City Blog

SFO Community Roundtable

Last night, nearly 80 community members came down to the Community Meeting Room where the SFO Community Roundtable hosted a public workshop to discuss commercial aircraft overflight in the vicinity of Brisbane. If you missed it, you can watch the entire meeting online below:

And now for a quick meeting recap...

Bert Ganoung, Manager of the Airport Noise Abatement Office gave a presentation of the analysis his office conducts and types of departure procedures airlines take out of SFO.

Patty Daniel, of Northern California TRACON/FAA, explained how the FAA control towers conduct air traffic around the Bay Area, emphasizing that the airlines choose their routes, even though the FAA does have published routes.

Both Patty and Bert then answered questions of the Roundtable members who were present at the workshop: Ken Ibarra of the City of San Bruno, Marge Colapietro of the City of Millbrae, Richard Newman of the C/CAG Airport Land Use Committee, Sepi Richardson of Brisbane, Dave Pine of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and Jeffrey Gee of the City of Redwood City. Airport Roundtable staff were also in attendance and sat along the side of the room.

Concerned Brisbane resident Barry Corlett gave a presentation which he, Jeff Zajas, Peggy Corlett, and Peter Grace worked hard on that depicted the major contributors to the overflight noise coming from Southwest, United, and Virgin America Airlines. All of the airlines were no-shows to the workshop.

Community members spoke during the Public Comment period, which was run by Councilmember Richardson, Roundtable Vice-Chairperson.

Brisbane Councilmember Clarke Conway spoke about how a plane going over Brisbane muffled the sound of an oncoming car when he and his grandaughter were out walking.

Assemblymember Jerry Hill made a statement, along with George Mozingo of Supervisor Adrienne Tissier's office, and Brian Perkins from Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office.

What will happen now is the SFO Community Roundtable will request permission of all the SFO Community Roundtable members that a formal request be sent on their behalf to the FAA to model following the PORTE3 departure route (as published by the FAA). Chair Newman concluded the meeting saying that implementation should be done with the least formal method possible so as to quickly resolve the noise issue (a formal change to the procedures would be a lengthly process).

The Brisbane Community is encouraged to attend the SFO Community Roundtable's next meeting where more Roundtable members will be present, as well as the airlines usually. Their next meeting takes place on Weds., November 2, 2011 at the David Chetcuti Community Room located at Millbrae City Hall (450 Poplar Ave., Millbrae). Access from Millbrae Library parking lot on Poplar Ave.

Submitted by City of Brisbane on October 6, 2011, 4:36 pm

City Council Special Meeting

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The City Council just adopted the 2011/12 Budget on June 27, 2011, but it's never too early to get started planning for the next fiscal year, especially these days. If you missed the meeting, you can watch it by clicking here. (To watch on your TV, replays of Council meetings take place Fridays at 1:00pm, Saturdays at 10:00pm, and Sundays at 6:00pm after Council meetings occur). If you ever forget the replay times, you can always check the broadcast schedule on the Live Streaming page.

Recognizing that the FY 2012/13 budget process may be made more difficult with the prolonged economic downturn, the potential departure of VWR, and the uncertainty of whether or not the Business License Tax for Recology will pass in November, the Council Subcommittee developed a process for reviewing the programs and services the City provides while also determining the program's and service's priority to the community.

There are six steps to the process:

Know what is important – determine the priority of each of the programs and services provided
Determine what funding is available - determine how much money the City can expect to receive in FY 2012/13 and beyond.
Determine costs of programs – determine the cost of providing each program as the City currently provides it.
What can we afford – match the program costs with the money available.
Can we do things differently to afford more - determine are there programs or services which can be provided differently, contracted out, or shared with other governmental agencies?
Build new budget – determine what will be funded in FY 2012/13 to ensure a long-term financially stable City.

The City will next meet on October 24, 2011 to continue the discussion, so come - it's just getting started now.

Submitted by City of Brisbane on September 27, 2011, 4:55 pm

SFO Community Roundtable

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Aircraft overflights in Brisbane have grown in number over the past year and half, as many in Brisbane can attest to. With such a noticeable nuisance affecting so many in town, City officials and staff have been working alongside the residents, culling resources to try and quell the problem. Meetings with the FAA/TRACON and Congresswoman Jackie Speier's office have taken place, as the problem has elevated and more have grown tired of the increasing number of overflights. And now, next Wednesday, October 5th, an Aircraft Noise Workshop will be held in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall (click here to see the agenda). The meeting will be conducted by the SFO Community Roundtable, with representatives from the SFO Noise Abatement Office, the FAA, and Virgin America present (both Southwest and United Airlines refuse to meet with the Community).

There will be an opportunity for public comment, so please come and make your voice heard.

The meeting will also be shown live on Ch. 27. If you don't subscribe to Comcast, you can log on to the City's website, and watch the meeting on the live streaming page, starting at 7:00pm.

Submitted by City of Brisbane on September 29, 2011, 4:08 pm

BES Restroom Dedication

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On the morning of Saturday Sept. 24th, approximately 20 individuals gathered beside the new BES Restroom Facility at 10:00am to witness its official dedication to the Community. There happened to be a soccer game taking place at the field, so parents along with their youngsters came to witness this special event. When it came time to cut the "toilet paper" ribbon, which had been hung between the Ladies and Men's restroom doors, a couple boys stepped forward to help do the honors, accompanied by Brisbane Elementary School District Board Member, Ken Walker.

It was a small, yet fun little celebration to dedicate what will surely be well-used by all who use the BES Athletic Field. There are timers for the restroom doors, which are being programmed so that they'll be able to unlock and lock themselves automatically. This, along with a few other punchlist items are currently being completed. So, although not quite open for "business", it will be in roughly a few week's time.

Adding to Saturday morning's fun festivities was the toilet paper cake, designed and constructed by Karen Cunningham. It made two things clear: 1. There is no limit to the creativity of Brisbane's residents, and 2. The BES Restroom Facility is definitely something worth celebrating!