Flood-bond supporters raise funds (Daily News)

Although city polls show that 91 percent of Burlingame voters approve the concept of a flood bond measure, a group of cautious residents are taking no chances. The Committee to Fix Our Flooding raised $12,346 by the end of September, according to the group's campaign disclosure statement released on Friday. Led by City Council members Terry Nagel and Rosalie O'Mahony, as well as resident John Root, the group aims to trumpet the benefits of Measure H to the city. "Council members are allowed to advocate for things outside our council business … so we've been making an effort to go to different events and explain what the measure is all about," Nagel said. "You say the word 'infrastructure' and people go 'boring!' but they understand our system is 75 years old and it's costing us $2 million a year just to patch it up. That's money literally going down the drain." Members of the group plan to mail brochures designed by Council Member Russ Cohen next week and begin walking the precincts this weekend. Lawn signs are expected soon.

The committee's biggest donor is Veolia Water, who contributed $3,000 to the campaign in support of Measure H. Veolia has managed the city's wastewater facility since 1972. Burlingame plant manager Bill Toci said his company felt the measure was important to protect the community from potential harm to its segregated sewer system. "Currently, there's one system for storm water and one for sewage, but if there's too much storm water infiltrating the sewer system, it could overwhelm the treatment plant," Toci said. He called it "an improvement that would actually increase the value of homeownership." As of yet, there is no formally organized and funded opposition to the measure. But a group of young homeowners have publicly expressed concerns over the tax-rate structure of the bonds, as well as the release of the bonds in four separate phases. Lorne Abramson, one of the creators of the Web site http://www.againstmeasureh.com, said at this point he and his supporters are "just a group of concerned residents running an independent Internet site on our own dime and shoestring budget, asking what we believe are fair questions."

If two-thirds of voters approve the flood bonds in the November election, the implementation of Measure H will be overseen by a Citizens Oversight Committee, which the City Council greenlighted Tuesday night. The five-member committee will also "review the city's progress on its capital improvement projects and make sure that the bonds funds are used only for the intended purposes," Finance Director Jesus Nava said. Any resident who is at least 18 years old and not an employee or official of Burlingame, or an employee of a vendor, contractor, or consultant to the city can apply for a four-year term on the council-appointed committee.

– Written by Fiona