I found it refreshing that members of councils from two different cities, Belmont and San Carlos, agreed to advocate for historic preservation of their respective towns and of the Peninsula as a whole. I hope that their public declaration will inspire other members of city councils to follow their lead and put policies in place that protect historic assets so that we don’t lose our collective souls in the name of progress.
The Peninsula is feeling the pressure more now than ever regarding growth, but like councilmembers Mates and Rak wrote in a guest perspective on Oct. 19, each city needs more than ever to update their historic properties lists. In some cases, like Burlingame, they actually need to establish a citywide list so that significant properties can be evaluated not by private companies that are paid for by property owners, but level-headed, unbiased historic evaluations made by the city itself.
The title of the guest perspective, “Preserving the past, building our future” was close to my Burlingame council campaign tagline back in 2003, “Respect the past, embrace the future.” Clearly I agree with these two councilmembers, or perhaps they are agreeing with me.
Russ Cohen
Burlingame
