Month: December 2015

  • Slow Progress on Broadway

    The DJ is highlighting the installation of the new (replacement) power pole at the B'way – 101 interchange

    Work began Friday, Dec. 11, and is expected to be completed by Sunday, Dec. 13, as crews assemble a 130-foot steel pole near the Broadway overpass designed to hold the high-voltage lines sent sprawling across the highway after heavy equipment accidentally knocked down the previous structure, said a Pacific Gas and Electric spokesman Joe Molica.

    As we know from the comments on the September post here, traffic and creative driving have been an issue there during construction.  I loved this quote from the PG&E guy in the piece

    “For safety purposes, everyone keep their eyes on the road,” he said.

    Solid advice all over town.

  • Last Independent Gas

    Back in January of this year Russ posted a great forward looking item that predicted, among other things, that "the area on the east side of the railroad tracks, near Howard Avenue and near Bayswater Avenue will see some of the auto related uses disappear and housing or offices appear in their place."

    Yesterday, eagle-eyed blogger Pete Garrison sent me a photo of John Lam in his Smog All shop that is co-located with the Olde English Garage that many know as Coast gas operated by Jaguar Bob (see the first photo in the January post).  The reason was that Pete was John's last smog inspection and the end has finally come for this independent station.  We have known is was coming. Gas sales ceased about a year and a half ago (along with full-service, remember "full service")?  The good news is Jaguar Bob is moving over to California Dr., so all you Olde Englishmen can still tap his expertise.  Nonetheless, it merits a post and a pic.  End of an era.

    Smog All

    Every vehicle I took to John passed.  True Gems of B'game.  Three stories of retail/office space are apparently on the way.

  • Amtrak Impressions

    I'm really only opposed to High-cost Rail in California for about 115 reasons you can read here.  In reality, I love trains and I try to take them whenever they make sense for me.  This weekend was one of those times as I used Amtrak's Empire Service to get from the state capital Albany to Manhattan.  The first interesting point is the northern station isn't really in Albany.  It is across the Hudson River in Rensselaer–a little dinky town known for, well, the train station that has existed since 1968 when it replaced the 1899 era Union Station in Albany.  The point is people will go out of town to get reasonable rail service so maybe stopping High-cost Rail in San Jose and connecting to a decent Caltrain line up and down the Peninsula isn't such a bad idea (Are you listening, Jerry Brown?).

    I made a business class reservation a month in advance for the 2 hour 45 minute trip and those seats where sold out.  It is the holiday season so I am not sure this $103 ticket is quite as hot at other times of the year, but it is the "the ninth-busiest, as well as the busiest (station) to serve a metro area with a population smaller than 2 million".  There was only one business class car so perhaps most people want to save a few bucks on a sub-3 hour trip that made about eight stops.

    For me, the most interesting thing about the trip was what did not happen.  There was zero security.  None. Nada. Zip.  Nothing that even came close to a TSA check.  There was a flyer in the seat pocket suggesting "If you see something, say something".  As far as I can tell that is about what is planned for California's high-cost rail.  Nothin'.

    It got me where I wanted to go on time at a reasonable price.  I'd do it again.  According to the Wall Street Journal article on Dec. 2nd, the whole Amtrak system lost $306.5 million in fiscal 2015 which was its lowest in four decades.  The Northeast Corridor generates operating surpluses, excluding capital expenses, which is to say it loses money in real accounting.  The nationwide network loses more money both ways.  The bottom line:  local service (up to a couple of hours of travel) has a chance, long distance service is an albatross.  Nothing new there, unless you are Jerry Brown or a CHSRA commissioner.

    Amtrak Albany

    Did you notice the long strip of dangerous dots?

  • UC: Spending Taxpayer Money Wisely?

    I am travelling in New England this week and happened to read the New York Times Sunday edition.  Don't worry, I did not waste one slim dime of my own money on it–I picked it up on the Amtrak train when someone else was done with it.  Imagine my surprise when, flipping through the front section trying in vain to find something worth reading, I stumble into not ONE, but TWO full-page University of California advertisements!

    The first one had a bit of academic content about "climate change" research being done at UCSD.  The second FULL PAGE AD was for UCLA and was just a big kiss to record/movie maven David Geffen (he's the G in Dreamworks SKG) for the donations he has made to the School of Medicine.  Perhaps Bruce Dickinson can weigh in on Geffen's contributions to music and movies, but I have to ask why do we, as California taxpayers, have to fund expensive advertising in New York newspapers (note this was the New England edition I read)?  Out of State students in the UC system are already a hot issue in California so I am at a loss regarding the purpose of either of these ads.  Anyone have any idea why we paid for this expensive fishwrap?

    UC NY Times BS

  • High ranking for high schools

    Congrats to Burlingame High. According to a report in the Burlingame Patch:

    A new report card is out for public high schools in California, and several local schools are at the top of the class.

    That’s because 10 percent of the state’s top 100 schools are located right here in the Peninsula, according to Niche, which compiles school rankings.

    According to a new survey from the organization, Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto ranked second in all of California. Nine other Peninsula schools also placed in the top 100 in the state, as follows:

    Nearby, in the South Bay, Saratoga High School came in at number four in the state while Lynbrook High School in San Jose is number 10 in all of California.

    Niche looked at more than 23,000 public high schools in the nation to compile these rankings. In the end, they released results for some 16,000 the schools after looking at these key areas:

    • Academics
    • Administration
    • Educational outcomes
    • Extracurriculars
    • Food
    • Health/safety
    • Facilities
    • Sports
    • Student culture
    • Teachers

    Granada Hills Charter High School in Los Angeles was ranked the best high school in all of California.

  • H2O: Is the Stone Out of Blood?

    The SacBee is keeping an eye on the faucet and sprinklers state-wide in this report

    California residents failed to meet monthly water conservation targets in October, the first miss since mandatory conservation standards went into effect in June.  Urban water users across the state cut water use by an average of 22 percent in October, compared to the same month in 2013. Gov. Jerry Brown ordered California residents to cut water use by an average of 25 percent between June and February this year in response to the drought.

    October (of 2015) was hotter than the same month in 2013, and some California residents felt compelled to continue watering their lawns.  In winter, more conservation is required indoors by taking a number of small measures.  “Keeping the 25 percent savings is going to get harder,” said water board chair Felicia Marcus. “When I saw the 22 percent, I was relieved. … It could have been a lot worse.”

    And it probably will.  I still haven't seen any movement in Sacramento to do the obvious sensible things we will need to stay afloat.

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