The Burlingame Voice

An "Affordable Village"?

The Daily Journal gave an update to the on-going "affordable" housing saga in B'game late last week.  We've discussed how B'game has been expensive since its very founding here and I'm more convinced than ever that nothing the City tries will make much of a dent in that.  I've had several conversations with SF refugees and Silicon Valley people hoping to move north to follow the companies moving north that cause me to believe we will always be a prime destination.  And if we do something big enough (i.e. more than the 132 units being discussed now) it will have even more of a deleterious effect on the quality of life and education in B'game.

The Burlingame City Council discussed a joint effort with San Mateo County’s Home for All initiative aiming to kick-start community conversations this year regarding ways to make the city more affordable.

The pilot program is slated to launch Saturday, Feb. 10, with an initial discussion regarding affordable housing plans and policies standing to impact Burlingame.

“We will be getting a pulse of the community and seeing what people are thinking about,” Planning Director Kevin Gardiner said of the event to be coordinated by community engagement consulting firm Common Knowledge Plus and Home for All, which is a county program aiming to close the local imbalance of available jobs and homes.

Central to the initial talks will be the city’s vision to build the Village at Burlingame affordable development, slated to include 78 workforce housing units and 54 units set aside for seniors on a surface parking lot at Park Road and Lorton Avenue, south of Howard Avenue.

I'm reminded a bit of the old Boutique & Villager when I hear the working name for this "village", but I'll bet the ethos that existed when the B&V existed would not have looked kindly on this sort of thing.  Those were days when the small scale feel of the town was embedded in the press' mindset.  The results of the rent control vote would seem to say the general public still has some of that ethos, so I hope the Council really does listen to more than the squeaky wheels.  You would think with the building boom that is already going, the Peninsula Ave. overpass and B'way underpass concerns, the drive-in and PAMF projects under full steam and no new Rec Center in sight, there would be enough things to worry about without reducing downtown parking......

 

Another Ugly Addition

Yet another national chain has arrived on the Avenew and degraded the visual environment - in the front and back of their store.  Here is the Athleta sign on the BACK of the store looking into the parking lot.  Really?  Maybe they are trying to save the city a little money on parking lot street lights, but it ain't working for me.  I really hope someone in Planning measured the total size of the front and back signs and that it is within code.  If it is within code, code is too loose.

Endangered Burlingame Species

The writing is probably on the wall for every close-in Burlingame bungalow given the economics of tearing down a single-family home and going to condos near the core.  It's really quite sad.  With the monster growing on California Ave. and the number of already-approved projects plus what is in the works, we are on the precipice of a major change in the face of B'game.  That won't come as a surprise to any regular Voice reader, but knowing it's coming and seeing the scraped lot are two different things in my experience.

I was saddened to see this little gem of a very close-in bungalow that, like many others, had been carved into apartments over the years get the death sentence a few weeks back.  It's seriously cute, looks to be fairly well-maintained, and will be replaced by a big box.  I'm too much of a realist to think much can be done about the trend, but I can say I will miss it when it's gone.

Adios 21 Park Ave.  You are about a century old, if not more, and many people have crossed your threshold for the walk downtown and back.  You will be missed.

The location is in the Washington School zone so add the increased density to the Bayswater Ave. proposed project.  I'm not sure where all those kids are going to end up.

Nov 30 Update

An Lo and Behold, driving down Oak Grove yesterday morning I see the remains of two more bungalows.  When I saw the prices of the luxury condos two doors down from here (across from McKinley) a year ago, I knew these two were history--just did not know when.  Now I know....now

Apple Store Reopens

Apple has sent out notice of the B'game store reopening at 10 am on Saturday, Nov. 18th after a six month remodel.  The plywood case has been removed so we can now see the "new" Apple store.  It looks amazingly like the old Apple store except for perhaps some windows on the side; which the Planning Commission asked them to do years ago when the old store was first presented.

But wait, there is more.  One of the roving Voice photogs has passed along a sneak preview of the "new" inside of the store.  And to my eye it looks a lot like the old Apple interior.  They have a couple more days to spruce it up a bit, but unless that happens I fear I will always think of my high school wood shop as I enter (minus the saws, drill presses and lathes).  What do you all think?

The good news is the store will continue to generate nice sales tax revenue even at the new higher Measure I rate.

More Coffee and Juice, Really?

The most fun thing about gathering items for the Voice are the man-on-the-street conversations that occur when people see me taking pictures of seemingly mundane things.  That happened last night as I was taking this photo of the sign announcing the arrival of Joe & The Juice at the former Plant location on the Avenew.  Last night's woman-on-the-street version went like this

"Ugh.  Don't we have enough of these kind of places already?  Why can't they put a great restaurant in there instead?"

As much as I like the name, I just nodded my head, said "Really!" and thought it probably won't even last as long as the Plant did.  We'll see.

And there is still no regular entertainment venue anywhere in sight..............
 

Local Gem: PEZ Museum

The San Francisco Chronicle made a rare foray down to lil ole B'game to visit our friend Gary Doss and his PEZ Museum and wrote up a lovely review of the local gem

“I’m good, thanks,” said Doss, when asked by a museum visitor if he would like a raspberry-flavored Pez candy to chew over while he pondered exactly what he had gotten himself into 24 years ago when he opened the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia at 214 California Drive, a few blocks from the Caltrain station.

Inside the museum are 1,100 dispensers — at least one of every model made by the Austrian candy company since it began cranking them out in 1950.  The museum is one of those places that, if it cost more than $3 to go in, nobody would. A magazine named it one of America’s top 50 roadside attractions, along with the beer-can house of Texas, the shoe tree of Nevada and similar places that most parents have made a habit of driving past on road trips without stopping.

Fortunately, three bucks buys not only an admission ticket but a personal guided tour from Doss, a former computer salesman and metal worker who got hooked on Pez a quarter century ago at an antique show. He tossed the computers from the Burlingame storefront to make room for the Pez dispensers and has never looked back, even when — as on Thursday morning — only three people showed up.

Way to go, Gary.  As the giant new building rises across the street, let's hope over sized, glass-faced beasts don't consume everything quirky and quaint in town. 

City Council: Allot Seats by District?

Today's Daily Post has an article about a letter from a Malibu attorney to the city of Menlo Park "putting them on notice" that they should move to "district elections".  District elections divide a city into districts and allot a council seat to each district--so B'game would have five districts under this format.  The attorney, Kevin Shenkman, has sent similar letters to other cities and claims at least 15 have switched formats to avoid legal action.  The basic motivation is to attempt to increase minority council members--I'm not sure it works, but that is the motivation.

I've mused in the past on whether this would be good for Burlingame or not.  Before my wife was elected to the council, the South end of town was home to only Rosalie O'Mahony for years and years.  Southeasterner Russ served a half-term out for a seat that was vacated.  Now Donna Colson is a south-ender after moving from the north a couple years ago.

But I'm not sure how you would go about meeting some ill-defined minority objective without a gerrymander-looking district that captured the far east-side--Rollins corridor.  Ironically, such a district would look a lot like Malibu--long and thin!  But the issue in B'game, in my opinion, is more about over-development than representation.  If you don't live close to downtown, you feel less of the heat of over-development on a daily basis.  So would having 2 or 3 seats assigned to South-of-Broadway help?  Maybe.

Thought From Afar and Near: School budgeting

One of my biggest concerns about how the City Council and the Planning Commission think about adding housing in B'game is what they don't think about.  I sometimes refer to my hometown in Massachusetts as a better model of decision making by a council because of the different approach to school budgeting.  In Massachusetts, schools are a part of city government (i.e. "the School department") and part of the city budget.  Reading my hometown paper over the weekend drove home how big a part it plays.  In a city of 43,700 people (that has declined 5% in the last 17 years), the school budget is 37% of the total budget.

Imagine if our city council members had to use 37% of their available funding on the schools and plan for growth instead of shrinkage.  Imagine if the school budget were more than twice the police and fire budget combined.  Do you think there would be such a push to add housing if the decision makers also had to worry about more school kids and probably another elementary school, another middle school project and then do some creative high school planning?

I won't make it to the meeting tonight on the so-called affordable housing project for City parking lots F and N, but if you go please let us know if this even comes up.  See the post two down for photos.

The Grand Plan. Part 4. More density

Tonight,at a study session, the City Council will look at plans for two downtown surface parking lots that are slated to be transformed into high density housing and a five story parking garage. The public is welcome. Meeting begins at 5:30 in conference room A at Burlingame City Hall. If you re concerned as I am, you will attend.

Apple Wakes Up Too Late

This story in yesterday's SF Chronicle made me really, really sad;

Steve Jobs made Apple into a top American retailer by designing crisp, modern stores with features reminiscent of the company’s products. Glass boxes and aluminum panels abounded.  But as Apple moves to turn its stores into experiences — places for concerts, art exhibitions and photography classes — the tech giant has begun to pursue distinctive yet familiar buildings that its customers might admire as well. 

In Washington, Apple has set its sights squarely on the Carnegie Library in Mount Vernon Square. One of thousands of libraries built nationwide with funds donated by steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it opened in 1903 as the first desegregated public building in the city.  Apple officials say they plan to restore the building to its original grandeur and outfit Carnegie as a place to hold free concerts, art exhibitions, workshops for teachers and coding classes for children.

Finding historic buildings with stories rooted in their communities are part and parcel to the experience Apple is trying to create, Siegel said. The company has opened stores in a former restaurant bay in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, in a Depression-era brick storefront in Brooklyn, and in a 130-year-old former bank in Paris.

Rather than plastering the buildings with the familiar logo, Apple’s designers say they will focus on restoring the building’s historic character. It can take a little work to find the store’s signs and logo — which is the point.

Gee.  Some of us tried to get Apple to just that in B'game.  We had a gorgeous, original Bank of Italy -- later BoA-- building and Apple insisted on tearing it down for a glass and stone box even though they had some of the right instincts elsewhere like South Pasadena where the council probably stuck to its guns more.  One might say "better late than never" but in poor Burlingame's case it's not better late than never.  Unless the plan is to recreate the Bank of Italy building.  Don't bet on it happening behind the wall.

Will we learn anything from this to apply to the old Post Office?