Author: Joe

  • Anson Burlingame and Mark Twain

    This quarter’s B’game Historical Society meeting featured Stanford professor Shelley Fisher Fishkin describing the brief, but close mutual admiration between Dear Ole Anson Burlingame and Mark Twain. Twain rightly considered Anson a “citizen of the world” as he had served in the U.S. House of Representatives, been an outspoken abolitionist, been our Ambassador to China and then was appointed by the Chinese government to be their liaison to the world and especially the U.S. government. That post resulted in the “Burlingame Treaty” which was ratified and promptly ignored according to Shelley. Anson in turn mentored Twain by urging him to evolve from a regional humorist and newspaper reporter to have a world view and become a recognized author. He pushed Twain to surround himself with people of “superior intellect”.

    Anson and Twain only met in person a few times. The main meeting was in Hawaii after Twain had been horseback riding and had bad saddle sores so Anson went to his hotel. Later Anson arranged for Twain to be carried by stretcher to interview men who had just spent 43 days in an open boat at sea so he would have the scoop for the Sac Union. Twain eventually moved to Washington D.C. where he developed a lifelong dislike of politicians. He is famously quoted as saying “This is the place to get a poor opinion of everybody in.” Twain did, however, make one exception. “There isn’t one man in Washington, in civil office, who has the brains of Anson Burlingame.” Twain considered taking Anson up on an offer to travel to Europe with him (which he declined) where Anson died in St. Petersburg in 1870. (More on his death at the Feb. 28th Society meeting where we will learn if he really died from pneumonia or not).

    Professor Fisher Fishkin then pivoted to her new book “Jim” which reexamines Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective. (It does more than that, but too much to accurately describe here). She described Twain’s satirical use of a “clueless narrator” that would cause readers to both laugh and wince at the irony-infused attack on racism. The book was available for purchase at the meeting and sold well. Her efforts to record the forthcoming audiobook version were of particular interest as she had to expend a lot of effort to find a black voice actor who would read the book as written. Several famous black actors declined due to the (original) content. Here’s Shelley at the Rec Center where we had at least 100 attendees.

  • Have Mercy on the Neighbors

    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.

    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.

  • Bay Area Air District: Out to lunch and to Turkey

    Let’s string two recent news reports together regarding the bureaucrats at the Bay Area Air District. First, somehow the SF Comicle editors let slip a piece about how “few” (meaning one!) of the BAAD members behind the gas water heater ban have actually made the switch themselves. The ban is scheduled to kick in this January unless they vote next month to delay it one year. When asked by the Comicle if the 24 members had made the switch, less than half bothered to respond and the only one with an electric water heater opposes the outright ban! 13 ignored the inquiry, three declined to answer, and four are still on the evil gas feed. All of them plus three more who are renters (who have no clue what is involved in making a switch) have no idea what it will really cost a homeowner. Their cost estimates are way off both for the units and for all the work needed to swap over. Furthermore, I recently had an HVAC tech call for something else and learned that the electric “heaters” draw in heat from their surroundings; so my indoor water heater on a service porch will actually chill down that part of my house. Fine on the rare hot B’game day. Not so good all the rest of the time.

    The Daily Post provides another view of these bureaucrats’ priorities. It found that BAADies like the Palo Alto mayor, a Sonoma County supe and her chief of staff as well as four BAAD employees are set to blow $92,000 on a junket to Turkey for a “climate conference” in November. Will they be absent for the delay vote? Apparently “it’s important for local agencies to attend the conference because the federal government isn’t addressing climate change.” Oh, and they are spending less travel budget than the last two years. We get the government we vote for, and we get it good and hard.

  • Democracy dies in daylight

    The typical quote is “Democracy dies in darkness”. According to Gemini:

    “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the official slogan of The Washington Post. Owner Jeff Bezos selected the phrase after hearing investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who found the line in a 2006 First Amendment judicial opinion by U.S. District Judge Damon J. Keith regarding government wiretapping and secrecy.

    Here in California, it seems democracy is slowly withering away in plain sight. Tuesday’s Candidate Forum was lightly attended to say the least. It seemed like maybe 30 people were there for an event that used to be standing room only and had overflow into the lobby. The move to “five little districts” is one thing driving the lack of interest. We only had three candidates on the dais (Andrea Pappajohn was called away). Peter Stevenson is unopposed but was invited by the League of Women Voters anyway. That left only Jen Faber and Howard Wettan to vie for the District 3 seat. All three candidates said they are elected by district but represent the whole city. But voters tend not to show up when they don’t have a vote (as with two districts this cycle) or a competitive choice (also in two districts this cycle). I just read where Newsom signed 1,000 bills this legislative cycle, but apparently this democracy-killing loophole in the law wasn’t important enough to anyone in Sac. The DJ’s Mark Simon tallied nearly half of the 52 city council seats being elected in the county have no competition. 80% of our city’s voters are disenfranchised and nobody who could do anything about it cares.

    The Forum itself was fairly mundane. Part of that is due to the format. Three minutes to introduce oneself and two minutes to conclude. One minute per question. With questions like “How would you suggest we wrest some local control back from Sacramento?”, “Do you support selling Lot L?”, and “What do you think are the Top 3 priorities for Bgame residents?”, one minute doesn’t cut it. Back when we had nine people on stage that might have been necessary, but not when there are only three. Unfortunately, the lady from the League struggled to keep track of the speaking order for three or to organize her thoughts around the twelve questions asked. That isn’t helping keep democracy vibrant. Here are Howard, Peter and Jen.

  • Fall treehugger post #1: Apples everywhere

    We are two weeks into Fall and my Gravenstein apple tree has delivered another bumper crop through the Summer. Apples the size of softballs that land with a thud that can scare you. Here are the last couple yet to drop. Fall foliage hasn’t really kicked in yet on the streets of B’game so post #2 will have to wait.

  • Burlingame was alive at Live

    We have had the nickname “Boringame” in the past. I first heard it when I worked in town in 1983, but this past Thursday to Sunday we were alive with the sounds of music on the Ave. Four days, three bands per day. A dozen bands. That’s a lot of music and hundreds of people came out to hear it each day even with the oppressive heat on the weekend.

    I had the pleasure of MC’ing Friday and Sunday as I did for one day at Burlingame on the Avenue back in August. Sometimes it feels like our city is growing fast, but other times you see a lot of familiar faces and it seems still small. Well, maybe not “small” but not big either. Kudos to the Burlingame/SFO Chamber of Commerce for managing all the details of the program that makes it all go smoothly.

    The talk on the street all weekend was about the merchandise theft and subsequent tackle of a suspect by a “Burlingame man” on Wednesday. Here’s the NBC Bay Area report complete with video.

    A Burlingame man was caught on camera tackling a person police were chasing after a reported retail theft on Wednesday. It all started with a man running full speed down Lorton Avenue. Camera footage showed when he was followed by another, who quickly closed the gap and took him to the ground. The two wrestle on the sidewalk before a passing car blocks the camera’s view. The video was recorded around 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday. Around 15 minutes earlier, police said they received a report of a theft from a business on Burlingame Avenue.

    Not recommended, but gutsy, nonetheless. Here’s Mike Annuzzi’s band closing the festivities last night.

  • Hotel Tax: Leveling up from 12% to 15%

    The easiest tax to support is one you will never pay. And no, I’m not talking about the billionaire tax. Raising the Transient Occupancy Tax, the “ToT”, is on our ballot in five weeks and as the DJ editorial says, it’s a “no brainer”. The rationale may not always be solid as in “hey, revenue is down so we must raise the tax rate”, but that’s the story and supporters are sticking with it. From the DJ

    Before COVID, the city collected approximately $30 million in revenue from the 12% hotel tax. In its last budget, the city showed it collected approximately $23 million. Before COVID, the hotel tax provided about 35% of the city’s revenue and the most recent budget showed it provided about 23% of the city’s $93 million annual general fund budget.

    There might be other new revenues in the denominator of the 23% ratio like Facebook and the other new businesses along Old Bayshore. Maybe auto sales are up–the prices certainly are. The claim is the average room rate on the B’game bayfront is $200, but a bit of Gemini searching yields more like $300-350 and big conventions in the city take it up from there. 15% of $300 is $45/night–a better way to think about it than the editorial saying it’s an incremental $6 per night. It’s easier to say neighboring cities’ ToTs are higher so just level us up. Prop. D stands for just Do it. Nobody voting for it will ever pay it.

  • High-cost Rail – Part 170 The buffoonery continues

    Will there ever be an end to the incredible sinkhole of our “high-speed rail” project? The weak powers-that-be started the planning in 1996–30 years ago. Prop 1A passed in 2008–18 years ago. The “groundbreaking” was in 2015–11 years ago. And yet they still have not settled on where the Merced area station will be located! Want to know why a $10 billion dollar kitty has swelled into a $231 billion starving tiger? Check this out from the Comicle

    Plans to make high-speed rail the new gateway to Yosemite National Park have met resistance from community organizers in the Central Valley, who last week sent a cease-and-desist letter to the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

    It’s the first salvo in what could be a long legal battle to preserve the original plans for the railway, which include a station in downtown Merced. Earlier this year, officials began discussing options to move the stop about 4 miles southeast, to what’s currently a country road lined with pistachio orchards and a defunct wholesale warehouse. “The HSRA has no authority to unilaterally re-route the high-speed rail project out of downtown Merced without prior authorization from the California legislature,” the letter says.

    Even if the bought-and-paid-for legislature did authorize such a thing, change orders are the death knell to any sort of budget. We already know this as listed here 4 1/2 years ago, but they just keep doing it.

    Considering all the budget constraints on high-speed rail, moving a Merced station to the boondocks is “a better deal,” (Mayor Mathew) Serratto ventured.

    Genius. Put the station in the “boondocks”. He means put the boondoggle in the boondocks. The buffoonery continues. The only way it will stop is if a miracle happens on November 3rd.

  • Meet 6 Neighbors…or maybe many more

    On Sunday afternoon, more than 80 local neighbors gathered at Pershing Park for cake and conversation. The event was sponsored by the Burlingame Public Library and the Burlingame Community Center as well as the City. Volunteers spread the word by flyers and shoe leather since relying on the City e-newsletter doesn’t work as well. You need a flyer to put on the fridge as a reminder. Luckily the Niners had things well in hand against the Dolphins by the 3pm start time which probably helped attendance. I met way more than six there and a few new neighborhood dogs.

    Meet 6 Neighbors is a state initiative focusing on building connection and reducing isolation. Research shows that knowing at least six neighbors improves physical and mental health as well as overall individual and collective well-being.

    A wag might say it depends on which six neighbors, but let’s leave that for another post!

    The goals of M6N are to improve well-being, foster civic engagement, fight loneliness, build trust and support disaster resiliency–the later similar to the BNN meet-ups, drills and Zello radio practice sessions. The Meet 6 Neighbors ad-hoc Committee consists of Colleen Conefrey and Margaret Glomstad, Park & Rec Department; Cynthia Ryder, Burlingame Public Library; Stephanie Lee, former city council member, Brad McCulley, City Librarian; and Anne Hinckle, BNN (The last four are pictured L-R below at the event). The next Park Party is scheduled for Sunday, October 18th at Cuernavaca Park. More will be scheduled in 2027. Moving the start time to 5pm and swapping out the cake for some vino might enhance attendance even more!

  • Dirty Dozen: What’s up with that?

    I worry that our beloved local paper, the San Mateo Daily Journal (the “DJ”), is susceptible to the nonsense that makes the SF Chronicle the “Comicle”. Uncritical thinking. Poor story selection. Intentional or unintentional omissions. Tertiary sources. There are so many ways to screw up. Thursday was an example. The front page, above-the-fold piece with accompanying photo was headlined “Organizers protest detainment facility at SFO”. The very first sentence reads “Roughly a dozen protesters…..” Stop right there. The line at Walgreen’s pharmacy window after the lunch break has more than a dozen people in it. If it’s a slow news day, just stick with whatever the AP feeds you. Twelve people posing for a photo op is sad.

    Then we are treated to some rando protester from some rando organization that probably only has these dozen people in it telling us that if “people knew they would not be pleased”. He has no idea what people would think except for me–I think he’s an idiot. My worry, noted above, is exacerbated when our intrepid local reporter then starts regurgitating Comicle reporting from three weeks ago. Ugh. Do better.

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