Category: Parking

  • Parking shenanigans: Compact camper

    Let’s end 2025 with one of our (least?) favorite observations around town. Parking shenanigans. We see all sorts of odd behavior from drivers and parking lot designers (like EV only spaces with no chargers). Cars parked across four motorcycle spaces and cars parked with there is no space at all. Cars parked backwards in angled spaces. But the most abused concept in parking is the “compact” space. I thought the Ram 2500 would be tough to beat, but the new crown goes to an iNDiE camper at Safeway. You see the special compact version of a Ford F-150 all the time, but a compact camper? The new champ! Happy New Year all. We’ll be back with more in 2026.

  • El Camino: Drop the green flag, go time

    Caltrans came out in force yesterday to host the groundbreaking ceremony for the long awaited El Camino Renewal Project, aka the Little Big Dig. A larger than usual contingent of local pols showed up to issue lots and lots of kudos for all involved. Pertinent promises made included “this will take three years, give or take” and “there will be some inconveniences”. Readers come to the Voice to get the take they can’t get anywhere else and there was a really fun incident during the speechifying yesterday. After Josh Becker and Diane Papan spoke and just before “the most important person on the project”, Michael Brownrigg, was introduced, a full-size semi tractor trailer pulled up next to the city lot H, hit the air brakes and the driver hopped out to do a delivery to Walgreens–cutting southbound traffic down to one lane. They do this all the time and so does Amazon, FedEx, UPS, etc. as we noted here.

    But not yesterday. A BPD officer who was at the event immediately went over and told the driver to move. I was reminded of Gavin Newsom cleaning up the streets of EssEff for the APAC conference and Chinese premier Xi Jinping. With some effort, the truck managed to pull into the city lot between Walgreen’s and Safeway where it blocked access to half the lot for about a half hour. I had visions of things to come. Knowing Michael, I’m sure he wasn’t too comfortable with his intro but as the incoming mayor at last night’s council rotation, he will be the point person for 2026 either way. Caltrans followed up with an email today that noted something new:

    Caltrans will begin construction on the El Camino Real Roadway Renewal Project as early as January 5, 2026, in the vicinity of Dufferin Avenue and Rosedale Avenue.

    The initial work will consist of tree removals on the northbound side of El Camino Real in Burlingame requiring full closures of the road. One to two blocks of El Camino Real may be closed at a time. Detour information will also be emailed in the coming weeks, and detour signage will be in place for affected blocks. Residents and businesses will continue to have access to their properties during construction.  In addition to tree removals, drainage work will be performed along the southbound side of the road.

    We’ve been told for months they would start at the tree work at the south end and PG&E at the north end, but things have apparently changed. Caltrans will be keeping us up to speed at elcaminoproject.com. Here are some pics of yesterday’s dropping of the green starting flag. Will the checkered flag wave on January 5, 2029?

    I’m thinking the Little Big Dig might be what pushes me over the line to buy an e-bike.

  • Parking Enforcement: Time for some AI

    My travels over the Thanksgiving holiday took me to a city that uses the centralized kiosks to take your money and log in your license plate but not require the receipt to be displayed on the dash. You key in your license plate number, and it checks to see if it is a valid plate. How it does that for plates from all over the country is a bit of a mystery as well as not error-proof from the citizen’s perspective. This city enforces parking until 9 pm downtown and it’s now dark by 5pm so I got to do this in semi-darkness. I mis-keyed the plate by one digit–a 2 instead of a 3. Someone must have that plate since it “validated” me. My bad.

    When I returned to find a ticket on my windshield even though I still had 20 minutes on the payment, it took me a few minutes to figure out why. Here’s where the AI comes in. When the officer scans my plate and comes up empty a little bit of AI could suggest that a plate in that zone that matches six of the seven numbers is probably not a parking scofflaw. That would be a worthwhile AI feature.

    Luckily, I printed the receipt even though it wasn’t needed to be displayed so I have some hope of getting the ticket expunged. If I didn’t have the receipt I would be out of luck and $45. We shall see.

  • ECR: T-minus Two Months and Counting

    Caltrans stopped by the city council meeting on Monday to tell everyone that the Little Big Dig project to improve El Camino Real is on track to start at the end of December or early January. You would not be wrong to ask, “If you are within two months of starting a $130 million dollar project that will disrupt a whole city for at least four years, shouldn’t you have a firm start date?” The plan, described here, is to start at the south end, working up the northbound side, then turning around at Millbrae and working down the southbound side. PG&E in the meantime will be starting on the north end and working its way down the southbound side burying the power lines and whatever else is hanging off the poles. That will take an indeterminate but long time. We got a tiny taste of it here.

    Stage 1 (about 2,000 feet long) will remove the first 136 trees which are marked by a medallion. Tree removal needs a “full closure” of that section of the state highway which opens up a set of questions that mostly went unasked by council or were answered superficially by staff and Caltrans. How police, fire, and ambulances get rerouted is the top concern. The response is essentially “we will be in contact with them”–check out slide 13–and you will see I will be on the leading (bleeding?) edge of these questions. How Recology picks up the garbage and recycling and how delivery services get to residences and businesses is another. SamTrans will also have to squeeze through. We should probably institute a no-left-turn zone for each stage and ensure BPD has a good overtime budget for the next four years.

    I’m still hoping the city or Caltrans will alert people to the doomed trees with some marker or ribbon larger than the little metal tags that are attached now. It’s gonna be a shock beyond just the street closures. The official response is “we are planting twice as many trees as we are taking out”. They’re just 10% as tall.

    Stages 2 through 6 are queued up much the same way, taking us through the Fall of 2029. That’s not a typo. Neither is this caveat in the slide deck “Timeline subject to change, contingent on PG&E undergrounding coordination and other key challenges“. That is going to put quite a magnifying glass on the general contractor, Teichert Construction, who councilwoman Donna Colson noted is a woman-owned company led by a someone she grew up with in Sacramento. As Bill Murray said in Caddyshack about his relationship with the Dalai Lama, “So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.” At least we know who to call and Donna noted she expects 100’s of calls. What is the biggest voicemail box you can buy? Public works director Syed Murtuza chose his retirement date wisely as the ribbon-cutting will also be his farewell.

    Council talked about public notice, banners, traffic advisory email lists, project website, social media posts on X, Facebook et al, and snail mailed notices. Prepare for incoming. In the meantime, see if your favorite Eucalyptus has one of these.

  • EV market struggles continue

    There is a steady drumbeat of bad news for the EV market as manufacturer after manufacturer cuts forecasts, lays off workers, idles battery and car plants while discounting the inventory to offset the loss of the $7,500 taxpayer subsidy. Couple that with half of the country dissing the owner of the most popular EV company and the on-going struggles with keeping chargers in working order and it seems like Waymo is the only real growth in the EV world. Here are some snippets from the news:

    The growth rate for new EV sales in the U.S. dropped from 40% in 2023 to about 10% in 2024. In the second quarter of 2025, U.S. sales declined 6.3% year-on-year. 

    GM plans to lay off more than 3,300 hourly workers at plants across Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee starting in January. Of those, more than 1,700 are being laid off indefinitely, while more than 1,500 are expected to be called back in mid-2026. Ford is moving workers from the plant that makes the electric F-150 Lightning to a nearby factory that makes the more popular—and profitable—gasoline-burning version. Nissan has decided not to offer its Ariya EV as a 2026 model and Honda has halted orders of the electric Acura ZDX, which is manufactured by GM.

    Porshe is facing financial decline due to a strategic shift away from rapid EV adoption, resulting in a recent quarterly loss, a profit plunge, and significant one-time costs of about $3.1 billion. This “EV reset” involves pausing new electric models, delaying some launches, and re-evaluating the strategy, driven by cooling EV demand, especially in the luxury segment.

    Here in B’game my main interest is in making sure the goofy EV parking rules we see in places like Top Golf don’t proliferate. The whole row of spaces near the front entrance (probably 40 or so) are EV-only as is the front row of the lower parking lot. Why? Who knows? It’s not because of chargers because there ain’t no chargers for many of the spaces. Check it out. Parking discrimination!

  • B’way: John Kevranian resigns from the BID

    Broadway was buzzing today with the announcement that the long-time, tireless BID president is stepping down. John’s letter notes:

    After deep reflection, I am formally resigning from my position as volunteer President of the Broadway Burlingame Business Improvement District, effective November 30, 2025. For 25 years, I have proudly served on the Board — including the past 11 years as President.

    Unfortunately, I can no longer continue in this role in good conscience due to a series of troubling developments that have significantly undermined Broadway’s future and my ability to serve with integrity.

    He notes three reasons that I will include here verbatim, so you get the full impact:

    First, the City of Burlingame’s decision to terminate the Broadway Specific Plan — which was intended to guide development and investment over the next 5, 10, and 20 years — reflects a concerning lack of vision and long-term commitment to Broadway’s prosperity.

    Second, the City Council’s continued refusal to support the reopening of weekday Caltrain service at the Broadway station further demonstrates a lack of understanding of the essential role of transit in our district’s history and future. The station, opened in 1910 as Easton Station in what was then known as Buri Buri, was the very reason the Broadway business district and surrounding apartments were built. When weekday service was removed over 20 years ago, the negative impact was immediate and profound. Restoring service should be a priority — not a political inconvenience.

    Third, in late 2023, I opposed efforts by a City Council member and a Beautification Commissioner to weaken Burlingame’s flavored tobacco laws to benefit a personal associate. In retaliation, on October 8, 2023, both individuals called the Burlingame Police Department and falsely claimed I had threatened the commissioner. These fabricated allegations were clearly intended to intimidate and silence me. This misuse of public authority and law enforcement was not only inappropriate — it crossed a line, both legally and ethically.

    I’m hoping BPD did the minimum perfunctory “investigation” of that last item. Item 1 reminds me of the sentiment on B’way that it is the poor stepchild of the Avenue. John has been a leading advocate for said refresh. I like Broadway a lot and actually spend more time there than on the Ave, but it could use a refresh and that takes help from the city. You have to wonder if moving to tiny district elections has narrowed the focus of city councilmembers.

    It’s a shame John is stepping down, but he will always have a prominent voice in all things B’way. You can listen to Mark Lucchesi interview John here as well.

  • Paying for City Hall: Selling Parking Lot H

    Long time B'gamers will recall Rosalie O'Mahony's long tenure on city council and many of her fervently held positions.  I can clearly recall her somewhat high.jpgtched voice and slight, but hard to decipher accent.  I can also recall one of her favorite sayings, "Never sell schools or parking lots".  When the school district sold–and then had to repurchase—Hoover school, they learned Rosalie's lesson.

    It appears our current city council is about to contravene Rosalie's wisdom in order to pay for the pricy new city hall plan at 1440 Chapin Lane.  Parking Lot H is across El Camino from Walgreen's and is 39,922 ft2 according to the staff report.  It's composed of two lots:  8,500 ft2 zoned R-1 and 24,422 ft2 zoned R-3.  The city has declared both "surplus land" which probably has Rosalie turning over in her resting place.  The staff report notes

    The City owns several parking lots in and around Downtown Burlingame. While Parking Lot H is utilized by residents as well as customers and employees of local businesses, it is not frequently as full as other City owned parking lots. Further, while other City owned parking lots are surrounded by commercial properties, Parking Lot H is surrounded by single and multi-family residential properties.

    Notice the report doesn't actually say how full H is on a typical day.  I pass by it on a daily basis and it gets a decent amount of use.  My guess is Avenew employees are regular users so we should not discount its value as a long-stay overflow lot.  Customers want to park in front of the business they intend to patronize so having employees leave the close spaces open has value.  It is also convenient to a couple of SamTrans bus stops for people looking to make a hybrid car/bus trip.

    The lot directly between Walgreen's and Safeway is quite full as are the one next to the AT&T building.  The library lot is usually quite full.  The new parking garage is too far away to be considered by anyone using Lot H.  This train has probably left the station, but I would listen to Rosalie and not sell–especially when you feel like you have to and interest rates are up.  Any developer will also have to consider how long and disruptive the Little Big Dig will be on El Camino.  Here's view from the roof of Safeway.

    Parking Lot H

  • “Compact” parking spaces: Nobody is watching

    We love parking anomalies here at the Voice.  The more difficult the maneuver the better as we saw here on Broadway.  Or headscratchers like this wrong way, parallel in an angled spot trick.  And then there are the imaginary spaces that get taken like here.  But the myth of the "compact" space is the most common parking irritant.  Safeway is aptly doing some random parking enforcement against people poaching spaces to shop elsewhere.  In a perfect world, the agents would also be able to ticket full-sized (or even bigger) vehicles in the little spaces.  Safeway put in plenty of them to slip through the full parking requirement back in 2011.  Check out this special "compact edition" of a RAM 2500 Powermaster.  The rear view camera must be pretty good as he has about 5 inches to spare on either side.  You better be pretty skinny to park in either adjacent space.

    RAM 2500 Powermaster

  • Broadway headscratcher

    We haven't had a crazy parking post in a while.  The last one that was photo worthy was in the Safeway lot in November 2023.  Today's headscratcher beats that by a mile.  On Broadway, in broad daylight, someone decided to somehow back into the angled spot on the other side of the street!  Imagine.  You would pull past the open spot, check for on-coming cars then back across the lane into the space.  Then to top it all off, you don't actually back all the way into the space causing eastbound drivers to have to pull into the westbound lane to get around your car.

    Broadway was jammed as usual because everyone hates Carmelita now, but I hear the TSP Commission is considering which stupid rubber speed humps to remove at this week's meeting.  Fingers crossed.  I saw parking enforcement walking B'way on my way back 20 minutes later, but not sure if a ticket was issued.  I'm not even sure what said ticket would read?  If I had taken video instead of this still photo, you would have heard Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in the background since it was playing on my radio.  Uncanny.

    Bass Ackwards parking

      

  • City Hall Moving Around the Corner?

    We covered the shortcomings of the historic City Hall here last September when the search for alternatives started.  As we noted then, a central downtown location is an intangible that is hard to value and harder to replace. Right on cue, staff is recommending a move around the corner to 1440 Chapin Ave–across the street from Mollie Stone's.  The move would involve two phases–a leased period followed by a purchase of the building and inheriting some of the existing tenants.  Per the Staff Report

    Pursuant to the Lease and Purchase Agreements, the City is required to purchase the building by June 30, 2027, for a price of $34,500,000. After the building is purchased, the City plans to retain existing tenants in office suites not occupied by the City, which will serve as a source of revenue for the City and offset some or all of the costs associated with purchasing 1440 Chapin. Revenue is estimated to be $1,656,000 per year from rental income.

    The city as a landlord could also extend to "the opportunity to collaborate with other public agencies, if they would like to lease space in the new City Hall."  The plan is up for discussion at tomorrow night's city council meeting and as these things go, I would think the deal is basically done.  Enough ground has been laid and there are enough short-tenured councilmembers that staff's say-so will suffice.  We don't have a Rosalie O'Mahony to issue a caution that would prevail.

    The real question is what of the current City Hall property?  The DJ piece raised the question, but the answer is "we'll figure that out later"

    Nearly 10 years ago, Burlingame had weighed the possibility of developing housing at the current City Hall site, though (Mayor Peter) Stevenson said conversation around the fate of the old building would be held at a future date.

    Engaged locals are already worried about the open space in front of city hall.  The holiday tree lighting is a classic B'game community event.  The pressure to flip it to a developer who would "stack and pack" it with a mix of "affordable housing" will be high.  Is there enough backbone to resist it and make the best use of the aging facility possible?  Are there potential tenants who don't need Class A space?  What about those "other public agencies"?  There is also a decent amount of parking on the site so if a Return to Office move is afoot for city staff, those spaces are a short, healthy walk to 1440 Chapin.  We shall see.  An eagle-eyed reader sent me the Instagram post about tomorrow's meeting.  I didn't know the city was posting there.

    City Hall purchase Instagram post

     

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