The Burlingame Voice

Does the whole County need remedial driving class?

This post has been on my radar for about two months since I spoke to a man-about-town who lives a half block off of the California Dr. speedway.  He told me about a guy in a new Corvette who blasted down California, but an officer just happened to be nearby for another reason.  One got caught, but he says most don't.  Then last week I was at the ECR-Howard Ave. Safeway intersection when two incidents happened within 10 seconds of each other.  First, someone seems to have forgotten that drivers coming straight at you from across the intersection have right-of-way over you turning left.  Horn blows.  And then someone driving west on Howard decides to do the medium speed "California stop" turning north on ECR.  Except there are three people well into the crosswalk.  The pedestrian closest was fortunately agile and quick and he needed to be to avoid spending a week in the hospital.  This is a regular occurrence there.  Lyon-Hoag has been complaining about this for years.

The stories go on.  A merchant on B'way told me a pedestrian did get clipped there a week ago even with the seizure-inducing crosswalk lights going off.  That's before jaywalking becomes legal statewide in the pursuit of "racial justice".  And of course, there is the absolutely tragic, heart-breaking story from Redwood CIty of a 23-year-old racing a 17-year-old in a BMW M-series at 80-90 mph on ECR at 8pm.  Two parents killed and twin 7-year-girls orphaned.  You can see drivers doing 50+ on ECR in B'game all the time even with the lousy road surface.  Maybe we really don't want it fixed?

Does the whole County need remedial driving class?  Maybe, but for sure we need more traffic enforcement--a lot more.  Recall during the 2020 Townhall on "use of force" when my second question was asked:  "If the city allocated 10% more funding to BPD today, how would it utilize the funds?"  This was during the nationwide idiocy called "defund the police".  Chief Matteucci took about 1.5 seconds to respond, "I would add more traffic enforcement".  Exactly!  But our city council doesn't quite get it yet.  During the non-debate prior to the last non-election, three candidates were asked about public safety.  As Russ wrote in the post

In short, (Ricardo Ortiz) stated that the council has not been asked to increase the number of patrol personnel, so by inference, there is no need to increase the number of individuals on the BPD. Wait? What?

I think it's time we asked for a couple more cops on the street.  I would say "let's get ahead of this curve" but we are already behind the curve so let's just catch-up.  None of the statistics show the near misses, but if you are regularly walking, riding or driving in town you see them.  In the meantime, keep your head on a swivel.

School warning: Get protected

I have a bit of background in the computer security arena--just enough to know it's complicated and hard to defend oneself.  I also have some background advising various levels of government agencies on their technology decisions.  For the most part, they are trailing edge shops with limited budgets and older technology.  So when I read this Calmatters.org piece on schools being unprepared, I was not surprised in the least.

If Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, can be hit with a ransomware attack, how prepared are California’s public schools for the increasing threat of cyberattacks?  It depends, according to experts working in the field of cybersecurity and information technology in the state’s public schools. Some districts might have a handful of cybersecurity professionals on staff, while others don’t have any. On top of that, there are currently no statewide guidelines for digital security at school districts.

Public schools possess confidential data ranging from Social Security numbers to health records and financial information. While the Los Angeles Unified attack has drawn national attention, Loftus says this prominent case is just the latest example of public education’s vulnerability to cyberattacks.   “Education is a mash-up of multiple different sectors,” he said. “We are transportation providers. We provide food and nutrition services. We have school nurses and so much more.”  And as school districts and the state took steps to close the digital divide during the pandemic, more students online means more blindspots vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The shame of the whole scenario is that BSD, SMUSHD and even the city of B'game and the county spend a lot of energy on things that are far less important.  Some of that is forced upon them like going to district-based elections.  But a lot of it is self-inflicted.  If we put as much effort into hardening our tech as we do forcing the march to an all-electric future we would be a lot safer.  I really hope our misplaced priorities don't end up costing the taxpayers a ton of ransom money.

Crime: "We have no tolerance...." or do we?

I search out the Daily Post to keep an eye on points south of us since events in the larger cities like Palo Alto, Mountain View and RWC not only affect us now, but could be a forerunner of what will happen in the future here.  Yesterday's issue was disturbing.  The two top of front page headlines were "Panhandler arrested after violent spree" and "Woman charged in hijab attack".  The first article noted that a downtown Palo Alto "panhandler" was arrested after threatening or spitting on four people, including a man in his 80's who refused to give her money.  10 minutes later a similar incident and couple minutes later she grabbed a bottle off a table at a nearby cafe and threatened another person.  Then one more after that.  She was previously arrested on Jan. 22, 2021 but that was dismissed on July 1, 2021.  She was arrested this year on June 23 and August 5.

The second article describes a female transient attacking a teenager wearing a hijab in downtown Mountain View.  Two women came to her rescue and the attacker fled on a bicycle but was apprehended.  The attacker already faces a charge of brandishing a dangerous weapon on June 24, 2022.  The Santa Clara DA, Jeff Rosen, declared in the article "We have no tolerance for those whose intolerance crosses the line into criminality and violence".  Excuse me?  It doesn't seem like the actions match the words.

I had a similar sense of impending trouble on Broadway on Monday.  Someone who appeared on the edge of being out of control had taken up residence on the bench in front of Wells Fargo.  And then there is this from yesterday's DJ:

Will we learn that this guy has a history that predates August?  I hope not, but "hope is not a strategy".

PSA: Elder abuse in the County

As a favor to a long-time reader who requested such a post in order to gather ideas on what to do, I'll drift into a new area-- elder abuse, especially financial abuse.  I am also aware of a case years ago that was never pursued by law enforcement even though there was ample evidence, in my opinion.  The long-time reader writes (edited down a bit):

My parents have and are still experiencing Elder Abuse by their Caretakers. As of today, $300,000 and "counting." I have been in contact with APS, DA, Police, and much more. Jackie Speier's office at least inquired.  My Father will (probably die) of skin cancer within two weeks.  My mother is on 24/7 oxygen and has severe mental as well as other "end of life" medical problems.  Did I mention one of their caretakers made a Full Confession to the San Bruno Police- Case # SNB 2201541.  No arrests. This started 6 months ago.

Again, this is coming from a long-time reader and I have not verified any of it, but if anyone has any ideas, I am sure they would be welcome.  The last census showed 17.5% of the population in San Mateo County is over 65 and the median age has been rising just like the rest of the country.

Not all graffiti is all bad

Most of the graffiti around town is ugly and indecipherable.  Here was an example from last month that was both before it was painted over.  While it's all illegal, every once in a while, a real artist drops a bit in a less objectionable location.  This example is on the side of the raised roadbed over by the entrance to Coyote Point as you turn towards the Humane Society.  You can only see it if you are headed out of the park and look down.  It gave me a laugh.

Busy Tuesday night for burglars

When we did the annual crime round-up here the vehicle burglaries (from locked vehicles) were running 25 per month.  It looks like June might be the month that sets a new record if this sort of thing keeps up.

Graffiti Rosetta Stone?

It's been a while since we had a notable (i.e. notably bad) graffiti sighting, but a burst has reappeared on the walkway next to the Walgreens on Burlingame Ave.  Is this a back-and-forth between opposing taggers?  Anyone got a Rosetta Stone on this?  Is it a tribute to Jackson Pollack?  I assume Walgreens itself has been keeping that wall clear and has been doing a great job of it recently.

 

B'game Big Bang Arrest

I had to go look up what an M-1000 firecracker looks and sounds like.  It's on YouTube here assuming the link works.  One has to wonder how long someone thinks they could make fireworks in a hotel room without someone noticing something.  A year of probation seems like a pretty light sentence for possibly blowing up a building with illegal fireworks and PVC pipe bombs--three weeks after the Fourth of July.  What was the plan for these?

It's time for a new Attorney General

I was wrong again.  I thought when the last Attorney General, Becerra, got bumped up to HHS Secretary things would improve.  Similarly, I thought the same when the one before that got bumped up.  But I was wrong.  The Newsom-appointed Rob Bonta is as bad or worse than the last two AGs.  Just this week he decided to sue the US Postal Service for the crime of planning to buy, get this, 165,000 gas-powered vehicles.  I guess he is unaware that even with all of the credits, EVs are an expensive 4% of the market and a high-profile EV truck manufacturer (Rivian) just slipped its delivery schedule so much that its stock is down 70%.  Ford cut the value of its stake in Rivian by $5.4B.  Let's not forget the lithium and cobalt for batteries are expected to be in short (i.e. expensive) supply and mostly come from unfriendly parts of the world.  Is any EV company even planning a design that would work for the USPS?  Wanna bet the new GVs would be way better for the environment than the old ones on the road today?  Does Bonta even care? 

Also this week Bonta decided to investigate Exxon Mobil for misleading the public about the recyclability of plastic.  Wait, I thought the government was the source of the CRV fees that have apparently misled us all.  As soon as China stopped taking our used plastic, the whole model just broke down.  This isn't news as we saw last year here.  And the oil companies are responding by building recycling plants in the U.S.   Don't we want this?  Does Bonta have a clue about what it takes to rebuild the plastic recycling supply chain?  I doubt it.

And it's not like the things an AG is supposed to be doing in the state are going so well.  Harris left the office without putting a dent in the number of known criminals who still have guns but are not being searched out.  Becerra, same thing.  Did I miss the press release that Bonta is on the case and succeeding?  I doubt it.  Is he doing anything to prevent more known criminals from serving short sentences and shooting up Sacramento?  I missed that press conference, too.   It's time for a new Attorney General.  The primary election is on June 7.

Do we have enough "military" equipment?

Headlines can be deceiving.  They can be especially deceiving is there is no subsequent context given.  And they can be more deceiving when some are playing politics with the headline.  So it was for me on Wednesday when the top-of-fold front page of the Daily Journal blared "Sheriff's Office details $2M in military equipment".  The usual suspects in the defund, defang the police movement jumped all over it, but I was left to ask, "Is that a lot or not enough?"  Hard to say.  The DJ notes

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office released its first annual Military Equipment Use Policy, detailing the more than $2 million worth of equipment in its ownership as part of a state mandate process aimed at expanding transparency around the stock of military-grade weapons held by any given jurisdiction.   During the required update from the Sheriff’s Office on the policy, Allen noted the Sheriff’s Office does not currently own any equipment directly handed down by the military or that is from companies who supply the military with equipment.

But the department does own equipment that falls under what the state defines as military equipment, based on interpretations of Assembly Bill 481, which took effect this January. In total, acquiring and maintaining the equipment has cost the department more than $2 million.

So it would have been nice to see the headline use "military" in quotes like I did above. If you click through to the article I'm not the only one questioning the terminology, but the piece is helpful in that it details the gear

According to the report, the county currently owns:

• a Lanco Bearcat armed vehicle
• a mobile command vehicle
• two bean bag launchers and bean bag munition
• three bomb squad robots
• four .50 caliber semi-automatic rifles and ammunition
• four 37 millimeter tear gas launchers and tear gas grenades
• 10 pepperball launchers
• 11 drones
• 41 stingball grenades, 42 flashbang devices and 114 less-lethal launchers used to fire rounds of soft rubber bullets.

“This equipment is necessary because there are no reasonable alternatives that can achieve the same objective of officer and civilian safety,” Sheriff Carlos Bolanos said.

In search of some context, I reminded myself that the County is about 450 square miles and has about three-quarters of a million residents.  It's home to a decent chunk of Silicon Valley tech offices and data centers.  Bio tech, including labs, is booming in the County so much that San Carlos just put a moratorium on new bio building applications.  We've got a lot of potential targets.  And as I look at the list, you would be hard-pressed to make a decent Schwarzenegger movie with what we have.  One Bearcat for the whole County?  One mobile command vehicle?  It seems to me AB 481 that required releasing this info "for transparency" may be causing too much transparency to all the wrong people.  Let's hope not.