The Burlingame Voice

Beware Buffett?

In my perpetual quest to answer the question "what does this news mean to B'game?" today's chapter deals with the news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment company just agreed to buy the country's fifth-largest auto retailer as a basis to "roll-up" the fragmented car dealership market.  Simultaneously "AutoNation and Lithia Motors have been snapping up smaller retail chains, often run by families who have been selling cars for generations." according to the WSJ.

Car retailing is very, very, shall I add a third "very" important to B'game.  It was the leading sales tax generator in Q1 as you can see on the City website here.  About $900K came in that quarter and even with lines around the corner at the Apple store for the iPhone 6, it will take a lot of phones to come close to that.

The Journal notes "there were almost 17,700 new-vehicle dealerships operating in 2013, of which more than half sell fewer than 400 units a year.  The average profit margin for them was a princely 2.2% -- pretax."  Couple that with Tesla's non-dealership sales model where the sales tax goes to the city where the buyer lives not the city where it was sold and there are changes afoot.  Should be interesting to see if the robust Peninsula economy keeps car selling local or if the Oracle of Omaha will move into B'game.  In the meantime, shop B'game.

Streetscape Kudos

Coming back to town at one commenter's request, here is a very complete review of our soon-to-be-completed Avenew streetscape project.  I don't know Planner Dan and never heard of him before, but from some of his technical terminology and analysis it is apparent that he is in the urban planning business.  And overall, he is impressed with what is happening on B'game Ave.  You should read through the whole blog entry.  My favorite bit is

At about 10 feet, the walkway is wide enough to accommodate leisurely strolling and more purposeful pedestrians. Conversations among pairs or groups can be had while allowing plenty of room for others to pass. The walkway hugs the buildings, as it should. While a few narrow tables with chairs occasionally sit against the buildings, the main furniture zone is out toward the curb where it belongs. 

That also means there is plenty of room for the newly-legal canine dinner companions which have been common on the Ave for a long time.  His commentary on the crosswalks is also insightful

The crosswalks use the same pavers as the sidewalks. It looks good, but I prefer to keep crosswalks simple. Continental striping on asphalt, made famous on the cover of the album Abbey Road by the Beatles, is very easy for motorists to see and is universally understood to denote pedestrian crossings. They are also inexpensive to build and easy to maintain. And, what could be cooler than looking like a Beatles album?

It also gives me a chance to post a picture of myself and two friends in that famous crosswalk on Abbey Road!  Just another day in the life.

 

 

Good clean fun.

As the new sidewalks appeared on Burlingame Avenue, so did the complaints about the spills and stains. The city has promised a more aggressive steam-cleaning schedule. I’m afraid that unless there is steam cleaning each day, the spills will appear quicker than the steam cleaner can clean.

Here are three ways we can get ahead of the spills and stains. Not surprisingly, some of the ways I am about to suggest are somewhat untraditional, but sometimes you have to think outside the box to accomplish the goal.

Hang on to your hats, here we go.

a.)   In Downtown Palo Alto, for example, there is a program called The Downtown Streets Team. The folks on the team appear everyday and work in shifts all day to pick up trash, etc. These folks are down on their luck and work in exchange for room and board vouchers. They wear uniforms and even at as downtown ambassadors in a fashion, answering questions of visitor’s etc. They keep the downtown cleaner than it would be without their help. Funded through grants, contributions from the BID and the city. Downtown Streets is a non-profit 501 c 3 organization and is proved a successful model that pother cities are following. Perhaps Burlingame could be one. www.streetsteam.org

b.)   The San Mateo County Sherriff’s Work Furlough Program. This is another program available to SM County cities. It is largely free of charge to the cities and brings folks who have some community service indebtedness because of troubles with the law like DUI, non-payment of alimony, etc. They are certainly not hardened criminals and all participants have to be recommended for the program through the courts. The only obligation from the city is to have a city employee supervise and the participants cannot use power tools. I am not sure if a power washer would fall into the exempt tools category or not but at the very least these folks could help make sure the downtown is tidy on a daily basis. As I understand it, they would work in the early morning hours and be gone before the shops and restaurants open. Most folks would never even know they had been there. Other cities take advantage of this opportunity and I believe the city of Burlingame has in the past used this program to help clean up our creek sides.

c.)   Many folks in Burlingame like to work out. They even join clubs and pay for the privilege to do so. Why not grab a broom or a mop and push it from one end of the avenue to the other? I can assure you the calories will burn and you will get your daily dose of exercise--all while helping the community. How about we create a daily competition? Participants could earn points for downtown discounts. Corporations could assemble teams. Once again, this program could be free of charges to the city. In fact, the city or the downtown association could charge a small fee to participate in the activity and actually make some money. Now there’s a novel concept. How ‘bout the city council form the first team? Why get on an exer-cycle and peddle to nowhere when you could tone up and tune up downtown?

There ya go, three low or no cost ways to keep downtown looking spiffy. 

Rare Sight on the Avenew

This struck me as a very funny sign.  You won't see it again for a long time.  I can definitely appreciate the merchants' dilemma, especially those near the El Camino intersection who have to live with this weird anomaly, but nonetheless a "U-turn Only" sign is not something you will see on the Avenew again.

$aving Our Pennie$ 2014

The Daily Journal piece on the audit results have generated some council commentary on building up our reserves instead of taking on new projects right away. 

The city’s annual audit revealed the city’s net position increased $13.1 million, or 7.4 percent, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. The city’s current total budget is $64.6 million. The largest positive budget variance was reported for the transient occupancy tax, or hotel tax, which totaled $18.2 million, up $2 million from the previous year. Property and sales tax revenues were up for a combined $1.4 million — as the economy continued its measured recovery from the 2009 downturn, according to a staff report.

The council sentiment is quoted as "Also in agreement with Deal and Nagel was Councilman Ricardo Ortiz who would like the extra money to be saved for now." and I can't imagine council members Brownrigg or Keighran disagreeing with that.  Maybe just a little to commission a local artist to do a new painting of Anson B'game for city chambers?  I'll bet a couple of hundred would do the job.  In the meantime, keep shopping B'game.

Another Local Downtown Fatality

We keep an eagle eye on the Avenew in hopes that it won't all be new in the next few years.  The DJ has a piece on The Personal Touch's decision to go to strictly on-line

After 33 years in business, a local engraving store is shutting its doors due to rising rent costs.
The Personal Touch of Burlingame will be closing in January 2014, after finding a final Burlingame home at 257 Primrose Road for 18 years. Its previous location was at Burlingame Avenue and Park Road.

“We pleaded with the landlord, but they keep raising rents,” said Folks, who lives in San Carlos. “We paid top dollar and had no air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter. A client just came in and said what everyone is saying, ‘It’s sad to see so many small businesses leave Burlingame.’”

Please click through and read the whole story because it bears on what our "village" will look like 10 or 20 years from now.  We bought a couple nice things in the shop just last month so now I will look at them in a whole new light--which is easy with crystal!  As we move into the heart of the holiday season, please remember to Shop B'game.

City Sales Tax Leaders

While we wait with bated breath for the Council vote to be finalized (probably next Tuesday, Nov. 12th), here are the Top 25 sales tax revenue generators in town (in alpha order) for Q2:

Apple, Bayshore Shell (love their car wash!), Benihana (had a good meal there this year), Chevron, Color Copy, Elephant Bar, Fiat, Garratt Callahan, the Hyatt, Hyundai, Il Fornaio (always a good choice), Kern's, Marriott (had a great two day business meeting there last month), Mike Harvey Acura and Honda, Payless Car Rental, Putnam (x4 dealerships), Rector, Safeway, Technical Instrument, Walgreens and WW Grainger.

Overall we were up 8.3% year-over-year in Q2 and Autos and Transportation continue to be the Golden Goose.

Halloween Approaches

Lots of people have a soft spot for Halloween from their childhood days trick-or-treating.  And I'm one of them.  I'm thrilled that B'game's establishments Straits, Barrelhouse, Barracuda Sushi, Coconut Bay and Vinyl Room will be celebrating again this year.  Not just once, but twice!  We will have a Costume Pub Crawl on Sunday the 27th and the regular event on Thursday, Oct. 31st.

We've had some wild, good times like two years ago described here.  Does anyone know if Amanda F. is still around and tending bar?

By the way, the Goodwill store on California Ave. has gone all out to stock a lot of Halloween costume items.  No need to drive to San Mateo or San Carlos or the big pop-up store on University in Palo Alto.

Oak Grove Shout-out

The Daily Journal has a very cute piece on the "new old" 50 year old Oak Grove Market across from the BHS football field and track.  It notes

After multiple changes in ownership, the Oak Grove Market was going downhill and eventually became a place mostly for high school students to hang out and get their chips and drinks after school.

“When I got here, it was dreadful. The previous owner just sort of gave up,” said (Steve) Rich. “It’s about bringing back a corner neighborhood store.”

And the neighbors are positive on the changes

“It has definitely improved from what it was before,” said Charles Chavez, from Burlingame. “It’s convenient and it sure beats a 7-Eleven.”

I can think of two other neighborhood corner markets in B'game--the one on Howard Ave and the Adeline Market, but it sounds like Oak Grove is taking things to a whole new level  Did I miss any other?  Just another thing that make B'game lcoal B'game instead of one homogenous clone of somewhere else.

 

"Top Shops" on the Avenew

The July 14 Sunday S.F. Comicle's Style section gave us some press we do want as opposed to some we don't want.  The stylistas at the Chron highlighted 100 "Top Shops" and included our very own Morning Glory in their Hall of Fame noting

For more than 40 years, Morning Glory's haute boheme aesthetic has owed much to the hippie era when it was opened by sisters Maureen and Paulette Monroe with an emphasis on street-influenced styles.  Nanette Lapore, L.A.M.B., Ivan Grundahl, Frau Brau and Free People are among the brands featured, along with accessories by local designers.

The Chron also saw fit to call out Les Deux Copines in the Peninsula section reminding readers

The name means "the two girlfriends," and fittingly, this 10-year-old Burlingame boutique carries French and European brands like Sonia Rykiel and Vanessa Bruno amont American favorites, including Genetic Denim and Opening Ceremony in this small but chic outpost.

Kudos to both shops for making the cut and let's hope both survive along with all their neighboring merchants as the Ave gets a full face-lift.   Update:  Hall of Famers deserve a photo