Category: Streets of Burlingame

  • Tragedy strikes in downtown Burlingame

    Unfortunately I know exactly what it's like to lose a child.  I also know how welcome the support of friends and people in the community are for the family.  It won't change anything about the loss, but does help take your mind off of it a little.  That B'game community support is being covered in the Daily Journal and the SF Comicle here and here.  The Chron is adding some details from the BPD:

    Four year old Ayden Fang, of Burlingame, was killed after a driver struck him and a 6-year-old girl on the sidewalk in front of Truffle Poké Bar on Donnelly Avenue at about 6:25 p.m. Friday, police said. Ayden was pronounced dead at the scene, and the girl was taken to Stanford Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The girl’s identity was not immediately known.

    The driver of the vehicle, identified only as a 19-year-old woman, was exiting a municipal parking lot onto Donnelly Avenue when a person on an e-bike struck the car, police said. The woman then accelerated across Donnelly Avenue, over the curb and struck the children and the restaurant, police said.

    Burlingame Police Lt. David Perna on Monday said the e-bike was operated by an 11-year-old boy who was carrying a 10-year-old female passenger. It was a Class 2 e-bike made by 101 Bikes, he said. There are no age restrictions or license requirements for Class 2 e-bike operators, according to Perna and the California Bicycle Coalition.

    “I don’t want to speculate on why the driver exactly accelerated. It could have been an attempt to maybe avoid a collision with the e-bike, it could’ve been out of panic, it could’ve been out of inexperience,” Perna said. “It’s too early to say for sure what the cause was.”

    This is sure to spark discussion about a variety of possible causes.  The DJ noted this is the third pedestrian fatality in the past year, although the latest one is different than the first two where the pedestrian was crossing a street.  From the DJ:

    Pedestrian and street safety advocate Mike Swire is asking that the city take immediate action to make Burlingame safer for those traveling by foot or by bike.

    “I hope that the Burlingame City Council and staff and police department are going to react with this sense of urgency that this deserves,” he said. “I would expect the city to declare a state of emergency and figure out why this is happening so much.”

    That has been a long-running theme here and the multiplicity of causes make it complicated to generalize.  Class 2 e-bikes have a top speed of 20 mph while Class 3's top out at 28 mph and can be seen doing their top speed all around town.  Looking west on Donnelly at 6:25pm this time of year could mean struggling with direct sun in a driver's eyes.  Tree trimming would also help.  The new "daylighting" law probably needs more enforcement and we could use more traffic policing in general.  The visual pollution of too many signs that don't add to safety is also a factor in my opinion.  This latest tragedy will surely kick-off a deeper look into all of these things.

  • Fresh pavement around town, just not ECR

    In keeping with our fascination with all things "Streets of Burlingame" let's take note of this year's paving plan.  From the city newsletter:

    2025 Street Resurfacing Project

    Construction Underway

    The City has contracted with G. Bortolotto and Company, Inc. to perform street resurfacing and repair work throughout Burlingame. Onsite construction will begin in early August and is anticipated to be completed by October. Resurfacing work and section repairs are scheduled at the following locations:

    Cananea Place, Clovelly Lane, Donnelly Avenue, Gilbreth Road, Hamilton Lane, Hinckley Road, Humboldt Street, Killarney Lane, Meadow Lane, Neuchatel Avenue, Occidental Avenue, Ralston Avenue, Rollins Road, Victoria Road, Parking Lot C, and the Public Works Corporation Yard guest parking lot.

    Before you ask, no, the street that most badly needs repaving is not included as ECR is a state highway and Caltrans' responsibility.  They appear to be ignoring the terrible road surface since they think it will be torn up during the Little Big Dig.

  • ECR Sunset: Buy a bigger visor for your car?

    Here's another beautiful scene from Dear Old B'game.  One section of El Camino runs exactly east-west and thus gets a lot of straight on morning sun ("southbound" which is really eastbound) and evening sunset ("northbound").  Here's a photo from the middle of ECR at about 7:30pm.  It makes me think we will pine for the decimated eucalyptus when the Little Big Dig starts taking out 91% of them.  As we wait for the axe man to cometh, think about getting a bigger, better visor for your car.

    Sunset over ECR

  • Historic ECR buildings: “Mogies” make the cut

    As we wait for The LIttle Big Dig to start on El Camino it's worth delving into one of the useful things Caltrans did during the planning phase.  They had to commission an historic inventory report on the buildings along the historic thoroughfare–at least the ones that are left after the teardown trend of the last 20 -30 years.  All the way at the south end of town there are two distinctive buildings across from each other at the five-way, St. Catherine's intersection.  They are known as "Mogies" after architect Mogens Mogensen who did a number of projects on the Peninsula as described here:

    Mogen Mogensen (1920-1997) Was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated in 1942 in Architecture from the Technical School of Copenhagen. Between 1942 and 1946 he worked in architectural offices in Denmark and Sweden.  Mogensen had early success, winning awards for designs for a school in Malmo, Sweden in 1945, and a City Hall in Ulricehamn, Sweden a year later. He arrived in the U.S. in 1946 with the help of a great uncle and aunt who ran a dairy near San Luis Obispo. He quickly found a job with Wurster, Bernardi, Emmons in San Francisco, leaving them in 1947 for a two-year position as a designer with the David D. Bohannon Organization in San Mateo.

    During this time, he became a licensed architect in California. From 1950 to 1952 he worked in several architectural offices in San Francisco and on the peninsula. In 1952 he returned as chief architect for David Bohannon. He opened his own office in 1956. His Bay Area practice consisted primarily of apartment buildings and condominiums although he also built private homes. Mogensen was also involved in master planning, office buildings, and commercial projects.

    If you click through on the link you can see he designed the Adeline Apartments in Burlingame, the Ambassador Apartments in San Mateo, the Belmont Executive Center, and for the Bohannon Corp, the Hillsdale housing development and shopping center in San Mateo.

    Here on the South end, the Mogie at 90 El Camino has been deemed historic in the report which is timely since the building has also gone up for sale for the first time that I can remember in the 34 years I have lived a block away.  Disen Cai has the listing and it pops up on-line for $2.8M.  We will revisit the other "Mogie" across the street–an angular apartment building–at another time. Here's the little Mogie gem:

    Mogie office

  • Bumpingame – Part 3 Car..melita speed humps de-installed

    Carmelita Ave. is a pretty important street for travel and as the Little BIg Dig gets closer it will become even more important as a way to get to California Dr. and avoid the congested Broadway blocks.  We tracked the unfortunate addition of 12 non-standard rubberized speed humps here and more here.  Twelve was overkill for sure and it looks like TSpoon and Public Works have come around to that thinking since four of the 12 have been taken out.  My least favorite set, about 30 yards from the California Dr. stop light, are still there, but there's progress.

    The non-standard design is thoroughly uncomfortable to drive over and now we discover the bolt holes have to be filled before the road surface degrades further.  The DJ is reporting on our fiscal health:

    A planned $9.9 million transfer to the capital improvement fund — which will focus on the city’s potable water system and sanitary sewers this year — plus more than $3 million for debt services, will leave Burlingame at a $2.7 million net operating deficit. 

    I have no idea if speed humps are considered operating or capital expenses–one would think capital, until they start getting removed after a year in place.  Either way, it's just not a good use of city funds and this design ain't great for your suspension or spine either.  Here's the de-install.

    Carmelita hump shadow2

    And the bolt holes…got any epoxy?

    Carmelita hump shadow

  • ECR: The Big Dig schedule eases into next year

    The massive project to "fix" El Camino Real known around town as The Big Dig after the Boston tunnel project has slipped to a Fall 2025 start with the PG&E part slipping into 2026.  The Axeman still cometh for 90% of the eucalyptus, but it looks like they may live to see another winter.  Finalizing the easements from ECR property owners is causing the slippage.  Per the DJ piece

    There are two major elements to the project. One, a Caltrans effort to repair the road, sidewalk and street lights that will span from Millbrae to San Mateo, may begin work by fall of this year, however, that construction may start in one of the other cities first. 

    The second aspect of the project is a Burlingame-specific push for PG&E to underground utilities. The construction start date for that work has been delayed to the second quarter of 2026, Okada said. 

    Delays to Caltrans’ work on the road revamp are being caused in part by the need for signed reconciliations that affirm property owners are aware if their driveways, gardens and retaining walls in the public right-of-way will need to be removed to make way for sidewalk work.

    The city has committed to paying for the reconstruction of those facilities if property owners allow them to be temporarily removed, Burlingame Councilmember Donna Colson said, but has still run into trouble obtaining all of the necessary documentation of the easements.

    Slipping timelines equate to slipping funding and budgets even though inflation is moderating.  Thus, this uncertainty could be concerning as the undergrounding of the power lines is where the hidden problems like 1920's buried fuel tanks and other obstructions surface.

    On the PG&E side, the paperwork for procuring a contractor has been delayed, Okada said. 

    The count of trees to be removed is also a moving target.  It's still a lot of big, beautiful trees, but how many appears to have changed

    The tree removal aspect of the project has long been controversial in Burlingame, which is well-known for its forestry. Plans to take down 382 trees, plant 429 and retain more than 193 trees have slowly come together with input from groups like the Burlingame Historical Society.

    While we wait for the Big Dig to start perhaps Caltrans could throw us a bone and fix the potholes?  The City should formally request a Spring patch along the whole stretch.  I would also like to see the surviving trees be marked as such well before the project begins.  That's just good transparency.  A constant finding in talking to B'gamers is very few have any idea that hundreds of trees are on the chopping block.

    ECR delay

  • Avenew update: Bye bye pavers

    We haven't addressed any changes on The Avenue recently although there has been bits of news and commentary.  So here goes.  Burlingame native turned San Franciscan, Peter Hartlaub of the SF Chronicle, did a piece this week titled "Nostalgia and progress are a tough balance. This Bay Area downtown gets it right." that was highly complementary of the San Mateo downtown.  He likes the B Street closure and all of the restaurant choices down there.  Regarding his hometown Avenue, not so much:

    The Peninsula has changed so much since I grew up in Burlingame in the 1970s and ’80s that I sometimes wonder whether I imagined the whole thing.

    All of my favorite South Bay movie theaters, comic book stores and sandwich shops are long gone. Marine World Africa USA’s dolphin shows and waterslides were replaced by Oracle headquarters. Main drag Burlingame Avenue turned from a haven of small businesses catering to the middle class to a Boulevard of Things I Can’t Afford.

    On that "boulevard" the city has finally thrown in the towel on some of the pavers that are cute, almost nostalgic in a faux cobblestone sort of way, but a maintenance headache.  The replacement project was scheduled to be complete last night:

    Several downtown Burlingame Avenue intersections will be under construction from March 24 through March 27. At the intersection of Burlingame Avenue and Primrose Road and the intersection of Burlingame Avenue and Lorton Avenue, the City will remove existing pavers and install new asphalt concrete, which will reduce the maintenance required for the pavers. At the intersection of Burlingame Avenue and Park Road, pavers will be replaced both in the intersection and in the crosswalks.

    I just walked through the busy core intersection of Primrose and The Avenew where a few loose pavers are hanging on.  Maybe they stay for historic reasons?  Or the project is just going slower than planned.  Be on the asphalt alert.  Right at that crossroad, Joe and the Juice is closing "for maintenance".  The windows were being papered over this morning.  I admit being surprised a coffee and juice place of that spacious size can survive on the Ave with all the coffee competition.  It never looks even half full, but they say they will be back.  Maybe Hartlaub will stop by Broadway on his next journey down the Peninsula?

    Joe Juice temporary closure

  • Dunkin’ on Caltrans and El Camino…again

    It's the second biggest disgrace in B'game after the Broadway non-grade separation.  We know the Big Dig is coming to El Camino, but that will take years to complete so why is the road surface So Bad?   Former B'game city council candidate Steve Duncan is as outraged as I am.  His letter to the editor of the Daily Post is on the nose:

    Dear Editor,

    On a recent visit to Cabo, Mexico, I noticed that most streets are in better condition than our El Camino Real, Burlingame's state road.  Some so simple and basic as filling a road hole doesn't get done.  It's basic maintenance.  Calls to Caltrans, public works and other officials have resulted in nothing!

    Meanwhile, drivers are dodging various moon holes and trying to prevent automobile damage.  The they have to worry about empty double-attached SamTrans buses travelling close to every 30 minutes.  Mexico is better at basic road maintenance than our Caltrans.

    Residents, taxpayers, drivers, call Caltrans and your elected representatives.  Send them your automobile repair bills.

    Steve Duncan

    Burlingame

    Steve is 100% correct.  The road is terrible and getting worse.  The right-most tire lane is bad due to the pounding from the buses and the whole surface is suffering from so many heavy EVs going back and forth (and not paying any gas tax for road maintenance).  What happened to tax "equity"?  Sending your repair bills to Caltrans is not as easy as you might think.  What's it gonna take to get a little basic maintenance?

  • Podcast: Mark Lucchesi and I talk B’game (#103)

    I'm honored that B'game podcaster Mark "Mark at the Mic" Lucchesi asked me back for another episode of Burlingame – It's a Small Town.  Over the course of about an hour we covered numerous topics that will be familiar to regular Voice readers and some new stuff too.  If you want to invest the time, around cocktail hour is recommended, then settle in with your favorite beverage and listen to the "Voice of the Voice".  The link to Episode #103 is here.

    Thanks again, Mark.  He has me queued up for another one in a few months since there is always something to talk about in our Small TownTM.

    Here is the two of us after recording the third podcast at the library

    Mark and Joe

  • Crosswalk Daylighting: Minus 100 spaces and counting

    We covered the new "daylighting" law that went into effect last January but is only now starting to be enforced here in B'game and elsewhere.  You can refresh your memory here regarding the 20-foot clearance around all crosswalks.  I have been having email discussions with Public Works and BPD on what the effects will be in our commercial districts, the areas around schools and the Rec Center as well as plain old residential areas.

    2024 was the "educational" year when marginal violations would only earn a warning, but BPD does not show that it issued any warnings in town.  I say "educational" because the city is only marking red curb areas in the high traffic-high pedestrian areas.  Both of our commercial districts and the school zones qualify for new or refreshed paint.  Public Works notes "The City has already completed red curbing in the Burlingame Avenue downtown area and is now focusing on Broadway as the next priority" and estimates this will eventually result in a net loss of about 100 spaces city wide.  Some of our existing red zones will have to be extended to 20' like the one shown below in front of Ike's, so I think there maybe a few more than the initial 100 estimate.

    Things get more interesting in residential neighborhoods.  There are crosswalks all over the place and plenty of people are accustomed to parking in front of their houses within 20' of such intersections.  I can go for a 15-minute walk in Burlingame Park and regularly count a half dozen.  There are two pocket parks on my walk, one that used to be Pershing School, so that may account for some of the legacy crosswalks.  Very few of these have any red curbing.  Thus, BPD has indicated:

    The fine for daylighting is $40.00, the same as most of the City's parking fines. Parking Enforcement Officers won't be actively patrolling residential neighborhoods specifically looking for these violations. However, if they happen to observe one, they are encouraged to take appropriate action, which could be a warning or a citation.

    I think good judgement will prevail at least for some educational period.  Six months?  9?  We shall see.  I'll be on the lookout for new red paint and whether or not it improves visibility of pedestrians.  Drivers should remember it is no longer illegal to jaywalk per The Freedom to Walk Act, which was signed into law in January 2023.

    Ike's curb

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