Community Corner
San Bruno CA: Part 1 of 2 - State of the City Address - Mayor Jim Ruane January 6th 2015
As part of the San Bruno Chamber 2015 Installation of Officers event, Mayor Ruane gave his State of the City Address
State of the City Address and Chamber Installation
January 6, 2015
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11:30 a.m.
Skyline College Student Center, Bldg 6
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This is part 1 – Part 2 can be found at http://patch.com/california/sanbruno/san-bruno-ca-part-2-2-state-city-ad...
Good afternoon and thank you for attending the annual State of the City Address and Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Installation. I am very proud to be here and to share with you today highlights of the City of San Bruno’s activities and accomplishments of the past year and what we can look forward to in 2015.
Looking back at 2014 what stands out as the key to every aspect of our activity and our success is that unique spirit of community pride, commitment to the community and community involvement – these are the secret ingredients that make San Bruno so special and this is the basis for our accomplishments in all areas. Before I go further, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for your continued support to the community. Please give yourself a round of applause.
2014 was a year filled will several notable events and accomplishments and most importantly, the year marked a very special milestone in the history of our city. On December 23, 1914 San
Bruno officially incorporated as a city. San Bruno at that time was a rural and mostly agriculture-based settlement populated by many refugees from the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Today San Bruno is no longer known as a place that people land when they are fleeing from somewhere else – today San Bruno is a place that people want to be, where they choose to raise a family and do business and today San Bruno is known as a thriving technology business hotspot. With their effort to build a community and their initiative to chart their own course by incorporating a new city, those early settlers laid the foundation for what San Bruno has become.
Throughout 2014 San Bruno celebrated its Centennial year – one hundred years of progress supported by City elected officials and staff, past and present, and the community itself.
We celebrated the Centennial year with a wide array of events and programs designed to create community excitement, interest, and pride in recognizing this milestone occasion for the City. Among those many wonderful events and activities, were an Architectural History Walking Tour, the Centennial themed Posy Parade, a volunteer program coordinated by the Beautification Task Force that planted 100 trees throughout the community and year-long historical displays at City facilities. Most exciting and special were two signature events for the community – the Centennial Community Carnival and the Centennial Gala.
On September 27th San Bruno City Park was transformed for a day-long true old fashioned community carnival with something for everyone. Games and athletic activities assisted by local schools, churches and service organizations along with rides, music, entertainment, and food were enjoyed by about 2,000 adults and children alike. The Carnival event was planned and implemented through the diligent effort of a group of community volunteers and was generously funded through donations by several sponsors. With this volunteer effort, the Carnival was truly a celebration not only of the Centennial, but of the collective, collaborative community volunteer efforts that made it possible.
On December 6th, this very room was transformed into an elegant ballroom for the City’s Centennial Gala, a formal event featuring dinner and dancing enjoyed by nearly 200 guests. This event truly was a dazzling cap to a wonderful year in San Bruno.
Celebrating the Centennial didn’t just include these events and activities, it was also important for the community of today to take the opportunity to leave a lasting record of the City’s progress for the future. Library staff recorded dozens of oral histories recounted by residents, the City commissioned a mosaic mural now being completed for installation at the new Posy Park adjacent to the new Caltrain station and we installed a time capsule filled with modern day momentos and artifacts at the newly designated Centennial Plaza in our downtown. The time capsule was generously donated by the San Bruno Rotary Club. On December 23, 2064, fifty years from now, those carrying forward in leadership of our community will open the capsule and celebrate the progress that we can only imagine now. While I don’t know that I will be here to celebrate, I know that we have paved the road for the community’s continuing success and accomplishment.
The Centennial celebration was funded in part by funds set aside by the City Council each of the last four years and by revenues from the events themselves, but would not have been possible without the generous support of donations from several local businesses and others in the community. Special thanks are due to Dennis Sammut of Artichoke Joe’s for stepping in at the start of the year with a large gift to support the Centennial celebrations. His family’s commitment to doing business in San Bruno extends over 100 years now and we continue to appreciate their support of the San Bruno community. Celebrating the Centennial was a very special piece of history and will be treasured for the next generation to enjoy and remember.
Shifting our focus to the future, the community took a giant step toward building the San Bruno of the next 100 years with passage of Measure N on the November ballot. Measure N allows amendments to the City’s Municipal Code to increase building heights, allow above ground, multi-story parking garages, and increased residential densities within the San Bruno Transit Corridors Plan area in the downtown and along portions of San Bruno Avenue and El Camino Real. This action is key to the community’s ability to realize the vision that has been set out in our Transit Corridors Plan adopted in 2013 to revitalize and transform San Bruno’s downtown and central business areas to create a new, modern style of development with a vibrant mix of new housing, businesses, restaurants, shops, and active public spaces supported by nearby transit facilities, pedestrian-friendly streets and beautiful public open spaces. This will be a place where new businesses can build the type of space they need, where people can walk to work or to transit, and where the vibrant activity of the daytime extends into the evening hours.
Now that Measure N has set the foundation, the next steps for the City toward real implementation of the Transit Corridors Plan will include focused planning for a Development Impact Fee program to make sure that new development pays its own way, creation of a parking and transportation management plan and continuing our collaborative development review process that encourages public participation and input, and works aggressively with developers to coordinate what is good for the project with what the community needs and expects.
2015 will also see the start of real implementation of the Transit Corridors Plan. In October the City Council approved The Plaza, the first mixed-use development project in the Transit Corridors Plan area. This project is at San Mateo Avenue and El Camino Real and will replace the long-vacant Cinema building and the adjacent three buildings that have been boarded up for a number of years creating an eyesore and nuisance to the community. The Plaza will include 83 residential units and about 7,000 square feet of commercial space. This project is the most significant new development to occur in the City’s downtown in many years and we anticipate that it will be a catalyst for economic development and revitalization in the greater downtown area and throughout the entire Transit Corridor area. Demolition of the existing buildings is expected to occur as soon as June with construction of The Plaza to follow immediately. The project is expected to be completed for occupancy during the first quarter of 2017.
The City is also working on an exciting new amenity for the residential neighborhoods near the Plaza. The City is purchasing a historic property at 324 Florida Avenue with the plan to improve the property as a public open space or park. The first phase of the project will be demolition of the existing structure and clean-up of the site. We look forward to begin the planning process of the new improvement during the coming year.
In the Bayhill Business Park, the City is working hard to keep up with the pace of changing business needs that two of the community’s most prominent technology companies are experiencing. YouTube and Walmart.com are completing interior improvements in additional buildings along Cherry Avenue to house their expanding workforces as they continue to contribute to a vital San Bruno business community and they make their mark in the global business environment. Their interest to expand their presence here in San Bruno is a testament to both their success and to ours in making our community a great place to do business.
At the Crossing site across from Tanforan, the long awaited hotel next to Jack’s is in the design development stage. Although progress is not yet visible on the site, a great deal of work is going on behind the scenes. We anticipate ground breaking later this year and a new state of the art hotel in operation in 2016.
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Robert Riechel
Photo Credit: San Bruno Patch Archives
Source Credit: City of San Bruno
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