Dedicated to Empowering and Informing the Burlingame Community
Reading the Parks and Rec minutes for February, I culled this gem about the New-to-Burlingame volunteers who spend their free time and energy cleaning up and assisting our parks department with Mills Canyon. Geez!
He agreed there are problems in the Park but that magnificent changes proposed to the Canyon by someone new to the area and whom does not live in the area is not right.
– Written by Fiona
Well, whoever the grump is, may have a point…
The phrase, “attractive nuisance,” comes to my mind when I think about making the Mills Canyon area more attractive.
I say this simply because I live next to the canyon and have had to deal with the teen-drinking and, for crying-out-loud, lighting camp fires.
Can you imagine the problem if a fire gets started down there? The eucalyptus alone would take out several houses before the air-tankers could get mobilized.
As for police-response: Upper Adeline is a county road.
If you call for the police, you will find the Sheriff or CHP responding- so things don’t happen too quickly, as the enforcement territory for the police is relatively large.
And then- there is the homeless problem down there.
The less “interesting” we make that area- the more the locals can enjoy it in peace and safety. Newcomers simply may not know the local pace yet.
If it works- don’t fix it.
Pete Garrison
Local Character
Having spent 14-years living IN a county park, I have to agree with the neighbors concerns. It’s nice that there are volunteers and friends of the open space to insure the park land stays free of invasive species, clear of trash, keep trails open and act as docents for those who are interested in preserving or learning about the area and wildlife but an open space in the middle of a urban area, unpatrolled at night is an open invitation for teens to have parties.
Without park-staff presence this is simply going to happen. There are many concerns here including injury, liability, sanitary facilities and of course, fire. With all the fuel in the park, (this year will be especially bad), a carelessly tossed cigarette or small unwatched campfire can start an out-of-contol fire quickly. There is no way for the fire apparatus to get into some of those areas, so it would be on-foot wildland proceedures. Homes would be lost and if weather conditions were right… remember Oakland Hills?
It can be very unsettling living in or next to a park when you have no control over what goes on there. Hearing loud groups of people late on summer nights partying in the property adjacent to your backyard is good reason to worry.
Neighbors, please join us when we next clean up the PUBLIC park. You will be surprised what the residents roll down the hill into the Canyon or perhaps those pesky teenagers hike those very heavy water heaters into the Canyon just for the pure helluva it!
Or perhaps anyone else with a pickup who simply wants to avoid dump fees.
How about annex the homeowners who live around “The City of Burlingame, Mills Canyon”.
Tax them on the value of the resource, maintenance, and liability.
The issue of homeless people, fires, drugs/drinking is only the multi-million dollar home owners in that area, keeping a valuable resource from all of us to enjoy.
This issue is BS.
I am all for advertizing this incredable gem.
Letting a small group of homeowners squash the availablity of this resource is very, very, wrong.
I bet illegal as well.
Maybe this needs more coverage.
SF Chronicle.
What came first the complaining home owners or Mills Canyon? If the answer is mills Canyon, then you purchased your home KNOWING about Mills Canyon. When you purchased your home you knew it was county jurisdiction, hence you KNEW the police and fire issues. If you did not want to accept these issues, you should not have purchased the house.
Stop complaining and join those residents, who are willing to spend time and attempt rejunvenate a hidden jem. Speak to your neighbors, who throw tires, water heaters, and dead vegetation over their back property line into the canyon. AND, yes there are those wantabe POT farmers, who are cultivating their own littes ILLEGAL gardens. Do you think your neighbor’s ILLEGAL gardens might be bringing some of those pesky teenagers in and around your back fence?
Just for some historical perspective, the city of Burlingame set aside this natural wildlife area in 1952 and long long before that the Ohlone Indians enjoyed this beautiful canyon so this park did not sprout up like those ugly houses. These “grumps” are lucky to live in such close proximity to such a beautiful park and if they are worried about fire hazards, etc. please come and help clear the dried brush, etc. Your constructive help would be greatly appreciated.
Don’t know what the solution to the teenage problem is – a teen center? parent control?, boot camp? sending them to juvie? We have been advised to call the Burlingame police when vagrants are rifling through our recycle bins, so perhaps the police could be called to investigate a group of pot-smoking, fire-making, guinness-drinking, bonking, hormone-driven rap-music-listening wild teenagers!
Goodness me! Why not put up Beware of Cougars/ Tigers/Elephants/Dilophosaurus/Spitting Cobra/Yeti signs at the park, perhaps that will keep ’em out!
I concur with the last three opinions. These people bought houses by a park (in this case Mills Canyon) and now want to camplain. Either do something to help with the issue or pipe down. Cleaning Mills Canyon is a great idea and the people coming out to do it should be applauded for their effort!
You see this all the time with people living next to parks. They love the idea of buying a house near fields, playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts until someone actually starts using them and there is noise.
How about playing some soothing Lawerence Welk music…..that will keep teens away? Oh….that would be noise….sorry! 😉
I like Fionas’ last comment. I thought it would be a good time to dust off my “Bong”, go to the canyon and take some “rips”.
I did not want to mention it, but yes there are at least 2 properties that I have seen in the last 3 days that are growing weed. I feel bad about bringing this issue up. Even though the weed is in green houses’.
I believe the canyon should be known as a spot for recreation at the very least, to people who live in Burlingame.
A little signage, at the will let the people living in Burlingame, know that this park is here.
Perhaps our students are doing the equivalent version of the Blair Witch Project as they venture deep into the murky dangerous woods of Mills Canyon! What will they find?!
Here’s the solution for all your needs expressed in the above comments in regard to spiffing up the Mills Canyon Area:
An Ohlone Indian Gambling Casino!
Think of the benefits…
The city can tax it.
Our unfocused youth can get their first jobs there as bus personnel, servers, bouncers.
The people who want to spruce up the canyon can be gardeners and landscapers.
I can open a re-hab clinic for recovering alcoholics and gambling addicts.
This is a win-win for us.
Pete (I’m not that crazy.) Garrison
I think the volunteers have a far less grandiose (sic) wish list than a gambling casino – or even a 28-acre Safeway. Please see portion of Parks & Rec minutes below to see what these volunteers do – a litte cleaning up, a few wildflowers, a sign or two, some native trees, some cleaning up, trying to raise money to fix broken bridges, some replacing of destroyed trees, some removal of invasive plants and more boring boring boring cleaning up.
“FOMC acts as a support group for the Parks Department. They help groom the trails, helping tic abatement and chop away deadwood and return it to the forest floor. FOMC is currently seeking 501(c)3 status to enable the organization to obtain grant monies to help pay for maintaining bridges, retaining walls and waterdogs. FOMC also seeds wildflowers and removes invasive species in the Canyon. FOMC wants the habitat to remain as natural as possible. FOMC would like to plant native oak trees on the Arguello entrance on Arbor Day to replace the eucalyptus that recently came down in a storm. FOMC has a wish list of items for the Park including $7,000 to pay the CCC for 3-4 days to fix the washouts”
And to think some of these Burlingame volunteers don’t even live on Arguello! Heaven to murgatroid!
The Burlingame Voice is dedicated to informing and empowering the Burlingame community. Our blog is a public forum for the discussion of issues that relate to Burlingame, California. Opinions posted on the Burlingame Voice are those of the poster and commenter and not necessarily the opinion of the Editorial Board. Comments are subject to the Terms of Use.
All content subject to Copyright 2003-2026
Leave a Reply