The Burlingame Voice

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!

Election Tea Leaves: Health Care District

Yesterday's Daily Post had a helpful guide to the upcoming elections in the Fall.  There are only a couple of races of interest here in B'game.  They are the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, the Harbor District (which is always entertaining if not all that visible to non-boatowners) and the Peninsula Health Care District Board which has five members listed here.

Three members are up for election in the Fall:  the Chair, Lawrence Cappel, and two B'gamers Helen Galligan and Dennis Zell.  They are being challenged by Douglas Radtke.  I'm acquainted with Helen Galligan and Dennis Zell since they have been active in B'game affairs for some time, but I do not know Douglas Radtke.  His website is found here.  One aspect of his platform is

Peninsula Healthcare District has in the past, rejected a potential consolidation with Sequoia Healthcare District. I support investigation into the possibility of instead forming a Countywide Healthcare District which would supplant both SHCD and PHCD – this would truly serve the actual needs of the entire county.

I would have to give that some thought since my natural reaction is that bigger is not always better.  I'll keep an eye out for the incumbents' position statements and any forthcoming debates.  In the meantime, here is an interesting YouTube clip from when Mr. Radtke ran for Millbrae City Council last year.

Sunrising on Trousdale

It appears there is good progress at the Sunrise site on Trousdale.  We heard back in February, that there might be progress but no specific committments were made.  I drove by yesterday and, lo and behold, work was happening!  The new construction next door may finish first, but at least there were workmen there and things appear to be progressing!

It's listed as "coming soon 2015" on the Sunrise site.
 

Sunrise....Still....Not....Moving Ahead?

The Daily Journal has a piece on one of the longest running issues in the north end.  You can read the tale of woe here and here.

Frustration is mounting with an unfinished senior housing building at the corner of Trousdale and Ogden drives in Burlingame and the City Council is even considering a lawsuit against Sunrise Senior Living, the company that intends to build on the site.

The four-story, 79-unit project at 1818 Trousdale Drive was originally approved by the Planning Commission in 2006, but ran into bumps due to the 2008 economic downturn, the company said. Potential litigation was a closed session agenda item for the City Council Friday afternoon, but there was no action reported out of the meeting, City Attorney Kathleen Kane said in an email.

I won't bother to repost the photo from August of 2009 that you see in the link above--you all know what it looks like to this day...........

Q&A With Ricardo Ortiz

The San Mateo County Times had a welcome-to-the-council article on an interview Aaron Kinney did with Ricardo Ortiz.  You can find it here.  One pertinent bit is

Q: What do you want to accomplish during your first year on the council?

A: There's a few things. There is a building at Ogden and Trousdale drives that's been under construction forever and a day. It's a company called Sunrise Senior Living that's apparently had some financial difficulties. And so this shell's been sitting there for over five years. If, after four years on the council, that thing's still up there, I'm going to feel like a real waste of time. There's other issues, such as the beautification we're doing on Burlingame Avenue that I'd like to spread to the side streets.

We'll have our fingers crossed on that building too since we have been following it for awhile or longer.

Senior Healthcare Plans

I met CEO Cheryl Fama about a month ago at an event and we discussed these PHCD's plans a bit but I never got around to posting anything about it.  Here is the DJ's complete round-up of the plans and comments about the eyesore across the street!

A new assisted living and memory care community is set to open for occupants as soon as 2016 in Burlingame, right down the street from the vacant space where Sunrise Senior Living had planned to open its own senior living community.

The Peninsula Health Care District’s planned building at the corner of Magnolia Avenue, adjacent to the Mills-Peninsula Hospital at 1600 Trousdale Drive, will feature 124 apartments, with studios and one and two bedrooms. The $55 million project will be five stories high on the Magnolia Avenue side and six on the Trousdale Drive side. Currently, the district is waiting for final plans for entitlements from the city and it hopes construction can start in the summer of 2014. The district is a landlord, real estate developer and community health resource for 230,000 residents along the Peninsula.

Then regarding the abandoned project across the street that we have been following for years

“It’s such a blight,” Fama said. “We worked with Sunrise and the landowners to see if the district might be able to facilitate getting started because we need assisted living beds. Even if they complete their units and we complete ours by 2017, there will still be a need for 800 more units. We watch it because, quite frankly, it’s ugly and if they should start to complete construction, they could come online around time ours does.”

This is one prediction of future demand that I believe.  We should be thankful that we live in an area where this kind of service will be available.

Birds are Roosting at the Hospital

Happy first day of Summer tomorrow, B'gamers.  I would say "enjoy the longest day of the year" but some television weatherman reminded viewers last night that all days are the same length--tomorrow's just has the most daylight!  I happened to see the hospital bird art being installed yesterday on the El Camino corner--seemed like a good harbinger of summer although with the way the wind was blowing in the north end, it wouldn't surprise me if even these birds flew away.

Mills-Peninsula Changes

The Mercury Times is reporting on changes to the San Mateo emergency room services:

SAN MATEO -- Mills-Peninsula Health Services will close its standby emergency room in downtown San Mateo and convert it to an urgent care clinic to avoid a state-mandated seismic upgrade that could cost as much as $80 million, the health care group announced.

The standby emergency department at Mills Health Center will close Dec. 1 and be replaced late next year with a facility that provides many of the same services as well as primary care, Mills-Peninsula officials said this week. The new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, which opened in 2011, has enough capacity to handle any extra emergency visits that arise from now on, they said.

This is never an easy decision--$80 million or make adjustments to fit under the letter of the law regarding what constitutes an ER.  Keep this in mind the next time you have to go to one.

Has the sun set on Sunrise Living?

My thanks to blogger Anne for the following update on the abandoned building at Trousdale and Ogden.  I stopped by to take a photo of it last week for a follow-up post, but Anne has done some of the legwork for us as follows

In spite of the inconvenience of also having a day job (sorry, Joe, but you were a bit whiny...), I have some information on the Sunrise Assisted Living Facility at 1818 Trousdale Drive: Initial responsible parties: Sunrise Development (925-743-9035) Trousdale Properties (415-771-5246) Michael Kutsin, Mithun Properties (206-971-5575) Construction was initiated in 2004 and halted in 2008. The Burlingame Planning Department contact is Ruben Hurin (650-558-7250; [email protected]). I'll provide more information once I have spoken with him. In the meantime, if any of you have been involved in similar endeavors, I'd be grateful for any suggestions for possible next steps.

Then I realized I had a photo already--taken in August of 2009!  Ouch.  It looks the same as today!

Hospital Demo

I once worked on the 15th floor of a downtown office building and had the chance to watch another building be built right across the street.  The birdseye view of daily progress was fascinating.  I think large construction projects are intrinsically more interesting than large demo projects, but the latter has some appeal nonetheless.  So if you haven't been by the old hospital recently, here are two view of its ongoing demise.