Request for city clerks. Please identify the district and terms of your councilmembers on your website if you have district elections. It will help the voters, not to mention baffled columnists, figure out who is on first base and who is out. We won’t know the entire list of candidates until Aug. 12 (then add another few days if an incumbent is not running). Lots of extra work for city clerks and the county Elections Office.
According to county Chief Elections Officer Mark Church: “The 2022 November General Election is gearing up to be one of the largest held in San Mateo County given that, all governing board elections are now held on even-numbered years. Combined with district elections, the number of jurisdictions participating in this election is estimated to be over 70.”
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Here’s an update on Burlingame: Mayor Ricardo Ortiz plans to run for re-election in District 1. Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg (District 3) will not face longtime Councilmember Ann O’Brien Keighran, who is not seeking re-election. But there could be others who are interested, someone who is against the Sisters’ plans for possible development of low-income senior housing at Mercy High School.
District 5 is a new district and includes the Lyon Hoag neighborhood, areas around the high school and extends to Broadway, bordered by Carolan Avenue and Rollins Road. To date, present chair and 12-year member of Traffic, Safety and Parking Commission, John Martos, is the sole candidate. He already has a number of significant backers. District 2 (Donna Colson) and District 4 ( Emily Beach) don’t come up until 2024. There are no term limits in Burlingame.
Meanwhile , San Mateo is poised to have three new councilmembers in 2022. Lisa Nash, District 1, has no opponents to date. District 3, Beresford Hillsdale, will see Rod Linhares and Adam Loraine facing off. And in District 5 it will be anyone’s guess. Popular Joe Goethals has given up his council seat and to date Planning Commissioner Seema Patel; Parks and Recreation Commissioner Sarah Fields; and Personnel Board Member Robert Newsom are running or thinking about it. Incumbent Amourence Lee is safe until 2024. So is Diane Papan. Now that Giselle Hale has dropped out of the race for the District 21 Assembly seat, it’s a shoo-in for Papan. Once it’s official, the council will declare a vacancy and will have 30 days to do an appointment process per the charter. Councilmembers making the decision will be Lee and three new councilmembers. Papan has two terms left on her now at-large seat. The appointee will fill the seat, at-large for two years until 2024. As a district 1 candidate will be elected in 2022 there will be no opening after the short-term appointment unless the appointee is from a district that is up for election in 2024 (Districts 2 and 4). Confusing. You bet. Only city clerk Pat Olds knows the details.
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Linhares, council candidate for District 3, held his campaign opening a week and a half ago. Linhares’ event was a gathering of the current and past power center in San Mateo. Former mayors Maureen Freschet and Eric Rodriguez were among the main speakers.
Also there were Lisa and Mike Nash (he is head of the San Mateo United Homeowners Association). And the mother of measures H and P, Maxine Terner. She was seething about being called a racist at a recent Planning Commission meeting because she complained about a controversial building application to tear down and enlarge a Baywood home. Terner may be a lot of things, but she is not a racist. She is for slow or no growth and protecting the historic quality of the city. And much of that history is in North Central, San Mateo Park and Baywood. For the record, she and I rarely agreed when she was on the Planning Commission and I was on the City Council. After reading the Daily Journal report of the commission’s actions on the Baywood application (I did not listen to the meeting), I’m with Terner on this one.
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Loraine held his campaign opening last Saturday, past my deadline. I imagine it will be a different crowd, mainly young progressives. They are our future and we need to listen to their concerns. In 12 years, when Nash and others are termed out, it will be the young progressives of today, no longer so young but still idealistic, who will be running the show. And that will be good for the city.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
For the record, I was seething not because "I" was called racist, but because other residents who took time out of their busy lives to give input to the Planning Commission were intimidated by the name-calling talking-points used by YIMBYs intended to create divisiveness and squelch public input. And, to clarify I am NOT no growth or even slow-growth. I AM an idealistic progressive for managed, responsible growth where cities grow incrementally with their ability to provide the services residents need. Democracy recognizes that people have different opinions & the job of government officials is to listen to these differences and to seek balance, not bullying.
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(3) comments
Thanks Sue Linhares is district 5 (incorrectly referenced) Newsom is District 3. I live in district 3, but seem to call it district 4 all the time.
For the record, I was seething not because "I" was called racist, but because other residents who took time out of their busy lives to give input to the Planning Commission were intimidated by the name-calling talking-points used by YIMBYs intended to create divisiveness and squelch public input. And, to clarify I am NOT no growth or even slow-growth. I AM an idealistic progressive for managed, responsible growth where cities grow incrementally with their ability to provide the services residents need. Democracy recognizes that people have different opinions & the job of government officials is to listen to these differences and to seek balance, not bullying.
Hi! Just to be clear, so no one called anyone a “racist” is that correct?
And, what was the name-calling that happened? Name-calling is completely inappropriate and I’d like to call out folks that are doing that.
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Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
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