Be careful what you wish for. San Carlos officials and residents find themselves in that position today. Their downtown business district is so popular at lunchtime Monday through Friday that parking is typically at a premium.
Blame the downtown area’s outstanding dining options and the ongoing high-tech boom for much of the problem. That combination is helping to cause traffic tie-ups and a lot of motorist frustration.
Downtown San Carlos has become a noontime mecca for the Internet-based crowd (with handy cash and debit cards in their wallets), primarily located on the east side of Highway 101 in Redwood Shores, just a short distance away via congested Holly Street.
Interestingly, parking in San Carlos is free, although there are time limits in certain areas. Free parking can be a friendly lure, especially when competing downtowns like Redwood City charge for the privilege.
And, of course, Holly Street, which narrows to one lane in each direction, is a never-ending bottleneck.
City authorities have decided to ban parking on Holly in both directions from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, a highly controversial decision which has outraged people who live in homes along that busy boulevard. Hard to blame them.
Parking on Holly has been restricted during commute hours for some time. Unfortunately, Holly now is a mess at lunchtime too. It doesn’t help that there is a popular In-N-Out hamburger outlet just off Holly near the freeway.
All of this, however, is a testament to the lure of excellent restaurant choices available in that attractive village.
Dicey proposition
The younger generation on the Peninsula has no idea how fortunate it is. During the period of the region’s greatest growth after World War II, swimming in San Francisco Bay was a dicey proposition at best.
Bold devotees of aquatic diversions in that body of water persevered anyway. So what was the problem? Raw sewage.
It’s hard to believe today but human waste was routinely flushed (literally) into the bay on a regular basis. In many respects, the bay was a giant open toilet. Even barely adequate sewage treatment plants were a rarity in those days.
So local communities simply emptied their reeking material directly into one of the natural jewels of Northern California, often with nary a hint of a reduction in contaminants.
Swimming in this gross stew was no picnic. I well recall one hot summer afternoon at Coyote Point in the early 1950s when, while frolicking in the shallow water near the beach, I was confronted by a couple of telltale “floaters” (recall, if you will, the swimming scene in “Caddyshack”).
Needless to say, I yanked my alabaster form from the briny as quickly as possible to avoid contact with the offensive tidbits. Lunch on the shore didn’t taste quite the same afterward.
Carolan Drive?
Someone at Burlingame City Hall needs to get up to speed on the town’s street names. Last week’s online city newsletter indicated that the location of Washington Park was at the corner of Burlingame Avenue and Carolan Drive. Oops. Make that Carolan Avenue. There is no Carolan Drive. Well, hey, everyone needs an editor. I speak from some considerable experience in that particular regard.
Pricey firewater
A Palo Alto liquor store that touts itself as having the “best prices in town” last week advertised a single bottle of Hennessy Edition Particuliere 1900, of which fewer than 30 are reported to exist worldwide. The listed price for this rare cognac: $26,999. The 1 percent in Silicon Valley should be thrilled. I’ll pass. Bring out another hefty Jeroboam of 2014 Relska vodka from the reserves in the garage and let the good times (and the antacids) roll, thank you very much.
Illegal migrants
Don’t be shocked if the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors decides to emulate its peers in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties and invites the federal government to locate some migrant children, who have recently come to the U.S. illegally, here on the Peninsula. At the very least, let’s just hope there is some healthy public discussion with citizen taxpayers about any such move.
John Horgan’s column appears Thursday. Contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.