, donating poster designs (like the Pet Parade), serving as a city council member and, of course, co-founding the Voice as noted here.

In his acceptance speech last week, Russ quoted Mark Twain's obituary description of Anson Burlingame (they were friends) as one of his aspirations.  Twain wrote “In every labor of this man’s life there was present a good and noble motive.”  Mr. Cohen is well on his way to achieving that life goal.

The Dairy Boy was a featured question at Trivia Night.  The treasure chest of questions is deep enough for a repeat performance in the future.

 

Bay Area "Labor market malaise" to continue?

It's best to take the long view when watching the economic dynamics of the Bay Area.  Point in time measures can't tell the whole story but do provide some sense of the state of things.  $12 billion dollar state budget deficit?  Check.  Transit "fiscal cliff" that sends politicians running for more taxes?  Check.  Massive Bay Area employers backing off of paying for huge residential housing projects?  Check.  Employment down? Check as the Merc is reporting today:

The Bay Area lost 14,700 total nonfarm payroll jobs in all categories over the first four months of 2025. Over the same time, California lost 32,300 total payroll jobs, official reports from the state Employment Development Department show.

“There is little doubt that federal government job losses will be an important contributor to the labor market malaise that already appears to be falling over the Bay Area,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist with BMO Capital Markets.  In sharp contrast, state and local government agencies have increased hiring, but that may soon change.

Let's hope so.  The Merc doesn't provide the denominator to the fraction, i.e. how many nonfarm jobs are there?  But a $12 billion deficit is not a chump-change.

Job losses within the federal government could become far worse in the months ahead, some experts warn.  “These numbers are the tip of the iceberg,” Levy said. “The majority of federal job cuts are not reflected in the April data.”

A $2.4 trillion-dollar federal deficit ain't chump-change either so I take issue with the characterization of federal RIFs becoming "far worse".  Right sizing government and bringing some sanity to the Bay Area jobs-housing ratio that might stop the "Wienerization" of the suburbs is to be encouraged.  Want to stop the $inkhole sucking taxpayer cash that is the high-cost rail project?  It's only claim to fame so far is that it "creates" a lot of new jobs.  I'm sure we could put a few to work on the Broadway grade separation for a tiny fraction of what is being wasted in the Central Valley.  Don't hold your breath.

Safeway - Part 75: The Grand Re-opening

Yesterday was the grand re-opening of the newly refreshed Safeway that was last re-opened in 2011.  It's been a six-month project, and I would say it's better, but not any sort of total game changer.  The biggest difference is probably energy efficiency as a lot more refrigerated items are behind doors instead of in open shelving.  It all looks bright and shiny.

I didn't realize it was the re-opening, I just needed groceries, but the balloons, a DJ, food sample tables all over the store, a Burlingame ice carving (I missed whatever was being served) and the local street names on each aisle's signage made for a festive occasion.  Everybody got a Safeway scratcher ($2, $5, $10, etc) and we now have a B'game Concierge!  Kathleen B was near the front door doing conciergy stuff.  The mailer that went out to nearby residents has her email:  [email protected].  That could come in handy.  Here's the scene

Spring Treehugger post: Dogwood

Here is the bookend treehugger post to the early Spring post back in March.  This dogwood's blossoms have held on for weeks even with all the wind.  Just a stunning bit of arbor beauty.  The long evenings of sunlight make it even better as you can see here:

Reopen the Broadway Station? The BID is in.

John Kevranian of the Broadway BID is raising the issue of full, weekday service being restored by Caltrain at B'way.  We can go back in time to August of 2015 when the tenth anniversary of the weekday closure happened here.

It's been 20 years, but John has the institutional memory of what was promised and now wants to call in the chips.  It's going to be a bit of an uphill battle, but with the electrification and the quicker start/stops, now is the time.  Here is his letter to the DJ

It is time for Caltrain and the city of Burlingame to reopen the Broadway Burlingame Caltrain Station for weekday service. There is no money to do the grade separation. Seventeen years ago, when Caltrain decided to close the weekday service at the Broadway station, It devastated the small businesses in the Broadway business district. On average, over 2,000 people would take the train every week. Passengers would walk through Broadway, grab their coffee, breakfast and take the train to go to work. In the evening, passengers would get off the train, grab their dinner, groceries and other essentials and walk home. The Broadway business owners and the Burlingame Community were promised that when the Caltrain electrification was completed, it would reopen the weekday service.

Surrounding the Broadway District are thousands of apartments and many new developments that are happening very near Broadway station. Many biotech businesses around Bayshore are in the development stage and were told that Broadway station would reopen its weekday service once electrification was done, in order to facilitate their employees' commute. Two apartment complexes consisting of over 800 units are steps away from Broadway Caltrain.

Reopening the Broadway station will not cause an additional safety or traffic issue. The Broadway station platform would be extended an additional 50-100 feet closer to Carmelita Avenue and once the train crosses the gates, the gates would immediately open. This is not difficult engineering. Caltrain has to service the needs of the Burlingame Community.

John Kevranian

President, Broadway Burlingame Business Improvement District

The letter is buttressed by outreach to KRON 4 news who came to B'game for some interviews you can watch here.

"Compact" parking spaces: Nobody is watching

We love parking anomalies here at the Voice.  The more difficult the maneuver the better as we saw here on Broadway.  Or headscratchers like this wrong way, parallel in an angled spot trick.  And then there are the imaginary spaces that get taken like here.  But the myth of the "compact" space is the most common parking irritant.  Safeway is aptly doing some random parking enforcement against people poaching spaces to shop elsewhere.  In a perfect world, the agents would also be able to ticket full-sized (or even bigger) vehicles in the little spaces.  Safeway put in plenty of them to slip through the full parking requirement back in 2011.  Check out this special "compact edition" of a RAM 2500 Powermaster.  The rear view camera must be pretty good as he has about 5 inches to spare on either side.  You better be pretty skinny to park in either adjacent space.