Community Corner

Top 10 Burlingame Newsmakers of 2011

What people and issues made the biggest stir in Burlingame this year? We compiled a list of the top 10 issues you read and talked most about.

It's been a busy 2011 in Burlingame, full of new businesses, budgets, ordinances and issues. Using readership numbers, comments and community feedback, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 newsmakers in Burlingame this year. Here are the stories you clicked on, commented on and talked about the most in 2011.

10) Curriculum Changes in the Burlingame Elementary School District: The Burlingame School District Board of Trustees and District staff spent the past few months heavily revising education for kindergarten through second graders, often to the chagrin and debate of parents and educators. It all began in October with State Senate Bill 1381, which requires children turn five-years-old previous to Nov. 1 for the 2012-2013 school year, Oct. 1 for the 2013-2014 school year and eventually Sept. 1 for the 2014-2015 school year and for districts to provide transitional kindergarten for students turning five between Nov. 1 and Dec. 2 next year. This led to the board examining a broader restructuring of kindergarten and implementing full day kindergarten and smaller class sizes.

The board then moved to eliminate early bird/late bird for first and second grade students, giving them a full day, as well. While they argued it would increase core instructional time, parents worried it would detract from small group instruction and personalized attention to students.

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9) Wireless Telecommunications Facilities: Back in July, dozens of Burlingame residents packed a Planning Commission meeting expressing concerns over new ExteNet and T-Mobile cell towers potentially planned for Burlingame. Recognizing their lack of regulations regarding cell phone antennas, city officials placed a moratorium on cell tower construction while they gathered information and drafted an ordinance. Extenet proceeded to sue Burlingame for retroactively including the company in the moratorium, but a judge ruled the retroactive inclusion legal, and Burlingame extended the moratorium for 90 days in mid-October and recently discussed a draft ordinance.

8) Boys Basketball: Community members watched with high hopes as the Burlingame High School Boys Basketball team lost to Sacred Heart Cathedral in the Central Coast Section Division III title game for the third year in a row. The team has lost the Division III title game six times since 2003.

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7) Leaf Blowers: Some of the most crowded City Council meetings this year were those with discussion about a leaf blower ordinance on the agenda. In May, the council received two draft ordinances from the Citizen’s Environmental Council restricting leaf blowing equipment and hours of use after first bringing the issue to the council in March.

After almost two hours of public comment and discussion in August on the issue, the council concluded it needed more information and outreach before any changed to leaf blower laws could be made. While some community members argued for environmental and health benefits limiting leaf blowers would bring, others saw regulations as an attack on gardeners. A study session on recommended restrictions and changes will take place Tuesday.

6) Dianne Talarico Dies: Burlingame mourned the lost of former Burlingame Elementary School District Superintendent Dianne Talarico in May of this year. She served as Superintendent for two and a half years but was forced into early retirement due to her battle with cancer. Community members and School Board members made glowing remarks about the educator.

"I'm sure that everyone in the community is deeply saddened by her passing," said Mark Intrieri, Burlingame School Board President at the time. "She was a great person personally and professionally, she was a great asset to the district, she was an advocate for kids, she was just a wonderful, wonderful person."

5) Burlingame Crime: Police stories are not the most common occurrence in Burlingame, so it makes sense that when they happen, they get people talking. We closely followed the case of Bruce Alan Walker, Jr., who is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of second-degree murder in a 2009 drunk driving accident that killed his passenger.

This year also saw residential burglars who ran into Mills Canyon to avoid apprehension, two men injured in an Airport Boulevard shooting and a Burlingame High School student arrested after allegedly making terrorist threats.

4) Burlingame Nurses Protest: In late September, Mills-Peninsula Medical Center nurses gathered to the chant of "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Sutter's greed has got to go,” in protest of healthcare cuts and concern over patient advocacy rights. They joined more than 23,000 other regional RNs from Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente Hospitals. The nurses went on strike again last week in protest of contract negotiations.

3) New Businesses Come to Burlingame: Many unique shops opened for business in Burlingame this year, and residents seemed to enjoy reading and talking about them. Barrelhouse became the new bar on the block, a sophisticated, but not stuffy, venue brought to town by the duo behind Vinyl Room.

Some of the more eclectic businesses to come to Burlingame included a family-friendly tattoo parlor and a store for buying and selling used wedding dresses that doubles as an outlet for young, up and coming Bay Area designers to showcase and sell their work.

2) Local Elections: Although fairly straightforward, residents stayed informed about local election results this year, making both City Council and Measure E results two highly visited stories. There wasn’t much of a surprise with council elections as incumbents Mayor Jerry Deal and former Mayor Terry Nagel were re-elected to office. However, newcomer Ricardo Ortiz did quite well; the election was by no means a sweep.

A closer call was Measure E, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass and pulled through with 67.64 percent of the votes. The four-year parcel tax of $76 per year will fund math, science, reading and writing education, as well as art and music programs.

1) New Safeway Opens: After nearly 14 years of proposals, plans, debate and discussion, the new Safeway finally opened its doors on Oct. 14. The new Safeway and surrounding shopping center acts as a harbinger to the vision for a new Howard Avenue and fits neatly into the Burlingame Downtown Specific Plan.

As Larry Rosen wrote in his piece on the new Safeway, “No project that takes 14 years to complete gets to the finish line without leaving a certain amount of rancor and confrontation in its wake. The new Safeway is no exception. In this case, though, what began as disagreement culminated in success for everyone involved; Safeway got its store, downtown got a template instead of a white elephant and Burlingame residents got a hometown supermarket – and a little bump in their bottom line.”


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