The Burlingame Voice

Rollins Rd. Clean-up Time

Keeping B'game looking like B'game can be a challenge sometimes regardless of whether it is an amazing amount of garbage and recycling on the Avenew or just plain illegal dumping.  Roving Voice reader Lisa Rogers asks the probing question 

About a month ago I called the city about trash piling up over a period of a month on Rollins Road in 3 locations. Now there is a sizable dump along the fence next to 905 Rollins Rd.  The cross street is Larkspur. The trash is under the No Dumping sign. The beginnings of a pile is also starting on Rollins Road at Winchester Dr.  This part of town needs and deserves maintenance.

Lisa also provided the photo which is always appreciated!

 

Prohibition in San Mateo County

The quarterly meeting of the Burlingame Historical Society featured Carmen Blair who is the deputy director of the SM County Historical Society talking about Prohibition in the County.  She has quite a story to tell about "Hooch, Sauce, Coffin Varnish, Jiggle Soup" and reading the label in the photo closely "Lion Piss".  When else am I going to get to say "Lion Piss" on the Voice?

The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol from 1920 until repeal in 1933.  But note that it did not prohibit owning or consuming alcohol and apparently there was plenty of that going on in San Mateo County.  Our coast line was prime rumrunner territory with lots of little inlets and wagons full of artichoke to hid the hooch in.  Bootleggers could make up to $2500 per day verses a good paying job at $25 per day in that era.

In B'game, Sarah Winchester's purchase of the bayfront property in 1904 from the estate of William Corbett had specific restrictions on alcohol included in the terms.  The Burlingame Women's Club wanted to "curtail the vile traffic in intoxicants" as early as 1907.  In 1921, Burlingame PD raided a brandy still in town.  In 1928, they arrested a bootlegger who hid behind a tree and filled flasks for $2 a piece.  He easily posted a $300 bond which is about $4300 in today's dollars!  The Burlingame Country Club rejoiced over Repeal in 1933 since serving members was a good revenue source and it sold $17,000 worth in the first year (more than $300,000 in today's dollars)!  Here is a photo of my new favorite brand and of Carmen Blair.  Great presentation!

Indoor Pot Only

The Daily Post is highlighting separate votes tomorrow night by the San Mateo and Burlingame City Councils to prohibit growing marijuana outdoors.  With Prop. 64 likely to pass, cities are trying to get ahead of the growing trend.  That's up to them to decide, but I did get a hacking cough out of some of the reasoning given

San Mateo City Attorney Mason supports the proposed ordinance, saying in his report that the passage of Proposition 64 could "lead to serious community problems".  Mason cites the nuisance of odors, safety concerns and the large amount of water it takes to cultivate marijuana, saying that "commercial marijuana cultivation may adversely impact the community's sustainability goals".

Give me a break, Mr. Mason.  San Mateo has been overbuilding every square foot of land it can possibly approve.  Rack 'em and Stack 'em development is going in all along the Caltrain right of way.  The massive development north of Hillsdale Blvd. has been packing in the density for a decade and I'll bet the new Hillsdale Mall ends up being massive.  This is "greenwashing" at its worst. If you click through to the actual verbiage of the law you find  

(3) Possess, plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process not more than six living marijuana plants and possess the marijuana produced by the plants;

There are probably some good reasons to ban some types and sizes of outdoor pot growing, but saving water in San Mateo ain't one of them.

Burlingame Homicide

I waited a couple of days to post about the Hyatt homicide because the shooting was initially listed as "not random" so finding the killer will be a more focused effort.  The Mercury News piece notes

Officers responded around 5:45 a.m. to a report of a shooting in the driveway of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, located at 1333 Old Bayshore Highway. They discovered a man in his 20s suffering from a gunshot wound.  Emergency responders attempted life-saving maneuvers, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene, Lt. Jay Kiely said.

“We believe the victim was targeted,” Kiely said. “This was not a random act.”

The killing was Burlingame’s first homicide of the year.  Police did not release a description of the assailant. They said he apparently escaped on foot.

The Daily Post followed up with the victim's name and background:  Dean Mario Trefault, 28, of San Francisco.  He owned property in the MIssion District and was arrested in July in Kings County for attempting to evade a police officer.

Crime Statistics Up

The SacBee's Dan Walter is highlighting some disturbing statistics on the California crime front here.  As a reminder you can see the recent incidents in B'game via the app located here.  Walters notes

in 2015, California saw a 7.6 percent increase in violent acts from the previous year to 166,883, or 426.3 per 100,000 population.

That was 2 1/2 times the 3 percent national increase, the 13th highest of any state. Moreover, California’s overall violent crime rate is also the nation’s 13th highest. Our homicide rate increased by 8.5 percent, well over the 4.9 percent recorded nationally.

Walters goes on to describe the "realignment" that relieved state prison crowding and highlights three ballot measures--click through for the detail.  When push comes to shove, his conclusion merits thinking about

 

...but when California’s crime rates, both violent and nonviolent, spike much higher than national trends, we should legitimately wonder whether releasing tens of thousands of criminals who otherwise would have been behind bars is having a negative effect.

 

As a reminder, here is some earlier commentary on BPD priorities.

B'game Arsonist

We know it's a short hop from Millbrae to B'game so one has to wonder if the recent Millbrae arson suspicions play into the latest B'game events.  The Daily Journal police report notes

Four suspicious fires in Burlingame in the last two weeks and a recent incident in which a male was seen starting a fire has police asking the public for help. At about 8:20 p.m., the male was seen starting a fire along the Caltrain line between Howard and Bayswater avenues on the west side of the tracks, according to police.

Police are asking anyone with any information to contact Cpl. Brett Murphy at (650) 777-4100 or email: murphy@burlingamepolice.org. 

On July 30th, some early morning passers-by spotted this impending disaster at the train station on the Ave.  Let's have everyone keep their eyes open.  This could have been a serious loss to the community just like the Millbrae disaster.

 

I still like the idea of cameras in some high-traffic, high profile areas of the city.

Wheels of Justice

The wheels of justice can turn pretty slowly.  Today's Daily Post has an article about the prosecution of former Central County fire chief Mark Ladas for credit card fraud.  We have the back story from 2014 here including the bit about his wife fleeing to Canada.  The article says that a jury trial is set for Sept. 19.  It also notes that SM County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe's office "wants him to plead guilty to multiple felonies, but the DA said 'the guy's got too much pride' ".

Fireworks Downtown!

Last night was the start of the Fourth of July fireworks displays (two days early).  There were about a half dozen bursts that looked like professional-grade fireworks and appeared to be right over the downtown area near Howard Ave. and around Lorton.  They were randomly spaced out just enough that BPD would have difficulty isolating them without some local assistance.

EssEff Street Crime

Somehow the NY Times of all papers decided to focus on the SF crime situation.  The article gets into the politics of the issue which are substantial in EssEff as usual

San Francisco, America’s boom town, is flooded with the cash of well-paid technology workers and record numbers of tourists. At the same time, the city has seen a sharp jump in property crime, up more than 60 percent since 2010, though the actual increase may be higher because many of the crimes go unreported.

Recent data from the F.B.I. show that San Francisco has the highest per-capita property crime rate of the nation’s top 50 cities. About half the cases here are thefts from vehicles, smash-and-grabs that scatter glittering broken glass onto the sidewalks.

This is one of many reasons people move to B'game from the City.

Some of you may have noticed the prominent sign in the parking lot at Max's Opera House on Old Bayshore.  SF is not the only place you should not leave anything valuable in your car.

Traffic Enforcement

As a regular pedestrian and bicyclist in town, I know how dangerous certain streets and intersections are.  The BPD just issued this recap of yesterday's saturation enforcement effort.

Traffic officers focused their efforts in trouble spots in the two areas and conducted saturated traffic enforcement and education to crackdown on drivers and pedestrians who violate traffic laws meant to protect all roadway users.  Deputies and Officers focused on safety violations such as speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and other dangerous violations.

Deputies and Officers made 122 stops and issued 113 citations. Of the 113 citations issued:

34 citations were issued for failing to obey a traffic device or sign
19 citations were issued for speed violations
9 citations were issued for cell phone violations
9 citations were issued for stop sign violations
7 citations were issued for red light violations
6 citations were issued for seat belt violations
5 citations were issued for failure to activate headlights in the rain
5 citations were issued for pedestrian right of way violations
1 driver was cited for consuming a beer while driving a motor vehicle

3 drivers cited for operating a vehicle while suspended/revoked
1 driver cited for operating a vehicle unlicensed

This is a welcome result in my opinion, especially the cell phone and pedestrian right of way tickets (14 of them).