The Burlingame Voice

California Ave: Navigating the maze

You can think something will look bad and it turns out fine--or vice versa.  Now that the reworked lanes on California Ave. are nearing completion the street appears to be a mess.  Never mind that there was nothing wrong to begin with, but now people are finding all of the poorly designed features.  We covered the accident inducing tight left turn at Broadway to go south on California and the Oak Grove situation last month here.   This week I parked briefly at one of the scarce spots on the west side of California to jump out and get a photo.

I swear I did not wait around for 20 minutes to get this photo.  It literally happened right as I walked between two parked cars on the east side (which also seemed more dangerous than before).  Some driver either got confused by a "lane" to his right of the line of parked cars or he just thought why troll for an open spot in a traffic lane when there is the nice "bike lane" available?  Luckily he went by me pretty slowly since there wasn't a lot of room to spare.

With Caltrans closing El Camino for whole days at a time (today "traffic will be diverted onto the 1200 & 1300 blocks of Balboa Avenue and 1500 & 1600 blocks of Sherman Avenue, Easton Drive and Hillside Drive." from 7am to 4pm) you can bet California is seeing some overflow.  The concrete islands that are painted yellow with little reflective signs already have tire marks all over them.  People are figuring out what a mess it is including our emergency personnel.  One has to wonder how to fix this.  In the meantime, everybody be careful out there.

Broadway intersection: From bad to worse?

First in April and then again back in July we broached the question of whether it was wise to grab a lane of car traffic and some parking spaces to accommodate a new bike lane on California Ave. south of Broadway.  The early controversy was about the loss of store front parking for many small merchants on California, but now that concrete has been poured and stripes have been laid, the issue of car traffic safety has burst into the discussion as well.

Last week we had the first accident at the tighter B'way-California intersection when a Samtrans bus turning left/south from B'way to Calfornia clipped a car in the northbound California lane.  At least it was the first accident someone paying attention saw and photographed.  See below for the photos I received that also appear on Nextdoor where the commentary has been, shall we say....less than supportive of the lane changes.

This intersection has had an F grade for years.  Maybe decades.  It's not like the new B'way bridge did anything but bring more traffic to a failing intersection.  Caltrain will be giving the city council a presentation on its electrification project Monday night.  Buried in there is this on grade separation--another long running issue:

• Broadway Avenue grade crossing is heavily congested
• LOS F operations during peak hours
• #1 priority in CPUC grade separation priority list

• City and Caltrain advancing design towards 100% design in 2024
• City continues to seek funding to fully fund project, recently received large TIRCP award

It also asserts "Project Complete- Spring 2029.  There have been statements that once grade separation is complete the lanes will change again, but unless someone changes their mind in City Hall, we will have this configuration for years to come.  The last big project that was completed on time was a 101 upgrade in EssEff or SSF that had a massive contractor bonus for early completion.  We're not likely to be that lucky.

One wonders if the city council really understood what they were voting on.  When I asked one member if this was just striping that could be swapped back easily, they said "yes".  Now we see that the answer is "no" due to the concrete islands that have been added.  Other inquiring minds want to know how police, ambulances and especially fire trucks will proceed on California when some sections have nowhere for cars to pull over?  If they get some response to the question, we will post it here as a public service to help drivers pass this "B'game IQ driving test".  Here's the accident scene that closed southbound California for a half hour.

Update:  Oct. 2nd.  I have received a report of more confusion on California at Oak Grove where the new lane alignment is apparently giving northbound drivers the impression that they can make left turns from the TWO leftmost lanes.  The traffic light location show below would appear to encourage that.

 

1912 Historic Sidewalk

The city's sidewalk replacement project to fix uneven panels has rolled around to my neighborhood.  There must be 100+ panels in Burlingame Park that will get replaced.  My house (seen here) actually predates my sidewalk by a couple of years.  We were once like H'borough ("No sidewalks here"), but my block got sidewalks in 1912.  I know because they imprinted the year in the concrete and it's still there.

This is a "they don't make them like they used to" post.  The 1912 panel is not marked for replacement, but the newer one right next to is marked.  I hope the historic panel is safe and will be watching the jackhammer.  At least the contractor (R & S Contruction) is imprinting "2023" on the new sections so we can track how well they hold up.  I'm betting it won't be 111 years.

Update:  Nov 6th.  An intrepid Voice reader has one-upped my sidewalk by a year.  This imprint on Cortez at Broadway is one of a number of 1911s along Drake and Cortez.  My 1912 pane survived the sidewalk upgrade project!

Easton Euc decision: Stay in the Euc family

Listen closely and one can hear the distant echo of the Tom the Tree controversy from sixteen years ago.  Tom Jr. reached adolescence six years ago to the day here.  Now Tom Jr. will be getting some young siblings--almost like surprise babies as part of Easton Ave. is de-Eucified and re-Eucified with a different Euc species.  The DJ has some pithy quotes from our city elders about the decision to go with lemon-scented gum Euc.  Our City Arborist, Rich Holtz reiterated what our local, amateur tree expert Jennifer Pfaff recently said elsewhere on the Voice:

Holtz said the lemon-scented gum is a cousin of the eucalyptus tree but is smaller.  “There are some benefits to it, like they are very well suited to our climate, they are drought tolerant, they have low root infrastructure conflict, this particular species is aesthetically valued as a striking white bark, it tolerates pruning well and has a long-life expectancy,” Holtz said.

And the mayor weighed in with

“This is not an ordinary street,” Mayor Michael Brownrigg said. “This is a place to showcase the treescape, and so because it was set as a public space, I think we need to honor creating a special public space.”  Brownrigg said the 28-foot setback from the curb to the residents’ homes makes him believe the designers of the city intended Easton Drive to be a special place to showcase landscaping.  “To me, as soon as you have a mix of trees you just have any old street on Burlingame, which are all beautiful but it’s not special,” Brownrigg said.

I'm a fan of "theme streets" like the one I live on designated for sycamores.  We have to be vigilant because sometimes the designation is lost or forgotten in City Hall, but fortunately we have a few people with long, accurate memories around town.  Tom is looking on and is pleased.

Mills Canyon: Almost ready for affordable housing? ECR?

With the winter storm damage to Mills Canyon being repaired per this DJ article, perhaps it's time to look at that open space's suitability for satisfying some of our RHNA housing requirements.

The winding trails of Mills Canyon in Burlingame took a hit from harsh winter storms with the popular lower route washed out from tree failures, but work is almost done to complete a reroute.

City Arborist Rich Holtz said the city is aiming to have the trail completed and opened sometime in the coming weeks. Damage from the January storms caused a landslide on the lower portion of the Ed Taylor Loop Trail.  In March, the city contracted a company to develop a trail reroute, which costs around $65,000, for about 600 feet of damaged trail.

We already know that claiming the area is a "wildlife sanctuary" like Woodside tried will not work.  The Sacramento nags won't have it, so maybe it's time.  Six or seven stories would seem to fit nicely and give the top floors a bit of a view!

Just Kidding---I just couldn't wait until next April Fool's Day for this.  But what is not funny is the steady incursion of EssEff-level problems into our little burg.  This Tuesday, 9pm photo of a newly erected tent on El Camino at the B'way bus stop is the latest example.  I've heard of vagrants camping out at the Bayfront and along the Caltrain tracks in the trees, but right on ECR?  Maybe it's time to collect TOT.

California Drive bike lanes and...or parking?

I'm a bit behind the back wheel on this story about the kerfuffle over an new bike lane on California Drive. just south of Broadway.  I did address it three months ago here.  The good news is there is a regular Voice reader who has really thought about the Unintended Consequences and the law as it stands.  Here is his take on the plan:

Not all parking is the same. As currently designed by the city, this project will remove about 12 spaces – on just that one block alone.  But these are the most productive, highest quality parking spaces there are on California Dr. These are metered parking spaces. Which in addition to providing revenue to the city, also provides turnover for the businesses. These are 2-hr, 1-hr and half-hour parking spaces.  So one space can be used by 10-20 different customers.  They’re being replaced by unrestricted parking (on the east side of California).  So the new spaces will just end up just like the rest of the parking on that side of the street – RV’s, autobody shop storage and cars that don’t move for weeks at a time. In addition to being inaccessible and across the way, they truly will not benefit the impacted businesses.

There is even the outstanding question of the legality of parking on that side of street, according to the City code.  The city council has not acted to rescind the parking meter requirement on the block the City intends to remove (13.40.010).  It also has not acted on adding the parking where the City code says it is unlawful (13.36.010).

Lurking behind all of this is if and when the Broadway grade separation might happen.  We can think back four years to this post and ask are we any closer?  The intersection (really two intersections--California and Carolan) have been graded F and might be the worst in the Bay Area.  While Sacramento figures out how to pour billions into mass transit and will need many tens of billions to get High-Cost Rail just to run between two towns in the Central Valley, poor B'game idles away.

Here's the intersection as it looked yesterday and a nice marked-up aerial view to add details.

The BAAZ is back--for a couple of weeks

With a hat tip to Thin Lizzy, here is an ode to the Burlingame Avenue Autonomous Zone--the BAAZ:

Guess who just got back today?
The wild-eyed BAAZ that had been away
Haven't changed, had much to say
But man, I still think them blocks are crazy
They were askin' if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
I told 'em you were livin' downtown
Drivin' all the merchants crazy

The BAAZ is back in town (the BAAZ is back in town)

I said (the BAAZ is back in town)
(TheBAAZ is back in town)
The BAAZ is back in town...ow..ow.owwn

 

As reported in the Daily Journal here, the council has voted to bring back the BAAZ for two weeks in August--exactly three years after it was stopped as we noted here.

 

The closure will take up two blocks of Burlingame Avenue east of Primrose Road, west of Lorton Avenue and a small portion of Park Road. The Park Road segment will be a small portion of the road ending before the city-owned parking lot, so vehicles will be able to park or turn around. The council also agreed to start the two-week street closure after the Burlingame on the Avenue festival, Aug. 19, which is hosted by the Chamber or Commerce, and reopen the streets Labor Day, Sept. 2.

 

There was council commentary on the thing we need most on the Avenew--live music.  I'm not sure it needs to be taxpayer subsidized beyond waiving the entertainment permit and encroachment permit fees, but 5 grand is a modest amount either way:

 

(Council member Emily) Beach said the city could work with the downtown businesses and the Chamber of Commerce to provide a musical ambiance the remaining two weekends.  “Quite frankly, the smaller single [or] duo instrumental might create exactly the right ambiance as opposed to a big loud band that some people may like the style and some people not like the style,” Beach said.

One option, she suggested, would be for the city to set aside $5,000 to match restaurants or businesses who may want to hire a small band for the night and then the city would reimburse the business up to $500.

Mark your calendars for Art on the Ave Aug 19-20 followed by two weeks of strolling the BAAZ for dining, tippling and hopefully some good music.  Maybe we will even see our guitar-strumming council member out busking on the Ave.

E-bike litter arrives promptly

The Spin e-bike rental program has kicked off in B'game and Millbrae and already I have seen several bikes left in random spots around town.  One was left right on a corner on Carmelita blocking the sidewalk.  Another was deserted in Heritage Park.  The Daily Journal noted aspects of the program that would mitigate e-bike littering:

Burlingame installed around 20 bike corrals around transit areas, downtown and major parks. City officials hope riders use the corrals to park bikes after use and has incentive alternatives if needed.  “We just hope that the corrals will be used,” (Burlingame Sustainability Program Manager Sigalle) Michael said. “We are trying to avoid bike litter and we are trying to incentivize it by using the corrals, luckily, the program is very adaptable and it’s easy to make adjustments on the app.”

Burlingame and Millbrae plan to slowly integrate the bikes inventory as the program begins and there will eventually be more than 200 bikes available between both cities.  Spin was awarded the contract by both cities because of its lower user fees and competitive pay to local employees. It will hire two local employees between both cities who will move the bikes to heavily used locations, charge them and fix any issues. It will be moved within two hours of it being reported as somewhere a resident doesn’t want.

The DJ article did not explain how to get the litter bikes removed.  The city e-newsletter may have included that information, but if it did I missed it.  So here is what I found elsewhere:

Feel free to reach out to us via these two methods:

1. Call us: 1-888-249-9698
2. Email us: [email protected]

Before contacting us, please have the below information readily available so we can relocate our vehicle in the fastest & most efficient way possible:

• Approximate address or crossroads to where our Operations Specialists can accurately find our vehicle.
  • Example: 123 Blueberry Lane, San Francisco, CA
  • Example: Off 1st St & Bran Muffin Rd, near the alley way

• If you can, feel free to include the vehicle’s unique 7-digit ID#  
  • Found on the handlebars -> underneath the QR code

We shall see if that two-hour turnaround time is met on a regular basis.  In the meantime, put Spin's number in your phone.  You will need it when people fail to park inside the white lines like these on Broadway.

Spring Treehugger Post: Gimme a double

Happy May Day everyone.  It feels like it has been a long time coming.  I happen to be in Tahoe and there is still a 6-foot snowbank next to my walkway!  Spring skiing has been excellent with enough sunscreen on.  We have a double shot of tree hugging this Spring-- something old and something new.  First up, my brand-new street tree.  The old sycamore had reached its time and the city tagged it for removal and replacement.  It was a smooth operation.  Mark all the utilities which are numerous and very colorfully marked.  Cut it down one day, grind the stump another and plant a new one another day.  We paid the fee to get a larger tree.  Hard to tell from the photo, but my neighbor also got a replacement--standard, no charge size and there is a difference.

The second photo is a lovely apple blossom from my really, really, old Gravenstein apple tree.  A family of squirrels has taken up residence in the trunk, but that has not affected the blossoming thus far.

Biking in B'game: How many lanes are enough?

I'm a biker.  Sorry, I mean I'm a bicyclist.  I love my route past the country club, up Cortez or Cabrillo, through Ray Park, around the hospital, across ECR at Ray, down California on the bike lane, cross at Broadway and over the Rosalie O'Mahony foot/bike bridge (never saw Rosalie on a bike), through Bayside Park, south along Sanchez Lagoon, through Meta/Facebook and Coyote Point to the harbor and back along Bayswater.  That means less than 5% of my ride is on an official bike lane and I'm fine with that.  I choose Bayswater over Peninsula Ave. for obvious reasons, and I'm fine with that too.

The DJ had an article about the impending bike lane extension and loss of a car lane south of B'way 

The California Drive Bicycle Facility Project — once complete this October — will create a continuous bike lane through the city from Murchison Drive to Peninsula Avenue. The current phase will build bicycle lanes on a 0.8-mile portion of California Drive between Broadway and Oak Grove Avenue, continuing the current bike route that links Murchison Drive to Broadway.  However, five of the businesses and property owners on California Drive between Carmelita Avenue and Broadway have said they never received any notification about the project.

One of those businesses is Kerwin Galleries, which specializes in art sales. Gallery employee Mary Matsunaga said they didn’t know about the project. Had the city given the surrounding businesses proper notification, Matsunaga said they would have spoken up earlier.   “Those metered spaces are precious to us. California Drive is a busy street and by eliminating that it could severely impact our business,” Matsunaga said.

Another concerned business owner, Robert Vernazza, has owned Lou’s Auto Repair for 30 years and said California Drive is very rarely used by cyclists, but the parking spaces are always being used.

The reaction around town has been pretty negative.  I don't know Ms. Hallen, but her letter to the DJ rings of authentic understanding of the local flow

I can’t understand why the Burlingame City Council wants to put bike lanes on California Drive from Broadway south to Burlingame Avenue.

On Carolan Avenue maybe 50 yards to the east of California Drive on the other side of the railroad tracks there are excellent bike lands with very little traffic going from Broadway to Oak Grove during most of the day. And further south going from Oak Grove to Burlingame Avenue is a stretch in front of the Burlingame High School where there is hardly any traffic except when school is about to start or just getting out.

If bike lanes were put on California Avenue, I doubt that any bicyclist would want to use them since they would be biking alongside one lane of very heavy traffic where there were once two lanes of medium traffic. It would be a lot more helpful if bike lane signs were put on California Avenue at Broadway, Oak Grove Avenue and Burlingame Avenue saying that excellent bike lanes were just to the east on the other side of the train tracks.

Lois Hallen

Burlingame

I can't improve on that statement of the situation except to add that BART ridership is sinking like a rock and bicyclist access ain't gonna change that.  And the idea that all of this is temporary until we find another quarter of a billion dollars to do the Broadway grade separation--and actually do it--seems unlikely.