Category: County Issues

  • 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.

  • Sheriff charade: Where is she?

    My prediction that we would still be talking about ex-sheriff Christina Corpus throughout 2026 is looking like a sure thing. It’s a long saga as documented here and here among other places. She is being sued by one of the captains that she allegedly spread false rumors about causing all sorts of problems for him. But the story is that the process servers in that case cannot find her! Even when the “lights are on” at her San Bruno home “but nobody’s home”. I sure hope we, the San Mateo County taxpayers, are not on the hook for her attorney fees on this one–like we were on the last one to the tune of at least $4.8M. Talk about an ordinance that should be changed.

  • Broadway RR crossing: Same ole same ole

    I’m not sure anything substantive has changed since we last looked at the Broadway grade separation saga in January here. We read about another 2 million here or 50 million there, but not much in the way of firm plans to start. Measure XYZ funds are collected. The city website returns 953 hits on “Broadway grade separation”, but the top 10 are all from 2024. In the meantime, high-speed rail got another $1.5 billion in the latest state budget. While back in B’game there are more accidents. From the Comicle we read and see a photo:

    Caltrain service was disrupted Wednesday evening after a train struck a vehicle near Burlingame, causing major delays during the weekday rush hour, according to a passenger and an announcement made aboard the train. (Train passenger) Bilani said he could see a blue Subaru with its rear window shattered. The Subaru appeared to have been pushed into another vehicle that had been waiting near the railroad crossing between Burlingame and Millbrae, he said.

    The talk elsewhere on-line is that there were two Caltrain incidents in B’game this week. Since only one has been reported on that I can find, the other might have been a suicide. Caltrain and the local papers, led by the Daily Post, are no longer reporting on suspected suicides although they may get counted in the annual totals.

    Back in June 2019 the situation looked like this. Since then the Caltrain’s electrification has upped the cost due to the shortened work hours available each night while they deenergize the line. It’s like chasing a faster guy. Be safe out there.

  • Of race-baiting and misinformation

    The only thing worse than race-baiting or misinformation is when the two appear together. Society is inflamed enough without resorting to the combination. Enter Jim Lawrence, the former mayor of Foster City and chair of Fixin’ San Mateo County, writing a letter to the DJ. He starts off well-enough with a concern many of us probably have but can’t stop himself there. He writes (and I snip):

    The eight-month jail sentence imposed on former San Mateo County Community College Chancellor Ron Galatolo has shaken all confidence in our local judicial system. Mr. Galatolo was convicted of eight felony counts involving perjury and tax fraud. According to published reports, both the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office and the Probation Department recommended a state prison sentence. Judge Leland Davis instead imposed just eight months in county jail, with the likelihood that he will serve only about four months.

    I don’t know about “all confidence” but OK so far. Eight months is light in my opinion as well and the whole idea of serving halves of sentences is ridiculous. But things quickly go off the tracks.

    As an African American, I cannot help but wonder whether a working-class defendant or a person of color would receive the same outcome. This strongly indicates that we need a review of court policy and procedures. As a strong proponent of oversight, I believe this is yet another taxpayer-funded function over which taxpayers have little meaningful oversight or input. Wake up, everybody. Titles do not make the man — but they certainly seem to count in our court system.

    The only problem, and it’s a biggie, is Judge Leland Davis is black. How do I know? Because the last time I had jury duty, he was the judge. In fact, he was appointed to the bench by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in December of 2010 and is the current Presiding Judge for San Mateo County. I may have actually been in his court room twice over the last 15 years and I clearly remember a photo of Justice Thurgood Marshall on his wall. I recall him being of the “no nonsense” school of judging. Shouldn’t someone like Jim Lawrence either know this or bother to look into it before firing off a misleading public letter? Short answer is “yes”. Just another reason why I call his op Wreckin’ San Mateo County. Their idea of “oversight” is often short-sighted. Here’s Judge Davis.

  • Neighborhood siege and YIMBY bigotry

    Here at the Voice, we go the extra mile for our readers or, in this case, the extra 1.7 miles. That is how far 606 S. Delaware in San Mateo is from my house. Having read the DJ news piece noted in the anniversary post, John Horgan’s column and Dana Yates’ opinion piece, I wanted to see the house and the neighborhood for myself. Horgan called the proposed 5-story, 20-unit project “absurd”. He notes

    There, on South Delaware Street not far from downtown, a plan is afoot that simply boggles the mind. A property owner has proposed constructing a five-story minitower that would include 20 studio apartments. The structure, if approved by city authorities, would be markedly out of character for the neighborhood.

    But that’s not the most striking aspect of the plan. According to a revealing report in the Daily Journal last week, the bold project would not have a single on-site parking space, not one. Nada. Nil. Zilch.

    My trip to San Mateo was late on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I found a section of quaint single-story, small bungalow style homes and no open parking spaces on the block. Think back to this post about the San Jose parking fiasco. “Parking is a necessity” should not be a surprise to anyone, but the Delaware St. project has no on-site parking! There is some odd arrangement to have eight spaces (not 15 or 20) in a “nearby garage”, but I didn’t see it on the east side of the Caltrain tracks where this neighborhood is located. I just keep thinking about people lugging groceries especially with all the talk about senior housing.

    But the rising angst isn’t just a San Mateo or Burlingame thing. Anyone following the EssEff Marina Safeway project has seen concern about size and density morph into bigoted accusations of bigotry. Note the Comicle’s Laura Waxmann piece about a photo of a community meeting:

    When I snapped the photo Thursday night, it looked like many community meetings I had covered before: a crowd of hundreds of neighbors packed into a Marina District warehouse to discuss a large housing development they opposed, the proposal to reimagine a waterfront Safeway into 848 apartments rising as high as 22 stories. I didn’t expect the image to take on a life of its own. Many (readers) were incensed or incited by one detail: Almost everyone in the room was older, with graying hair and faces that had seen decades of life. Two days later, the post had nearly 10 million views. Yet others called out what they described as a “YIMBY bigotry” toward older San Franciscans that the photo had unleashed.

    Waxmann didn’t call out people in the meeting being “white” but plenty of other commenters have and the YIMBY bigotry is rife in the opinion pieces and letters to the editor both at the Comicle and elsewhere. Comicle hack Joe Garofoli even dredges up the old race restrictions in deeds that were invalidated 80 years ago. One letter-writer says

    NIMBYs do not get to decide who lives here. If they like their city, they should want more people to be able to live here.

    No sorry. Let’s put the soft YIMBY bigotry away. People aren’t trying to influence WHO gets to live here–just some common sense about HOW MANY get to live here. Dana Yates’ column about why we are losing faith in local government gets to the source of the angst, but the bottom line is lack of action at the local, county and state levels. The priorities seem wrong and it could be too late by the time they figure it out. Remember Ben Franklin’s quote “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water”. Here’s the photo of the orange house on Delaware that has kicked over the hornet’s nest.

  • The County appears flush

    Amid the steady drumbeat of housing affordability and lack of same, one entity doesn’t seem to have any problem buying up real estate. The San Mateo County government is buying left and right regardless of whether the cities they are buying in like it or not. Today’s DJ headline is “Contentious land buy OK’d; County buys Foster City property for Human Services Agency“. Another $29 million to upgrade the second largest department’s digs. The La Quinta motel purchase in Millbrae sparked all sorts of protests and a recall election (which was successful). The “sobering center” planned for B’game’s Bayfront may be controversial with some nearby business owners and hoteliers, but it hasn’t sparked the same ire as the San Mateo proposal on El Camino did. Just another run-of-the-mill $13 million purchase. There is the “affordable housing” project in Daly City and Caltrain had no problems getting primo space in the new Millbrae complex but constantly reminds us it may literally go under soon.

    One wonders when the belt-tightening will begin? Perhaps the November election will send a message about it.

  • Of Caltrain, consultants and transit taxes

    I know a bit about premium priced consulting services that I learned over 30 years including some engagements with government agencies. When the Daily Journal headline screamed “High pay for Caltrain consultant”, I thought “How high?” Luckily the subhead read “Transit agency pays $1.4M for deputy leader, amount over three times top-paid executive director’s salary”. Wow. Is that for a one person, one year extension, not a contract with a firm staffing three or four or more consultants? That’s premium with a capital P. But it gets worse. That front page piece on July 6th came out the same day the purported million-dollar consultant, Sherry Bullock, was scheduled to present the state of the B’way grade separation to our city council.

    Thanks to a tipster, I got the word that the presentation didn’t go so well. The video is not streaming smoothly for me, but around 1:05 on this link you can start to feel the confusion and maybe a bit of desperation from the 20-year Caltrain veteran! When asked to spell out some of the arcane acronyms (and there are many) lower-priced staff had to jump in with an assist. The $1.4 mil was looming large given the newspaper was probably still in the box outside city hall. The piece is a little convoluted, but according to a later LTTE from Jeff Gee (Caltrain board and RWC councilmember) “That was a max authority to a consulting firm. Caltrain paid a quarter of that and is closing out the contract.” So perhaps we are down to $350K–that still some “max authority” for someone who is also charging overtime.

    And yet we know, because Caltrain told us, that it is on the brink of disaster. Per the DJ

    After adopting a $270 million operating budget, Caltrain is reiterating short- and long-term plans to narrow its deficit with a state loan and upcoming sales tax ballot measure — or else it could shut down entirely, leaders say.

    Cue the DJ two days later discussing the formation of some opposition to the “Connect Bay Area” 14-year duration sales tax increase.

    The measure would be the sixth transportation-dedicated sales tax in San Mateo County. Measures A, W, RR and the San Mateo County Transit District tax are administered by the county, with a portion of the state-mandated 7.25% sales tax going to local transportation efforts as well. They’re thinking, ‘well we’re getting bailed out by the government,’” said Peninsula resident Gregg Dieguez, a member of the Committee for Affordable Bay Area Transit. “They are used to spending our money, rather than reforming what they’re doing.”

    This ain’t rocket science, kids. The primary Caltrain commuter rail line spans 77.2 miles between San Francisco and Gilroy. The core corridor between San Francisco and San Jose Diridon Station is approximately 48 miles long. We not running Amtrack or the TGV here. And this is going to be a very tough election for new taxes, bond measures, and whatever else got thrown against the wall by anyone other than the Howard Jarvis people. Couple that with the fact that the B’way grade separation (remember that?) is still not close to being fully funded. The question is “are we getting what we are paying for?”

  • Gas Water Heaters: Common sense missing

    We are officially in the last half of the year, and the burning question is are we also in the last six months for gas water heaters? It was more than six years ago when I first analyzed here what a stupid, expensive, complicated mandate this would be when B’game looked at it. I elaborated on more nitty-gritty problems in May here. More issues come to mind as I look at my water heater especially how much time and money it will take to patch the ceiling and roof where the deleted vent exits. Do the retired gas pipes under my house just lay there for eternity like a desiccated rodent’s skeleton? This ban is a plumber, electrician, roofer, and painter’s dream. More people are waking up to the impending implosion, and the San Mateo County Supes will be looking at it during their August 11th meeting. Will common sense make an appearance? The supes should memorize this letter to the Comicle.

    The Bay Area Air District’s plan to prohibit gas water heaters and furnaces needs to be scrapped.  Everyone is in favor of cleaner air, but how we get there needs thoughtfulness. Arguing that incentives for property owners and future higher costs for gas will ease the pain of conversion isn’t going to cut it.

    Converting from gas to electricity is not a simple process. One can’t just unplug the old unit and plug in the new. Designing the new systems, obtaining the appropriate permits, and coordinating with PG&E, if an upgraded electrical panel is needed, will take time.  Modifying the building to accept the new water heater and furnace takes money, budgeting and careful planning, especially if people are living in the building.

    Hardly anyone replaces a water heater or furnace before it breaks. When one does need to be replaced, the situation is tantamount to an emergency because the home becomes uninhabitable without hot water or heat. Mandating the replacement of the gas units with electric add to the cost and complexity. This flat-out ban on gas water heaters and furnaces will bring nightmares to many.

    Frank Lee, San Francisco

    Lost in all of this is just how much time a homeowner will need to spend to comply. I value my time pretty highly, but I don’t get a sense that our elected officials do.

  • Electric reality sets in? Not yet

    We had another big power outage Monday in B’game. At the start, the PG&E app said about 5,000 “users”, meaning service addresses, were out including long-suffering Broadway. Figure as many as 8-10,000 people lost power for some period of time. The area around City Hall was still out more than an hour after it was first reported. At this point it appears such outages don’t even merit a mention in the news–except here at the Voice.

    Therefore, now is the perfect time to recap the long SF Comicle article from Sunday titled “What to know about water heater changes“. Writer Brooke Park might be out of a job–or in line for a Pulitzer–because her piece actually got it right on about 80% of the problems with the impending gas water heater ban. It’s almost a full page long and hits on:

    Adding both a heat pump water heater and a heat pump furnace system could push more homeowners toward costly electrical panel upgrades. Older homes often have 100-amp panels, while newer or upgraded homes may have 200-amp panels or higher. Homes with multiple new electric appliances — such as two heat pumps and an electric vehicle charger — may be more likely to need electrical upgrades, especially if they have lower-capacity panels.

    While Park captured the basics, the time and delay to find an electrician, get them scheduled and get the work done along with the permitting isn’t captured in the estimate. Nor is any sort of removal costs for the “obsolete” gas plumbing, vents, roof repair, etc, etc.

    The Bay Are Air District said that an average natural gas water heater installation would be around $3,500 while a heat pump installation would cost about $7,000. At the high end, if for example significant electrical work is needed, the costs of a heat pump installation could rise to $38,800, the air district said.

    (One guy in Foster City), Mark Allen was expecting at least a $2,500 rebate from his electricity provider but is still navigating the reimbursement process. “No kidding, 16 emails back-and-forth, we still did not have a permit and almost 2½, 3 months had gone by,” Allen said. When he got the necessary paperwork and submitted the rebate, the electricity provider said he was past the deadline.

    Beyond the higher expense, heat pump water heaters can be larger, louder and slower to heat water than their natural gas counterparts.  “If you have the right setup for it, yes, it could be good. But I personally would never want to put one in my house,” said Chris Guslani, the owner of Bay Area Water Heaters, which installs natural gas water heaters as well as the occasional heat pump. “They don’t heat up as fast, they’re loud, they’re huge.”

    Both (120V and 240V) models will produce noise comparable to a refrigerator, which is similar to the noise of a natural gas water heater. But the heat pump will often run for twice as long, Guslani said. Homes typically have 50- or 65-gallon tanks to hold hot water. Once that is exhausted, 120-volt models can typically heat from seven to 15 gallons of water per hour, while 240-volt water heaters can warm approximately 18 gallons to 23 gallons if its hybrid mode, which uses traditional electric water heater elements to warm water faster, is unlocked, installers said.  A gas-powered water heater can heat about 30 gallons of water per hour.

    Guslani said that in about 60% of cases he’s seen, gas water heaters operate in spaces without any wall sockets. And manufacturers warn against using extension cords for water heaters. Heat pump water heater tanks might need to be up to 15 gallons larger than those used with natural gas water heaters to account for slower heating times, according to the air district. Heat pumps, which are often a foot taller than natural gas models, also typically need to be installed in rooms with more than 700 cubic feet to allow for adequate airflow.

    There’s more that I will add as a comment, but it all reminds me of “Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” The bureaucrats are expected to vote on who gets exemptions in October, so let the virtue signaling begin. One of our County Supes, Ray Mueller, is tapping the brakes on the idea or at least the Jan. 1, 2027 start date.  

  • Sign Police: Canepa busted

    It’s one thing when a complete neophyte doesn’t know or follow the rules. It’s quite another when someone who has been in the game for years doesn’t follow the rules. And it is even worse when the candidate is running for Chief Elections Officer (and Assessor/Clerk Recorder). County Supe David Canepa has been in the game for a long time and I’m sure he knows the rules against posting campaign signs on public right of way. So why not get his workers to follow the rules? He was at an event on the Avenew two days ago and may have even seen this illegally placed sign. Not cool. And we still have two weeks of frantic sign placement to go.

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