The Burlingame Voice

Avenews: Pottery Barn closing

B'game has avoided the retail doom loop for the most part.  There are always vacancies on the Avenew and on B'way, but they haven't dulled the sense of vibrancy on the streets-yet.  Now one of the largest spaces on the Ave is going dark as Pottery Barn has announced it will close in January.  The Chron did a piece on the closure and how our store was more than just the average PB:

Malin Kansal, a San Francisco-based real estate agent who worked in Pottery Barn’s corporate office in San Francisco between 2008 and 2012, said that the current “state of affairs” in regard to the retail climate likely contributed to the decision to shutter the Burlingame location.  “As we stand here post-COVID-19, the retail climate is changing so much,” said Kansal. “People love shopping online.”

Kansal said that the Pottery Barn in Burlingame functioned as the “model store” for the larger brand: “They used the store to display and take photographs of the items before the start of the season.”

This will be a test of how strong the Avenew is going forward.  If it needs to be broken in half a la Anthropologie to rent that will be telling.  The new vet at that location, Dr. Treats, is now scheduled to open in January.  Say goodbye to Pottery Barn.

New Vet in Town: Dr. Treats

With all of the pandemic puppies and kittens that we adopted over the last couple of years, I've heard some vets are very tightly booked out and short-staffed.  So, it's good to see a new vet with a new business model take on space at the old Anthropologie space.  The photo is a bit shadowy because it was near sunset and the tree we fought so hard to save during the Safeway project is still casting its shadow on Primrose.

I'll be interested to see how this $149 per year membership service from Dr. Treat works out.  I burn through more than $150 over the course of a year pretty regularly at my vet (which I love).  It's good to see this space occupied and without having to resort to the tactics EssEff has embraced.  The SF Examiner piece about a cafe on Cole St. that could not come to terms on a lease renewal has the numbers:

The City adopted a commercial vacancy tax in 2020. Its aim, in part, was to incentivize landlords to keep their storefronts occupied, thus providing more negotiating power to small businesses.  Like most taxes, it’s complicated and contains a number of exceptions. In designated business districts, the vacancy tax amounts to $250 per linear foot of storefront that faces the public right of way — if that storefront has been left empty for six months or more that year. The tax escalates to $500 per foot in the second year and $1,000 per foot in the third year and beyond.

Storefronts on Cole Street are about 25 feet wide, meaning the tax would amount to roughly $6,250 in the first year — less than what the Reverie was paying in rent per month.

Yet another bad idea that I hope doesn't work its way down the Peninsula.

New Bayfront toy store: Meta

Brick and mortar retail got a boost today--just not on the Avenue or B'way.  Meta (aka Facebook) has announced a shop at the old Drive-in location and  The Registry is regurgitating the press release:

Today, we’re announcing Meta Store — our first physical retail space, which will open May 9 on our campus in Burlingame, California. In the Meta Store, you’ll be able to get hands-on experience with all our hardware products. 

Through interactive demos, you can make video calls to retail associates with Portal, learn how Ray-Ban Stories can help you stay present with the world around you, and explore the magic of VR with a first-of-its-kind immersive Quest 2 demo. 

The Meta Store also features an interactive Quest 2 display wall, allowing you to explore the hardware, its accessories, and the breadth of content available today. Last but not least is our immersive Quest 2 demo area, where you can try Beat Saber, GOLF+, Real VR Fishing or Supernatural on a large, wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what you’re seeing in-headset. You’ll also get a 30-second mixed reality clip of your demo experience that’s yours to share.

Starting May 9, the store will be open Monday through Friday from 11:00AM to 6:00PM PT. It’s located at 322 Airport Blvd in Burlingame, California.

It looks a lot more interesting than the Amazon store on the Avenue.  Hopefully they move a lot of product and generate a lot of sales tax for B'game.  I do wonder if they designed the parking structure to account for a retail space with non-employee parking access since all of the parking is in the structure.  While we wait for Top Golf out on the Bayfront, GOLF+ may be the next best thing.

May 25 Update:  I stopped into the Meta store today to have a look.  There's plenty of staff to give you a tour of the Rayban smart glasses and the Portal device.  The glasses are kind of cool and maybe a bit spooky with the dual cameras and video capability.  The Portal looks to be well-designed with more capability than the competition.  It's already a year old (a long time in consumer electronics) so probably wait for v2.  The virtual reality demo requires an appointment, so plan ahead.  Not the most obvious location, so use this photo and the signs to guide you.

ADA Lawsuits: Burlingame not immune

I have heard about the stream of ADA access lawsuits targeting small businesses in B'game over the last few months.  Now the SF Chronicle is reporting that two high-profile, big city DA's (who are facing recall elections) are trying to do something about it.  This strikes close to home because the typical settlement is in the range of $10,000 - 11,000.  That's no small change for a small business.  The Chron notes

Accusing a law firm of fleecing small businesses in California with thousands of baseless disability-rights suits, the district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles asked a judge Monday to halt the practice and order the firm to refund millions of dollars the businesses paid to settle the suits.  For years, the firm, Potter Handy of San Diego, has been “bombarding California’s small businesses with abusive, boilerplate lawsuits,” District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his Los Angeles County counterpart, George Gascón, said in a suit in San Francisco Superior Court.

They said the firm sues on behalf of a handful of disabled clients who, in most cases, have never even visited the businesses and claim violations that are typically fabricated.  One of Potter Handy’s clients, Brian Whitaker, has filed approximately 1,700 suits, and another, Orlando Garcia, has filed more than 800, the district attorneys’ lawsuit said. Both live in Los Angeles County but have filed hundreds of cases in the Bay Area.

I spoke with local litigator Mike Liberty, who has represented one local B'game business in one of Mr. Whitaker's 1,700 lawsuits, about the move by Boudin and Gascón.  He estimates there could be as many as 40 such suits just in B'game.  While Mike agrees that the statute is being exploited, he's not confident that the federal law as currently written will give a judge enough room to side with the plaintiffs and the Mom & Pops.  I often complain about judges legislating from the bench and this is no exception.  The answer may be to revise the ADA itself, but in the meantime I would love to see our Burlingame City Attorney, Michael Guina, jump into support the lawsuit via an amicus brief.

It would show that our city council's oft-repeated support for small B'game businesses walks the walk and not just talks the talk.  Check out the photo below of an EssEff business that got sued during Covid when it was only doing take-out!

May 8 Update:  Here is a paragraph from the Daily Post that is B'game specific.  Can you say "refund"?

The BAAZ is Dead. Long Live Parklets!

The two-month-old experiment I dubbed the Burlingame Avenue Autonomous Zone (the BAAZ) came to a screeching halt Monday night.  I noted a number of reservations on the original post here.  The Daily Journal piece today highlights some of the same issues that I was concerned about as well as a few noted later by people venturing into the BAAZ-- like speeding skateboarders and bikers.

Burlingame’s outdoor dining scene proved too popular for its own good, according to frustrated officials who pulled the plug on a program promoting inappropriate partying during the pandemic.  “It just kind of turned into a festival out there with people not doing what they need to do,” said City Manager Lisa Goldman, in advance of councilmembers voting 4-1 to reopen Burlingame Avenue to traffic.

Furthermore, critics pointed to a recent survey of local businesses which offered mixed perspectives on the success of the closure program, with some merchants claiming it made their lives more difficult.  So rather than provide a forum for unhealthy behavior, Ortiz said he favored a proposal for establishing a network of parklets where restaurants and eateries could set up tables in a more controlled environment.

I'll just file that away in the I Told You So folder.  The piece doesn't mention the Broadway BRAZ but a quick look at Monday's agenda shows the BRAZ was also up for discussion and most likely met the same fate as the BAAZ.  If you are able to access the DJ piece as a subscriber, you will read about some council members suggesting more police enforcement of masks and distance while others think they have more to do than enforce such rules.  I didn't note any discussion of the much ballyhooed "community social worker" idea-- a la Berkeley's idiotic approach to handing out traffic tickets.

Parklets live on as they should have from the beginning.  I saw a couple new ones just sprouting, like Five Guys', and no doubt there will be more now.  Recall the estimate back in July that "the creation of parklets will result in a parking loss of up to approximately 60 to 70 spaces on side streets in the downtown area on both weekdays and weekends."  I'm thinking that will be more like 100-120 now that parklets are the only alternative.  The new parking structure is coming along (the second story is up) so perhaps by the rainy season, we will have more spaces.  Here's hoping our parklets designers have the resources to build nice ones like Truckee.

Here's an update photo.  I have to say, it's a little weird walking by the pedicure stand, but they were full so I guess it's just me.

Tweaking The BAAZ, Creating The BRAZ

Tomorrow night the City Council will consider making some changes to the Burlingame Ave Autonomous Zone (the BAAZ).  We're just finishing the third weekend of the BAAZ so Council will be looking to extend it to the end of September and add parklets on the side streets.  Back in May when the original plan surfaced, I had several concerns: impact on non-restaurant businesses, non-BAAZ restaurants, parking, handicap access and the cost.  It appears I was prescient since the proposed tweaks start to address some of these, especially the fairness issue. Non-BAAZ restaurants that want a parklet on Primrose, Park, Lorton, Howard, and Chapin would get permanent ones (meaning seven days a week) since they are too expensive to put in and take out often.  The parklets would be created using heavy duty industrial plastic hydro-barriers -- the ugly orange blocks.  San Mateo went the parklet route but only uses the hydro-barriers on the on-coming traffic side as shown below (upper right).  I hope we do the same.

To further address fairness to our "other" downtown, the one that often feels under appreciated by the City, the BRAZ is under consideration -- the BRoadway Autonomous Zone.  It involves Saturday-Sunday closure of Broadway between Chula Vista and Capuchino -- the three middle blocks; attempting to leave some traffic circulation since, you know, it's a 101 exit.  Anecdotally, the Broadway restaurants took a bit of a beating the last two weekends--akin to the non-BAAZ restaurants.  One non-BAAZer used the word "disaster" when I asked how it went the first weekend.

As to parking, the Staff Report notes

In addition to the previously estimated loss of parking on Burlingame Avenue of approximately 150 to 160 parking spaces when the street is closed on the weekends, the creation of parklets will result in a parking loss of up to approximately 60 to 70 spaces on side streets in the downtown area on both weekdays and weekends.

Approximately 50 to 60 parking spaces would become unavailable on weekends if the City Council approves the temporary weekend closure of Broadway. As with the Burlingame Avenue commercial district, there are nearby parking facilities on either side of Broadway, but parking will become tight on busy weekends.

I might suggest putting a cover over most of the EV charging stations in Lot Y so GV's (gas vehicles) can use them because we know EV usage has been quite low. 

Now the costs:

Staff estimates the cost of setting up and removing the street closure on Broadway to be similar to Burlingame Avenue, which is estimated at approximately $10,000 to $12,000 per month. Additionally, staff estimates the cost of renting and setting up barriers to create parklets is $20,000 to $30,000 per month. Regarding loss of parking revenue, staff estimates the overall loss is approximately $20,000 to $30,000 per month. The overall total fiscal impact of the pilot program is estimated to range from $60,000 to $80,000 per month. The actual figure may vary and will be determined after the completion of the pilot program.

We may have our very own Summer of Love.  Like the original one in '67, it would be fun but comes with a price.

Arson at the Library, War Zone on the Ave.

Just as things were reverting to a highly-modified normal (an oxymoron if ever there was one) we get hit with the triple whammy of an arson event at the main library and a warning from BPD to shop owners to take necessary precautions against vandalism and looting.  Then a two-night county-wide curfew went into effect.  When the Ring Neighborhood alert came in yesterday about a fire in the 400 block of Primrose, I got worried.  Fortunately, as you see below, the fire appears to be just umbrellas in front of the library, not the library itself.  BPD made an arrest of a 45 year old, white male and I'm sure there will be more information to follow.

The scene on the Avenue is really disappointing.  Many shops were just reopening or announced that they will in the coming week.  The precautionary boarding up of windows certainly won't induce people to return soon and the restaurants that have been barely eking by on take-out will have to absorb even more stress.  Anyone who thinks this will somehow cure what ails our society is mistaken.

Close the Avenue? Not So Fast

I was hoping this idea of closing Burlingame Ave. to all cars would quietly disappear as things slowly re-open and people get used to mingling a bit.  But the City has apparently asked merchants for their opinions so it's an active idea and we have a Guest Perspective in today's Daily Journal that espouses the closure.  The author comes from a great B'game family and has done a stint on the Planning Commission, but he might have benefited from serving on Traffic, Safety and Parking instead.  I'm sort of glad he broached the topic.  Here's bit of that piece

With summer weather approaching and business attendance at an all-time low, now is an incredible, once-in-a-generation time to experiment with what  Burlingame Avenue could be like if it were more pedestrian-oriented, and less vehicle-dependent.

The city needs to take strong actions to make sure the heart of its downtown, its restaurants and bars, are positioned as well as possible to succeed in a prolonged sure-to-be-tough environment. The best way the city can do this, in my opinion, is to allow them to operate at normal capacity (while adhering to strict distancing guidelines), through the expansion of temporary seating zones. Of course, the only way to accomplish this would be to follow the example set by Oakland and numerous other cities, and close Burlingame Avenue to cars.

There's an old debate tactic called the Straw Man argument that says you refute an argument that your opponent hasn't actually made.  A corollary to that is to refute one argument and omit the others.  That's what is going on in this piece:

Now, the obvious contrarian opinion is that there won’t be enough parking (a particularly Burlingame classic!). Well, my response would be: Good! Let’s finally put our environmental policy and action where our mouths are and create paths for people to safely travel, and park, via bicycle.

Allow me to note some better arguments against a full closure.  First, there are many other businesses on the Avenue besides restaurants.  All of them rely on out-of-towners and B'gamers who live far away and won't walk or bike to their stores.  Convenient parking may be over rated by some store owners, but it's not a non-issue.  Some of them sell (or would like to sell) more product than one can easily carry for blocks.  Second, what about the disabled customers?  We have handicap spaces for a reason and it's a good one.  No "TSPoon" commissioner would ever think of taking them all out, but a full closure does exactly that.  Third, it seems unfair to advantage some restaurants at the expense of others not on the Avenue.  Should Park & Howard, Narin, Coconut Bay, Stella Osteria, Il Fornaio, et al just figure it out themselves?  I don't think so.  How about Broadway?  I won't play Straw Man and suggest we close all of downtown, but fair would be fair.  Fourth, police and fire access is still required and required fast.  How do you do that with tables and diners in the street?  Lastly, the realpolitik of the City's situation is a major budget problem as noted here.  We are definitely better off than many cities, but with the hotel tax and sales taxes taking a major hit, the revenue from the meters should not be ignored.  As the City seems intent on giving away money, perhaps taking some in would be wise.

So what to do?  Doing nothing is anathema to government.  We've seen that across the board during the corona crisis.  Here's a middle position that might work for restaurants all over town.  The space in front of the restaurant can become a parklet.  I broached the idea eight years ago here.  As you can read from 2012 it got no attention--not one comment, but now might be the time.  Parklets are big in EssEff and a few sprouted in San Mateo.  One space (10' x 20' if memory serves) could hold 2 four tops.  Turned twice a night, that would be 16 more diners.  Added to sidewalk dining, it would help.  Closing the whole street is unfair, may be unsafe and likely costly.

Municipal Charity is Limited

The City-funded support for local businesses, residents and charities is coming into focus as the DJ reports today

The Burlingame City Council agreed to build a $500,000 grant program for local businesses, while setting aside $250,000 to purchase gift cards for struggling families and donating another $250,000 to service providers.  The program is to be administered by the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, or SAMCEDA, which is also operating a similar program through the county.

Noting the city’s contribution capacity is limited, Councilman Michael Brownrigg said the Burlingame Back in Business program would likely serve about 50 companies fitting a limited criteria with grants capped at about $10,000.

Officials also agreed to purchase about 1,000 gift cards from Visa or Mastercard worth $250 which would be distributed to families in Burlingame, with hopes the cards would be redeemed at local businesses.  Councilmembers had first discussed attempting to restrict spending to a specific zip code, but ultimately determined allowing flexibility for families who need assistance would be more valuable.  Those eligible for the program will be contacted by the city’s utility provider, which maintains a list of those who qualify for financial aid.

We are in the fourth quarter of the city's fiscal year which ends on June 30th.  Using last year's financial report as a rosy baseline,  page 34 shows the $84.5M of revenue had major components of property taxes (25.7%), sales and use taxes (21.1%) and the biggie that is also the most at risk, hotel tax (34.8%).  When Michael Brownrigg says that the city's contribution capacity is "limited", he ain't kidding.  We could easily see the hotel tax get cut in half for the year--which would be a $15M hit to the budget.

Even at the end of June when the next report arrives, we won't really see the complete picture since the pain arrived at the end of the third quarter.  Another DJ piece on the San Mateo budget shortfall lays out the timing issue

“There’s a challenge we have on sales tax in that the data we get is essentially six months in arrears. The most recent sales tax data we have is for the third quarter of 2019,” said Finance Director Richard Lee. “We won’t see the true impact of COVID-19 for another six months. … It’s a similar concept for [hotel] tax.”

San Mateo's predicting a $7M "structural imbalance" next year which seems small to me.  It's total projected budget is $251M but only 14.3% in sales and hotel tax, so we shall see.

Apple Heists: What is to be done?

Almost exactly a year ago, we posted about the Apple store heists getting out of control.  There were some unarmed sort-of-security guards standing around outside on the Avenue for awhile, but that mostly ceased about six months ago and was a for-show-only response anyway.  As the local multi-person, grab and go thefts continue, other merchants on the Avenue are growing concerned as are many local residents.  It seems like just a matter of time before someone gets hurt--most likely not in the store itself, but on the street as the getaway car or cars zoom off down the Avenue.  BPD has placed a decoy cruiser outside on occasion and I would guess some patrol has been upped, but it seems incumbent on Apple to do more.  Here's the decoy in place a couple nights ago.