Preserving a passion for community activism: Jennifer Pfaff wins Burlingame Citizen of the Year award

An expert in Burlingame’s architectural design guidelines, passionate advocate for protecting the historic grove of eucalyptus trees along El Camino Real and committed curator of the city’s history, among other interests, Pfaff said she appreciated the recognition she received from her fellow residents.

“I’m very humbled, and I’m surprised because I just didn’t expect it,” she said. “I tend to work in the background on a lot of things, and I’m not someone who likes to have a lot of attention. It’s nice to know that work done on the background of issues has been noticed, and has made a difference.”

Pfaff, 56, who has lived in Burlingame since 1988 after moving from Hillsborough, said it was not always her intent to become a community activist, but fell into the role gradually after advocating in favor of installing stop signs to protect the children playing in her neighborhood against the threat of speeding drivers.

She said learning the ropes of making a difference led to involvement in later issues, such as the debate surrounding the design of the city’s Safeway.

The process of fighting against a proposal which she and others felt was inappropriate for Burlingame taught Pfaff the power of staying committed and engaged, as the Safeway debate lasted the better part of a decade before eventually reaching a solution, she said.

Through the Safeway project, Pfaff said she was able to develop a network of others who felt as passionately as she did about preserving the community’s character.

“It was just finding like-minded people that just believe this town is too good to settle for something that is half-baked,” she said. “What would be fine in other communities is not fine here. I’m from here. I’m proud of that. And I’d like to shepherd the city into a future that does not ruin its character.”

Such a fight becomes increasingly harder considering the growing pressure of outside regional agencies applied on the city, said Pfaff, but she believes the community is the right size, with the correct amount of pride, to maintain its charm.

In no issue is the resistance of the Burlingame community against the influence of a larger outside agency apparent than the fight against Caltrans to save the historic grove of eucalyptus trees along El Camino Real.

The state transportation agency responsible for managing El Camino Real had for years expressed interest in thinning the Howard-Ralston row, recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, to enhance the safety of drivers near Floribunda Avenue along the busy thoroughfare.

Pfaff though led the rallying cry against the proposal to cut down any of the trees, claiming the eucalyptus were an integral part of Burlingame’s identity, and called instead for less invasive methods to first be tried.

After years of disagreement, Pfaff’s effort may have proved successful, as recently the city and Caltrans officials agreed to hang a sign prohibiting left-hand turns for drivers headed south on El Camino Real, in an effort to reduce the chance for crashes without removing trees.

She expressed cautious optimism the compromise would be successful, and trees are free of the threat they had faced, she said.

“I’m thrilled and hopeful that this is going to turn out better than I thought it was,” she said. “But I just don’t know. It’s not over until it’s over.”

Caltrans officials agreed to measure the success of the turn prohibition in reducing crashes before revisiting the issue again in coming years.

For her part, Pfaff said she could not imagine her community without the trees, and felt compelled the apply the skills she had learned over the years to protect them.

“I have a passion for the trees. I love them. I love everything old, but the trees are really irreplaceable,” she said. “They take so long to grow and get established, and they are so easy to just take down, that I have really gravitated to that in the last few years. Our history and our trees are so intertwined that they can’t be separated. To me, it was a natural fit for my particular interests and abilities, and I have a lot of energy for that.”

As her hard work and passion seems to have paid off, and gained her recognition from her community, Pfaff credits her understated persistence and stamina to fight for what she believes is right.

“I’d like people to realize even small things that seem at the time to be small steps cumulatively can make a difference in the direction of a community in a lot of ways,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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