Dedicated to Empowering and Informing the Burlingame Community

  • UC Berkeley: “Cluster hires”. What could go wrong?

    Let's do one more education-related post to keep the streak running.  The Sunday SF Comicle section titled "Insight" provided a rare sliver of insight this week.  I enjoy watching new words being created and this piece brought wider notice to the term "Pretendianism" to describe the act of faking your ethnic background to take advantage of ethnicity-driven hiring programs.  The piece titled "Pretendianism too common in academia" asks the question: How do so many people with no Native ties get away with using a false heritage to infiltrate some of the most rarefied academic spaces in America?

    I'll skip over the details of one Associate professor Elizabeth Hoover's gaming of the system because the article leaked an even more egregious practice at UC Berkeley that probably exists elsewhere in publicly funded academia.  It's hardly news and it's quite profitable as the Other Elizabeth has been proving for more than a decade.

    But deep in the article, this tidbit is revealed

    Contrary to some reports, Hoover was not a “cluster hire,” the faculty member said, which is when several new faculty members identified as members of a minority or historically disadvantaged groups are brought aboard simultaneously — a method has been championed at UC Berkeley to make “an immediate and substantial impact far greater than a few isolated hires.” 

    Yikes!  Is this a "cheaper by the dozen" approach?  Let's not spend time and effort examining individuals' skill sets.  We'll just hire a handful all at once that look the right way.  One wonders if that tactic would survive the "shoe on the other foot" test?  Is it any wonder that campuses are a mess?  California taxpayers are not getting their money's worth, and the faculty lounge is the first place where the shades should be lifted and sunlight should shine.  "Rarefied spaces" indeed.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    3 comments on UC Berkeley: “Cluster hires”. What could go wrong?

  • BHS Baseball cracks the Top 15

    Let's keep the school post rally going by highlighting today's SF Comicle Top 15 high school baseball rankings.  BHS made the #15 slot–the only team not ranked preseason!  There are not a lot of public schools on the list–Los Gatos being one that has a rich baseball history–as does B'game.  Keep it up, team.

    BHS Baseball T15

    Update May 18:  Things did not go well for the Panthers today against Mitty at Washington Park.  It was a beautiful day for baseball, until it wasn't.  I arrived mid-game when BHS was down 6-1 and it went downhill from there.  I think it was 12-1 at the end due to strong hitting by Mitty and some very sloppy defense by the home team.  That's the way the ball bounces.  Making the CCS D-I playoffs is quite an accomplishment, and my guess is that is what the coaches are telling the players here after the game.

    Panthers last team meeting_2024

    Posted by:

    Joe

    7 comments on BHS Baseball cracks the Top 15

  • BHS students handling college rejection

    While we're on the subject of schools, imagine my surprise when I turned to page A7 in yesterday's SF Comicle and saw a photo of the BHS' Burlingame B bulletin board.  The article described a trend at "prestigious" high schools that students are posting their rejection letters from college admissions offices.  It's apparently an attempt at some sort of cathartic release.  The reporter profiled Lick-Wilderming in SF, Paly and BHS.  Good company, no doubt.

    For many high school students, the pressure to get into top colleges is intense, with students striving to get straight A’s, excel in extracurriculars, demonstrate leadership and share their unique qualities in a perfect essay.  Acceptances are celebrated while the rejections are shouldered in silence, the letters starting with “sorry to inform you” stuck on repeat in their internal soundtracks.

    Students at some of the Bay Area’s most prestigious public and private high schools, however, have decided to fight back against the pressure, publicly posting their college rejection letters at school in what students said is a cathartic sharing of grief and an acknowledgment that rejection is a normal part of life.

    The article goes on with the usual back-and-forth about the wisdom or damage of doing this vis a vis other students, parents, administrators, book authors, etc.  You can read through it yourselves for a taste of the high school zeitgeist.  The local angle is

    At Burlingame High School, senior Arda Inegol applied to 29 colleges in the fall, including some of the top universities in the country, hoping his 4.33 GPA, his impressive extracurriculars and athletics would result in a flurry of acceptances this spring.   “Sometimes not everything is as you expected it to be,” he said.  There was a day, he said, when four rejections came in. Eventually he had 13 “we regret to inform you” letters in hand, 11 acceptances and spots on five waitlists.

    At school, it felt like everyone was just talking about acceptances, Arda said, as if rejections didn’t exist. He felt his classmates should create a sense of unity from the experience and suggested to administrators and classmates they create a rejection wall.  His principal, Jen Fong, embraced the idea.

    “It’s a really important way for students to express their disappointments and join in solidarity,” Fong said, adding there is great concern for students’ mental health coming out of COVID. “It’s an opportunity to normalize a negative experience.”

    No body should expect to go 29 for 29 regardless of one's resume.  Admissions officers have multiple parameters, some of which have nothing to do with the individual applicant.  For example, school-based or region-based "quotas".  And given what we are learning from the recent Supreme Court ruling, there are even more factors–not all legal or ethical.  Inegol noted:

    “Once this whole process is over, you realize that it was so stupid. No college defines who you are,” he said. “Eventually you do get into a school that fits you well. I am happy where I will end up.”

    I would add even if the first school doesn't fit right, you can always transfer.  It's pretty easy–just keep the grades in good standing.  The real world is full of opportunities for disappointment.  When they turn into "shame" is when a rethink is in order.  If the bulletin board helps, go for it.

    BHS rejection board

    Posted by:

    Joe

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  • Tracking SMUSHD legal activity…or inactivity?

    As a sort of public service and for everyone's reading convenience, I will post the "bottom-line" comment from a long time Voice commenter as a fresh new post.  Readers can always scroll…and scroll.. and scroll through the earlier post from October 2022 here.  OneManginiWay writes:

    Three points rather than three sentences… (and a few additional words)

    1. The defrauding of the public by the SMUHSD, its Trustees, and Superintendents.

    2. The Misappropriation of public funds of (estimated) almost $1 million in tax-payers money for fraudulent investigation and legal expenses.

    3. The destruction of the history and traditions of Burlingame High School by the (internal) Carpetbaggers who literally hate the town, its parents, (and their public standing) and the values of the community. (But love the money the parents give to put in their pocket).

    The Burlingame Voice has been the literal (and intentional) roadside billboard to document these actions. Why?  So the SM County Grand Jury can (once again) revisit the facts of what has transpired.

    For me, the big question is what's next?  So far, from the outside, it seems like this issue has stalled.  If the County Grand Jury isn't recommending anything be done, or if it is and the powers-that-be choose not to pursue it, what's next?  A Go Fund Me campaign for legal expenses?  Would that even kick start anything?  It's very hard to say.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    32 comments on Tracking SMUSHD legal activity…or inactivity?

  • Bay Area Population: More shrinkage, significant shrinkage

    Peeling back the headline that statewide population rose 0.17% for the first time in years, yields the news that the Bay Area continues to shrink.  Are you wondering why we need to tax the people who remain, to the tune of a $20 billion bond, for "affordable" housing in the Bay Area?  Me too.  The original news reports put it at $10 billion, but a few billion more here and a few there and voilà–it's $20 billion per the MTC news release.  As we noted here, the ink isn't even dry on the measly $6 billion bond that Newsom just rammed through.

    Let's go to the tale of the tape:

    A net of about 114,000 people immigrated legally into the state from abroad during 2023, up from a net 90,000 people in 2022 and near pre-pandemic levels. 

    So, trying to outbuild the global desire to move here is a fool's errand most likely to harm those that are still here

    Net domestic migration was still negative, with the state losing an estimated 92,000 people last year from internal migration, but that was far less than the approximate 356,000 net loss in 2021.

    And the local story was one of shrinkage with slight growth in the "outskirts" of the Bay Area where there is room for projects like California Forever that would be privately funded and developed.

               Alameda County                -0.5% 

    San Mateo County             -0.5%

    Marin County                    -0.4%

    Sonoma County                 -0.3%

    Santa Clara County            flat

    Napa County                     +0.4%

    Contra Costa County         +0.1%

    Solano County                   +0.2%

    San Francisco                    +0.1%

    Let's put additional big bonds for "affordable" housing on the back burner, nay back in the fridge, until we see how the regulatory clubs like SB9, builders' remedies, buying up hotels and motels for subsidized housing and Newsom's six bill work out.   As Jerry Seinfeld said to George regarding the shrinkage, "I think they know".

    Posted by:

    Joe

    18 comments on Bay Area Population: More shrinkage, significant shrinkage

  • Housing Bond: A billion here, a billion there…..

    While attributed to Everett Dirksen, the think tank dedicated to his career in Congress cannot verify that he actually said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."  No matter, it's still a great Twain-sian take on government spending.  There is so much money sloshing around that people, especially elected officials, can't really comprehend it.  The latest example is right here in the Bay Area where ABAG has approved putting a $10 $20 billion bond measure on the ballot for "affordable housing".

    Mind you, our governor just spent unchallenged millions to barely pass a $6 billion bond measure for "affordable housing" across the state.  The tally took a long time and garnered a 0.5% winning margin.  So now we are to consider a 67% 333% bigger bond just for the nine counties in the Bay Area?  The Daily Journal notes

    The Association of Bay Area Governments approved the ballot measure Thursday, April 18, which would produce and maintain about 72,000 affordable units, according to documents from the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority.

    San Mateo County would receive about $1 billion to $2 billion, depending on the final bond amount, with a minimum of 52% allocated for affordable housing production and 15% for preservation, per the Regional Housing Finance Act.  The measure would effectively create a regional public lending institution bolstered by Bay Area property owners, who would pay roughly $19 per $100,000 of assessed property toward the fund.

    One eagle-eyed Voice reader sent me an email stating

    If this bond issue were to pass It would raise my property taxes. $500. No thank you, I'm voting no.  Where will the water come from and how much will the water cost?  And how much extra traffic on the streets and freeways will this cause?  No thank you. And please don't tell me everyone's gonna take public transportation.

    If you read through the rest of the DJ article all you see are politicians nibbling around the edges of the proposal.  No one has the big picture in mind like our emailer.  We are almost at the two-year anniversary of my post titled "State Auditor: Housing "requirement" numbers way off".  Is anyone doing anything about fixing the illusory numbers?  Not that I can see.  They just go along like sheep thinking we need to build our way out of a manufactured "crisis".

    Maybe we should just let a few billionaires build their California Forever city on ranch land out in Solano County and call it a day.  As Calmatters.org notes, they can pay for the infrastructure, the housing and be the master developer.  That would free up ABAG to, you know, worry about fixing the roads, the water system, the grid, the schools, etc.  All that boring stuff.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    8 comments on Housing Bond: A billion here, a billion there…..

  • Was Shiffty underdressed on Broadway?

    The Voice is hearing that the luggage-deficit Adam Schiff made his local fundraising appearance right here in our B'game burg.  After having his luggage stolen, the Schiffster is reported to have attended his fundraiser in short sleeves and the "puffy vest" so loved by the cognoscenti of fashion.  But in the true tradition of the Earl of Ess Eff reporting, Herb Caen, the Voice is hearing that the affair in question was at Rocca on B'way.

    The Shadow's Nose is hearing from an eyewitness that the soon-to-be US Senator was a shivering Schiffty on B'way.  Details are emerging as we speak that reinforce the less-than-stellar vehicular burglary stats in our environs, but let's hope the suitcase shift was at an SFO parking garage of perhaps in Millbrae.  More to follow.

     

    Posted by:

    Joe

    3 comments on Was Shiffty underdressed on Broadway?

  • New Category: Sacramento Stupidity….on story poles

    I have been meaning to add a "Sacramento Stupidity" category for some time.  One could argue that it is overlap with what goes into a few other existing categories like "State level issues", "High Speed Rail", etc.  But somethings are just so stupid they need a category of their own and I have finally found the one to take the proverbial cake.  The Merc is reporting:

    Los Gatos eases story pole restrictions for new developments

    Story poles may help Los Gatos residents get a sense of how much space new developments will occupy, but the state told town officials that requiring the poles may keep new housing from being built in town.

    After receiving word from the state’s department of Housing and Community Development that the town’s story pole policy “poses a constraint to the construction of new housing” and could therefore impede approval of its Housing Element, the Los Gatos Town Council in a split vote approved easing the requirements.  Poles won’t be required for projects over 55 feet tall, and signage will be allowed in lieu of story poles for certain residential projects.

    Outcry from residents who saw story poles go up on the North 40 property led to the developers filing a lawsuit in 2016 after council rejected plans for the first phase of the development in East Los Gatos.

    This could easily be an April Fool's Day post, but it isn't.  In a recent email, the GovernforCalifornia.org team discussed the mind-boggling budget deficit the state has just one year after having a massive surplus, by noting the state should:

    Reduce the number of Executive Branch employees, which has risen under Mr. Newsom to 252,000, or 6.47 employees per 1000 population, from 212,000, or 5.37 employees per 1000 population, in Governor Brown's last year of office. Matching Mr. Brown's number of employees per 1000 population would eliminate 43,000 positions.

    If you are wondering how the state has time to chase after towns about their story-pole policies, there is your answer.  Welcome to the new Sacramento Stupidity category–I fear it will be a busy one.

    Posted by:

    Joe

    1 comment on New Category: Sacramento Stupidity….on story poles

  • Earth Day Special: When “green” isn’t

    Happy Earth Day, everyone.  Per Wikipedia

    Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.  The official theme for 2024 is "Planet vs. Plastics."

    That's a meritorious goal that is harder to accomplish than it seems.  The unspoken recycling scam I profiled four years ago of very little stuff that goes into the system getting recycled (9%!) should get a lot more attention than it does.

    The whole process gets even more complex when packagers mistakenly make it even harder to recycle in the name of going green.  I won't call this local example "greenwashing" because I'm guessing they really think they are helping.  They just misjudge human behavior and don't understand what happens as a result.  I'm no expert either, but I know whom to ask–the team at Ridwell as profiled here.  I recall from interviewing them that "film" plastic–the thin stuff–isn't recyclable by the Recologies of the world–hence Ridwell.  So, when I saw the new package tops of salads and spinach at Safeway, I smelled a rat in the recycling.  "34% Less Plastic Than Previous Plastic Lid".  Yeah, but.  People have to know to peel the new lid and the strip it sticks to off the container before they recycle it.  I'm guessing next to nobody knows or does it because the font on the message to remove it is tiny and printed in white ink. 

    Net result from the experts:  My guess is the most common occurrence is the entire package is included in PET bales as contamination.  PET is what the base of it is.  The worst fate would be if this pushes the contamination rate to such a high level that nothing can be done with the bales.  PET is usually very recyclable so that would be a shame.

    Once again, the Law of Unintended Consequences strikes.  How long before we see the hard plastic lids return?  Soon I hope.  Happy Earth Day………

    Salad container
     

    Posted by:

    Joe

    4 comments on Earth Day Special: When “green” isn’t

  • A different sort of Spring tree hugger post

    The annual Spring tree hugger posts are full of blossoms like you see here for example.  This year I'm taking a more pensive approach–a "for dust you are and to dust you will return." view.  It has been a rough year for B'game trees, especially the doomed 9 out of 10 Eucs on El Camino.

    By highlighting the pinecones on my Cedrus Atlantica as a sign of new life for the ones that escape the squirrels' appetites, I get opposite, hopeful feeling from seeing one of our fallen brethren on ECR.  His tag, CT-243, still adorns his stump as it awaits the stump grinder in the big El Camino project.  Dust to dust.

    Cedrus Atlantica

    Euc CT-243

    Posted by:

    Joe

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