THIS WEEK ON THE SAN FRANCISCO PENINSULA 
News that Impacts Your Quality of Life
January 22, 2018
We hope City Councils of Cupertino, Brisbane or San Mateo will be leaders in managing quality with objective, proactive QA standards. We strongly believe that vague concepts of quality lead to more and more conflict. Quality can only be managed with data and objectives. Congestion at key intersections is an example of data seldom collected or reported.   
Spillover traffic onto residential streets has hit the political Richter Scale in Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Los Altos Hills. Learn from New Jersey!

Brisbane braces for massive change
" Brisbane City Council is discussing the one of the Peninsula’s largest residential development proposals, aiming to build 4,400 homes and 7 million sf of commercial space…… Several issues have emerged. Does the developer have the financial means to deliver quality outcome? Can housing and new residents rest comfortably on currently contaminated soil? What is the city’s burden for services to 4400 new homes?"

Ed. Comment: Cupertino, San Mateo and Brisbane are among the first local cities learning how they can and cannot manage surges of housing and commercial development. State laws passed in 2017 are creating new development incentives and challenging traditional roles for local cities and towns. Local control of zoning has been reduced by over a dozen state laws.  How will Brisbane Council set their goals for the quality of life their voters seek?  For the record….Mt. View (population 80,000) has authorized 10,000 new homes. Brisbane’s current population is 4,000.
New laws generate fears about neighborhood quality
" California laws aim to tackle housing crisis by limiting local governments' ability to reject housing development applications……analysis was presented to Cupertino City Council ."
Debate over growth intensifies

San Mateo is the latest among local communities striving “to balance disparate viewpoints while navigating the effects of growth. …impassioned debate over height and density restrictions in San Mateo may have reached a critical point…..” 

Ed. Comment: San Mateo citizens have encountered a high hurdle by asking their City Council to put a measure on the November ballot for height and density restrictions. Stay tuned as citizens and their elected officials grapple with the merits of growth versus quality of neighborhoods, traffic and other issues. 
Wrestle WAZE and win?
“Remember Gov. Christie’s Bridgegat e in Fort Lee? Well, tiny Leonia, NJ adjacent to Fort Lee rolled up its sleeves and has a solution for massive commuter traffic spilling into its residential neighborhoods." Watch CBS video!
 
Ed. Comment:   Leonia has less than 10,000 population but citizens and town officials acknowledged an obvious problem and are in hot pursuit of less cut-thru commuter traffic. We will report back on what happens next. 
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Editors Neilson Buchanan and John Guislin are unpaid, private citizens on the SF Peninsula and have no ties to developers or government organizations.