SoFi in San Mateo?

The city was not economically prosperous at the time. And the staff was looking for other sources of money. A utility tax was proposed and then withdrawn after public opposition. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the city was seriously proposing a 24-hour card room or that I was the only one on the council opposing it. But I felt it was my duty and I gathered an unusual and small coalition of like-minded citizens, including a San Jose firefighter but San Mateo resident who told us there was much crime associated with the San Jose card rooms due to desperate gamblers.

The grassroots group started an initiative to stop it. It was easy to gather signatures to put our measure on the ballot and it passed overwhelmingly. Fast forward. Race tracks were losing out to online gambling and it wasn’t long before the practice track moved (where Whole Foods shopping center and town houses adjacent to Saratoga Drive are now). Then the race track closed. The five- to seven-year process to develop the area began and the rest is history. Inglewood replaced its racetrack/card room with SoFi. We provided nearly 2,000 units of housing, 16 acres of park open space. Meanwhile the card room and racetrack closed at Inglewood leaving the city in a precarious financial situation. That could have happened in San Mateo. With the race track gone, that could have meant an invitation for Levi’s Stadium.

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The major new addition to the city provided 55% owner occupied and 45% renters. One acre is set aside for 68 affordable units.

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Much better than a major sports stadium. But today, does San Mateo and other Bay Area communities need more market-rate housing? Between 2011-2021, San Mateo issued building permits for 173 single-family homes, 532 condos, 1,505 market rate rentals and 350 affordable rentals! That’s a high environmental price to pay. There are other ways to provide more affordables. Higher densities (but not allowed under Measure P) and a fixed short period of rent stabilization. The apartment owners association and Realtors won’t agree, but most San Mateo residents will.

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Sad that a group of North Central residents have said no to the addition of more bike lanes. A frustrated parent who was part of the committee which studied bike needs and whose children ride bikes to San Mateo High believes multiple unmoved cars on the street are the problem. Finally, there are commercial vehicles, which are illegal to park in residential neighborhoods. He wonders how much parking would free up if we got rid of these abuses.

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Thanks to Assemblymember Kevin Mullin for introducing a bill to hasten the electrification of Caltrain. Caltrain is not the favorite recipient of transportation dollars from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. So our two MTC reps, Supervisor Dave Canepa and Millbrae Councilmember Gina Papan need to step up to the plate. Papan is chair of the Allocations Committee, which should help. Meanwhile Steve Heminger, former executive director of MTC, now sits on the Caltrain board as a representative of Muni and San Francisco. He is not helpful.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo.

Her column runs every Monday. She can be

reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.