The Burlingame Voice

Real Charity Begins at CALL

Long time Voice contributor Peter Garrison and I have been discussing the more frequent appearance of street panhandlers in B'game.  He has noticed them in front of churches, then on the Avenue and lately in front of Lunardi's.  We also notice a similarity between the signs they hold which may point to a coalition.  Pete knows Terri Boesch, the Exec Director at CALL Primrose, who provided this bit of advice for B'gamers

With the long, warm days of summer comes a noticeable increase in the number of panhandlers, especially at busy intersections and in front of heavy traffic areas such as storefronts, churches and gas stations.  

While it may feel good to provide spare change or a few dollars to “help” those who appear to be homeless or hungry, those dollars often go to buy alcohol or drugs, which may be the very vices that led to the homelessness in the first place.  In addition, there are a number of large scale scammers, who employ vulnerable women with young children (often infants) to beg for money, with a promise of part of the proceeds for their efforts. Providing money in these instances only perpetuates the problem.  

For those who are genuinely hungry or homeless, there are many resources in the area that offer legitimate assistance. The CALL Primrose center, located in downtown Burlingame, is one of those resources. Founded over 30 years ago as a joint project between the First Presbyterian and United Methodist churches of Burlingame, CALL Primrose is a direct aid and referral agency, offering immediate grocery/food support to individuals and families along the peninsula. Clients may visit weekly to pick up food, grocery and small toiletry items that are tailored to individual living situations. CALL has an array of non-perishable items, along with meat, dairy and fresh produce options, available on a drop in basis.  If the need goes beyond that of food, CALL has a wide network of service agencies that can be called upon to help.    

The next time you encounter someone asking for help, perhaps instead of a few dollars, you can provide them with information about CALL Primrose. For those truly in need, this may be their first step towards a path of self-sufficiency.

Pete also notes "I carry information cards from our local food pantry that I distribute when I encounter someone asking for money."  Good advice from both of them.  Terri is at 650 342-2255.  They are Gems of Burlingame.  I hope this doesn't get to the point of us needing a "Sit - Lie" ordinance.

50 Year Perspective; 58 Years Ago

I recently bought a pamphlet titled "Burlingame 50 years Golden Anniversary" on eBay.  It's "a short journey into history; 1908 to 1958".  The opening page after the obligatory mayoral Proclamation from Mayor Andrew C. Byrd was written by Dr. Frank Stanger and provides an interesting perspective on those times and ours.

Burlingame as a young city, like a self-conscious debutante, had subtle ways of impressing people with her special charms and her own importance.  There was a legend abroad to that effect that Burlingame, by comparison with other cities, was something special.  Or was it more than a legend?  Be it fancy or fact, the idea had wide acceptance, and the people of Burlingame, quite convinced that theirs was no ordinary town, were doing nothing to deny it.

I wonder if we still have that perspective of being special?  Sometimes I doubt it as I see people and agencies trying to homogenize us to be like every other city.  Stanger goes on to talk about him being 18 and interviewing for a teaching position in town.  He gets the job offer then writes

As I started my return journey with a promise of a contract, I found myself also trying to remember some of the statistics that had been casually dropped into my ears-- "x" percentage of the population received incomes above "y" dollars a year, "z" proportion were home owners, etc., etc.  A second more tangible impression was received when I came house-hunting and found that rents in Burlingame were ten dollars a month higher than in the East Bay.  And this news was imparted without apology--rather I though there was a little bragging involved.

Res ipsa loquitur

No. 8 Nationally

The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp. which also has dealing with the National Association of Realtors so I'm guessing their statistics are pretty solid.  If so, our very own Stanley Lo has once again placed high in the nation for individual agents volume--No. 8 to be exact!

The numbers show are in millions.  We had one of the top teams as well in Burlingame, I just forgot to take that photo before I recycled the papers.  Any remember who it was?  As I understand it, Mr. Lo takes a smaller commission and "makes it up in volume".  With real estate prices where they are at now, one wonders if more agencies will follow?

Futsal Starring in B'game

The Daily Journal is shining a spotlight on two local gems - Burlingamer located on Rollins Rd and it futsal evangelist, Jen Short

Much as San Jose became known for Silicon Valley, Burlingame is becoming the center of the women’s national futsal team.

Last month, Jen Short, general manager of Burlingamer Sports Center and president of Gamer Futsal School, and Roxy Kamal, the director of coaching for Gamer Futsal School and who played for the U.S. in a tournament in Colombia, were named to the coaching staff of the U.S. Women’s National Futsal Team for the upcoming Pacific Cup to be held at the San Jose Event Center July 14-17.

Short has turned Burlingamer into the de facto training center for the women’s national team. Having worked for the last couple of years with U.S. Futsal president Alex Para, who happens to live locally, Short was asked in May to build a team to take to the tournament in San Jose.

I've been to a futsal game over at Burlingamer and it is very fun.  It's fast moving due to the short field.  You can check out all the activities at their website.  Rookie City Councilwoman Donna Colson owns the business and is passionate about local sports for local kids (and adults).  If you want to burn off some kid energy as school lets out, this is one option.

Deep Roots in the Community

Each year the B'game Lions Club selects a Citizen of the Year.  The Lions do a number of great things around town that involve a great number of people so when they select an honoree, you know they have done their homework.  For example, back in 2010 they selected Dan Andersen whom the Lions knew well as one of their own.  Yesterday, Lions President Kevin Osborne told the assembled Lions and guests that the honoree was widely known around town for her activities that benefit B'game in preserving history, garnering nationally recognized trees for B'game, supporting art and street intersections with "inconveniently located trees" along with fighting certain dangerous encroachments like High Speed rail.

This year's Lions Citizen of the Year is Jennifer Pfaff.  Jen is no stranger to the Voice community as our Queen of Trees and provider of many other valuable contributions on a variety of topics.  Here is Kevin making the announcement that caught Jen completely by surprise!  Kudos!!

Artful Weekends

This weekend is the first of three weekends of the Silicon Valley Open Studios show (www.svos.org).  It is the 30th annual happening so the list of artists is long and often illustrious.  The event spans from El Granada to B'game to Morgan Hill and we are queued up for next weekend (the 14-15th) when Kevyn Warnock's work will be at the Peninsula Museum of Art at 1777 California and Rebecca Lambing's studio at 1333 Bernal will be open.  If you visit Amir Salamat at 801 Mahler #D4, Marie Monaco and Sally Rayn at Crocker School and the six artists at 432 Midway in San Mateo Park, you will have covered the local scene.

If you haven't visited the museum on California, I highly recommend it!  Hit the website for many more to the south of us.

SF Overlords Deign to Let B'gamers In?

Admit it.  When you are driving down 280 looking at the gorgeous foothills off to the right, you have wondered "can I actually hike through those woods?".  The answer is moving towards "maybe" as the News-Times is reporting here

A proposal to open the 23,000-acre Peninsula Watershed to greater public access is gaining broad support, with the notable exception of environmental groups, who criticize the plan for its potential to damage sensitive animal and plant species. 

Elected officials in San Francisco and San Mateo County, government agencies, hikers and mountain bikers have lined up behind the project, unveiled in February by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns and manages the vast refuge that runs from San Bruno to Woodside above the Crystal Springs reservoirs.

The watershed has been mostly off-limits since the SFPUC bought the property in 1930. The agency long claimed that allowing more people onto the land could threaten wildlife, such as the endangered marbled murrelet, and risk contaminating reservoirs that are key elements of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves 2.4 million people in the Bay Area.

Walking on our side along Sawyer Camp Trail is fun and healthy, but the other side looks totally cool.  For once it appears the political animals in EssEff are in line with our local wild life variety pols!

Merry Christmas, you band of friends!

I won't assert that the Blooming Vase window display is the best in B'game this year--merely that it is very, very good.  Check it out and Merry Christmas one and all.

Who does that reindeer remind you of?

Welcome New Chief Eric

B'game awoke from its World Series-Halloween rest this morning with a new Police Chief.  That is always one of the public servants whose name it is good to keep in mind!  City Manager Lisa Goldman makes these managerial decisions under the B'game city governance structure.  The Daily Journal gave some background on Eric when it posted the notice a while ago here, but I thought Day 1 on the job was more appropriate for the Voice post.  The article noted  

Burlingame police Capt. Eric Wollman was named the city’s new police chief to replace departing chief Ed Wood starting Nov. 1, City Manager Lisa Goldman announced Thursday.

Wollman was hired as a police captain with the Burlingame Police Department in April 2012 after 29 years of law enforcement experience with the Daly City Police Department.

I appreciate Ed Woods connection with the community and wish him well on the next phase of his career.

Thinking of Dan

When I think of the people in B'game who created the highly-engaged community we have here, Dan Anderson certainly comes to mind.  This piece in the Friday Daily Journal paints part of the picture about Dan by noting his time in B'game and his Lions work

Erik Winkler, Burlingame Lions Club president, was nominated for the challenge of dumping a bucket of ice water on his head by member Marie Woods. He decided to dedicate his challenge to former president Dan Andersen, who is suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis himself.

“I’m doing this for my dear friend Dan who is suffering from this awful affliction,” he said before the challenge Thursday.

Kudos to Angela Swartz of the DJ for highlighting this.  Allow me to add some of the historical context.  Back in the day the Rec Center was as much of an issue as it is now.  Plans were floated to demolish the Lion's Club hall and the tennis courts in Washington Park for a new 40,000 square foot structure.  Dan Anderson was the prime mover in forming the Washington Park Society to oppose that plan.  Those of us who call ourselves preservationists took heart from that move.  Dan also was very active in the hospital redevelopment project.  You could even say that Dan's willingness to speak out against City Hall gave impetus to the formation of the original print version of the Burlingame Voice.  Here's to ya, Dan.  You have my best wishes and gratitude!