The Burlingame Voice

Veterans Day 2018

Today is the centennial Veterans Day when major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. That is when the Armistice with Germany went into effect.  Then in 1954, at the urging of major veteran organizations, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day.  It's a day of remembrance as it is called in Europe, so let's do that.

I finally got down to the County Historical museum in Redwood City to see the WWII exhibit and it is highly recommended.  The theme is the war's impact on the Peninsula and there are several mentions of Burlingame residents and local places like Coyote Point.  It has been on display for about two years and is very worthwhile; you have until January or so to see it.  Here is one local airman (Allan Brown's) uniform that is on display.  Remember we shall.

Walking Through B'game History

The Historical Society put on a fun tour through three parts of B'game yesterday.  I only caught the Burlingame Ave. tour given by Joanne Garrison and Jennifer Pfaff which started at the train station and took about 50 people past the new Greetings mural, down the Avenew, past the library and stopped at City Hall.  The crowd got an hour and fifteen minute whirlwind introduction to a number of prominent architects from B'game's formative years including A. Page Brown, Geo Howard, William Weeks, W. H. Toepke & Havens, Col. Norberg, Charles Weeks, and William Whifler.  The combination of some of their life histories while standing in front of some of their designs made for a delightful afternoon on a busy Sunday on the Ave.  Hopefully a few new members signed up as a result.

Millbrae Preservation Heroes

Here at the Voice we grab onto any positive preservation news we can find.  Yesterday's Daily Journal had a piece about the oldest home in Millbrae that fits the bill

Millbrae’s oldest house has new owners interested in preserving its historic charm, assuaging fears that the classic Victorian would be lost to redevelopment.  “We have got to give it the love and attention that a property of this vintage needs and deserves,” said Dean Woo, whose family closed on the house in late 2017.

The home at 1 Lewis Ave. was built in 1865 for former state assemblyman Alfred Green and put on the market last year without any protections requiring the structure to be maintained.  But Woo, 37, and his wife Helen said they fell in love with the home’s unique appeal, and are planning to maintain its original integrity and architecture.

Such a sentiment grants peace of mind to members of the Millbrae Historic Society, who worried while the home was up for sale that it would be purchased, razed and rebuilt like so many other classic homes along the Peninsula.

You can click through to the original article to read about how the Woo's intend to pull this off architecturally and financially, but here we'll just say "WooHoo"!  Nice job.

Burlingame Voice Blog is 15 Years Old Today!

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Some might say that Russ and I have frittered away more than a few hours on the Burlingame Voice, but it's our time to waste if we like and we find it cathartic.  We also get enough positive feedback from sources known (and unknown) that it feels worthwhile.  Ever since the days of the hard copy Voice hand-delivered to porches across town, he and I (along with various compatriots along the way) have provided an informed, vocal and intensely local opinion about events.  The move to on-line back on July 25, 2003 saved the time of designing and delivering the paper version and offered an opportunity to increase the reach and frequency and reduce costs.  The platform costs $14.99 a month which is much cheaper than a therapist!  You can check out those first few posts here.

The categories shown on the right hand frame have expanded over the years to 46 ways to find what you are interested in at the moment or relive some event or controversy of the past.  Try doing that on NextDoor, the newspapers or the City website!

When all is said and done, the Voice blog is a means for us to not suffer the fate Pink Floyd bemoans in Time

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

If one is to "scribble lines" they might as well be a full page worth!  Thank you, dear readers and commenters.  Onward to another 15 years!

H2O: Perhaps There is Hope

Members of the SM County Historical Society are being treated to a fantastic quarterly newsletter in the Spring issue focusing on "Water for San Francisco" which also means water for the rest of us on the Peninsula.  Two lengthy articles cover the history of the companies developing the dams, reservoirs and pipelines that form the complex system that ends at our faucets.  Society President Mitch Postell leads off with the early history noting that water was a concern as far back as 1850; causing competing companies to dam rivers, flood towns like Searsville and buy land around reservoirs to safeguard the surrounding watersheds.

Our local historical scribe, Joanne Garrison, follows with an article that delves into the contributions of William Bowers Bourn II who became the president and controlling shareholder of the Spring Valley Water Company in 1908.  Bourn was already wealthy and was able to upgrade facilities while simultaneously trying to sell the company to the City of EssEff; instead of the city building the Hetch Hetchy system.  SF bought the company in 1929 and built Hetch Hetchy--and has done very little since.

But today's SF Comicle article describes the partial funding for some long overdue upgrades to our water storage systems across the state.  Eight projects are listed as getting about half of what they need from Proposition 1 bond money.

Collectively, the projects would add about 4.3 million acre feet of water storage across the state, the equivalent of about a dozen of San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy reservoirs.  “Getting the money is a greater step toward water reliability for the Bay Area region,” said Oliver Symonds, a spokesman for the Contra Costa Water District, which was allocated $459 million for the proposed $980 million expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.  With its allocation, the Contra Costa Water District hopes to break ground in two years on raising the dam at Los Vaqueros Reservoir in the East Bay hills by 55 feet.  The district intends to share its additional supplies with other Bay Area providers, including the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Those agencies are expected to help foot the balance of the project’s cost.

The Prop. 1 funding for water storage is the most the state has allocated since construction of the State Water Project, which consists of 21 dams and hundreds of miles of canals, built largely in the 1960s.

So it is a start, but just as it is wise to index things like wage increases or tax brackets to inflation, any water supply plans need to be indexed for population growth (as well as ensuring that agriculture and trees are not starved for water).  As Yosemite is being closed for the first time since 1990 due to a 37,000 acre wildfire and memories of the Santa Rosa fires are disturbingly fresh, we need to ask the question of whether or not Sacramento, San Mateo County and the City of B'game are really doing enough?  I think not.  In the meantime, do you have at least 15 gallons of water tucked away at your house?

  

Mural Mural on the Wall

When your family and friends come to visit B'game you now have a new destination spot to take them downtown.  And it's convenient while you wait for a table a one of the local revolving restaurants.  The Historical Society has been working diligently with the developer of the old Radio Shack building (Dewey Land Corp.) to incorporate a tile mural on Hatch Lane that enlivens a really boring space.  They have succeeded.  Wander down the alley and check out the newest addition to the B'game scene.  Here is a photo of the Historical Society board members at the Friday unveiling event that featured tasty bites from Cheese Please!, fun emcee commentary from my Voice colleague Russ Cohen who loves to give away raffle prizes (nice fedora) and about 75 of the movers and shakers in B'game.  #greetingsfromburlingame is the placeholder in the non-Voice social media, but why bother with that when you can see and discuss it here?

 

Four Thoughts for the Fourth

The Fourth of July has been a favorite holiday of mine since growing up in Pittsfield, Mass which is the home of a nationally famous parade, fair, firemens' muster and horse racing.  Taking time to reread the Declaration of Independence is something I do every Fourth.  Having married a Fourth of July birthday girl makes it even more special.  This year I'll add two other thoughts that came to mind as I was in San Bruno yesterday.  First, fireworks are illegal in B'game so please bear that in mind tonight.  I don't love the law, but I abide by it since it's the law.  Second, it is a fundamental principle of our form of government that local rules are just that--local.  So fireworks can be illegal in B'game but legal in San Bruno two towns north and it all works.  It feels like a bit of magic, and perhaps it is, but it's been working for 242 years so it has something going for it.  Happy Fourth of July!

  

Councilwoman Dorothy Cusick Passes

When we look back at the City Councils of years gone by, a few names stick out as having made an impact on our little city.  The Daily Journal noted the passing of Dorothy Cusick this week

Born in 1938, Dorothy grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from Marquette University. She married Dr. Lawrence Cusick and moved to the San Francisco area in early 1960s, where she taught elementary school classes. She raised four boys, became a Realtor, and was elected to the Burlingame City Council. 

“She will always be remembered for her positive attitude, smile, laugh and caring attitude.”

I can add a bit to her City Council legacy since she lived a couple of streets away from us when we first moved to B'game and she was active in the original movements to protect the charm and history of our neighborhood.  Dorothy served on the council in the early '70's and will always be remembered by residents of Burlingame Park as the person who pushed back on changing the zoning to R3 here.

Burlingame Park is the bit of B'game west of El Camino all the way to the south; tucked in between lower Hillsborough and San Mateo Park.  Think St. Pauls down to St. Catherine's and west to H'borough.  Changing it to R3 would have been devastating to the fabric of the neighborhood.  Dorothy stood against the idea and had to stand tough back in the "good ole boys" days.  She also encouraged others to follow in her footsteps and sometimes that is just what one needs to take the leap into public service.

Memorial Day 2018

I do love a parade.  The 9th annual Hillsborough Memorial Day parade rolled up Floribunda this morning under beautiful skies we have not seen much of lately.  The full complement of politicians were on hand-- they outnumbered the veterans by quite a bit, but the Army Jeep with two vets in the front and two Rosie the Riveters in the back was pretty cool.  Also on hand were the San Mateo and BHS bands which always add a bit of local festivity to an occasion.  It was also nice to see the flags out on the Avenew for the weekend.  I hope we all take a few moments today to remember.

Roundabout Round-up

By popular demand, here is a new post on the California Dr. roundabout that is now under construction.  We discussed it 15 months ago here, but a new post is in order since the project is "in the dirt".  Here is the link to the City website for the project description, bid documents including the winning bid from Redgwick Construction that beat out the other four bidders.  If it comes in on budget this will be a $3 million dollar investment ($3,014,305 to be exact), but alas it does not have a cannon to replace the one that sat there until it was reportedly melted down during WWII.  That would have been a nice touch around Memorial Day so if any B'gamers have an extra cannon or know where we can find one, this is the place to let us know!

Just in time for Memorial Day, here is a photo of the cannon that has been provided by the B'game Historical Society.  It was apparently used as part of a promotion for the move Treasure Island showing at the Peninsula Theatre in 1934.