March, 2 2004

Dear Friend;

Burlingame is an exciting place to live! We have energetic, engaged citizens who care about making our city a better place. Here's an update on what's been happening.

Powerful Results

The big news during the recent storms that rocked Burlingame was that the lights DIDN'T go out. Terry Nagel will explain why at a speech tomorrow, March 3, when she is the featured speaker at Burlingame's Emeritus Forum. Nagel credits her group, Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts (BULB), with prompting PG&E to spend more than $2.4 million improving circuits in Burlingame. As a result, outages in the city decreased 85 percent between 2002 and 2003.

The program is free and open to the public. It takes place from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Burlingame Recreation Center, 850 Burlingame Ave.

You can read about BULB's accomplishments by clicking here. http://www.terrynagel.com/main.php?Page=359"

If you've had a recent outage, please report it on the Power Outage Form. http://www.terrynagel.com/main.php?Page=370

Safeway Showdown

The Burlingame Channel will broadcast the tape of the Feb. 3 Burlingame City Council meeting at which the Safeway vote was taken on Thursday, March 4, beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 27. At  this emotional meeting, all five council members explained their views on the proposed 67,000 square foot project before voting to turn down the project 3-2.

Campaign Revisited

On Saturday, March 20, Terry will speak on the "Challenges of a First-Time Candidate" at the Pacifica/Coastside Democrats meeting on Saturday, March 20, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Sharp Park Restaurant at the Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica. For reservations, contact Marian Yap, (650) 359-6140, seaweed5@aol.com.

Patch List

Does a pothole perturb you? Is street debris disturbing you? After Terry reported numerous complaints by citizens, Burlingame Public Works Director George Bagdon set up a special phone line where residents can report problems related to streets and the maintenance of facilities. Once you report a problem at (650) 558-7670, the city will try to fix the problem within seven days, weather permitting.

Burlingame Survey

Have you taken Terry's survey yet? She wants to know how Burlingame residents and business owners feel about city issues, and welcomes ideas for saving money and generating revenues. You can fill out the survey online at http://www.terrynagel.com/main.php?Page=410 or click here (http://www.terrynagel.com/downloads/survey.doc) to download a copy in Microsoft Word that you can mail back to her at: 2337 Poppy Drive, Burlingame 94010. Terry will pass along your opinions and comments to the other City Council members and city department heads.

Broadway Train Station

Caltrain's Board of Directors was scheduled to make a decision on the future train schedule for the Broadway Station this Thursday, but the board has decided to delay the decision until April.

Stay tuned.

Eucalyptus Trees (with thanks to Jen Pfaff)

The tree stumps on El Camino look terrible, but the 11 eucalyptus trees recently taken down were not in good health. An independent arborist determined that they were diseased and neither the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) nor Burlingame wanted to worry about them falling on people.

After meetings with the city's Parks and Recreation Department, the Burlingame Historical Society and Caltrans (including a Caltrans historian), it was agreed to remove them and replace them with historically correct elm varieties that are highly resistant to Dutch Elm Disease.

Elms were the original tree of choice planted by John McLaren in the 1880s along this windswept stretch of highway. The eucalyptus trees were added as windbreaks to protect the young elms and were supposed to have been removed later, but Burlingame residents loved them and refused to let them go. Decades later, when the elms were decimated by Dutch Elm Disease, we were left with the large blue gums lining the highway.

Now that disease-resistant elm varieties are available, and elms by their nature are less invasive, live longer and are easier to maintain that eucalyptus, they are the obvious best choice for the future. These trees will grow quite tall (though not quite as tall as the blue gums being removed) and will form a beautiful canopy over El Camino. This change will be gradual, as we will only allow a few trees to be removed from time to time when we receive concrete evidence that they are dangerous.

Phone: 650-347-3576