Category: Uncategorized

  • 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.

  • Tax Time: Doing our share, or more

    Just in time for Tax Day, all of the big papers like the SacBee and the California Post are reporting on our fine county’s wealth. It turns out that according to SmartAsset, we are number four in the nation and number one in California. The methodology is always the devil in the details, so here is theirs:

    To identify the wealthiest counties, we compared all U.S. counties across three metrics: investment income, property value, and median income. 

    We started the analysis by calculating the Investment Index for each county by evenly weighing the Ordinary Dividends, Qualified Dividends, and Net Capital Gains. From there we calculated the Median Home Value, and the Median Income for each county, and ranked them on all three metrics. 

    The SacBee reports

    According to SmartAsset, San Mateo County was the richest county in California in 2025 with a wealth index of 68.36 out of 100. Part of the San Francisco Bay Area, San Mateo County offers a “mix of unbeatable weather, charming seaside views and technical resiliency, Built In San Francisco said, making it a popular location for established tech companies and startups.

    About 17% of San Mateo County residents work in professional, scientific, technical or administrative jobs, according to the county’s employment data. County residents had a median income of $156,000, according to SmartAsset. That’s about $56,000 more than the statewide median household income of $99,122 a year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

    There are a lot of reasons for the “top line” — wealth, but as usual at the Voice, we ask what about the denominator? In this case it’s the cost to live here. We know it’s high and for a lot of items, we know why. Since gas prices are top of mind at the moment, you should check out the absolute smack down the U.S. Oil and Gas Association is applying on X to our governor, Tom Steyer and Ro Khanna among others as they blame everyone but ourselves for $6-7.50 gas. It’s embarrassing (if you are them). As they say, “the fish rots from the head”.

  • Town Square: Postal bliss

    About 300 community members came together under a clear blue sky last week for the ribbon-cutting at our new Town Square. It’s a long story which you can revisit via the Post Office category here from the groundbreaking in 2021 all the way back to 2012. I thought Mayor Michael Brownrigg delivered an outstanding speech and Michael kindly gave me his detailed notes to excerpt here. Here are some very lightly edited highlights of that speech.

    The history of Burlingame last 50 years is history of parking lots: buying and leveling our bowling alley, the old City Hall, and others to build parking lots to compete with malls. 15 years ago, with our downtown sagging, we realized it was not parking, it was vitality and activity that mattered. And those parking lots – bought as a way to enhance Burlingame — now looked a lot like underutilized assets.

    In 2008/9, in the heart of the Great Recession, our city leaders challenged our community, let’s reimagine our downtown. Over the course of a couple of years and many, many meetings, a vision arose. It was the product of robust input from groups like Citizens for a Better Burlingame and the downtown BID, Planning Commission, community leaders, etc.

    We now see so many fruits from that 2010 Downtown Plan: affordable housing, creative and efficient parking, expanding energy and retail over to Howard, enhancing Burlingame Avenue with wide sidewalks and more pedestrian amenities. And today, the cherry on top, our new Town Square.

    There are so many people to thank. Neighbors like the Salmas and the Karps and the owners of Yves De Lorme, who have consistently leaned in. Other business owners like Janet and Carl Martin who worked hard to make Safeway a better project way back when and who care deeply about the entire fabric of our downtown. Safeway was the first salvo by Burlingame in terms of imagining a more pedestrian friendly, community oriented and vital downtown. And a shout out to Stanley Lo, who helped control the Post Office site after it was put on the market and then helped sell the site to a group of people who could honor the history and imagine the future, and to Dave Hopkins, a co-conspirator at Sares Regis without whose courage this project might never have materialized.

    Michael Brownrigg

    Burlingame Mayor (2026)

    On the occasion of the opening of the Town Square, April 2, 2026

    As I said, this is just an excerpt, and he thanked many more people before turning the podium over several other speakers. Hopefully this Instagram video will load properly for a taste of the proceedings. The story about moving the Post Office over the downtown culvert and then back is one for the ages and I can’t wait for the restaurant that is the last remaining bit of the project.

    Michael told me last week that he would use last night’s city council meeting to publicly affirm what we have been hearing for a sometime–that he would not seek re-election this time around. He leaves quite a service legacy having been appointed to the Planning Commission in 2001 and joining the city council in 2009. As we have seen with other long-serving commissioners and council members, their institutional knowledge is incredibly valuable in subsequent projects. And they still get button-holed in the grocery aisle long after they are out of office. Congrats, sir.

  • Schiff Watch: Priorities, priorities

    Some things politicians do are real head-scratchers and it often comes down to priorities–or misguided priorities. One of our US Senators, Adam Schiff, makes me feel like I have fleas there is so much scratching going on. I’ll use this post as an occasional catchall bucket to track priorities starting with this one from the WSJ:

    Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) on Tuesday introduced legislation seeking to explicitly ban any entity regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from listing a contract “that involves, relates to, or references” terrorism, assassination, war or death.

    Federal law gives the CFTC the authority to prohibit event contracts involving war, terrorism, assassination or any activity that violates federal or state laws or is against the public interest. The bill seeks to explicitly ban such contracts from being listed, according to Sen. Schiff’s office.

    “With regulators turning a blind eye, prediction markets have rapidly become the Wild West,” Sen. Schiff said in a statement. “As the CFTC seeks to rewrite the rules of the road, Congress must make clear that these death bets are unequivocally prohibited, and this bill would do just that.”

    Like this is in the Top 50 things our senator should be worrying about. There’s massive fraud taking place all over the country including our Golden State. Energy prices are rising especially including our Golden State. Critical Federal employees are working without pay. The roads are a mess and transit is broke. But we should be concerned about prediction markets? Even the CFTC thinks this is misguided head-in-the-sand thinking.

    CFTC Chair Michael Selig came out swinging in favor of prediction markets in February, saying he sees their platforms as a way for society to channel the wisdom of crowds for useful information, offering a check on news media and other gatekeepers.

    Watch this space for more questions on priorities.

  • BPD: A busy January for arrests

    I had not visited the on-line B’game arrest website in some time, but a week ago I noticed January was shaping up to be a crime-ridden month. I waited through yesterday to assemble the monthly total which worked out as there were three arrests yesterday. The 2025 annual totals are here and tally to 1,240 including traffic violations. Not including traffic stuff, our January 2026 total was 83 composed of mostly single charge arrests, but a few double and triple charges. Here is the breakdown from BPD’s site:

    Violate Court Order Domestic Violence                            3

    Inflict Corporal Injury on Spouse/cohabitant/dating Relationship        1

    Bench Warrant Misdemeanor                                           7

    Petty Theft W/2 Or More Priors – Shoplifting       1

    Theft Of Personal Property – Shoplifting                          1

    Possess Unlawful Paraphernalia                                    7

    Possess/etc Burglary Tools                                               2

    Drive W/license Susp For Dui                                         11

    Drive W/license Suspended, Warrant                               6

    Outside Warrant Arrest Misdemeanor                               6

    Possess Controlled Substance                                        2

    Obstruct/resist Public/Peace Officer/EMT – Simple 4

    Battery On Peace Officer/Emergency Personnel/etc         2

    Forge/alter Vehicle Registration                                      2

    Solicit Lewd Act In Public                                                1

    Indecent Exposure                                                           1

    Drive W/o License                                                           1

    Dui Alcohol/0.08 Percent                                                  8

    Dui + .15 Or Refusal                                                          2

    Drive W/o License                                                            1

    Trespass: Refuse To Leave Property                                1

    Disorderly Conduct: alcohol                                              3

    Contempt Of Court: disobey Court Order                           1

    Carry Switchblade Knife On                                              1

    Give False ID to Police                                                      1

    Possess Narcotic Controlled Substance                              2

    Possess Controlled Substance Without Prescription    1

    Restricted Driver Operate Vehicle W/o Interlock Device     1

    Outside Warrant Arrest Felony                                           3

    Total                                                                               83

  • Fall Treehugger post: Tahoe Aspens

    Sticking with the Tahoe theme, back East we called them poplar trees, but out west they are most often known as aspens and Tahoe is full of them. On what I hear was a spectacular day in B’game, it was also spectacular Fall weather in Tahoe. This run of aspens is hitting its bright yellow stride.

    The species is quite old for a specific reason as explained by the AI Copilot:

    Individual aspen trees have a relatively short lifespan of about 50 to 150 years, but the species’ age is much greater through its root systems, which can form massive, long-lived clones that can be thousands of years old. The oldest known aspen clone is the Pando colony in Utah, estimated to be at least 80,000 years old.

    Here in Tahoe, the young trees near the Truckee need to be protected from the beavers by wire mesh wrapping. Once they are established, they are beautiful. Like these

  • Power Pole Preview

    PG&E needed to replace a pole (one!) in my neighborhood recently. Watching it all happen got me thinking about the El Camino Real project (aka the Little Big Dig coming next year). We all got multiple notices about the new pole by mail and phone indicating a 30-minute planned outage on the morning of the work and another outage near the end of the day. A crew of about 15 guys rolled in with at least eight vehicles and two trailer-mounted generators. After they de-energized a section around the pole and disconnected it, the two generators kicked on to keep the lights on for the neighborhood.

    The job took the whole day with all 15 or so guys here all day. A long rig delivered the new pole and the guy in the bucket truck started disassembling the power, phone, and cable wires. All I could think of was what a massive task it will be to move miles of the El Camino wiring underground–and how many longer outages will occur. As with the loss of 90% of the eucalyptus trees, I doubt many people have any idea what is coming. It also made me glad to have a gas stove, heat and outdoor grill. Having dual power sources has been smart forever and not likely to change anytime soon.

  • Caltrain: Downtown extension trivia

    I like to peruse the SF Examiner on days when the Comicle is just not funny enough.  Last Thursday was one of those days and I was not disappointed.  Front page:  "Caltrain's Downtown Extension looking for sexier name".  That's what is really important about our local train service–the name of the last 1.3 miles of tunnel in EssEff  The Joint Powers Board thinks the $4-5 Billion dollar project needs a better brand……never mind that cities up and down the Peninsula are crying for money to do grade separations like at Broadway and electrification still needs money and in view of the long crossing gate SNAFUs some control system upgrades are also in order.  On August 28th the gates were down for hours royally screwing up traffic in town.

    The extension has been known as the Downtown Extension or alternatively DTX.  But Alicia John-Baptiste, president of the urban planning think tank SPUR and a TJPA board member takes the cake.  She said the name "strikes me as somewhat masculine and aggressive.  It didn't feel very inviting to me."   That, dear reader, is a quote!  Don't believe me?  Here it is.  Is "Portal" is suitably feminine?  How do we get something non-binary?  Hire a new consultant?

    Caltrain DTX

  • Avenue Parking Tightens Up

    I'm lucky that I seldom park on or around the Avenew.  I just walk over and walk back when I need something and I end up doing that almost everyday.  I have noticed that with the parklets taking up a ton of spaces (60 to 70 was the original estimate) and the big parking garage yet to open that aggressive driving maneuvers are on the uptick.  A friend mentioned that while he ate on the Ave in one of the parklets, he saw four cars pull U-turns or left turns to park on the opposite side (which is illegal too) to grab a space.  Add in the 10 minute pick-up-only spaces on the Ave and B'way and it's a "goat rodeo" out there during peak times.  The 10 minute spaces can't possibly be monitored very closely, but I have seen regular parking enforcement return.

    Pick up in 10
     

  • Driving range drives bass rather than balls

    For the record, I love music. I love live music the best. I’m a concert goer. I also consider myself an amateur musician. That said I have to question how the Burlingame Golf Center became a live concert venue. I question it for several reasons. The first being that here it is the first night of the concert series on the bay front and I can listen to the concert from my house, which is clearly NOT on the bay front. The second question is that I have been involved in organizing concerts in another Peninsula city and I had to jump through hoops to gain the proper permits. The questions on the permits include what is the plan for safety, traffic and lighting but most importantly sound/noise/decibel level, etc. The concerts I refer to had to end at 8pm at the latest so as not to disturb residents or hotel guests in the area. I have to wonder how the hotels are feeling about live and loud concerts next to their hotels. Granted during this time of Covid, the guest count is most likely down, but that doesn’t change the fact that no guest likes to hear construction noise or thumping bass lines all night. The third question is how did they get permission to hold concerts on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights for several weeks in a row? OK, a concert once in a while, perhaps once a week, but practically every night? More questions: I Googled the concert info and could not find any info on what time they are supposed to conclude. Again, it’s after 10pm and I still hear the concerts. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I think the process is flawed here. A quote from one of the artists as quoted in the SF Chron: “Phillippe is already planning to “make a song that allows the crowd to interact via honking their car horns.” Really? 58fdd482-d4f8-47c5-a0f1-7d5cdc6d85b3

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