LEDs, a new City Hall, and a Dance Party are Coming to Town

The City of Brisbane has recently installed a new energy efficient light emitting diode (LED) lighting source in the Sierra Point Parking Lot. The LED product was installed as a pilot program to test the feasibility of using LEDs in area lighting applications. LEDs have been widely used in other applications such as traffic signals and recent technology has expanded its application to area and roadway lighting. The benefits of using LED versus traditional lighting sources are the reduced energy consumption and extended life of the bulbs (LEDs last about 10 years). The LED bulb replaced the traditional high pressure sodium (HPS) and consumes only 35 watts vs 122 watts for the HPS bulb, translating to over 70% in saved energy.

The City of Brisbane is currently applying for additional grant funding opportunities to expand the program to remainder of the light in the parking lot. If the entire parking lot is converted to LEDs, it would be the very first in all of San Mateo County to do so. For additional inquiries on this project, please contact Matt Lee at mlee@ci.brisbane.ca.us or 508-2132.

City Hall continues to show weekly construction improvements, signaling that the time for the project's completion is fast-approaching. Move-in day is slated to occur sometime this coming December.

The weather in Brisbane has been warm the last couple days, but you know what that means...nighttime weather that's near perfect. So, be sure to come on down to the Community Park tonight and check out the live band that will be performing. Festivities begin at 6:00 pm. And taking into account the name of the band, you can expect it to be a night filled with dancing...so long as you, "BUSTA GROOVE"!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend! Just a reminder that City Hall will be closed on Monday, Sept. 1st. Also, the Community Pool will be open on Monday from 12:oo pm - 3:00 pm, but limited to ~50 people, so get there early! Saturday and Sunday Pool hours remain unchanged.

Intersection Improvements at Visitacion/Mariposa, San Bruno/Santa Clara and at Solano crossing above San Francisco

You probaby have noticed by now the concrete “safe havens” (Visitacion/Mariposa), in-roadway flashing photovoltaic-powered markers (Visitacion/Mariposa and San Bruno/Santa Clara), and lane delineators and pavement markings (Solano). These were all installed under the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, a 100% federal grant funded program for the construction of infrastructure projects to improve the safety of students who walk or bike to school and to encourage more students to do so.

The SRTS project was started in 2005, when the City Council approved the formation of a SRTS Workgroup. The Workgroup developed a survey that was sent to all Brisbane School District parents. Of the community response from the mailed survey, 56% of the respondents indicated they would allow their child to walk/bicycle to school if the sidewalk/crossing area were improved and clearly separated from traffic; another 32% indicated they would allow their child to walk/bicycle to school if traffic was slowed.

The responses were compiled and developed into two maps; a “weighted” route map showing the current and expected walking/bicycling/walking routes from the children’s homes to their school; and a “spot” map of trouble areas and locations of concern noted by parents. The two maps were overlayed, which indicated three candidate project areas based on the overlap of heavily used routes and identified locations of concern.

Thanks to the City Council's formation of the Workgroup (which included the Council Member assigned to the City’s Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the Director of Public Works/City Engineer, the Brisbane Police Department School Resource Officer, and supplemented by the Principals from BES and Lipman), approval of the federal grant application, support from Brisbane School District Board of Trustees, the Brisbane Education Support Team, and the Mothers of Brisbane, the SRTS project has finally come to its completion. And, nicely enough, just in time for the start of the new school year!

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Come on out this Sunday afternoon for a special rhythmic treat at the Community Park! Wave Jazz Band is scheduled to perform from 2:00 - 4:00 pm as a special installment of the Brisbane Concerts in the Park series. Don't miss it!

Real-Time Emergency Information to the Community Ramping Up

In efforts to increase the distribution of real-time emergency information to the Brisbane community, the City will be acquiring a message overlay system, which it will use on Channel 27. The digital signage system is being paid for by a Comcast-provided Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) Access Capital Grant and will allow the City to program messages in that can then be set to scroll across the bottom of your TV screen. We’ll let you know when the digital signage system is all set up and ready to go. We just wanted to give a heads-up now so that the community is aware of the fact that Ch. 27 is being further optimized to be a more robust resource for receiving breaking emergency news and information.

Speaking of emergency news and information, the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services will be hosting its 4th Annual Disaster Preparedness Day on Sept. 13th, 2008. What better time than now to get information on how to prep your emergency kits and disaster plans, as well as see First-Aid, Police, Fire & emergency equipment demonstrations? And if you haven’t yet signed up for San Mateo County’s emergency alert system, SMCAlert, what are you waiting for? It’s yet another way to receive real-time emergency information…sent directly to your mobile device. Click HERE to do so now!

The Brisbane Police Department is Asking for Your Help

Between approximately 8:00 PM last night (8/12) and 7:00 AM today, we experienced a number of auto burglaries in the area of Kings Road, Humboldt Road and Sierra Point Road. Most of the vehicles had their passenger side window broken (the side facing away from the street). The suspect(s) appeared to be very selective in what they were looking for. Many of the vehicles had been ransacked, with nothing taken from them despite items of value being in plain sight. Items that were taken, however, included GPS units and satellite radios.

If you have any information regarding these burglaries, please contact the Brisbane Police Department at 415 467-1212.

Local Garbage and Recycling Company to Cut Carbon Footprint by 15% by 2010

The South San Francisco Scavenger Company has been on the forefront of recycling and has been addressing climate change issues for some time now. “We started testing biodiesel a few years ago, and have just installed solar panels on top of our Recycling Center,” said Doug Button, President of the company, “We’ve already reduced our carbon footprint by 7%, and have plans to reduce our carbon footprint by a total 15% by 2010. “We have been using biodiesel successfully on some of our fleets over the last two years now,” said John Rossi, Fleet Manager. “Seeing the importance of climate change, we have plans to use biodiesel in all of our fleets next year.”

In addition to using cleaner fuel and renewable energy, recycling also reduces greenhouse gas emissions as it takes less energy to manufacture products using recycled materials than virgin resources. Recycling one ton of garbage reduces greenhouse gases by about 1.8 tons according to California Air Resources Board Fact Sheets.

“South San Francisco Scavenger Company is better than just being carbon neutral,” said Evan Edgar, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Engineer from Sacramento.” The benefits of recycling far outweigh the fuel and energy to collect and process the material, and in the case of the South San Francisco Scavenger Company, the greenhouse gas reduction benefits are 9 times greater that their carbon footprint. The more recycling, the better the climate and the economy.”

“Back in 1989, the state passed a law to require 25% recycling by 1995, and 50% recycling by 2000”, South San Francisco Scavenger Company President Doug Button reflected. “We’ve done that with the support of the cities and the County, and the great participation by the residents and businesses, and now we are supporting a new law to boost recycling to 75% by 2020 to further address climate change issues.”

SSF Scavenger Co. has said that at some point in the future, they'd like to come to a City Council meeting to make a short presentation of their progress in reducing their carbon footprint through the use of cleaner fuel, renewable energy, and recycling. We will definitely keep you posted as to when that will be.

Recent Going-on's in the City of the Stars

In order to ensure that water and sewer rates pay for expenses directly tied to providing the service, the City is proposing to increase water and sewer rates both by 17%, starting in Oct. 2008. The average residence in Brisbane uses 10 units of water in a 2-month billing period (equivalent to 748 gallons)...meaning an additional $9.09 in water service and $13.93 for sewer service for every 2-month billing cycle. It should be noted, however, that households who qualify for PG&E's low-income program, CARE, will NOT be affected by the increase.

Council will hear any protests for this item at the Sept. 15th Council meeting. If a majority of ratepayers protest, then the increase will not go into effect and there will be a need to reduce the level of service for our water and sewer systems. City Council meetings take place in the Community Center, located at 250 Visitacion, and begin promptly at 7:30 pm. You should be receiving a notice in the mail with this information, along with the current and proposed rate charts, by early next week.

The Traffic Advisory Committee is conducting a Residential Parking Survey...which you should also be seeing in your mailbox shortly. Please help the City design the program by filling out the questionnaire and returning it no later than Aug. 29th. But...since you're reading this, why not just click here to take the survey right now??

Thank you for your time in providing your feedback, and your willingness & participation. Each of these enhances the unique charm of Brisbane and adds to the flavor and appeal of our little City of the Stars.