A recent note in this space regarding a comparison between the downtown business districts of Burlingame and San Mateo, a pair of old commercial rivals dating back well over 100 years, generated several reader comments, all of them via email.
The piece focused on three vacant lots, on which gasoline service stations once stood, at the key San Mateo intersection of Third Avenue and El Camino Real. Two of the unsolicited reactions follow. The writers have slightly differing points of view.
Bruce Eaton stated that, “It’s certainly good news if there’s a cure for our abandoned gas station corners. Perhaps San Mateo can finally emerge from the depths of the suburban no man’s land between San Francisco and San Jose (vaguely north of Palo Alto).”
Peter Green chimed in by noting that, “I hope and pray San Mateo will not become another Burlingame. Downtown Burlingame is soulless and panders to the affluent residents of Burlingame with the Pottery Barns, the Banana Republics, et al. San Mateo has three times the charm, crazy corners at El Camino notwithstanding. I prefer the much more scrappy community of San Mateo.”
In a lighter vein on the same subject of downtown San Mateo, George Boardman pointed out that a printed list of long-gone business entities in that retail area should have included the likes of Schneider’s and Rex Men’s Wear. Consider it done, George.
Flood control
Uncertainty is a hallmark of life here in the Bay Area. The constant threat of earthquakes makes that circumstance a given.
And we got another example of the fickle nature of dwelling in this region last week when torrential rain and high winds made a concerted appearance. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. The weather beast roared through here last Thursday. It took a toll.
Downed trees, flooded properties, clogged and stalled freeways and roads, damaged homes and business all resulted from the whims of Mother Nature, something we haven’t seen in these parts in years.
What was striking was the absolutely vital necessity for working pump stations along the bayfront. A random check of some of those important mechanisms at the height of the storm revealed that, by and large, they did their jobs as anticipated. Thank goodness.
The volume of water produced by the storm, combined with high tide, could have resulted in even worse issues if those pumps had not been functioning efficiently and well.
Foster City’s indispensable pumping system (utilized to force accumulated water out of its artificial lagoon which acts as the island town’s catch basin) did yeoman duty once again.
Unwelcome milestone
The new year is just two short weeks away. As you prepare to usher in 2015 with a happy round of festivities, keep this unhappy fact in mind: The U.S. government will top total operating debt (excluding Social Security and Medicare obligations) of $18 trillion not long after the corks pop and the confetti cascades down on Jan. 1. Yes, that’s trillion with a “t.”
If the interest rate on that massive figure is just 3 percent, the 2015 payout to service that debt will be over $500 billion. Needless to say, that taxpayers’ dough could have been better spent on something useful — or, better yet, not spent at all.
Furthermore, if current borrowing trends persist through the remainder of the current president’s term in office, a $20 trillion figure is not out of the question.
What’s really worrisome is that just a 0.5 percent hike in the interest rate on that debt would then mean an extra $100 billion that would have to be paid out to holders of U.S. debt instruments.
John Horgan’s column appears Thursday. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.
