Sunday, March 11th marks the 40th anniversary of Sam's Sandwiches. I loved the prior tiny space that is now part of Kabul, but the new space in the historic Greyhound Depot is even better. Stop by for a Sam's Special and congratulate June and Rino on their success.
The SF Examiner has two articles in today's edition that should be on the same page. On page 3, it notes that the City had a net loss of 5,000 kids between the 2000 and 2010 Census. "The number of kids in the City has plunged more than 40 percent over the last 50 years." Then on page 5 another article is titled "Peninsula schools cope with tide of students." It notes the San Carlos superintendent's view that
“Every time a house becomes available, it seems to get filled by people with strollers,” Baker said. “On the one hand, it’s a good thing because people want to come to our schools, but on the other hand, we would like to get a rest for a few years.”
And Burlingame Elementary School District is in line with the trend growing from 2,343 to 2,771 year over year (up 18 percent). Good planning is helping here with new buildings having come into service this year. The BESD strategic plan is ready to be updated since it was done in June 2007 with a five year view.
Tonight's Giants game marked the opening of spring training. Seems like just last week the Torture ended, but the boys are back. Even more noteworthy was the broadcast announcement that former BHS Panther standout shortstop Drew Shiller has apparently landed an announcing gig with Comcast Sportsnet as the "Stanford Radio Analyst". Can't wait to hear what that is all about. And, yes, he did play two other sports at BHS.
There's a fun article in today's Daily Journal that traces the history of the Easton family in Burlingame. I always enjoy reading about the old race tracks, including Shell Park that they built (also called Black Hawk track after the estate name).
Ansel developed a horse ranch on the property. He was only a few miles from another horse ranch run by William Corbett. Corbett had a race track built on his property and, not to be outdone, Ansel had a race track built, Shell Park Course, northeast of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad tracks (near Highway 101 and Broadway). The crushed shell for the track was taken from the numerous Indian middens (mounds) found along Burlingame creek.
You can read more in the Burlingame Centennial book and the 1876 map on page 50 shows the location. My 1925 map still shows that space as being one big "Easton" block.
Yesterday someone actually asked me why I hadn't posted on High Cost Rail lately. It seems a month and a half hiatus leaves some hungry for news. But there really isn't much news. There has been plenty of ink spilled rehashing the same ole stuff, but now the Feds are relaxing the September 2012 deadline to begin construction since we are apparently "making continual progress" according to a piece in the Mercury Times. It goes on to note
A lot of work remains, however. In recent months, Gov. Jerry Brown's appointees overhauled the project twice, while planners tweaked track assignments in response to community concerns. They still haven't finished two key documents needed before construction can start: the business plan and state environmental reports.
That's all. Just the business plan and the EIR. In the meantime, people all over the country are watching. One Thom McKee from Marriottsville, MD has this letter in the Wall Street Journal today
Regarding your editorial "Obama's Keystone Jujitsu" (Feb. 28): C'mon seriously, no one could be that politically cynical. You must have misreported the facts. After all, approving only the Oklahoma-Texas section of a pipeline to deliver oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast would be like backing a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco and then proposing only to build the leg between two middle-of-nowhere towns in the Central Valley. Oh, never mind.
Good work "federal rail authorities" but there is someone keeping them on their toes. For all those who think the Europeans love their HSR, here is a link to a story from Italy that is making the rounds among those of us who think this is just a massive boondoggle.
The 75th anniversary Lion's Club student speakers contest went off as planned at Lion's Hall in Washington Park on Tuesday. Students from SF, Capuchino and Half Moon Bay were among those competing to advance in the statewide contest. It was reported that a prior contestant who did well at many levels won nearly $25,000 in prize money! Tuesday's prize was a C-note and a chance to move up. Here is the winner with local Lions (Lioness?) Kevin Kielty and Toni Nava. Kudos on mastering a tough but exceptionally useful skill.
I missed the Lion's 5th grade spelling bee on Wednesday night, but I'm sure that was well done also.
Last Sunday's Historical Society meeting was really fun. The five panelists enjoyed the question wheel that was projected to choose the category of questions with local businesses, school memories and local sports garnering the lion's share of the time. Panelist John Horgan noted that even he was learning a lot and Peter Cleaveland joked that the local scribe had collected enough tidbits for a years' worth of columns.
The memories of local drinking establishments drew out multiple memories from all of the panelists while memories of teachers, business proprietors and photos of buildings gave the audience plenty of opportunity to contribute.
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