Mercy, Mercy, Mercy was a surprise hit for saxophonist Cannonball Adderley in 1967. 60 years later, I think Mercy will go to #1 on the Burlingame Top 100 in 2027. What follows came in as a comment on the Democracy Dies in Daylight post about the city council candidate forum, but it’s too important and so detailed that I am making it a fresh post. I don’t know Valerie Teele, but I know people who do. Here is her complete, unedited comment with some added bolding by me and one correction as noted:

My husband and I were in attendance at the Candidate Forum because this election really matters for district 3. I encourage everyone in the district, especially those that live around Mercy, to watch and listen by clicking the link. Now that the gym is done, Mercy is moving forward with its next phase of construction. They are about to submit (or have just submitted) for two 4 story, senior resident apartment buildings (80 units) (Ed Note: the proposal is for 160 units) and an assisted living facility to be built on the land that is called “the meadow”. This is the area down to the left of the student parking lot. This property is ill suited (that’s putting it mildly) for such a project. There are only 3 means of egress to the entirety of the Mercy property: tucked back in the corner where Hoover curves into Columbus, the gates at the intersection of Hoover and Adeline and the gates at the end of Alvarado. It is not an area that is convenient for seniors to access shopping nor services, which have been prime considerations for the 1400 units Burlingame has either built or are in development. Other projects by Mercy Housing have been on campuses that have wide open multi-lane access. This proposal simply does not make sense.

I live on Alvarado and we have the overwhelming majority of the traffic to and from the Mercy property for school and events. Our street was not built for two way traffic with cars parked on either side of the street. It is frequent gridlock in the mornings for school drop off and again at pick up. Our family’s vehicles were sideswiped twice already since classes resumed and that now brings the total to 9. Our family is not unique with this problem. We will now see what will result from the gym being open until 10pm during the week and for both school use and public rentals until 11 on the weekends. If the proposed project is built, our street will have dramatically increased traffic at all times. Residents of the apartments, 3 shifts of employees at the nursing home, visitors, delivery and maintenance vehicles….they will ALL use our residential street.

Getting back to the Candidates Forum, listen to how the question I posed was answered. It’s at the 39:45 minute mark.

The current Planning Commission and Council are all inexplicably advocates of letting Mercy, a tax exempt, nonprofit religious institution, build whatever they want and do whatever they want. I can already tell from Mr. Stevenson’s answer how he will vote on the Mercy project despite the concerns of the TAX PAYING residents whom they are supposed to represent. I simply do not understand this. It’s easy to vote for something when your street or your district isn’t affected. Ms. Faber says several times that a district representative should represent all of Burlingame. I have not found that to be the case. Judging from her answer to the question, “there’s nothing we can do because housing mandates are determined by the state” (paraphrasing) , I fear she will fall in line with the rest of the officials and allow Mercy to further exacerbate a problem that could have terrible consequences for the many children and pedestrians who walk and bike on Alvarado and the adjacent streets.

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I’m not sure that Jen Faber (and others in various venues) saying there isn’t much we can do given the state housing mandates is correct here. Scott Weiner’s abusive Senate Bill SB79 has a half-mile impact zone around mass transit stops where higher density and the onerous “Builder’s Remedy” apply. Unless there is some gamesmanship with a lightly used SamTrans bus stop somewhere up the hill, the Mercy property doesn’t appear to get SB79 treatment. All of the other concerns so eloquently stated need to be addressed in full, in public with public comment.

What I would really like to see from our city leaders is support and involvement with the 501c3 Our Neighborhood Voices. We are far from the only California city chafing under Sacramento’s harness.