Month: August 2010

  • The good and the bad

    On my morning walk I noticed that two stores in downtown are,in my opinion, doing a good job at redoing the facades of their buildings. In fact, they are improving what was there before. My two examples that should be recognized for a fine job, although not completed yet, are:

    a.) The new Pet store, former Blockbuster. Nice colors, added windows, nothing too garish–although who knows how big their sign will be?

    Petsmart
     
    and b.) The new Van's shoe shop. Added brick facade rather than bright, white stucco. Gives it that old fashioned feel while still contemporary. 

    Vans
    And then there's always someone who wants to wreak havoc just for fun. Witness the destroyed planter in front of The Burlingame Hillsborough History Museum inside the Burlingame Train Station.

    Broken planter
      

  • Free Parking – Lost Revenue

    Lots of people have figured out that the now-closed Walgreen's parking lot next to Safeway is the cheapest park in town.  One wonders how much revenue the City is losing from this gift.  If Safeway is going to be open by May of 2011, they better get the bulldozers in soon.

    Free Parking_Walgreens

  • High Cost Rail – Part 26 Gag Orders

    The Daily Post is reporting on the non-disclosure agreements that High Cost Rail contractors have been forced to sign before they get any business.  The hardcopy-only paper writes:

    Contractors hired by the California High-Speed Rail Authority to prepare environmental reports on the $43 billion project are contractually prohibited from discussion their agreements with the media, according to a government watchdog group that examined the authority's current contracts.

    The article lists 10 contracts that CalWatchdog examined including:

    Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade & Douglas (program management)

    HTNB (LA to San Diego and SF to San Jose corridors)

    Lovely, just lovely.  Your tax dollars at work digging a bigger hole to pour more of your tax dollars down.

  • The Hills Revolt

    Several papers have reported on the taxpayer revolt in the Burlingame Hills (the unincorporated section that the County runs) over sewer increases.  The full piece is here:

    After the San Mateo County Department of Public Works proposed to raise annual sewer bills from $1,150 to $1,350 in order to pay for capital improvements to aging sewer lines in the unincorporated neighborhood, more than 300 residents fought back through a petition presented at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

    “It’s just gotten to be too much for people,” Sampson said. “They have been raising rates since 2000, which were relatively small increases at first. They have now already collected over $1 million in the last 10 years, but haven’t done diddly to fix the pipes.”

    Taxpayers are getting progressively more fed up–this is just the beginning!

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