For more information please contact
Terry at
info@terrynagel.com
Copyright 2006 Terry Nagel - All Rights Reserved
June 22, 2007
Dear Friend:
It’s a busy time of year in Burlingame!
You’re invited to a Town Hall Meeting Saturday, June 23, to share ideas for ways that volunteers can help improve the city. The brainstorming meeting will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Lane Room at the main Burlingame Public Library at 480 Primrose Road. Coffee will be served.
Our City Council has made civic engagement a high priority during the past year. We have expanded public comment time during meetings, held more study sessions, contracted for a public opinion survey and redesigned the city's Web site so that it is more user-friendly. This summer, the city will launch a customer response system that tracks every suggestion and complaint made to the city. In the fall, residents will be able to sign up for two opportunities through the Recreation Center catalog: a Citizen's Academy that gives you a close-up look at how the city works and Community Emergency Response Team training that helps you prepare for disasters. We also are developing a Neighborhood Network program that encourages neighbors to band together for crime prevention and emergency preparedness.
We want to equip you with the resources you need to carry out your vision for Burlingame. If you already have an initiative in progress, you may find willing volunteers at this meeting. If you want to find out what’s going on and get involved, this is the place to be.
If you cannot attend the meeting but wish to share your ideas for Burlingame, please email me at terry@terrynagel.com.
Caltrain will soon begin construction at the Burlingame Avenue station on $20.5 million worth of improvements – the most Caltrain has spent on upgrading a single station. This project will eliminate the center platform at the station and construct new outside boarding platforms, in order to improve safety and train movement. It includes closure of South Lane and will expand the pedestrian crossing at North Lane.
Caltrain will be holding an informational meeting for the community at the Burlingame Recreation Center at 850 Burlingame Ave. on Wednesday, June 27, at 6:30 p.m. Attendees will learn more about the project, which is expected to be completed in 11 months.
A groundbreaking event is scheduled for the following day, Thursday, June 28, at 10 a.m. at the Burlingame Avenue Caltrain station.
If you cannot attend these events, you can learn more at www.caltrain.com/burlingame, a page on Caltrain’s Web site that will be maintained and updated for the duration of the project. For additional questions or comments, call 1(800) 660-4287 or email burlingame@caltrain.com.
You are invited to a reception honoring past and present Burlingame residents named to the Extraordinary Burlingamers list on Sunday, August 5, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Lane Room at the main Burlingame Public Library. Those being honored are asked to bring an item or photo illustrating their achievement or contribution to the community. After they say a few words, we’ll open up the meeting for a community-wide conversation about some of the individuals who have shaped our city and made a mark on the world.
Martha Rosman May, the city’s unofficial archivist, and I compiled this list in honor of the city’s Centennial celebration. It was announced at the city’s recent Centennial kick-off parade. The list includes a former Olympic medalist, a Davis Cup winner, an Academy Award winner, a nationally known cartoonist, artists, authors, three heroes and a toothpick sculptor.
You can send additional suggestions for the list to me at terry@terrynagel.com. To read the city’s press release about the Extraordinary Burlingamers project, click here.
At the Burlingame City Council's June 18 meeting, Pacific Gas & Electric representatives reported that they have set up a new email address that Burlingame residents can use to report outages, once power is restored: BurlingameOutages@pge.com. In addition, PG&E is planning to add an online form to its Web site for reporting outages in 2008.
The Peninsula Division superintendent, Mitchell Kirk, said PG&E has no way of tracking all of the power failures that Burlingame residents have reported on my Web site.
Kirk did not offer any new explanations for power failures that residents complained about at a March 27 Town Hall Meeting with PG&E representatives. These problems are summarized in a letter that I sent on behalf of residents to PG&E . At the June 18 meeting, Kirk attributed recent outages as follows:
I want to stress the importance of continuing to log outages on my Web site. Since residents began tracking outages in 2002, PG&E has spent more than $2.4 million on improving circuits in Burlingame. Outages on the city's five most problematic circuits decreased 85 percent from 2002 to 2003.
You can also report power outages to PG&E by calling 1-800-743-5002. If you are experiencing a “momentary outage” (one lasting less than five minutes), it's better to call 1-800-743-5000. And when power is restored, don’t forget to send an email documenting the problem to PG&E at BurlingameOutages@pge.com.
Burlingame is one of the first cities in the county to provide residents with the opportunity to subscribe to San Mateo County’s Community Alert Network. After you sign up at www.smcalert.info, notices of important information will be sent to you via your computer, cell phone or any device capable of receiving email. The notices include information about utility outages, storm warning, flash floods, road closures, earthquakes and hazardous materials. Follow-up alerts are sent to update you when the emergency situation has ended.
There are no charges for emails, but you may be charged a nominal fee for a Text Alert, depending on your carrier and the type of text plan you currently have. You can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribers are placed in geographic groups depending upon registration information, so if you live in Burlingame and work in San Carlos, you can receive alerts for both cities.
For more information, go to www.smcalert.info/faq.php.
How did four years go by so quickly? Soon it will be campaign season again. If you would like to help with my re-election campaign for a Burlingame City Council seat, don’t be shy. Send me an email or give me a call at (650) 347-3576. I guarantee you will meet a lot of interesting people!
Don’t miss these upcoming Burlingame events!
Here’s to a great summer!